Blessings and Raindrops

seeking joy in the midst of the ordinary

Archives for May 2012

Barnyard Party {Part 1}

We had such a fun time celebrating the boy’s 2nd birthday this past Saturday. We transformed our barn from The Builder’s storage and carpentry shop into a space that was perfect for a kiddo’s birthday party! 
Here are some photos of the details…I will share action shots from the party soon. I have so many pictures that I thought it would be best to break them up into a couple of posts.
The Invitation courtesy Social Crafty…
Super, crazy bright photo {sorry!} of the entrance to the barn…
We re-used the pom pom puffball thingys {yep, that’s the official name} from their 1st birthday to hang at the barn’s entrance…
Dave set up his tractors {and other digger thingys} so the kiddos could climb them. There’s a good chance that Ben stayed in these things for two hours straight. 

The Dessert Table…everyone made their own dirt cakes…the organic gummy worms {dye free so Ben could eat them!} were a huge hit…
{Gummy worms from NaturalCandyStore.com}

I went outside and cut fresh flowers {and weeds but they were pretty weeds} to place all around… I love fresh cut flowers and just LOVE how the arrangements turned out! 

By the way, like it’s a completely normal thing to do, The Builder built all of the picnic tables and kiddo tables in an afternoon. I am totally and completely spoiled, y’all. 
We had yummy barbecue with all the fixin’s {yes, I’m trying to sound like I’m not a 100% city girl and that this whole barn thing fits like an old glove. The truth is, I came home after the party and showered for thirty minutes with a loofah and salt scrub to remove all of the dirt on my body}…

And, what Southern-Barn-Party is complete without sweet tea and lemonade?
I am in love with these jars. I ordered them last year for the boy’s party and you would think they are lined in 24 carat gold the way I adore them. 
Admit it. You want to drink out of these all day. Every day. 

Party Favors for our little guests…

And, here’s a sneak peak at one of the fellas that joined us…
So, do you think the boys were excited when they arrived?? I’d say yes. 🙂

More to come soon!

My Birthday Boys…

To My Precious Ben and Nathan,

I just hugged you tight before laying you down in your beds (you’re still in your cribs…I plan to keep you in those for as long as possible!), and could hardly hold back my tears as I kissed your cheeks and breathed in your perfection. I cannot believe you are turning two tomorrow. TWO. YEARS. OLD. My babies are officially toddlers.

The past two years have been the most blessed of my life. You both amaze your dad and I each and every day. We watch in awe as you soak in the world around you. You are learning and changing so much each day. I hardly even realize how much you’ve changed until I look back on old pictures or watch old videos. You seem so grown up now! You are both talking all the time and you’re both so polite (most of the time) and sweet and innocent. You are full of love and make me see the world differently. I love experiencing the world through your eyes!

One Month – this picture always makes me laugh!
One Year
Two Years

Ben – you are my sweet, kind-hearted soul.

You love animals – stuffed or real. You sleep with about six stuffed animals every night and Mr. Bear is still your favorite.

You love your paci and your blankie. You have to hold onto the tag of your blanket when you lay down to go to sleep. We find the tag and hand it to you that way.

You’re very sensitive and you are also very inquisitive. You like to know how things work. You study everything. You are cautious and take your time before trying something new.

You have the sweetest voice in the world. When you say, “Please” and “Thank you, Daddy” or “Thank you, Mommy” … my heart literally melts. You could get absolutely anything you want when you look at me with those big, bright blue eyes and say, “Please.” It is just the sweetest sound my ears have ever heard. You have been putting words together and making little sentences lately. Yesterday, you told us that your cup was “not working.” And, you love to say, “Cheers!” and tap cups with us during dinner. It’s a funny thing your daddy taught you.

You also love to race or be chased. Nana Marrs taught you to put your hands on your legs and bend down while I say, “Ready, Set, Go!” before you race off. You laugh so hard while you run. You have always had the most infectious laugh.

Your smile is contagious and you could charm the moon, my sweet boy.

You love to dance. You also love an audience. You always are so sweet and tell everyone, “Bye Bye” or “Night Night” and give hugs and kisses before leaving someone’s house or heading to bed.

You love to sing in the car.

You are independent and like to play by yourself sometimes. You could “cook” in your kitchen or on your new BBQ set for hours.

You are the light of my life.

One Month
One Year
Two Years Old!



Nate – you are my funny, cuddly, dare-devil.

You make everyone laugh. You are the life of any party and light up any room you enter.

You climb on everything and have no fear of anything. You always have bumps, bruises and scrapes. {Today, you climbed Aunt Katie’s pile of bricks and fell off and scraped your arm up and dropped a brick on your toe. It was bleeding and is bruised.}

You love making truck noises and are really good at it. You make tractor noises, beeping noises for big trucks backing up, fire truck sirens, airplanes, dump trucks and garbage trucks. You love construction trucks and get so excited when you see one.

You love your baby {your glow seahorse} and take it with you everywhere.  You have two and prefer to have them both in your arms at all times. Especially when you sleep.

You like two of everything. If I hand you a cracker, you will say, “I need two.” You’re that way with anything…”Two” and “Baby” are your favorite words.

You also love to say, “Dada” “Mama” “Papa” “Nana” and “Chi Chi”.  You probably say those words twenty times a day. You also say, “No!” in response to Ben saying, “Mine!” {which he does a lot}.

You are so sweet with your brother. When he cries or gets hurt, you bring him his blankie and even give him your beloved baby for comfort.

You love to give hugs. You especially love hugging your friend Hannah, your brother and Max {our pup}. They are all not very appreciative of your hugs but you still give them! And, you hug all of your family when you are saying goodbye. You are very loving.

You love to snuggle in the morning. You and I snuggle up on the couch and watch “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” or “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” together every morning. I treasure our snuggle times. Sometimes you will fall asleep on me when you wake up too early…those are some of my favorite moments. Listening to you breathing and praising God for the abundance of love in my life.

You are the light of my life.

One Month
One Year
Two Years Old! {Barnyard Party}

Ben & Nate – I love you with all of my heart and am so honored to be your momma. You will always be my precious babies. I wouldn’t trade a single moment of the journey to get to this place. I am grateful and blessed!!

I love you! Happy Birthday boys!!!!

XOXOXO,
Mama 🙂

One Step Closer!!!

To do on Saturday morning: a visit to the farmer’s market.

That was our agenda for the morning. No other plans. Just a leisurely-spent morning sipping coffee and walking a few blocks to the downtown square to buy fresh blueberries and strawberries {which we ate the majority of before we made it home} and a new planter with fresh herbs.

A calm, relaxing, quiet morning.

The weather was perfect – cool and sunny.

We even stopped by our dear neighbor’s house on the way home so the boys could see her pet turtle and pick raspberries in her patch out back. She is the sweetest lady in the world. Ms. Betty. She has to be in her late 70’s and we saw her on our walk home riding her bike {!} to pick dandelions for her turtle’s lunch. She invited us over and we just enjoyed her company. She told us more about her life and her family. It was fascinating. We weren’t rushed to be anywhere so we just visited with her and soaked up the uninterrupted time together. Times like that are few and far between in our hurried and busy lives.

I thought there was nothing that could have made this day begin any more perfectly.

Until we arrived home.

I noticed we had mail and, as soon as I saw the packet from Dillon, our home study agency, I was overcome with a combination of joy and panic.

Joy because I had been waiting for this packet to come for weeks. It was our final, approved and notarized home study.

Panic because I thought it would arrive on Monday or Tuesday. I wasn’t prepared. I had left our I-600a application and cover letter at my office last week thinking I would get the home study and mail it off sometime during the week.

So, I frantically retyped our USCIS application and cover letter, grabbed our home study, our birth certificates and our marriage license and raced out the door. {Dave stayed home to put the boys down for their nap}.

It was 11:30 at this point.

I rushed to the bank to have two cashier’s checks issued to accompany our application.

As soon as I pulled into the bank, I realized that I didn’t know who to issue the checks to. How could I not have printed these off last week?? Frustrated at my lack of preparation, I called Dave to check it out online. He couldn’t find anything so I made an assumption and had them issued to “USCIS.”

I ran out the door and headed to the Fed Ex office to mail our packet off. As I was filling out the “to” section on the shipping label, Dave called and alerted me that he double checked in our AGCI workbook and we needed the cashier’s checks written to the Department of Homeland Security.

WHAT?!

I dropped my pen and raced out the door. The poor guy behind the counter must have thought I was a complete lunatic.

I sped back to the bank and was confronted with a five-person deep line.

I waited in line VERY impatiently. I was even annoying myself with my loud sighs and pacing back and forth.

I prayed. I apologized for not planning ahead and asked for God to get this application in the mail. I turned it over to Him. I was gently reminded that this will all work out in His time. Not mine.

The bank teller was an angel on earth and rushed to reissue the checks for me. I wanted to jump over the counter and give her a hug but there was no time.

It was 12:12 and the last Fed Ex pick-up for the day happened at 12.

Knowing that there was little hope of getting this out today, I still raced back to the Fed Ex office. Rushing in, looking all kinds of crazy, I yelled, “Did I make it?!”

I had! The pick-up was late!!!

I snapped a quick photo before handing over six months of hard work to the frightened kid who unfortunately came to work that day. He definitely thought I was crazy.

I had a date in my head since the beginning of this process: May 14th. That was my goal to have our paperwork complete. We almost made it. Our USCIS application (last bit of paperwork) will arrive to their office on the morning of May 14th. Pretty awesome, right?

Next up, fingerprints and then shipping off our giant dossier packet to AGCI. We are SO close, I can taste it!!!

And, I can’t forget to mention, when I arrived home from what felt like a audition for “The Amazing Race,” the house was CLEAN and the boys were asleep. What else could I possibly ask for on this Mother’s Day weekend?? Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all.

“Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:4 (emphasis mine)