Wordless Wednesday - Baseball Season has begun!

(Dave's first homerun in about 10 years, first game of the 2012 season, he hit it outta the park, and then some! It's one of those things that makes my heart swell. )

Make sure you check out the other Wordless Wednesday Posts at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday Baby

Yes, he's 40, isn't he adorable?

To see other Wordless Wednesday posts go to 5 Minutes for Mom

Love Words Monday

(areyouonmyside/tumblr)

Saturday Quiet

Dave and I get one weekend a month to ourselves. No kids, no rules, nothing for two nights.

It's our date weekend, our times to go to bed late, wake up early and not live on any one's schedule but our own.

So this morning, we got home around 4am, crawled into bed and woke up sometime around 10am. After tossing around the idea of what we were going to do with the rest of our day, he requested a picnic. Subway, drinks and sitting outside by one of our reservoirs and talking.

So we did.

We went the the reservior, got a yearly pass (which is a great idea if you have kids. A beach, playgrounds, fishing areas and boat rentals that only cost 24$ for 2 hours, how can you beat that?).

Of course I brought my camera, and got some amazing shots of our day!

All about me in 30 days - Photo that makes me happy

I take tons of photos a week.

It is rare when I find one that I truly love.

This photo was taken before my beloved Nikon came into my life. It was before I knew what true photography looked like.

This photo speaks volumes to me, and if we live to be 100, this is how he will always look to me.

(Our first date at his house, he made me chicken stuffed with rice and peppers)
August 29, 2008

On the mend....

Hi all!!

If any of you are on my Facebook you know that I am on the mend from surgery. Not a big thing, an umbilical hernia, which is pretty routine though the healing process is hard for me to handle sometimes.

I can't pick up anything over 15 pounds.

I have to take it easy.

I am a mother of seven kids who need, hugs, kisses, baths, have nightmares and get hit by their siblings.

I am a mother that loves to grill, sits out on the back porch and takes photos, enjoys washing my girls hair and snuggling with Dave.



Thankfully.. I'm in love with a man who makes me root beer floats, carry's the laundry up and down two flights of stairs and trims back the tree in front so I can watch the kids play.

I have the best caretakers in the world... so I'll be up and moving in no time!

Falling without tears....

I have always had a great sense of direction

No matter where I ended up I could always find

my way back to me.

It took over a year of me-time before I saw him

He wasn’t someone who’d been there all along

Just someone I might have run into in passing.

I never knew him before we met or knew the man he’d

Left behind when we did finally cross paths.

I am thankful for the man he is now

Inspiration

He was the one I never knew I was searching for.

The One that existed despite my attempts

To find him under rocks and in the “comfortable”

Places I had been looking.

My sense of direction is a spinning compass

I get lost in him.

Orions Belt and The Big Dipper are no longer

Guides for me.

I am me…. He is he…

Together… We

Project 52: Week 7 - Romancing the Space

~Sorry I am so late on this one! Promise I’ll try and stay on top of it every Tuesday!~

Valentine’s weekend was the start of our date night this past week.

We took off Friday the 12^th and spent the day trying to pull out of “missed expectations” in a funk. But we went to Lowe’s, grabbed some paint, some colors for the exterior of the house and got settled into our night at home.

What I wanted for Valentine’s Day was to get the master bedroom done. I have had this Zen romantic room in mind and the start was removing the past. Dave got started before me…. He got the bed out of the room, old pictures and mirror off the wall before patching holes and sanding. The “accent” wall was done when I got back from driving my kids to their father’s house.

~Last Valentines Day~

Then we started painting together and talking… the talking was the most important part for us. We talked, painted… sometimes each other and thoroughly cleaned the room. The carpets got vacuumed, old books and picture frames removed and suddenly. It was done.

~Valentines 2010~

The room was clean, the walls were painted and perfect, it felt like a new space. “OUR” space.

I can’t tell you how awesome date night was for us… now, we went right to sleep in an exhausted stupor, however waking up and curling around one another was so nice Saturday morning. We have a ‘clean’ space, the energy has changed, we are sleeping better and the romantic feeling is palpable.

Lesson #7: Make a space that is for both of you. One that you can lie down in, relax and enjoy the energy.

*******************************************************

Have you joined in the Project 52: Date Nights challenge?

Waiting to Wait

I find myself in this strange purgatory in my life.

It feels as if I am waiting to wait….

We are immensely lucky that we both have our jobs and they are safe in this economic environment. My school district is doing cuts that are numbered in the millions of dollars and Dave’s work is shifting positions to expand their distance of demand.

With that said… we are in a holding pattern of our life.

Our time might become a bit more limited and our family life is going to shift. For the betterment of our life… perhaps… we will both be taking on new responsibilities as parents and having to learn how to cram our life with the kids into the few hours we can.

We will also have to learn how to be partners with one another on a different level. We have one of the best relationships I've ever been in, he is selfless, caring and dedicated to our family. It is not as if I'm worried about anything right now, but I don't want to ever be in the position where I would.

Getting in those few hours here and there that we can, with my non-profit that will be started in a few months, Booster club duties and being a mom and his baseball, work and being a dad… we will have to learn how to be “us”.

Date nights are a priority; we need to have that time to ourselves where we can remember why we fell in love. Going away for the weekend to a quiet place, sitting on the porch next to a river or even just camping in the backyard are things that need to become the norm if this shifts the way I think it will.

Again, I am waiting, waiting to see what will happen.

Patience has never been a virtue of mine, I’m a girl that takes a hold of something and molds it around my life, or my life around it. I’m in a holding pattern and I have no idea what I’m doing.

Luckily… I’m a focused girl, so once I put my mind to something… it happens.

So it will.

Monday Mingle - November 23

This weeks Monday Mingle was brought to you by myself and Dave this week.

Yes... the wonderful and beautiful Dave is joining me with the video log this week. (Isn't he a doll?)

I might have to promise him food next time!

I hope ya'll enjoy!

Open Birthday Letter to You

Dear Dave,

A year ago tomorrow I was driving to your house for a date.

It was the first time I'd be at your house, the first time that something came up that I had no idea what to do. What do you give a guy you met two weeks before, and it's his birthday.

I stood in the card isle and debated. "Funny? Cute? Cheap? Chocolate and flowers? Beer?"
What do I get this guy that say's... "HEY... you are awesome, I dig talking to you on the phone until 3am. We are newly dating and I'm not a stalker"?

Yep.. a card.

You made me a dinner of rice stuffed chicken on the grill, we drank, we ate and talked until all hours of the night.

(This picture was taken a year ago. Sept. 29, 2008)

Little did I know that we'd be repeating the dinner the next year, living in the same home, and words of "Love", "Future" and a family full of children. We are a family now, a family that has their share of issues however, we are happy.

With our past year coming to a close and the next year beginning.. I hope you know how much I love you!

You have been a rock for me. The strength that could overcome mine when I needed you to step in. The hand that blocked things from happening when I didn't see what was ahead and the one man who could open my heart without forcing it.

Thank you.... To you for allowing me into your life, To the powers that be for allowing us to be together. You have given me faith in love, in the future and a wonderful beginning to my greatest love story.

Love until my last breath,

Lily

Romance

This is my warning to all of you.

Here is it. The next few weeks are full of romance, and love, and just a bunch of silliness that I usually try to keep to myself... however... It must be fall, there must be something in the air, because I'm feelin' it!

So.... Get ready for the week!

The first installment is incoming!

Much love to you all!

One year!

365 days ago I went on a date.

I had been officially single for almost a year and a half.

I wasn't looking for something other than someone to pass the time when the little ones were with their dad. I had three days a week that I could do something different, something other than sit at my desk in front of a computer until all hours of the night.

My darling friend Ms. Single Mama clued me in on a dating site Plenty of Fish. It was free, I had just deleted my yahoo dating profile and taken down all the others, however this one seemed a bit more promising a less anonymous than Craigslist.

I saw his profile. He was holding his son, they both were smiling and seemed carefree. I needed someone fun in my life so, I wrote him a quick note, funny, witty and went to bed.

A week later we ended up next to one another, and a year later, I woke up next to him.

It has been a surreal trip, we seemed to be on opposite ends of the spectrum and somehow ended up meeting in the middle.

So... with that said.... Happy Anniversary baby! One year and more to come... you are everything and more.





Now for those readers who didn't know me a year ago.... here are the posts of our first weeks together. He was amazing enough to put his side together for me when we first started dating, on his own, without me asking... perhaps I have a blogging partner? It's a thought!

Enjoy!!

She Said- Part 1
He Said- Part 1

She Said- Part 2
He Said- Part 2

She Said- Part 3
He Said- Part 3

She Said- Part 4
He Said- Part 4

He Said- Solo
She Said- Solo

She Said- Part 5
He Said- Part 5

Love Sick.... Not for the weak of heart....

I’ve never been Love sick, in fact I had no idea that the term even existed until I was blog surfing this morning.

How can love make you sick? How can love make your stomach ache, your heart feel like it’ll break at the next breath or you to start shaking like you haven’t eaten in days?

(Picture belong to this site)

It happens, it’s real… it’s how I’ve been this past week.

Dave and I are coming up on our one year anniversary of dating and this fact has turned my head and my heart on end. I couldn’t figure out what I was feeling, I’ve been speechless about how I feel next to him, I can’t seem to explain in words what I experience when he gives me that coy smile.

Our date nights still seem to be as they were for us in the beginning.
The first three hours is us trying to unwind from the week, and slowly… we migrate towards one another. We end up with the bedroom destroyed, sweets and nachos littering the counter and a mixed drink sweating at the edge of the counter waiting to be consumed….

Nothing has changed in that year, in fact, it’s grown.

We started jogging together last night; I’ve never jogged with anyone before. The sound of dual footfalls against the concrete, our breathing in the quiet night and a bit of conversation and most importantly… our time.

We found a moment for us, to do something, for us. I’ve never been a jogger; I just started about a month ago, and stopped… He asked me a few nights ago if we wanted to start jogging together. He asked… the man that hates to run….

I’ve changed. Not on purpose, not because he asked, because it’s what happened. I am not the same woman I used to be… that is how it’s supposed to be, I’m better than I’ve ever been.

So yes, I’m Love Sick… Thankfully there is still no cure.

Celebration - Isn't it time?

I’ve been mulling this thought over in my head, A thought that things should be celebrated in life.

I celebrated this morning when I pulled my daughters out of bed, put a kiss on their soft cheeks, inhaling their sweet scent and spoke to them as if they were the only ones in the world.

Everyday should start off like this, for them AND for me.

I have been reading Natalie’s blog, she’s a BEAUTIFUL person. Her birthday week started and she’s taking full advantage of the fact that she was born. Why?... Because she can… because we all should!

So… I started thinking.

Dave’s birthday is in a few weeks.

He doesn’t want anything; he doesn’t want a big deal made out of it.

But I do!

He’s the one who makes me laugh, the one who tries to fulfill my wishes and hopes. He’s the man that gives me butterflies; I need to do something to show him that I am so happy everyday to know he was born.

I used to think that all I needed was to create my birthday for ME! .... I can, I did it for the past two years… but, I want something more, proof that someone else was thinking about me. Who doesn't want that?

Natalie has four tips for Birthdays

Tip #1 - Personalize it

Tip #2 - Feel fabulous

Tip #3 - Create family traditions

Tip #4 - Get your husbands to give you the birthday you deserve.

I think they are tips for all people, Tip #4 works for husbands as well.

What do you think?

How do you personalize it? Do you take a picture of yourself every year so you can remember?

Do you dress up and feel beautiful on your birthday?

Do you sing Happy Birthday to family members every year? (My father sings to me every year, and I know when he passes, I will miss this on my birthday!)

Do you know how your significant other wants to spend their birthday? Have you asked his/her parents what they used to do? Have you told your husband/wife what you want/expect?

Don’t let another day to by… tell them now.

I just got off the phone with his mother… now… it’s time to ask him.

Happy Birthday to all my friends…. May you have someone in your life that gives you the birthday you deserve! If there is ANYTHING I can do…. Just ask… I’ll even call you up and sing “Happy Birthday” to you…. But NO ONE needs to hear that debacle!

Stolen Moments

It was a simple night.

Like that place was put there for us… we had driven around looking for a place to eat, splashing in puddles after the ark-like rain that had flooded out Jake’s t-ball game and there it was… like a beacon for two hungry drifters.

We laughed, caught up on life and forgot any drama that had come up after a month of hard work on the house. The sangria was a pitcher of bliss for us, sugar rimmed with subtle tastes of cloves and fruit lingering on our tongues. When we left… we were relaxed and reconnected once again.

(Picture done by: Wistfulwanderer)

Finally got back home, it was getting late and the alcohol had started to wear into our minds, promising a haze of sleepy thoughts and playful antics before we settled in for the night.

I will never know what it was that engulfed both of us. The hue of dim cobalt, mellow music lulling us to romantic thoughts or the soporific words of adoration; It is one of those moments that will always be etched into my memory, an aimless interval, stolen, treasured…

6 weeks until moving day

Hey all.. I know.. I've been quiet lately.

*Between getting thing set up for this Bloggy Birthday Bash in July
*Trying to figure out how to make a button (Anyone help me here? I am LOST)
*Getting packed up to move
*Painting and assisting a little with construction
*Keeping up with my bloggy friends

I have been a busy girl. As well as the kids and work.... AHHH....

But.. I do have pictures.... not many.. but a few with more coming weekly.

This first set of photos is of the toddlers room. The color was supposed to be a little browner, however came out more yellowish. Amazingly, it looks great. Dave likes the color and I have images of little girls in swirly white dresses dancing around their new room when it is all decorated!

In reality, it will be little girls in shorts, food on their face and hair standing straight out running around putting their grubby hands on my new paint job. Yep.... the reality makes ya cry!

Before
(The room was almost a greyish color, I never realized it until the yellow went up. The closet had not been painted before, so it was a clean slate for my additions. Oh.. and we are taking off the doors to the closet to put up fabric like "princess style" curtains.)

Before

(Faith looking rather bored because of all the taping and covering up of windows and doors I was doing. She just wanted me to get onto painting!)

After
(It looks all grainy because I was taking a picture in a non-ventilated room after I had just used the paint sprayer on the walls and there were particles in the air. Needless to say, Lilith did not sleep well that night.)

Today I am painting the ceiling to repair what I painted while doing the walls.. I am a dork :)

I will put up pictures of the basement bedroom in a few days (It is almost fully framed) and show it all coming together!!

Shakespearean Romance

“Not looking for Romeo…..”

(Photo adapted from here)

I wasn’t looking for him. This Juliet did not think he existed, so when I put my ad up on Plenty of Fish, I thought the title was fitting.

Romeo rode in on a white horse with a boyish grin, bright eyes and a positive outlook on life around him. … He didn’t exist.

Romeo spoke with passion about things he believed in and learned to fight without being cruel…. He didn’t exist.

Romeo loved with abandon, fighting against the world around him to be with the woman he loved, no matter the obstacles… He didn’t exist.

Romeo could mingle amongst his friends throwing verbal jabs and fit in at business perks with me and our kids…. He didn’t exist.

Romeo could fix anything with a few tools and brain power and with the same hands, touch my face, pull me into an embrace and make me feel safe… He didn’t exist.

(Image from here)

I was wrong….

Eight months ago I met the Romeo I wasn’t looking for…. He is all that and more…

Some things are meant to be.

"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story - baby just say 'Yes.'

Love Story
~Taylor Swift~

My boyfriend

I am not sure if I have bragged about my boyfriend today

Here are a few reasons I love him...

He sends me e-mails that say...

.....I am not sure if I have told you today: I love you. You are my queen, my moon. The object that orbits with me and brings the balance that I have desperately needed in my life. You bring light to the darkness.

(He's gonna kill me for showing that to the world... heh)

My next reason will take a little longer to explain.

Dave had been thinking hard and long about a Christmas gift for me.
He wanted something personalized, something that had meaning to us.

He found this....(Younger Scandinavian Futhark Alphabet, Runes)

He wanted a necklace that had the "D" symbol in it. However... he could never find the site that had it.

He finally told me about it, and after research it was put on the back burner to these amazing Lava tears from Iceland (LOVE THEM!)

....until Saturday.

He decided to make it himself.. and implemented the "S" at the bottom. He got a fence post (and chiseled the design in it) , his soldering tool and some solder and made this...





He says it's just a prototype.. he want's to make it into an necklace... I think it's perfect.
It's raw, intense... I love it!

It will one day be a tattoo!!

New Years Celebration

Tomorrow is New Years Eve!

I always have a party every new years, usually at my house.

This year is different. G is having a New Years party and this should be awesome!

So... Here is what I wanna know.

*What are you doing for New Years Eve?
*Who are you kissing at midnight?
*What traditions do you have that you do every New Years? (I love Margelina's!)

*If you are going out, what are you wearing? I wanna see pictures.

New Years Eve I will get to Dave's late afternoon to spend a few hours with him, get ready at his house, smell good and head out to G's.

I have not decided on what I am wearing, however it will probably go very well wish a pair of pink heels I've been wanting to adorn my toes with :)

Then.. we will bring in the New Year together. I really, really can not WAIT for midnight to come around, I can not imagine spending a New Year better. Party with some friend, drinks, food and a beautiful man at my side... ~swoons~ Ok... I've gotta stop! I'm getting a bit school girly! ;)