Gaver Pumpkin Patch

VA Vineyards & Chloe's Birthday Party

Since we've been married we've been wanting to go wine tasting, but have been unable to due to pregnancies, nursing & newborns :) Since none of the 3 are currently an issue, Danny and I were able to enjoy the Day at the Hillsborough & Breaux Vineyards with our friends & wine tasting pro's, Eric & Kallie.  It was such a relaxing day and we couldn't have asked for better weather & company :)

And we had the family over for Chloe's 1st birthday...

 proud grandmothers

 

all this singing for me

 pinterest inspired pompom cake

 loves chocolate like her mama

Honored guests

cleaning crew

The Big 1

Chloe,

Here I am thinking of you on your birthday...
How you put large handfuls of spinach lasagna in your mouth, then in your eye, then in your hair and have no clue what an absolute mess you are
How I can't change you fast enough and have to put the diaper on as you crawl away
How you fell asleep in my arms last night for the first time since you were a newborn
How determined you are and how you climbed your first step after 5 minutes of trying
How quickly you can climb up the steps
How playful you are and your adorable laugh
How you love watching Noah and crawl after him
How you shout and squeal when you are happy
How you cry when you have to leave the tub
How much you love avocados and anything with a crunch to it
How you love the sand
How you crawl to my feet in hopes of me picking you up
How you sniffle back at me when I sniffle at you
How you say"mama" and "uh-oh"
How pretty your eyes are
How much you have made us love having a little girl
How I love holding you
How I'm going to miss these days tremendously!
Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

4 Years & counting!

We celebrated our 4th year Anniversary a little late this year due to the crazy summer and a little girly who loves her mama too much.  Danny and I went out for dinner at Volt in Frederick.  We had special seats in the kitchen right in front of the chefs!  We ate a 21 course meal over 3 hours and went home hungry :)  I soon realized that the chef in front of us often cracked the celery macaroon and would have to start from scratch, so I worked some magic and became his garbage disposal for a short period :) Yummy! We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot.  

Thank you Danny for a wonderful evening and the best 4 years of my life! Thank you for loving me FAITHFULLY.  Thank you for the way you have been "washing me with the word" in your prayers and encouragements.  You have served my soul through those emails you write me in the morning or during your lunch hours.  You make me desire the truth more.   I am so grateful that we get to share the rest of our lives together here on earth and then through eternity!  I love you.

August

In August we did our annual trip to Bethany Beach with our parents.  We had a challenging-ly wonderful time. (At least we can say that now after coming home early with 2 sick kids).   Long story short we came home feeling like we really needed a vacation.

However, we were courageous enough to brave the beach again for Labor day weekend, this time with the Devries and their 2 girls.  It was called our "redemption weekend" and indeed it was redeemed.  Although, I think we owe the Devries a redemption weekend from redemption weekend.   The kids had a wonderful time playing on the beach, playing with each other, riding the rides at Funland, and just experiencing over- stimulation. Noah loved every minute digging in the sand, jumping in the ocean with Daddy, walking on the boardwalk, and doing it all with his best friend, Makenna by his side.  Grace abounded and they played so well together.  Chloe really loved sharing the baby pool and veggie straws with Kaelyn and crawling in the sand.  The first time we went she only wanted to eat the sand, handfuls at a time. As for the parents, we enjoyed nap times and bed times.  We enjoyed our times at the beach and several games of Settlers of Catan.  I think our highlight was when we all went into the ocean at the same time even with the little ones.

A special THANK YOU for Dave and Hannah for making that weekend possible and memorable.  There were sacrifices made during that weekend and we so appreciated your joyful hearts and your selflessness. You guys are a guaranteed good time.

And to conclude the summer, our garden was so successful thanks to my hard working hubster!  We've enjoyed an abundance of tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, carrots, green beans, peppers, and lots of herbs.  We have a watermelon growing too! Noah loves to water the garden and pick the veggies with Daddy.  He's more excited to eat them too.  He's growing up too fast and we're trying to keep up with his appetite.

No better way to end the day

I had a rough evening today.  Once the kids were down, I started to clean up after dinner.  I haven't been turning on the monitors much lately.  Noah, as of this week, comes downstairs when he is up and proudly says, "I get out of the bed by myself mommy."  He just figured out he can climb over his bedrails :) And Chloe was born with quite a set of lungs, and she will make sure everyone knows when she's up.
Anyways, I like to turn on the monitors now just to hear their sweet voices when they put themselves to sleep.  Chloe hums herself to sleep with an occasional "yaya."  And Noah has become a little musician.  He loves to sleep with his guitar and sing to sleep.  And tonight, he cared for my soul reminding me as he sang, "God is so good, so gooood to me!" and repeated it over and over for 20 minutes.  It was just what I needed. Thank you buddy for reminding me of truth this evening.

Missouri

A couple weeks ago we flew to Missouri to visit our good friends Jerry & Emily, and their 2 boys Grant & Harper.  We had such a great time and the kids had so much fun together.  I think the highlight was when Emily's parents kindly watched all 4 kids (during waking hours) while we went out for dinner at a really yummy restaurant.  It was great catching up with them and we both really wished they lived closer.  Despite our distance, no direct flights and increasing number of children, we hope to get together again!

Chloe misses Harper

And this picture here (above) has it's own story.  Noah really enjoyed this car ride.  It was 50 cents well spent (so we thought).  We later realized that it wasn't only the car ride that he enjoyed, but the process of putting the coins in the machine was most exhilarating. Here's how we know.  I often let Noah play in our car while I'm in the kitchen doing something.  I can see him through the garage door, and he can pretend he's driving for a good 30 minutes.  (When I later go to use the car, all the signals, lights and wipers go off.) Anyway, he had an exceptionally good time the day after we returned from MO. It was 90 degree weather and I had to force him inside our home.

The following day I took the kids out and was disappointed to find the CD player not working properly.  That's odd for a Toyota, I thought.  I let Danny know, and being the handy man that we think he is, he quickly discovered the problem.  He had me peek inside the cassette player, and there I saw the shining edges of what was once my toll money jammed inside.  EVERY SINGLE COIN. Danny spent 2 hours taking 4 dollars worth of change out, and they weren't all quarters :) Good thing real cars don't start that way! Until next time...