Oh, It's Ladies Night!

On Friday night, Matt and Jason were WONDERFUL husbands and let Tiff and I go out for the night. It was great, we put the kids down, Tiff got gussied up (it was a last minute plan, and I was already in town in a plain t-shirt and jeans) and we headed down to the Rio! We were going to go to Guapo's on the water, but I saw California Pizza Kitchen and couldn't pass it up. We got seated at the bar, which for some reason always feels kinda trendy even if we did order a cherry coke and water! And we sat there for three hours just talking and eating a whole pizza each! Well, Tiff ate all but one piece :)

Now, to say I have spent a lot of time with Tiffany this year may be a bit of an understatement, but this is the first time we've hung out just the two of us without the kids. It made me realize how many times during one conversation we are interrupted by our kiddos. Not that that's a bad thing, it just made Friday night that much more fun. Three hours of uninterrupted fellowship.

Tiffany has been such a great friend to me this year, she's helped me walk through some of the things I've faced this year, encouraged me, challenged me, prayed for me, sat with me while I cried after receiving some tough news and rejoiced with me when we've received good news. When I think back to this year, my friendship with Tiffany will be one of the first things I think of and will always be thankful for. Why does Pheonix have to be so far away?? Well, at least it's a great place to vacation!

I will miss Tiff and all of the PC wives so much. I really wish I didn't have to pack so I could spend every second we have left here with all of the PC Ladies. I can honestly say I have learned something extremely valuable from every single woman. Each one of them is going to make such an excellent pastors wife. I am so excited to see and hear what the Lord does in each of their lives in the years to come. I can't imagine this year without any one of them. Thank you, PC ladies for sharing this year with me and teaching me so much!

A Fabulous Saturday

Yesterday was a GREAT day! My morning started off by going to Old Navy with Tiffany and her girls for $1 flip flops! I mean, if that's not a sale, I don't know what is! The afternoon was low-key, just me and Case hanging out. Then Matt came home and it was a beautiful evening, so we went for a nice long walk with Case. For dinner, we grilled chicken and potatoes and had some apples, I love summertime dinners like that! We sat out on the deck for a long time just talking and playing with Case. We got him a soccer ball and some wiffle balls and he LOVES them! We rolled them back and forth and chased them off the deck when Case threw them sporadically. I love my guys! It was so nice to spend the evening as a family and made me a bit excited for my husband to be done with classes (hopefully for a long, long time!).

Best Decision All Year

Hands down, the most brilliant thing I have done the whole year happened at our first Saturday morning meeting with Betsy and Julie. In order to get to know each other, Betsy had each of us go around and share what our favorite dessert was. Several of the ladies shared things like baklava, cheesecake, tiramisu, etc. Well, I was the very last person to go and I said, my favorite dessert is chocolate chip cookies. Any day of the week I would take chocolate chip cookies over a fancy dessert.

Since that day in early September, I think I have had probably close to 300 chocolate chip cookies made for me! You may think I'm exaggerating, but truly, I'm not! Little did I know how wonderful this little decision would be. When people invite us over for dinner, they've made chocolate chip cookies as dessert, when people made meals when Case was born or when we were struck with Staph Infection, what did they make for dessert... you guessed it, chocolate chip cookies!

This wonderful trend continued on my birthday when not only did Jen Lockhart make me a plate of chocolate chip cookies, but also made a huge chocolate chip cookie/bar thing as my birthday cake, it was delicious! To all of you wonderful PC ladies, my lips say thank you, it's been delicious, my thighs on the other hand, say in a sarcastic voice, thanks alot!

The Next Step in our Journey

Matt and I will be finishing the PC year with a big question mark for our future. At this point, we don't yet know where we will be heading off to, so in the mean time... we get to move home! Back to Minnesota to serve at Sovereign Grace Fellowship as we continue to pursue a couple of options. To say I am excited about this is a HUGE understatement! I can't wait to find out where Matt will be servingand we will be moving to, but since we don't quite know that yet, there is no place better than HOME! The amount of time we will be in MN will depend on how quickly things move along with where Matt will be serving next, so I guess it's anywhere from 1 month to 6 months. And we just found out we will be living with the best roommates EVER, the Eikums! We lived with them for the two months before we came to Maryland and it was so much fun! I can't wait for grilling out, softball games, tiger sauce, a million other things and maybe a little 'So You Think You Can Dance' for us girls! They are such a wonderful example of hospitality and selflessness as they are again opening their home to us - and this time we have little Case to keep us all entertained! Eikums, thank you so much for serving us in this way. Matt and I are thrilled to be moving back in with you two! And we are THRILLED to be able to spend at least some time with all of you who we love so much back in MN. Ah, a MN summer! Tonight I will be dreaming of tubing, wake boarding, grilling, playing bocce ball and best of all, Case's first Twins game!!

1st Mother's Day, 28th Birthday

Wow, what a day! This was my first Mother's Day and it will be so memorable! It was also my birthday which made it for an extra fun day. Matt and I are going to celebrate my birthday tomorrow, so I get two days in a row! After church, the Hansen's and the Lockhart's came over and we grilled out/they surprised me with Taco Salad (my all time favorite)! For dessert, Jen made a birthday cake that was a huge chocolate chip cookie - again, my favorite! During dessert, the kids all shared one thing they were thankful for about their mom, Matt shared on behalf of Case - so sweet! Then, and this was the best... the Lockhart's wrote and sang a song for Jen, it was so cute! While I missed my family so much today, it will always be a great memory to have spent my Mother's Day with these amazing families. After the Dad's cleaned up, we spent the afternoon lounging in the yard, playing frisbee, catch, spinning games, etc. It was an absolutely beautiful day!

Micah always plays with Case, he's so great!

Hannah and Bryon
Sweet Katie
Our little family!

Staph Infection: The Sequel

MY TURN! ughhhh... yep, that's right. It was probably only a matter of time, and it happened... I got staph infection. Oh, but that's not all. I got a virus similar to strep throat - Matty described it as my throat looked like it was covered in freezer burn. It was miserable! Basically on Tuesday morning I had a little scratchy throat and thought I was maybe getting a cold or something. We went out to dinner to celebrate Cinco De Mayo with the Alexanders and I continued to feel worse and worse throughout the evening. By the time I got home I had a temp close to 100 and that's when it hit me, I probably had staph. Sure enough, I had a bump - small at the time but doubled in size by the time I got to the hospital. One great thing was, Besty came along and kept me company at the hospital so Matt could stay home with Case. How sweet is that! I mean, not many people get three hours to just sit and hang out with Betsy Ricucci. Although, by the end of it, I don't know if I was exactly coherent. My temp had gone up over 101, my whole body hurt, it was just bad. I came home, tried to sleep and woke up Wednesday morning feeling worse. So my dear friend, Emily came over and took care of Case and I for the day. I basically slept until 4pm, only waking up to feed Case. My day was something like, sit up and think about getting dressed, lie back down for 10 minutes, sit up and put shirt on, like back down for 10 minutes, sit up and put pants on, lie back down for 10 minutes. It was rough. Thursday was a tiny bit better, but finally by Friday I knew I would live to tell about it. I'm just thankful I am feeling well enough to celebrate my first Mother's Day as a mother (not to mention it's my birthday) tomorrow!

The Cool Crowd

Finally!! I have become one of the cool PC wives! How, you ask?? Well, by getting one of these...
Who knew $6.99 was all it would take! I can hardly wait to fit in at lunch after gym day!!

Big Smiles

Case got his first tooth a couple of weeks ago. I didn't even notice he was teething until he was chewing on my finger one day and I felt something sharp, and there it was, his first tooth! Easy! No fussyness, no diaper rash, no running nose, nothing - the tooth just popped up no problem. Well, the next three came in and it was quite the different experience. Poor guy! He was fussy all day long, slept horribly and had a constant runny nose. But they've popped through, and my baby is happy again and looking even older!!

Case showing off his bottom two teeth...

and showing off his two front teeth!

Uncle Kevin

One of the great things about being here in Maryland is, it's where my mom grew up! My mom lived in DC until she was 18 and went off to college in MN and some of her family is still in the area. So Matt, Case and I have had some great opportunities to hang out with my mom's brother, my Uncle Kevin. Some great memories include, helping us move in, having a crab feast at his house, him being the first person to meet Case... and like last weekend, Kevin sometimes joins us for church and then treats Matt and I to a delicious lunch. Although lunch usually consists of Matt and Kevin talking about theological issues WAY above my head! It's been great spending time with Uncle Kevin and he'll be our only family at Graduation!

Kevin and Case (9 days old)Kevin and Case (7 months old)