Old friends are the sweetest kind

We had the most fun surprise visit with Hugo, Juanita & Matilda a couple Sundays ago.  They were in town from Miami to enjoy the land of the Mouse for a day & decided to swing by their old neighborhood to pay us a visit on their way home.  Juanita let me know Friday night but we decided to keep it a secret from Charlotte until Saturday night. Once we told her, she could not stop grinning & kept saying "my best friend is coming!"

This sweet family has been so special to us over our years in Florida. We met when Matilda was 6 weeks old & Charlotte was just days old while out walking the neighborhood. This past fall we sadly bid them farewell when they made the move to south Florida.  Charlotte has missed Matilda soooo much so it was wonderful to see them together & introduce the babies. Hugo loves babies & lasted about 30 seconds before stealing Owen out of my arms.

Since we have missed celebrating all our birthdays together, we made some Triple Chocolate Cupcakes to enjoy. These three cuties were glad to have a candle to blow out as we sang happy birthday!

Eloise was even happier that Hugo has a sweet spot for her & did not turn down her request for more :)

Char & Mati look so old to me in the picture below....

We tried out the new bubble guns. I guess a more accurate statement would be that we tried sharing 2 bubble guns between 3 excited girls... There were tears & screams.

We also recently added a new ball to our collection so they all had fun jumping for it : ) 

Such sweet friends...

Oh my, these two were so cute hugging each other! It was like no time had passed.

The most heartbreaking part was on Monday morning after breakfast Charlotte was really excited & said "Mommy! I have a great idea! Let's go on a walk to Mati's house & we can play all day!" She was convinced they had moved back in around the corner.  I can't even describe the disappointment in her face as I explained they had only come for a visit.  So for now, we will catch up via FaceTime & look forward to another visit!

Love those Machesneys!

Back in the early 80's my parents moved from Dallas & bought their first home together in Kingwood, Texas. They happened to become next door neighbors with a couple that would remain close to their hearts for a lifetime.  Mike & Marybeth have known me longer than anyone other than my family & from what I hear, doted on me as a young child.... 

During my first year of life, they opened an Ice Cream shop in Kingwood called Chezzie's Cones.  This was before the time of Cold Stone Creamery and various other Ice Cream shops on every corner. They were one of a kind & quite popular! I got to be their model for the newspaper announcement of the grand opening    which occurred the day before my 1st birthday. Here is my mom & me in 1984....

I think Char looks a bit like her mama ; ) 

It was a sad day when the Machesneys moved back to Boston but over the course of time, many more visits would follow to maintain a special friendship. 

Mike & Marybeth added 3 to their family after moving away. Nick, Meredith & Elizabeth- such lovely combinations of their mom & dad. Here are the six of us in 1993 (or close to that year) when they visited Kingwood. 

Our last visit was in November 2010 when my mom, Char & I spent about a week in their home in Virginia while I was a part of my friend Amanda's wedding. See post here.  Now, here we are in 2012.  Mike & Marybeth just so happened to be in Orlando so Mike could attend a conference for work.  I was super excited when I got a message from MB wondering if we could get together while they were in town.  So, last Friday morning, the girls & I headed over to their resort to meet MB for a swim. 

The water was the perfect temperature & the girls LOVED the zero entry access to the pool. Although Eloise could crawl all over, she still enjoyed a little snuggling with Marybeth. I think someone else enjoyed it too ; ) 

We swam & swam & swam. Charlotte did LOTS of jumping in from the side of the pool. It was hilarious! She would shout from the side numbers at random sounding something like this..."9,6,3,7,4,2,1 LIFT OFF, YOU READY MOMMY?" I would shout back "I'M READY CHAR" & she would leap into the pool squealing the whole way. I was letting her go all the way under water with each jump & she did great. She had us along with the row of people catching rays in the chairs behind her laughing each time she prepared for lift off.

After swimming, MB treated us for lunch outside under an umbrella. Eloise fell asleep for a quick snooze in the stroller & Mike joined us after his conference finished up for the day. The girls were wiped out so I had to bribe Charlotte with a lollipop to stay awake on the way home : ) She made it home awake & in turn had a really difficult time settling in for her nap. Serves me right I guess, attempted bribery...that sounds like a misdemeanor ; )

Since our swimming & lunch date provided no where near enough time with this sweet couple, we convinced them to join us for dinner at our home.

They came bearing gifts for the girls...

Char had never seen a PEZ dispenser before & this picture makes me laugh! It's like she is thinking "all I have to do is lift this bunny's head & I will have a life time supply of sugar!"

followed by her face in response to some animal crackers that were also in the gift bag : ) 

We enjoyed dinner & some entertainment by Charlotte which included placing her ladybug headband on Mike.  You can tell this man has had some daughters in his life. He knew all the right things to say to a little girl dressing up as a princess & involving him in the process. He took it off once during our meal to let Charlotte wear it but she quickly insisted that he put it back on.  He wore it all evening, past the time that the girls went to bed. MB and I were laughing hard when he was standing in the garage with Rob discussing woodworking with those little antennae bobbing around : )

Another funny thing is that Mike kept trying to call me "Susan" (my mom) & Charlotte "Lauren."  I am guessing the resemblance in looks, mannerisms and laugh contributed toward that. He said he felt like it was yesterday that they were spending time with my parents & me.

The girls took to these two right away, like they were just another set of grandparents!

Ah, it was such a wonderful day! I called my mom that night & told her that I knew exactly why those two were their best friends.  They are sweet, genuine, caring people that are so enjoyable to spend time with. We are so thankful they were able to visit with us during their stay in the sunshine state.

Wedding of the Century

During the last week of 2011, on December 29th to be exact, we celebrated with Chris & Amanda as they committed their lives to one another as husband & wife. I call it "the wedding of the century" because it was : ) We have known Chris for a long time & have had the honor of praying for a wife for him for the past 4 years & God was SO good in providing such an incredible woman for him to join his life with.  Chris was actually a groomsman in our wedding...very fun to reverse! 

Our claim to fame is that they met at our house! Our friend Christine works with Amanda & thought that they may be a good match so yes, it was a set up, & a good one at that.  They got engaged in Colorado over the summer then came back to Orlando to plan away.  Theirs was the first wedding ceremony to be held in our chapel & it was beautiful. Rob was a groomsman & I was his wife, and an unofficial picture snapper per request of the bride & groom. 

We enjoyed dinner with the Lent & Molesky families in Celebration a couple nights before the wedding & then had a blast at the rehearsal & dinner.  We were childless for the wedding festivities thanks to some very sweet friends that spent many hours with the girls. 

Chris & Amanda were both in a state of delight, as they should be : ) Her entrance was my favorite part.  She chose the song "He's Always Been Faithful" by Sara Groves & had the recording played.  This song has been a precious part of our experience as parents. See why HERE.  After singing this song day in & day out to my girls, so much that Charlotte can fill in the words for me if I stop, I couldn't help but think about one of them choosing this song to walk down the aisle to some day if God sees fit that they marry. Charlotte requests it every night as "the piddy song" translated to "the pretty song." I agree Charlotte, it is a piddy song for a piddy bride!

Onto those pictures I snapped....unofficially...



the beautiful bride & the handsome groom



this might have been one of the best moments....Chris read his vows to Amanda which included "you are super sexy & hot!" Amanda loved it....as you can see : )



the Valentines

 We LOVED seeing some old friends including the beautiful family pictured below.  We met the Berghoefers when we visited Florida while considering moving here.  They hosted us for dinner & offered us encouragement as we were walking through an important decision.  We immediately bonded with them & couldn't wait to get to know them once we moved to Orlando.  Sadly enough, they moved to Maryland just before Charlotte was born for Bill to take a position with Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  We have missed them so much!

Chandler, Shannon, Bill, Luke, Logan, Rob & Me

So, the ceremony was just beautiful in every way & we were pretty sure the reception would be the same : )
Boy were we right! The reception was held at the Summerlin House in their outdoor terrace. 

The centerpieces- tissue paper flowers, dyed mason jars & personalized ribbon
I should definitely pin this on Pinterest : )

so beautiful

first dance

Another "sweet" idea of Chris & Amanda.... Instead of having a wedding cake, Matchmaker Christine was deemed "Christine the Baker." She organized about 8 of us to bake & decorate specific flavors of cupcakes that were then set out in this adorable arrangement with cards stating what we could choose from.  The table was complete with the banner. Also "pinable."

Me & my Jenny Girl

the table for the wedding party

We ate a feast & loved every bite then headed over to the dance floor.  Okay, for anyone that is unaware of my feelings towards dancing, here is the low down.  I will begin with quoting my husband "you danced like a mom long before you were one!" Hahaha this makes me laugh mainly because this statement is 100% true.  I am a nerd that likes to dance at home with Charlotte in the kitchen, perform a special show for family only when I am in a silly mood (one of Steve & Jenny's favorite nights at our house) or break it down all alone, memorizing moves from So You Think You Can Dance.  The bottom line is I will never look as cool as the rest of the folks on the dance floor & I am okay with that so I just have to get moving & then I have fun.  I did have quite the crew of girlfriends to be silly with so that helped.  I am just praying that I did a good enough job hiding from the video camera....if not I am sure Chris and Amanda will just smile & say "poor girl, what's wrong with her, did someone put something in her drink?"  Notice, there are no photos of me dancing...for a good reason : )

The Lents & The Valentines

Just after the Bride & Groom left, we had to snap a picture of the Red Raiders.  All but Tommy on the end went to Texas Tech at the same time & were part of  the nine30 College Ministry at First Baptist Church in Lubbock.  It was fun to catch up & get our guns up!



Me, Rob, John, Nick, Ben, Kyle & Tommy (the father of the groom)

We are so thankful to the Lord who brought Chris & Amanda together.  Both of them love Jesus & serve him in radical ways.  We have no doubt that they will be a great pair as they transition from single to married life & beyond.

I was quite tearful through those few days for a couple reasons. One, I am SO delighted to see them marry one another & could almost burst at the seams thinking about the many things they will experience together as they walk with the Lord through their life as husband & wife. Two, I experienced a massive amount of flash forwards.  Why is it that when your children are not even 3 years old that it brings you to tears to think about them being all grown up? It very much excites me to think about what they might be like as women or who they might marry but there is just something that makes your heart feel heavy when pondering all of these things.  During the rehearsal dinner, the bride & groom's parents along with close friends of theirs made toasts that truly affected my heart & my attitude towards parenting.  They thanked the bride & groom for being faithful to the Lord, for remaining pure & for not settling for anything less than what God had in store for them.  The friends of the parents spoke to the caliber of godly parenting that went into raising both Chris & Amanda.  The friends & family of the bride & groom shared time after time of the Christ like character Chris & Amanda each posses. God really used that evening to remind me of the importance of my role as a mother.  He reminded me that this journey of training my children to be godly is not in vain & that through His grace, we will not only make it but may see the fruit of our labor. We may someday enjoy an evening where we get to toast the bride & groom as parents who have seen a baby grow to woman who Lord willing, treasures Christ above all else & will make a wonderful wife because of that.  Who knows, maybe we will be the parents of a groom at some point too : )

Thankfully, my little ones are still SO little and I have lots of time to prepare for that moment : ) For now, we will anxiously await the arrival of the Lents back in Orlando.  They return from honeymooning in Canada tomorrow evening. Rob will be their limo driver from the airport to home.  Not really a limo, just an Expedition with car seats, crunched up cheerios & probably a diaper somewhere in there ; ) Just an ultra sweet taste of what may be to come for them!

Congratulations Chris & Amanda, we love you!

a week in the Livable Forest

Within our 2 week visit to the Lonestar State, we spent over a week in Kingwood at my parents house.  My mom & I drove the girls from Dallas to Houston & then back at the end of the week.  They did great on the 4 hour trip with only a couple stops.  My mom & I enjoyed the time to catch up with each other while the girls were either napping or riding quietly.

Our week in Kingwood was full of not only coughing & runny noses but also with LOTS of smiles, visitors & play dates. I think it will be best to remember the week in pictures.

Some after dinner smiles in the kitchen with Gaga. We always eat good when we go to my parents house although I guess Eloise feels like she eats good no matter where we are : )



Paw Paw & Eloise watching one of the many Rangers games that sucked us in for an entire evening only to disappoint us in the end. It was fun to steal the 1980's Rangers shirt off my old baby doll Amy & put it on my real baby!



Most of my mom's friends stopped by for sporadic visits throughout the week.  My mom has just the sweetest friends & it was fun to spend some time with them.  I think Mrs. Cox may have gotten the memo that the way to Charlotte's heart is through her stomach.....she brought her this absolutely delicious princess cupcake!

 One super fun afternoon,  me & the girls headed over to Cheryl & Joe's house.  Cheryl & I were college roomies from our first day until the week I got married.  We plowed through nursing school together with more laughs than I could have ever dreamed of.  We were in each other's weddings & then we ended up in Florida overlapping a year while Cheryl was in CRNA school.  She has since moved back to Kingwood & added precious Noah into the family.  Charlotte & Noah first met when Noah was only a month old.  They had much more fun playing this time around!  Charlotte called him "No-nah" the whole time....super adorable! We let the kiddos play & then Joe brought us home some yummy Pei-Wei we devoured while laughing about our college days & sharing how we are all adapting to the new stage of life we are in.  I love this family.



Char & No-nah





Haha, I am really not a very smart girl.  What was I thinking trying to hold a 30 pound kid on each hip? 



My how the times have changed : )



Lisa, Lisa, Lisa. Lisa was my very best friend growing up. She lived next door to me from the time we were 8 years old. Our birthdays are exactly a week apart & we spent an immeasurable amount of time together  as kids.  She makes time to see us every visit we take to Kingwood which I so appreciate! It is always great to spend a few hours together.  She surprised Elo with a new blankie...this is special to me because she gave Char a similar one when she was only a couple months old & she still sleeps with it every night.  I hope Elo will like hers just as much!  I will force her to ; )

 

Beautiful Lisa with Baby Elo



Another playdate during the week was with a couple girls that I grew up with, Karen & Bethany.  Our mom's all live within walking distance of each other & love talking about their grandbabies to each other : ) It was fun to spend the morning together although Charlotte had to miss out because of her awful cough.

Karen & Rachel with Me & Eloise.  Rachel is a couple months older than Eloise & as cute as can be!

Bethany is the mommy in this picture supervising her sweet Hannah who is holding Eloise.  Hannah will be a big sister next month to Charlie! She did a great job being gentle with Elo & Rachel.


Uncle Scott took a couple days off work to spend with us.  He stayed 2 night at my parents house.  This was so nice of him because he knew that the upstairs was full of crying, coughing babies & one exhausted mommy.  We were roomies in one of our old bedrooms. It was fun to stay up late talking....he always makes me laugh really hard.  The girls thought Uncle Scott was quite entertaining with his goofiness & funny sounds!  Charlotte gets really upset with him anytime he tells her "no" & starts crying & stays away from him until he wins her back with his silliness.  Oh Uncle Scott, we loved having you with us!





Happy girl & Happy uncle!



Playing Paw Paw's ukulele.  Just prior to this photo Uncle Scott did a very opera style rendition of "Jesus Loves Me" for Charlotte.  It was hilarious!

I love being at my parent's house. It is so relaxing.  It was a bummer for the girls to be sick but you can't beat having Grandma & Grandpa around to help!  My mom took over bath time for the girls, & my dad took over putting Charlotte to bed for the entire trip.  I think he may have read her about 12 books a night & spent lots of time calming her down for the evening. I enjoyed the little break from our usual routine, thanks Mom & Dad!

Charlotte & Matilda

I had to do a quick little post on this lovely pair of little ladies. Matilda is pretty much Charlotte's best buddy. Robby & I met Hugo, Juanita & Matilda in summer 2009 when the girls were only weeks old. They live around the corner from us & we met them while out walking with our new babies : )

The girls really started playing together more frequently when they were 9-10 months old. Here they are at almost 2! They look so old to me!

They love to hug & kiss each other : )

Charlotte seems to be happiest when somewhat bullying Matilda.....in this photo, it is by sitting on her lap, uninvited. Matilda's smile usually only lasts seconds before she is trying to push Charlotte off. I don't blame her : )

About 5 months ago, Juanita and I started our own little mini Mother's Day Out. We each get 4 hours of free time a week while the other gets to have a blast entertaining or being entertained by Char & Mati. They play really well together for the most part but we do have to help them share on a regular basis.

Charlotte has picked up any spanish she knows from this family. Juanita says that Charlotte can follow most directions in spanish which I think is pretty neat. She refuses to call water "water" & will only call it "agua." In fact, when we pull up to Matilda's house, I say "who lives here?" Charlotte usually says "agua!!" Neither of us taught her that but it cracks us up. She also loves Juanita's cooking. She refuses chicken at our house maybe 75% of the time but always has a perfect eating report when spending time with Matilda.

One other thing these girls have in common is that they love motorcycles. Both Daddies ride motorcycles & both girls wish they could : )

We are so thankful to have this sweet family living so close to us & look forward to watching the girls grow together for as long as we are both here!

Catching up with sweet friends

The last weekend in February, we enjoyed spending time with my good friend Amanda & her mom Ganene. Amanda is my friend that worked with me in Dallas & Orlando & then got married in Virginia last fall. Amanda & Ganene also invited me & my mom to join them on a Disney trip in January 2007. We did accept that invitation & had a blast : )

Anyway, back to the current year..... these two lovely ladies took a little girls trip to celebrate Ganene's 50th birthday. Robby, Charlotte & I joined them for dinner & dessert in their suite at the Bay Lake Tower. We had a perfect view of the castle & enjoyed the fireworks from our patio. Charlotte was in awe of each & every firework that went off. Too cute to hear her say "wow" or whoaaa."

Here are some photos of our time with them:

Here is the cake I made. I am awful decorating with icing so I have resorted to sticking scrapbooking things on top of the cake : )

The birthday girl with Charlotte

Amanda & Charlotte having a great time. Amanda hung Charlotte upside down by her feet about a million times. After each time, she would say "mah mah" while doing the sign for "more."

I love this girl....it is a bummer to live SO far away from each other!

One exciting thing is that I GOT TO SPEND THE NIGHT!! It was my first sleepover since becoming a mommy : ) We relaxed in the hot tub, (Just for the record I perched on the side every few minutes so I wouldn't cook Eloise too quickly) chatted & hit the sack early. I got to sleep in my own room, which made me miss my husband but I definitely survived with the black out curtains, freezing temperatures & cozy bed.

When Robby did some traveling last fall, he said that he slept with 9 pillows....YES 9 PILLOWS at one time! Leading up to Christmas he would say "all I want for Christmas is 9 pillows." This made me laugh but I was thinking, "Really? 9 pillows? That is ridiculous!" Once I laid down surrounded by 9 pillows I texted him & said, "we SO need new pillows, 9 each, at least!" Really though, I was so comfortable that even when Eloise was dancing on my bladder at 5 am I figured I would just hold it instead of trying to climb out of my little cave between all my pillows : )

I slept in until 8:30 (late for me these days), enjoyed a blueberry muffin on the patio while talking with Amanda, watching all those crazy people load up their strollers with ridiculous amounts of stuff heading over for a day of torture at the Magic Kingdom. We left before lunch, I dropped the vacationers off at Universal then headed to work to pick up some extra hours. This put me being away from my little Charlotte for over 24 hours.

I received this via text message part way through my day. I could not stop laughing!

Thanks sweetheart for letting me spend some time away! I missed you & Char so much.

Amanda & Ganene, we love your visits to Orlando & hope for one each year : )