Our Dancing Queen Turns One

We celebrated Millie's 1st birthday today with a Dancing Queen theme because of her love for music and dance! Disco balls, metallic star garland, and glow sticks were everywhere even though it was a small affair (just family and a couple of close friends). I made a strawberry crown cake with cream cheese icing that was a big hit, especially with the birthday girl. We also had finger food and party punch served in a crystal punch bowl that was a wedding present used for the first time. Patrick was our DJ, playing all of Millie's favorites including Ray LaMontage's "You Are the Best Thing", Train's "Hey Soul Sister", and Michael Franti's "Say Hey (I Love You)". The plan was to play Just Dance on the Wii but we couldn't get it so we improvised and just danced! She loved her presents but seemed the most excited about a small, white puppy that Caed picked out for her from the $ Store. It was a fun, fun day, and I look forward to many more birthdays with my girl!

Fun times with friends

We enjoyed hanging with the Gustavsons this week!

Some Pig

Today we celebrated the completion of our first read aloud chapter book, Charlotte's Web. We read a chapter a night for several weeks, and Caed loved it! It's such a sweet story of friendship.

We took a tour of Publix....

with the MOMs club on Friday. Who knew they even did this????
EXCITED about the hairnet or at least the fruit in his goody bag!
Raining on the produce.

Box crusher.

Coring a pineapple.
Checking out crab claws with Evan.

Soul Train- according to Patrick

This video was recorded while touring the Stax Museum in Memphis. Enjoy!

Cross Country- the sequel....

When Patrick and I first met, he was traveling with a company called CamFel. He traveled around and did assembly programs in schools. After spending some time together when he was traveling the South East and communicating via phone/email for about 2 years, he invited me to drive out to California with him to return the van after his tour ended. It happened to be my Spring Break from teaching in S. Ga so I joined Patrick and his tour partner Matt Burgess on a journey across the country. We were on a tight schedule so we all rotated driving/sleeping and didn't do much stopping. That is, until we reached the Grand Canyon. Patrick and I watched the sunrise and spent several hours together, talking about life and the possibility of sharing it. 9 years and 2 kids later, here we are.

Several months ago, Patrick talked to Mike (the director of CamFel) who informed him that they were selling the Ford cargo vans that were used when Patrick worked there. They have switched to a digital format show so they are able to use smaller vehicles to transport equipment on tours. There was 1 van left and Mike basically offered to give it to us. So we arranged caregivers for the kiddos (thanks Julia, GG, Kayla, Grammie, and Popa) and we jumped a plane to LA. The trip was amazing. We spent some time with Mike around CamFel, ate In-and-Out, drove up the Pacific Coastal Hwy beyond Malibu, stopped in Vegas for $12 worth of slots and roulette, ate more In-and-Out, took in sunset at the Grand Canyon, spent lots of time talking about kiddos/us/life/etc, enjoyed a Texas steak, visited with Burg as he showed us around Memphis, and made it back home in about 96 hours. I don't think either of us could have stood to be away from our babies for much longer, but it was nice to be together as Patrick and Stephanie again. Now I look forward to the day when we can make the trip again with 2 younger passengers!