Orlando and the Great Date Experiment

Ok, so thank you to my cousin's, April and Amy, for their recommendation for the Great Date Experiment, created by the Buckhead Church here in Atlanta. I LOVE things like this, and I am always up for an adventure, and if it adds a little fun, romance, surprise, and spice to our marriage--even better!

Check out the link above to get in on the action yourself, and if you don't want to ruin the surprise for you and your spouse, then stop reading here, go print off Date #1, and have some fun!

If you just want to follow ours, then here we go.....

So for starters, you are technically suppose to do this alone with just your spouse, but since we are here in Orlando visiting my sister and hubby Tim, we decided to double-date for our Great Date Experiment=) Which actually turned out rather fun and interesting, plus we got to know more about each other as a couple since we felt comfortable enough to answer most of the questions in front of each other. It really was a great evening.
Tim was all about making this as much of an adventure here in Orlando as possible, so for step #1, we all piled in the car and decided on Panda Express for Spring roll appetizers. Dining on a Dime we opted for one Spring roll each=) We decided to answer all the questions listed--brief rundown:
Question: I get a kick out of watching you _______.
Tim to LA: The funny faces you make when trying to recover from forgetting something or messing up, and worshiping.
LA to Tim: How you really enjoy interacting with other people and really getting to know them in a conversation when you're really interested in them.
Joey to Jennifer: When I'm watching you from afar shopping or writing or on the computer and you talk to yourself when you come across something funny or interesting, and you make faces like "Ooooo" and "Ahhhh".
Jennifer to Joey: Out of watching you play with Savannah because it makes my heart smile.

Some butt squeezing occurred as suggested, probably not quite as was meant...
On to the next stop on our adventure, piling back in the car....(Tim was enjoying his little "Mamacita" while Joey was lovin' on his "Gansta Baby" although we decided it was funnier to refer to the kid in my belly as that=)
...we decide on the food court at Millenia Mall for entrees. Both couples shared meals from the Bistro Connection and bonded over some more serious questions, which was cool to see how God was working in each of our marriages.
Next, we had 20 minutes to closing time in the mall, and a budget of $4 to find a meaningful gift for our special someone. LA and I headed out in one direction as Tim and Joey sprinted in the other. Considering this was a higher-end mall, this was NOT an easy task, but I think we all did pretty good. Here's the result....
Tim for LA: A butterfly dresser knob from Anthropologie which reminded him of the butterfly kite he used to propose to LA.
Joey for Jennifer: A ring dish from Anthropologie because I'm always looking for a safe place to put my rings and especially my diamond earrings when I take them off...somewhere I won't forget. (Both boys get extra points because the gifts were from a store we both love AND they were gift-wrapped!)
LA for Tim: A magnet with a manatee on it because he loves magnets and manatees--two favorite things in one=)
Jennifer for Joey: A bookmark with a beach scene because he reads a lot of books these days in school, and now every time he looks at the bookmark he can remember all the times we've spent making memories on a beach somewhere: Atlantis Resort, Virgin Islands, trips to FL, etc.
From there we head out for dessert with lots of kissing in between=) Each couple decided to split an Arby's Jamoca Shake, but trying to take the picture on a timer in the car on the way home in Tim's stick shift made for an interesting end to the evening. Good times nonetheless!From there we answer a few more fun questions about each other, then end the evening with step #6 which has us kiss on each step into the house, which turned out to be much fun since Tim and LA live on the second floor of their apartment complex =) Heh-heh! All in all, we had a GREAT evening, and I would highly recommend doing this for any couple out there looking to liven things up or just do something different to recapture those dating/honeymoon days. Much fun was had by all!

And so it begins....

Recap: From my 16 week appointment to my sonogram at 20 weeks--gain of 10 lbs--sad times....
From 20 weeks to 24 weeks--gain of 5lbs.

I officially feel huge, and this kid has me craving food ALL the freakin' time!!! People, let's do the math here...I have THREE more months to go and only 20 lbs. to spare to keep me from surpassing my goal of NEVER weighing more than 200lbs. in my life! I am seriously feeling way larger than I ever felt with Savannah, and I have the WHOLE ENTIRE SUMMER AHEAD OF ME!!! Ahhhhhhh!

So not only does my freak out happen on a daily basis and is my own personal battle, but let me recap the last 24 hours:

Airport security guy, checking my I.D.--pauses, looks at me, reads my driver's license, smirks, then proceeds to say,"Put on a little weight have we?" Big smile. He obviously thinks he's being funny, and granted my license does say 135lbs.--don't think I've weighed that since I was 15. So I give him the fake half courtesy laugh and walk away, screaming, "Crap it!" on the inside.

We are taking a little anniversary hiatus in not-so sunny, very rainy Orlando to see my sis and Tim by the way....so the story continues...

Publix check out lady, fairly young, smiles, "So when are you due?"
"Oh, I have the rest of the summer ahead of me, September 8th." I smile courteously.
Publix lady, eyebrows slightly raised, look of concern and surprise, "There's only one in there?"
"Yes, only one." I smile between gritted teeth, and turn to leave, quickly retrieving and shoving my intensely craved chocolate covered glazed donut in my mouth as I sulk back to the car. Dad gum it, why not at this point, right?

Sigh...and so it begins...let's see just how many of these fun little tidbits of "people saying stupid things they have no idea what they're talking about" I can collect over the summer. Should be fun=) At least something should be, right?

What's your "things people should really think about before they say it" story? And yes, April, you win, you are definitely NOT pregnant! =)

Motherhood...

Awe the many signs, marks, insignias of motherhood...sigh. =) Thank goodness for OxyClean!

The strange part...it's such a perfect ice cream handprint, I almost don't want to wash it!

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

So, on the scale of rating holidays, Mother's Day is number three for me. (Christmas being a month-long celebration at #1, all traditions and outings included & of course, my birthday must be a national holiday in our home!) But ever since being blessed by God to be called a mother, Mother's Day is definitely an event I look forward to celebrating. And let me just say, my husband did an AMAZING job! Much thanks to my brother Mark as well=)

The day started out with me being greeted by my little 19-month-old walking through the bathroom door with a card in one hand and a box of Godiva Truffles in the other. She was all too excited to hand them to me with a big smile, unfortunately, that was probably the best smile I was going to get all day, as she quickly passed me up on a kiss and ran back to "Dada." So for her, Mother's Day was just a practice run for Father's Day because she was all about her Daddy, but I can't complain. One day she'll know to smile in pictures with her Mama too=)

Joey was awesome! He more than made up for Savannah's disinterest and slight brattiness toward me. He attempted to get some good pictures of Mama and daughter, as you can see. We enjoyed church together with my little bro Mark who tagged along since my parents were in AZ. But after church, the feast-de-resistance' was on!

Joey had bought and prepared all the groceries for my Mother's Day meal. He found a Moroccan steak rub recipe online and prepared it himself, along with a salad, Sister Shubert's yeast rolls, and some specialty cupcakes he got from a bakery in Buckhead. But the most fun was watching him and Mark attempt and succeed at baking twice-baked cheese potatoes--a family classic. They did a great job, and Mark hopped in there like a pro with the blender!

So by noon we were all seated at a beautifully set table using my best china and enjoying our feast, and did we ever enjoy. Everything was amazing! So good in fact, I think we all wanted to take a nap within 15 minutes of eating, but Savannah was still going strong. So we entertained her for about another hour while Joey took care of the dishes as well, then it was down for one of the best naps I've had in a long while. Savannah even slept for 3 1/2 hours!!!

We ended the day by heading over to Aunt Debbie's for a swim--Savannah's first for the season--and boy do we have our work cut out for us! She was terrified of the whole process, so after 2 minutes in the pool, she was back out. Ten minutes later after she stopped crying, she attempted to play "a little" in the walk-in section of the pool, but not for long. Oh, well, another day perhaps. Let's just pray she warms up to the concept before we hit the beach!

We joined Aunt Debbie, Uncle David, Amber, Meema, & George for Sunday night hot dogs, then we all took a little detour to Cobb County's local FroYo place that just opened on Barret Parkway, YogoDay. It was absolutely delicious! Who would have thought that strawberries and chocolate chips go good with frozen yogurt...mmmm...yum=) The perfect end, to the perfect day=) Thanks to my amazing husband for going the extra mile with everything...including my gift card for a massage=) YES! Can't wait to schedule that!

The Love of My Life

Eight years ago today, Joey and I said our "I do's" in the chapel at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, GA. He had won my heart after only three months of dating, but it took another six months until I got the proposal, then 11 months to the wedding, but we finally made it--with many a story to tell--and today I can say I love him more than I did then.

As each year goes by, we take the good with the bad, we laugh, we cry, but we always have a whole lot of fun. Everything--even the things that push us apart for a while--inevitably draw us closer together in the end. He is my best friend, my confidant', and the only man I have eyes for. He has my heart, and he works hard at protecting it, even to this day.

"Thank you Lord for a man who loves You so completely, that he in turn is able to love me so well."

So why do I love him so? 1) Because he's a man of integrity that seeks the Lord in all he does, in every decision he makes. 2) Because he makes me laugh and smile and enjoy life. 3) Because he's as handy as I am creative=) Check out some of his most awesome accomplishments in the last two years:

Installing bead board in Savannah's nursery along with the window molding

Creating a "box" for my washer and dryer--works just as well as the $500 one you'd buy.

Building garage storage to hide the clutter

Not to mention he can fix almost anything on a car and figure out how to use any tool properly. He's definitely my Joey-of-all-trades=) On top of all that, he's a spectacular father to Savannah. Every dad should spend as much time with their daughters as he makes time to spend with her=) So, as usual, I could go on and on, but I think I've sufficiently embarrassed him enough for one blog post.

Joey, I love and respect you more and more as the days pass by. Never doubt that!

Happy Anniversary!

From Me To You=)

Savannah sends you all a kiss, just to make you smile=) Love this girl! All is well, here in P-town. No news is good news. Hope everyone is having a fabulous day, or at least a better one now that you've smiled=)