The man he is.

Today is Dave's 52nd birthday. Birthdays around here are celebrated, we put forth the effort to make them feel extra special. On that note, Happy Birthday, Babe! We celebrate you, you are a gem, one of a kind, and we are all lucky to have you.

We have spent the long weekend doing fun family oriented activities, it has been great. The weather has been amazing. We have filled Sully's sand box which has provided him with endless hours of fun. The best part about it is that Dave is just has happy with his butt in the sand as Sully is. Like father like son. Dave and I went out for dinner last night at Parker's, our favorite restaurant. We are going to grill pizzas on the grill tonight with my parents and then enjoy Dave's favorite cake, which I just finished successfully, no small feat (I have failed in the past).

As we sat at dinner last night, I laid it on thick to Dave, no holding back my love for him and my appreciation of us. It is so important for him to know that we know how lucky we are to have him. I rocked Greta to sleep yesterday for her nap and took some time to read through all of our initial facebook messages to each other in the week leading up to our first date. We are lucky to have those. It brought me back to the nervous days, the anticipation of wether we would see each other at work, and if we did, how I would compose myself while he was around. Then I walked Greta near the window and looked out at our backyard, then pinched myself. In my dreams, I hoped for this life. To find an old perfect house in this amazing neighborhood, to fill it with my family and to make it my forever home. I never knew dreams could come true, but thanks to Dave, I have that life I yearned for and it is amazing. Busy and stressful, but really awesome. It is great to have a husband who enjoys laying on the living room floor, with our baby between us, talking about how great she is, who during his downtime, or before bed, looks through his phone at all of the photos and videos we have taken of the kids, who is willing to take a turn walking Greta in the early hours of the morning, who acknowledges and appreciates the amount of work it takes to be a stay at home mom, who refills my water glass at all hours of the night, who picks out music for the moment and for the people who are visiting, everything is intentional from him, who finds the right key before giving me the whole ring when I am going to unlock the door, who warms my toes, who loves my family, who sends me flowers, who checks in, the list goes on and on. We hit the jackpot when it comes to husbands and daddys, and we know it.

Almost sitting (Dave is holding her hand), 6+ mos.

Sully in the sand.

First time with double stroller. Worked great! 

Nap time for Greta girl.  

Family pic at McKennan Park.

Farmer's market flowers with my sweet boy. 

Tulips and the bundt cake. 

My handsome dinner date. 

Dave and his two kiddos.
Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

Staycation

Dave had the week off of work this week and we stayed in Sioux Falls. As we were eating dinner, we were rehashing the activities of the week and it is amazing we are still awake. We were busy; I worked one day, speech therapy, we had meetings meetings with the contractor, architect, HVAC, doctor's appointments for the kids, a dental appointment for Dave, Dave went to Yankton for a night, dinners with friends, a graduation party, the Avera Breast Cancer Race, Mother's Day, and a slew of other activities. It has been wild, but we feel very accomplished.

A few of the highlights include a better than anticipated time for Dave's 5k, lots of time on the swing set and a really nice Mother's Day for me. I was able to get to the flower shop today and plant all of my pots before we had a nice rain storm this evening. Now I just need to cross my fingers and hope for no frost this week. The kids also had great check ups last week. Greta's 6 month stats are as follows: height: 26 inches (62%), weight: 15lbs 4oz (31%), and head circumference 16.75 (54%).  Sullivan's two year stats are as follows: height: 33 inches (21%), weight: 24lbs 6oz (12%) and head circumference 19.5 inches (76%).

Greta Girl, 6 months old. 

Smiles on the swings. 

Family photo at the Avera Race. 

Group photo, the Munces and the Olivers.

Daddy helping Sully carry the Mother's Day gift. 

Luckiest mama. 

Summer is in the air.

I am sitting on my bed, its 1:35pm it is so quiet. The house is clean and both of the kids are asleep in their cribs and Dave just left for Yankton for a 24 hour get away. I just keep looking up and looking around to make sure I'm not missing something. Although it is only temporary, it is so peaceful that I had to quickly capture it.

We have had a busy and fun week around here. We met with the Birth to Three program on Friday and found out that Sully did indeed qualify for speech therapy. It was such an ambivalent feeling. I would have been sad if we had not qualified because I want to help him in any way possible, and I was sad to find out that he needed help. We start weekly sessions on Friday with our therapist, Suzy and it will go up until his 3rd birthday. Im so excited to hear what is going on in his little mind. He is so silly and loves to play. What a great little boy he has become. We are so proud of him.

We went to my mom's art opening downtown on Friday evening. It is really fun to watch people walk in and see all of the colors and rave about her wonderful work. She gracefully and humbly accepts the compliments. I love to brag about her. We also had Art's Night at the Washington Pavilion on Saturday evening. Its a night we anticipate every year. Once again, my mom had a piece auctioned off, and like usual, it was one of the most sought after pieces (yay mom!!). We got into a couple of bidding wars over the art we were most in love with and were happy to walk away with our favorite piece.

Greta girl turned six months yesterday. I cant believe how quickly time is going. She seems so big already. She is not quite sitting up, but will be in the next couple of weeks. She is smily and happy 99 percent of the time (the other 1 percent is certainly due to those two front teeth which are so close to coming through). Although life is really busy, I can't imagine doing it any other way. Dave and I talk so frequently about how lucky we are. Two perfect kids, we really couldn't ask for much more.

On that note, it is now 2:15 and Greta is squeaking. My short lived quiet time is up :).

Anna and Greta, matchy match :).

Swing set fun. Greta is 6 months old! 

Dave's mini me, and he couldn't be more proud
(if you cant tell by the look on his face).

Art's Night, proud to be sitting with one of the artists! 

Art's Night