Happy Birthday to Amy!

One of the girls in the picture above is turning 30 TODAY...can you believe it?  I cannot.  Because, if she is 30 then we are not kids anymore...really, it has been a bit since we were playing soccer, or dancing or cruising to Sonic...but both of us being in our thirties sounds very...um...mature.

Amy is fabulous at surprises and she surprised me with tickets to Tina Turner (!) when I turned 30 so we wanted to do something really fun to celebrate her big birthday!  An adults-only trip to NYC was perfect...Lucy and Eli stayed with Kay & Fred and Avery stayed with Mom & Dad...many thanks to them for making it easy for us to get-away for a few days!

Since I'm not-so-fabulous at surprises, this trip wasn't a surprise and actually involved months of Amy's travel input.  She and Matt reached out to all of their Bank of America NYC peeps and got awesome tickets (GO YANKEES!) and yummy restaurant reservations.  Chris declared himself "Master of the Subway" and guided us through the city on mass-transit with no problems...he also did that in Paris and London a few years ago...he is seriously good at that...which leaves me wondering aimlessly with a Starbucks in my hand...it was all good! 

I remembered that Amy and I had posed for a picture at the Statue of Liberty museum in the summer of 1986 when we visited NYC with Mom, Grandma and Uncle Phil.  I see that Amy still has that great smile with the raised eyebrows (that's how you know she is really enjoying herself) and I've left the high-tops at home.

On Saturday morning, we met Hunter and Suzanne to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and have breakfast...it was great to catch up with them and hear about their NYC lives! 

We toured the Statue of Liberty...we ate Magnolia Cupcakes...we shopped...a lot...we toured the MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art...we ran in Central Park...we saw a fabulous show, "Love Loss & What I Wore", with Stacy London (you know, from TLC's "What Not to Wear")...and we cheered for the Yankees and/or The Red Sox!

After our dinner on Saturday night, we decided to go sing karaoke!  It was awesome!  We were all impressed with Amy's ability to sing Jay-Z's part of "Empire State of Mind"...who knew my sister (or should I say "sista?") could rap? 

I'm hopeful that our trip made Amy feel special and celebrated...she is a wonderful Wife, Mother, Aunt, Daughter, Friend...and, to me, a dear Sister!  I still cringe when I think about how I would tell Mom that I was too busy to pick her up from Junior High, then go driving by with my friends in my car (obviously not busy)...Amy was way cool then and I hate that I didn't realize it!  Lucky me that she forgave my teenage selfishness and recognized my potential...I'm so glad we get to be part of each others lives!  Happy 30th Birthday Amy!

Sweet Celebrations!

Kay's birthday was earlier this month and we all got together to celebrate!  I asked Lucy what she enjoyed doing over at Grammy's house and she said "eating Starbursts and playing with my purple bunny."  Eli and Lucy always enjoy their time at Kay and Fred's house...they like the cuckoo-clock, the sandbox, and rolling cars!  Over the summer, Eli learned to say "Grammy", "Kelly" and "Grammy's house!" 

And, over the past few months, we've celebrated our friends' new babies!  Carter's baby brother, Owen, was born at the end of May and we met him in Texas in July.  Owen also came to Lucy's birthday party!  Then, we showered both Nan and Amanda in anticipation of their bundles of joy!  And, Alice was baptized!  My devotional Bible says "We celebrate because our lives overflow with things to be thankful for, and because God gives us the eyes to see how incredibly we have been blessed."  

In like a lion...out like a lamb...August re-cap

Our first few weeks of August were busy with birthday celebrations!  Eryn and Cammi visited and it was a wonderful weekend filled with giggles!  They also visited us the first weekend of August last year and we always celebrate three special birthdays...Eryn's on July 19th, Lu's on August 13th, and Cammi's on August 19th.  Our two-year tradition is that I take the girls to a local cupcake shop and they pick out a cupcake for their Birthday Celebration! 

We did more than eat icing...but I didn't snap any other pictures...we were too busy cooking, playing dress-up, experimenting with make-up, shopping, and visiting the zoo! 

Then, Amy and Avery stayed with us for a week!  Amy was "working" from our house...which was really impressive considering how to she had to work around nap schedules, children with no volume-control, and sound of the washing machine in our study...somehow she pulled it off!  I was thrilled to have Avery here for days so I could snuggle her...she now sits at the table, eats lots of yummy food, and loves to roll all over the place!  I continue to think her personality is well-suited for a job on a submarine...she is not at all bothered by the very close, constant contact of her loving cousins.  :-) 

Then, Matt, Mom, Dad, and Grandma arrived for THE birthday party...which wasn't until the day after the actual birthday...which took a lot of explaining to the new 4-year old.  But, we did have a proper birthday dinner (with singing!) on the 13th! 

Our last few days of August were very slow.  Lucy continues to be fascinated with face-painting and Chris lets her practice on him! (Father-of-the-Year Moment) 

And we found ourselves at the pool in the evening and it was very peaceful.  Chris has had some vacation days and that has been wonderful!  We usually don't spend much time at home together...of course, we have weekends, but by the time you include activities and church, that's not a lot of hours at home.  We're usually traveling when he takes vacation days...or at the hospital having a baby...so we're enjoying just being...as I like to say "where be is the action-verb."