Happy birthday Daddy

Today is a very special day...the birthday of my beloved husband (and his twin sister Anne - Happy Birthday Anne!  We love you too.)!
I am so thankful for this man and his life.

His mom and dad did a wonderful job raising him to be a man of God.  They taught him to be loving, caring, honest, and hardworking.

I am so thankful that almost 14 years ago he picked me to be his girlfriend.
I felt like the luckiest girl in the world and I still feel that way.  He is truly the greatest person I know and the best dad.

The boys think he hung the moon and I agree with them.
He is truly our hero.

Happy birthday David.  We love you and are so proud of you.

Memphis recap - from Instagram

A quick recap of Memphis from my Instagram pictures.

We flew to Memphis on Friday, May 11.  David flew home with us so overall it was a good trip.  Playing man on man is a lot better than defense.
There were lots of pancakes made at Yaya and Dingdad's house...
a perfect baby shower for one of my best friends...
a wonderful Mother's Day spent with my favorite boys...
Lots of visiting with my precious son...
lots of cuddle time and book reading with the grandparents...
lots of adventures with the grandparents... 
playing hide and seek with Yaya...
seeing my girls graduate high school...
driving around Memphis with Austin's beloved "Mimi" hanging out... 
playing with good friends...
visiting the zoo...

and buying a home...

It was a great trip and we are so thankful for the many blessings we have in our lives.

Wonderful Memorial Day Weekend

I know I have a lot of blogging to do from Memphis but I thought I would recap our Memorial Day Weekend first.

We started our weekend with a quick scooter ride to the grocery store.  We looked like quite the bunch with 2 kids with helmets on sitting in the buggie plus 2 scooters on the bottom of the buggie.  The cashier gave them stickers and they proceeded to put all 6 on their shirts before we left.
After dinner on Friday night we took another scooter ride to a little place down the street that serves Gelato.  (I am well aware that my kids eat a lot of ice cream but its something everyone enjoys so oh well).

We woke up Saturday morning and headed to Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA.
It's only about an hour away and a great beach. It was super crowded because of the weather (88 degrees) and the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend but we still had a great time. The boys love playing in the sand and wading in the water.

After the beach we stopped at Russell Orchard which had great ice cream, wine, apple cider donuts, and tons of farm animals. The boys loved this as much as the beach.
Sunday we went to church, took long naps, and then took an afternoon bike ride to the Charles River. The weather was perfect so it was such a nice bike ride. David pulled the boys so I really felt like I was getting a little quiet time without 2 little ones behind me talking nonstop.
Monday we put the boys down for an early nap because we took them to a Red Sox Game that afternoon. This was Miller's and my first Red Sox game. We had a blast!  Again, perfect weather and the boys were so good.  They both loved watching the game and enjoying lots of game snacks (another ice cream =)

It truly was a great weekend! A great kickoff to hopefully a wonderful summer in Boston.

 *All these photos were taken with my phone so there will be posts soon with pictures taken from our camera.

Five for Friday

1.  I didn't really watch American Idol this year but I saw this song pop up on my newsfeed and took a listen...oh my goodness.  It is so good.  I have been thinking a lot about home lately.  Home being Boston, home being Memphis, home ultimately being Heaven.  Makes you think.  Where is your home?


2.  I helped host a baby shower for my best friend.  Halley is due with twin girls (original due date was my birthday-pretty awesome) but probably will have the girls beginning of July.  I am going to be the best aunt in the world!  Can't wait to meet these 2 precious girls!


3.  My precious high school girls graduated from high school.  I have been with them since 6th grade so it was definitely monumental in their lives but my life too.  These sweet girls have seen me at my highest and also my lowest.  They remember so clearly the 55 days we had with Forrest and his life made an impact on each of them as it did mine.  I am so proud of them and truly honored to be a part of their lives.


4.  Super pumped to have 3 days with my husband and boys.  We are heading to a Red Sox game tonight.  Should be a fun weekend.


5.  While in Memphis I spent some time at Forrest's grave site.  Always bittersweet to go but it allows me to reflect on his life and legacy.  I am truly in awe that God would pick me to be his mommy.  What a joy!

MIA

So sorry to have been so MIA these past few weeks.  The family took a trip to Memphis to try and find a house (along with a ton of other stuff...baby shower, graduations, Mother's Day, play dates...more on all that later though).  We did find a house!!!!  We are super excited about it and completely see God's hand in having the perfect house at the perfect time for us.  So far everything has gone smoothly so for that we are so thankful.

There will be lots of posts coming up about our 11 days in Memphis but I had to post about something I received in the mail when we returned.  Our good friends the Harrison's had a quilt made after they lost Evie of some of their favorite things of hers.  It included clothes, blankets, lovies, etc.  I fell in love with it when I first saw it and knew I had to do something similar with Forrest's stuff.  All of his blankets, clothes, and lovies were stored in a tupperware that I couldn't bear to let the other boys use but couldn't get rid of.  I sorted through it and sent it to the friend that made Evie's quilt.  It took a while because she is so busy making children's clothes and monogramming but the wait was worth it.  It came on Wednesday and it is perfect.  She did such a wonderful job capturing our memories with our sweet boy.

I love how she incorporated his name and dates.

This was his Halloween outfit.  He was my lil punkin.  

One of our favorite nurses, Jay, made him two shirts.  One said "God has big plans for me!" and one said "Jesus loves you...but he loves me more!".  Nancy was afraid to put those in the quilt because they were made by Jay with just a sharpie and probably would wash away in the wash so she stitched those sayings instead.  I love it.


I keep looking at it and remembering the 55 beautiful days I had with my son.

The picture below shows the white blanket and little tag lovie.

This picture shows the polka dot blanket.

The striped blanket and blue blanket with a train in the corner.

Another of the polka dot blanket. 
The train blanket.

The forest blanket.

Oh how I miss him and long to be with him again but I am truly so proud of his life and legacy.  What a treasure this quilt will be in the life of my family!