All His Many Expressions

And lastly, I know this is not an expression. I just thought it was too sweet to leave out. =)

Running Update

I mentioned a little while back that we have been training for a half. Well in 4 1/2 weeks we will be running our first one! EEEKKK! To say I am excited is an understatement.

In case you might not know, a half marathon is 13.1 miles.

Saturday will be an 8 miler for us.

I think I love running so much for many reasons (ie the way I feel, it gives me time to think, it's good for the heart etc) BUT I really believe my favorite reason for running is that my husband loves it too, and loves to run together. It is important for couples to find things they enjoy doing together. This is one of ours.

And I must say our sweet little bundle of joy is such a good boy while we run. He loves the changing of scenery, the bicyclist & roller bladers (yes it is CRAZY how many people roller blade up here. D & I are convinced it is because of hockey) passing by.

Right down the road from where we live there is a 9 to 10 mile loop. Its a really beautiful run. Refreshing, ever changing and flat out enjoyable. It makes running worth it.

This past Saturday as we set out for our long run, we noticed an influx of people. There typically are more people out there early on a Saturday morning, BUT this Saturday it was crazy. As we got to running, we approached people cheering and passing out drinks. Come to find out, it was people training for the Chicago marathon next month (the one we were suppose to run in but it filled up the day we signed up...ugh...not bitter just wish we were running in it).

Okay thats it. I'm exhausted and my bed is calling my name.

Mae

*On the M.O.V.E*

warning: lots of pictures below with my random ramblings in between

Little man is loving to walk/run on his own.

In fact, it is becoming more difficult to get pictures of him now unless of course he is being held...which he is wanting less of these days :(.

So I need to be honest here. I {almost} lost it this morning as I dressed him for church. Putting him in those jeans made me realize he is LESS of a baby now and MORE of a toddler. Our little guy is growing up, and as much as I want him to grow, it is breaking this mama's heart!

I mean he even has big boy shoes. But this is life.

Since we seem to have so few *family* photos because well...lets be honest...madie (our boxer) is not exactly qualified to snap a picture :), here is our best attempt.

Love this last one of my boys!

Okay not much to say here tonight BUT did want to share some recents photos. More posts to come throughout the week!

mae

Wordless Wednesday

mae

Give your kid an oreo...

and see what happens. mine loved it!

Why are you looking at me like that mommy?

So curious of this delightful treat!

He's a genius! Saying Oreo and all ;)

I think in this last one he is saying "Thank You Mommy!!" (or at least I can dream a little right?!)

No I don't do this every day or even often for that matter. BUT I had the urge today. Honestly I can't believe I actually gave him one because of his behavior. That boy is picking up on things too well these days (this is a good thing, but in our situation it is not). You see when we are at dinner and food is dropped on the floor or we are done eating, we will occasionally give Madie (our boxer) what hasn't been eaten. Our little stinker now wants to give her ALL his food. He thinks its funny/a game. WE on the other hand do not.

He also has this thing with throwing his sippy cup once he's done taking a sip. Today we were at Target and he flung it across the store. I was not only a little annoyed but EWWW the floors are most likely filled with germs from all those shoes touching it.

Okay off of my soap box.

E-man takes after his daddy liking those oreo cookies. When it was all done he fussed because he wanted another.

mae

Will he be?

An Auburn fan (like ME)

Or an Alabama fan (like D)

No one really knows now, but we do have fun dressing him up in both (secretly wishing he will pull for one of our teams). Thanks E for going thru this for daddy & mommy (and our families) :)

One thing we do know for now is that he L-O-V-E-S his puppy dog!

mae

hmm...

I have had these two thoughts tossing around in my head for a couple of weeks. I need your help answering them!

1. Is it a southern thing to have dessert after meals? We go out with new friends up here often, or go to their houses, and after our meal it is almost like I EXPECT to have dessert. From what I can remember growing up we always did. So what do you think?

2. Okay this one might take a little more thought...I am a neat freak. Okay I said it. I like things to be cleaned and tidy. So (with the help of a friend) I started this cleaning schedule

Mopping Monday

Toilet Tuesdays

Washing Wednesdays

THUSDAY????

FRIDAY???

SATURDAY??

Saving Sundays (when I coupon..I know it's not cleaning but it fits)

**i do want to say here that when i say mopping that includes cleaning pretty much the whole kitchen. toliets means the bathroom. for instance yesterday for washing wednesday, i not only did all our laundry BUT i reorganized our closets as i put the clean clothes away.

SO any ideas for Thursday, Friday & Saturday? I am silly and want them to correlate (the first letter that is). So let all those creative juices come alive...& spill!!

mae

Our little boy...

Is ONE! That right, I said 1. Where has time gone you ask? I am asking myself the same thing. This little dude is so full of energy.

As I look back over this past year, all that I can think of is blessings. NO it hasn't been a cake walk. I thought our kid would never grow out of spitting up all throughout the day. But sure enough as the doc said...he will! I also thought he would never sleep through the night those first few week...but he did! We have truly been blessed this year!

I love this little guy with all my heart and look forward to many, many years ahead!

Although we did a BIG birthday bash while we were in the south, I only thought it was right to bake his a cake on his birthday and let him dive in! We got pictures & video, but our hard drive has ZERO space, so once we figure something out I will post those.

Eli did start walking about a week before his first birthday!

Thank you Lord for this little boy. I pray one day that he will know, love & serve you with his life!

mae

Of Late

I tried to think of a spiffy title, but i failed. this is all i've got. sorry.

(disclaimer-this is filled with just very random things so read at your own risk)

God continues to bless us with opportunities to share our passion for serving Him in France & spreading the Gospel. We are confident in His timing.

I feel like life is starting to get back to "normal" which is good. A routine is always a fantastic idea. Although it was really nice to break away and fly by the seat of our pants for a little while.

School for Daniel starts next week and I think I am more excited for him than he is (okay probably not but I am all giddy). He has a heavy load this semester, but I know he can do it. I hope to get involved (more than I did last semester) in the wives club they have for seminary students.

This past Wednesday & Thursday we had our friends in town. We had such a delightful time eating our little hearts out & enjoying the sites & sounds of a BIG city. I am not sure I have laughed that hard in a while.

We've been in this new place for 8 months now and I have been trying to express how I feel about this place. Well maybe I should restate that...how this place feel about us (southerners). BUT instead of me explaining this, I came across a blog when I was blog hopping (come on you know you do it...don't deny it). She articulated this feeling almost exactly. No I don't know her, but I can completely relate to how she feels. Each Sunday D & I take E to the nursery. We get stares and occasional we get the "what is he wearing" comment. He is a southern boy in his smocked bubble suits/jon jon's or his pilgram collars with of course monogramming. There is a sweet lady at our church that always complements on the smocking (because she smocks) and says "oh you are from the south. i want to go to see how all the little kiddo's dress." In saying all this, I really do like it here. I just sometimes feel out of place.

E will be one soon. We had his BIG party while we were in the south, so we will just do something small here. I seriously can't get enough of him!

Daniel & I are signing up (before it gets full) for a half marathon at the end of October. We are both PUMPED about this. As you may remember (or maybe not) we were training for a full, but when we went to sign up, it had already filled :( we were both really bummed to say the least and backed off on running. We are back now and looking forward to this half. I will keep you posted on our progress.

My sister and her husband moved to Florida this past weekend. I am really excited about their new adventure of running two businesses. I know they are excited about it too.

D, E & I will be heading to Colorado at the end of October. Our good friends are getting married & we are both in the wedding!!

Okay I feel like I am rambling, so I guess that's all for tonight.

mae

4 years...

(this is 4 days late...oops)

I feel so blessed to be sharing my life here on earth with my best friend! I honestly knew right away when we began dating 7 1/2 years ago that he was the one. I didn't know how great it would be though :) Okay sure we argue and have our disagreements, and adding a child & dog does make us disagree a little more at times ;) BUT I wouldn't change a thing!

This guy loves me for who I am. He encourages me in my walk with the Lord, and I LOVE the fact that he is my baby's daddy!

\

So much has happened in the past 4 years...

• we got married
• moved 3 times
• lived with both sets of parents
• I (magen) graduated college
• got our dog, Madie
• we both got "big boy & girl" jobs
• began raising support
• went to France!
• quit our "big boy & girl" jobs
• had a baby boy
• moved 4 states away
• began seminary...

and the list goes on!

the day we got engaged '05

the night before we became "Mr & Mrs"

geez...he is a hunk!

Thank you Lord for blessing us with 4 wonderful years! I look forward to many, many, MANY more!

mae