Well, at least *I* am home for good.  Brian’s off to Boston on Tuesday to race with another team in a 4-day race.  He’ll be gone for a week, and we’ll miss him TONS.

But our weekend trip to Memphis was great fun.  Brian got 7th today, and he finished up 8th overall for the weekend.  The $$$ didn’t quite pay for the trip, but that wasn’t the point.  We had a fun time with our friends.  The kids enjoy race weekends infinitely more when they’ve got people to play with.  Besides Lauren and Anna’s company, we met 2 girls from Missouri, and the 6 of them played happily – VERY happily – for 2+ hours today during the races.  It was fabulous.

After the bike race, we enjoyed a fun lunch at Red Robin with an old college friend of Brian’s.  Bert and his wife, Stephanie, were wonderful lunch companions in spite of our exhausted and overwhelmed kids.  Poor Analise collapsed in my lap when the waitstaff brought out balloons and an ice cream sundae and sang to her.  She was so tired, she didn’t know what to do with herself. 

After celebrating Analise’s birthday several times in the last 6 weeks, she woke up today and asked, "Am I 4 now?"  "Yes, dear," I replied, "you are finally actually 4."   (She loves to use the word "actually".  It’s so cute.  Who’d expect a 4 year old to be saying, "well, no, actually, I don’t know where Josiah’s train is."  Huh!)  We’re having Brian’s family over for dinner tomorrow for the LAST celebration.  I’m going to make a nice fluffy pink cake and let her toss all the pink and purple sprinkles on it she wants

I can’t believe I have a 4-year old.  Where does the time go? 

Beautiful family photo by Corrie Haffly. 
She’s taken photos of some of the best moments in our lives!

Four years ago we were beginning a long, long day. I don’t remember much of it, but I know your Daddy was stressed and tired. But at 10:35pm, you burst into the world and all was well. We’ve all grown so much since then!

Right before our eyes, you’ve grown into a joyful little lady. Singing, dancing, imagining, laughing, loving, always up to something. You’re full of wise analytical discussions, and I can already see whispers of your Daddy’s super-sharp mind in your questions.

Of course, you love to ride your bike. You’re disappointed to find out that there’s no kid’s bike race when we’re at one of Daddy’s race. But you dive right in with your cheerleader attitude as we watch Daddy go round and round… "Go, Daddy, go! Go, Daddy, go!"

You love an audience. If there’s anyone around for you to talk to, you’ve got to be telling them about Dora or lately, of of Josiah’s latest mis-adventures. And when Josiah’s hurt, I’m never sure who hurts more – you or him!

Of course you’re into princesses now, which I find so appropriate. You love to find a willing partner to wear the tiaras, dress-up gowns, glass slippers and play with Belle or Ariel.

Analise, my sweet girl, we love who you’ve become. We pray everyday that you’d continue to grow in grace and wisdom. We’re so thankful for the surprise blessing that arrived just as we started our 2nd year together. May this be a year full of fun, learning, loving and grace.

Awesome wedding photo by Corrie Haffly. 
This is better than any of the professional photos we had!

Five years ago right now, Brian and I were being cheered away from our reception with sparklers waving and hundreds of little gold hearts blowing from our a/c vents. To this day, we still have little hearts that we can see in the windshield deep in the vent. We always say we’re newlyweds as long as those hearts stay there. Whew… because some days, two kids can make you feel not-so-much like newlyweds! We’re always glad for the reminder

Brian…Five sweet years. So much has happened. We’ve grown so much as individuals and even more as a couple. Two amazing, beautiful children, countless memories and experiences, many many miles, lots of bike races, hundreds of Toonebucks coffees. From the first sweet kiss at the altar 5 years ago that has multiplied by hundreds to the sweaty one after the bike race today… I love you even more today than I did then, Brian. Thank you for being my encourager, my helpmate, my partner, my provider, my shoulder to lean on and the arms that are always there to surround me with strength and love. I hope these 5 years are just a drop in the bucket compared to we’ve got ahead of us because I know our love is only going to get better. God’s written an amazing, captivating love story, and His grace and faithfulness shine through every page. I love you.

I was just re-reading our wedding pages and found these fun memories:

• Our Story of meeting and falling in love as we wrote it before the wedding.
• Our wedding party… fun little glimpses of who those awesome people were to us back then.
• The slideshow of photos from our dating days, the engagement, the wedding weekend, and our awesome European honeymoon adventure.
• And last but certainly not least, the wedding video. I remember Brian worked SO HARD from a little internet cafe in Oxford, England to get this online for all our far-off friends.

PS… his bike race went great today. You can see the details on his cycling blog, but he got 5th. He was a little disappointed until I pointed out that was quite appropriate for our 5th anniversary, and the prize $ for 5th was $55. Haha. I guess it was in the cards

Saturday is our 5th anniversary, and Sunday is Analise’s birthday (even though she’s celebrated several times already, and she thinks she’s already 4!). No big celebrations planned except that we’re off to Memphis… for a bike race Actually, it was my idea. Brian wasn’t planning on racing, but we’ve wanted to make a family race weekend trip sometime when our friends Lennie – who also races – and Kim could go, and bring their kids, Lauren and Anna, who shared our zoo birthday party. The four of them have gotten to be great friends. So, of course the guys jumped at the chance to race, Kim and I are looking forward to cheering for them together and hanging out, and the kids are ECSTATIC at going on a trip together. It should be lots of fun, especially since we visited the library today and got 6 (!) new DVDs for the 5-hour trip. Two Princess Stories, 2 Signing Time, and 2 Thomas… a good mix to keep us from going crazy. The kids have been absolutely hooked on Cars for the last couple weeks, and though we love that movie, we need a change!

Analise is at her Grandma Beverly’s for the night, Josiah is resting fitfully after his 2-year checkup. His chubby little legs were really hurting him because of the 2 shots this evening. It’s been a quiet, relaxing night, and hopefully, I’ll have some good time in the morning to pull everything together for the early afternoon departure.

I’ve got a blog-post 90% written -with pictures even! – about the first leg of our trip to Wisconsin. Hopefully, I’ll finish it soon, maybe even tomorrow morning. Happy weekend!

Bad Luck Boy continues his woes… After a fun morning of playing in the sprinkler, popscicles and then splashing in the water table, Josiah tangled with a wasp on the back
porch. He’s got 2-3 stings on his cheek/by his ear and 2 on his
wrist, probably from trying to swat it away. What screams I held it
together to get some ice on the ONE sting I saw, but then I unraveled
when I saw the others a few minutes later. Man, I feel so bad. Of
course, he’s fine. Back to his normal self, minus the slightly swollen
stings. Thank goodness its naptime here, bc I don’t know about the kids, but I’m exhausted.

**By this evening, the stings were hardly even noticeable, though Josiah was full of chatter about the bugs.  Analise was full of discussion about his experience, too, and we had a serious talk about NOT swatting bugs away, but calling for mommy or daddy and walking away without bothering the bugs.  Brian’s dad – my HERO – came this afternoon to spray the hidden wasp nest, where there were two big red wasps hanging out between the eave and the gutter.  Whew – enough excitement for one day!  Hopefully we can keep my boy from trouble for a few days