5th Anniversary

On June 18th, Dan and I celebrated our fifth anniversary. We have had such a wonderful five years together. We are truly blessed to have each other. We normally don't buy each other anniversary gifts but opt to go out somewhere nice for dinner and just spend time together. Since this was our first "milestone" anniversary, we decided that we wanted to buy each other something. Just for fun, I looked up the different anniversary meanings/gift guides or whatever you want to call it. Apparently, year five is traditionally wood. Uhhhhh, ok. I was determined to stick to it as closely as I could and tried to be creative. I ended up getting Dan a pocket knife with a wooden handle. Dan was thinking more along the lines of furniture and ended up with this entire set below! It wasn't wood but Dan said that he, "followed the spirit of the law but not the letter of it." :)
In addition to buying me an entire new set of patio furniture, he also got up early and made a trip to both Panera (for their awesome breakfast sandwiches) and Krispy Kreme. Silas was still snoozing away so we were able to enjoy breakfast just the two of us!

For dinner, we drove up to Scottsburg, Indiana to Jeeves and Company. We could have gone somewhere closer but the 30 minute drive made it more of an "event".

The guestbook at Jeeves'.

Bruschetta appetizer. It was really good but completely cold (as in straight-from-the-refrigerator cold)! Bread and everything! Dan had their catch of the day and I had a blackened chicken dish with cheese ravioli, sauteed peppers and alfredo sauce. They served a cranberry and walnut bread with the meal that was fresh from the oven. The house salad was a green salad with blue cheese and fresh blackberries (from the owner's yard) with a blackberry vinaigrette. Oh my!

Home again with the baby boy.

A very happy five years it has been!

Happy Birthday to Dan (and America)!

We had an awesome time celebrating America's 234th birthday and Dan's 26th. Last year was pretty low key since I was less than two weeks away from Silas' due date. We just had it in our heads that Silas would be born on the 4th and daddy and son would share a birthday. Not the case! This year we HAD to do something to make up for last year. We planned a menu, weeded the jungle in our front yard (rediscovering our landscaping in the process), cleaned like crazy AND put our family room back together (before and after pictures to follow in a later blog post). Dan was in charge of shopping for the explosives until we heard that my brother, Kevin, had just spent a nice chunk of his paycheck on fireworks. One of the first rockets that he lit took a very wrong turn and exploded into one of our truck's back windows! It is completely shattered but hasn't fallen apart yet. Our brother-in-law, Kris, had a very close call with a wick-less rocket that he half buried in the ground and then lit. It basically blew up with him standing right there. He walked away with nothing more than a singed shirt. THANK GOD! We gave Kevin a big round of applause for the great fireworks display and ended the night with chocolate birthday cake and Modern Warfare.

I admit we're a little dorky but I did really love how Dan and Silas matched at church.

Up and away!

Most of the group including Angus the "jawa" dog.

Lana, Grace and Katelyn.

The morning after...

Waterfront Wednesday

Waterfront Wednesday is an awesome monthly (free) event that is put on by 91.9 WFPK. The line-ups this year hadn't been too appealing until we started to hear them plug this show.

Sonos - An acapella group that covers songs from Radiohead, etc.

Joshua James - American rock/folk whose vocals sounded reminiscent of Ray LaMontagne.

Carney - Melt your face off AWESOMENESS.

We actually didn't see any of the first act but were able to stay for both J.J.'s and Carney's sets. Joshua James was pretty good. His band could definitely benefit from a drummer. Carney on the other hand... I don't know if it's just that I've been concert-deprived or what but they were really incredible. They played their song Amelie about half way through their set and it was a fun break from the Queen inspired vocals shrills of lead singer. They finished the set with an extended version of their song Testify and it rrrocked!

Reeve Carney (second from left) landed the role of Peter Parker in the Spiderman musical that will hit Broadway this fall. Spiderman as a musical? Yeah. That's what we thought too. It should be interesting to say the least.

We stopped by the incredibly janky Family Dollar in Jeffersonville on our way to the show because I forgot to bring sunscreen from home. I was a little uncomfortable with the greasy stuff smeared all over my face but it did the trick. There were a bunch of people standing near us that helped block the sun as well (including the frontiers woman behind me). Oh yeah! Those sunglasses of mine are legit 1980's vintage.

Fresh squeezed lemonade! It was the icing on the cake to an awesome night on the Harbor Lawn in Waterfront Park.

Blueberry Morning

My mom and I have picked blueberries at Bryant's Blueberries in New Salisbury, Indiana for about 11 or 12 years now. We always eagerly await the first e-mail from Dale and Debbie Bryant, alerting all of their followers that the blueberry season is approaching. When we went last year, I was about 3 weeks away from my due date with Silas. I was DETERMINED to get blueberries though! I think I picked about 10 pounds. This year I didn't have all of the extra weight in my tummy but I still had a baby to think of. Silas spent my picking mornings hanging out with Papaw at the church in order to escape the hot, muggy weather. I picked a total of 11 pounds this year and might go back for more. Blueberries are, after all, one of my favorite things about summer.

Lynn's Paradise Cafe - Just the 3 of Us

Last night was just a go-out-to-eat kind of night. We hadn't been to Lynn's in FOREVER so we decided to beat the Saturday night rush and go a little early. It was a good thing too because a rehearsal dinner with about 40 people came in right after we did! Silas was a bit on the somber side but warmed up after he tasted the southern style green beans.



Silas colored for the first time! It didn't last too long. He banged the crayon on the paper a few times and then tried to eat it.

Much happier now that his belly is nice and full!

"I don't really know what you guys want me to do here..."

Goodbye, keeper of the over-flow parking.

Sleeping Son

I just put Silas to bed about 15 minutes ago. Even though I was struggling to stay awake I couldn't help but look at that perfect little face of his and think of how incredibly blessed I am. Thank you, Lord, for these sweet times with my baby. I know that he will grow up someday and we won't have times like this anymore. Makes them all-the-sweeter now! Even when it's after 1:00 in the morning!

Goodnight!

Donations and Chicken Burritos

My resolution for 2010 was to organize our home. The ENTIRE house. I plan on doing a little bit everyday so that by the end of the 2010 there will be "a place for everything and everything in its place." Dan and I recently tackled our clothes. What an undertaking that was! Dan was done in a couple of hours but mine stretched out over the course of several days. With taking care of Silas, cooking, general house cleaning, the occasional shower... I finally finished the job! I feel so liberated! I went through my clothes for winter, summer, maternity and everything in between. The result was a bit insane.

NINE bags! Eight of them were mine. And those are the forceflex bags too!

We were planning to take them to Goodwill but I decided to ask the local shelter for domestic abuse victims if they took donations. The women on the phone excitedly responded, "YES!" In fact, whatever they are unable to use they end up donating to Goodwill. Goodwill in turn weighs the donated items and gives the shelter in-store credit for the amount weighed! How awesome is that? The shelter is not in a top secret location or anything but they don't have their address and phone number listed in the phone book. If you would like to make a donation to the shelter (located in New Albany) let me know and I will pass along their contact info!


I had some leftover oven-roasted chicken and was in the mood for Mexican food. I shredded the chicken and simmered it with a can of ro*tel, a can of pinto beans, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and a little lemon juice.

It made for some really great burritos with some sour cream and shredded monterey jack cheese. I even went back for seconds. No beans for the surprised little dude below.