The Technical Wedding Vows We Should Have Made

We have officially been married for 13 years.

I don’t remember our exact wedding vows, but we believe that when you make a promise, you keep it.

Here’s my more technical–specific to Alan and me– translation of the vows we should have made….

to have and to hold,

from this day forward,

even when we are apart for months and even a year at a time,

when you are getting on my nerves and I’m driving you nuts and acting all stress-ball,

or when you’ve made me breakfast in bed and you seem like the greatest person that ever lived,

when I spend all our money on A Beka books and you spend it on Apple products,

and when we’re rolling in the dough too,

in c-sections or shingles, and on health kicks too,

Through cleaning up clogged toilets, we’ve touched more poo than any person should,

and through precious, precious little boys who fill our hearts with glee,

when I leave my cups on my nightstand and when I go all angry redhead,

when we both want to be right,

to love and to cherish,

till death do us part,

according to God’s holy ordinance;

and thereto I pledge myself to you.

Today has been one of my favorite anniversaries. 

Alan let me sleep until 8 AM. Yes, 8!!! He woke me up with a full mug of coffee with creamer and a plate of French toast. Plus, all of the boys were already fed!

Yes!

Then he went to work, and I have been knocking my to-do list out of the park. I even made sure I took the boys with me when we dropped off our donations to charities so that they could be a part of it and learn the importance of helping people.

Joshua told me, as soon as I woke up, that we HAD to go buy Daddy a birthday present today, so we did that too. By the time all of that was done, the boys had enough infractions that I was able to get my car cleaned out while I sat in a lawn chair and coached a little.

Thanks, boys. Now, remember, it’s very important to be quiet and keep your hands to yourself in the car so that Mom doesn’t crash the car. 🙂

Y’all, I’m always telling you the funny and mischievous things they do because I think it’s funny sometimes, but let me tell ya. Alan and I have made four of the greatest little boys that ever walked the planet.

I’m always worrying over what they’re doing and how they’re behaving, and we had the greatest blessing at church, the other week.

This kind old man, who I’ve seen watching the boys plenty, and I just knew he thought we had the roughest boys ever…..well, he shook my hand and told me, “I just want you to know, you have the best family. I see y’all all the time, and it’s just wonderful what you’re doing. Wonderful.”

Man, we needed that encouragement so badly. Parents so seldom get that.

These boys are the crowning achievement of our marriage, but we do realize that one day they will grow up and move away, and it will just be us again.

I love you, Alan, I can’t believe I got you!! Thank you for staying by my side.

And tonight, Alan has ordered take-out for us, and we are going to eat at home, because the fact is that ever since we had kids, eating out feels more like work than fun.

Now, for a few flashbacks:

*Oh, all comments in asterisks I added today, not way back when.*

*Enjoy! 🙂 *

flowers Alan sent me from Iraq, on our 7th anniversary

2009

*I took all of this from my “beginner” blog, which was password protected. I wrote there from ’09 to 2013. Sorry. The videos I mentioned were all lost when Xanga went under…*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! THE BIG 3-0!

I can’t believe my husband is 30. We’re really growing up, aren’t we?

I made a great video of the boys telling you “Happy birthday, Daddy,” but I can’t find my camera….as soon as I find it I will post it up here. That should be today. It cannot have gone far!!!! Although things do tend to grow legs and throw themselves in laundry hampers, trash cans, and toilets around here….can’t figure out how that happens…..I know my little angels would never do anything like that!!!!

The above video is self-explanatory. I did manage to get the shelves into Joshua’s room and all cleaned up all by myself. So bonus points for Mommy!

I received beautiful roses from my husband for our 7th anniversary yesterday. Thank you, Alan! I need to post a picture of those also. There’s always plenty to do, that’s for sure! Now Joshua’s here begging me for more coloring pages, so I’d better go see to that. Happy birthday Alan. We can’t wait to see you. Approximately 45 days until Alan may land in Kansas!

2009: Joshua and his A Beka crafts. Every single boy has enjoyed their preschool crafts. I ordered them for both JD and Daniel for this year.

Woody and Buzz 2011

Alan and Dan, 2011

2011
Our An-nevada-versary! Happy Annivegaversary!
Ok. To understand that title, you would have had to have been a devoted fan of the t.v. show Friends, and you know Alan and I certainly were!

I am so sleepy I can barely type, so I will just say that we had a great 9th. We (all 5 of us) went out to eat at Uno Chicago Pizzeria. It was good, but overpriced. What has amazed me on our last two family outings is how well behaved everyone has been. I couldn’t praise the boys enough after yesterday’s trip to the grocery store.

Then tonight they further endeared themselves to us by eating their supper and behaving at the restaurant! I can see why people start to enjoy the freedom of having kids rather than babies and decide not to go back to having more babies. But Daniel is worth it! He’s a little sick though, which is always hard for babies, so keep him in your prayers.

We showed the boys the elementary school tonight, and when Caleb realized Joshua is going there without him in the fall, he BURST into tears. It was so SAD! I was ready to say, “Okay, no one has to go. You can all just stay home with me.” But I know we’ve decided that’s not what is best for our family this year……we think! Oh, I just felt so sad for my little Caleb. Of course he recovered in like 3 minutes, but it was rough!

Funny Caleb quote from tonight, “The mailman at DaddyO’s house sit in the waiter’s seat and drived.” Bahahaaha! Translation: The mailman sat in the passenger seat to drive. This was spoken totally out of the blue. We met the neighbor that has twins today. We met the twins and the dad. The twins are Joshua’s age. Joshua is so shy though that we had to drag him out there. Then he only said two words and went back inside.

Okay, I need sleep!

(*I’ve been sleep deprived for 9.5 years now.*)

Anniversary dinner across the street from the White House, 2012

2012
HAPPY AN-NEVADA-VERSARY!
No, we’re not going to Nevada. That’s just an old Friends quote. : ) I have an endless, useless supply of them in my head!    (*I had no idea at the time that I had made the same stupid joke 2 years in a row. Sorry, readers.*)

There are times, I do not lie, when I see pretty baby girl things or sweet newborns, or such, and I think……”We COULD do it one more time….” BUT, a very big BUT, then I have weeks like this. Lately I don’t have the least inkling of a desire to EVER add one more mouth to our flock. And I do mean mouth you see. I spend all of my day serving little mouths, and it’s their mouths that just get so loud!

Yesterday I took all three boys, plus their friend Jessica, to the swimming pool, by myself. Man. It was rough. There was this moment where I was TRYING to talk to my friend Diana, standing in the 3 ft. deep pool, with Caleb at my elbow yelling “Ahhhhh” to Daniel, who I was holding, while Daniel (IN MY EAR) yelled “Ahhhhh” right back to him….. Meanwhile, Joshua kept saying, “Mom, Mom! Watch me do this trick!” Then he’d start swim-walking away to get into position….At the same time, Jessica was asking me questions about whether or not I’d brought enough towels “because I counted them, and there’s not enough towels!” At that moment, I just looked at Diana, who could really do nothing but laugh. Then Joshua shouted, “MOM!!! You were not watching me!!” I kind of wanted to cry.

Today we did not go swimming.

I did keep Jessica one more day though, so Sherry could get ready for Daniel’s (her husband) homecoming tomorrow. I am so exhausted from taking care of four kids for two days, I can’t even describe to you the exhaustion. Last night I laid down at 7pm, and I never did get back up. Around 8:30, Alan brought me an ice pack for my shoulders (pulled muscles from holding Daniel two hours in the pool) and some drugs. Ahhh. That’s why we have husbands. I felt like new this morning, but wow am I sleepy now!

Also, girls are different than boys. They are certainly less violent, but let me tell ya, they have a lot more to say, more questions to ask, and of course they are a bit higher maintenance. I think I put about 5 different band-aids on Jessica today for minor cuts, and some wounds from yesterday, no longer visible to the naked eye……Meanwhile, Caleb got a gigantic gash on his toe this morning and I had to force him to wear a band-aid. It’s been an interesting two days!!

me and Caleb, the little prophet

By the way, Caleb maintains that we are DEFINITELY going to have one more baby. He occasionally proclaims, with MUCH confidence, “Oh, there’s going to be another baby in your belly. I prayed for a sister…” Any ideas on how to handle this????? Joshua told Caleb the other day, “There’s not going to be any more babies, because of Mommy’s back.” Caleb replied, “Oh, there’s more babies.” Then he did his eyebrows up and down!!!

Oh, by the way, exercising everyday, and cutting out sodas….will NOT make you lose weight. : ( grrrrr.

Hope you all saw the pictures Alan posted of the Nationals game he and Joshua went to. Joshua had a BLAST at the game. It’s funny how he talks about it, “It has like a million seats!! And I got to eat a hot dog, popcorn, and ice cream!”

Um, hello? Can I go out with the Alan who buys that much food in one outing!!??

At Six Flags the five of us had to share one order of french fries! LOL Okay. Alan insists that I point out that he also bought 3 tiny cups of ice cream for the 5 of us, plus waters, and that he spent $30. He also says that he was “robbed of $30 by the said vendors.”

Alan is taking the day off of work tomorrow for our anniversary. He made reservations at a SWANKY restaurant downtown near the White House.

Somewhere in the midst of all the fun we’ve been having, I noticed the funds were getting……low. I have spent the last 24 hours creating a new, not fun, budget for us to follow. Therefore, we may have a few less interesting stories to tell for a while!!

Big weekend! Anniversary! ALan’s bday! Dad’s bday!! Happy birthday, ya’ll!

Anniversary, 2013. Do not print and frame this photo, grandparents. I have fat face here. I was still breastfeeding.

2013….the year the blog went public

Today is our 11th Wedding Anniversary. I love how much things have changed in 11 years!
I was never the little girl who dreamed about how many children I would have (we have only figured that out this year). I never dreamed about my wedding day or my wedding dress either. What I always thought about and prayed and prayed and prayed about was the groom. I wanted to find the perfect groom. : ) I did a great job! Thank you, Lord, for answering my prayers!
Are we perfect? Um, not so much. I’ll never forget when my sister-in-law, Amy, was bringing Greg to meet the family (keep in mind this was during the Anniston years–the two hardest years of our marriage), and she made a point to walk down the hall of Alan’s parents’ house and ask us to please not argue in front of Greg…… lol
….Well, it’s been 6 years since Amy asked us to please not argue in front of Greg, and I think we’ve come a long way. ; )

Any marriage is work, but when you marry a man that makes you laugh, you can get through anything.
So here’s to the best dad, sweetest husband, hardest worker, and funniest guy I know!

We haven’t had a single picture made of us together since Valentine’s Day, so I’ll TRY to fix that tonight.

Happy Anniversary, Alan!