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!

The post The Technical Wedding Vows We Should Have Made appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

This week marks 12 years that  Alan and I have been married. God blessed the day I married my better half.

One of the best decisions I ever made was one of the ones I was most criticized for. I do think people’s opinions can be helpful, and I do listen to the advice of others. But what others? You have to be careful about which group you are listening to. Our closest friends and our parents never doubted us for a second. We had their unswerving support. It was our acquaintances and old friends that were shocked. (See, there was no Facebook back then to keep in touch with.) We had the support of those that knew the whole story, and the others were scandalized. “What!? I didn’t even know April was dating anybody!??”

We didn’t lollygag around. We dated for three months and got engaged. We were engaged for 5 months, and then we got married. We got married on the military’s time table because that’s what military couples have to do. People just couldn’t believe we did things so quickly. They didn’t realize we’d been friends and acquaintances for much longer than that.

You know what? I secretly enjoyed being ‘scandolous’ for once. It isn’t something I have experienced much. 😉

I remember vividly the day I sat with Alan, at a long cafeteria table, in Burke cafeteria, and realized that I had deeper feelings for this friend than I had even realized. We used to eat together, with a large group of friends, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I had even once observed (but kept to myself) that even on days when I did not eat with that group, Alan would still bring his tray over and have lunch with me and whatever friend I was eating with that day. We were friends. Pals. I thought that was all, and I hadn’t given it much thought–which was unusual for me, as I was something of a flirt in those days….

But there was that one day, when it was just the two of us, and Alan was talking to me about all of the great places he planned to go and adventures he hoped to have in his military career, that I suddenly felt this strong desire to go with him.

“Huh?” I thought, “Why do I care if Alan moves out west? A couple of boys that I’ve dated have already done the same thing, and I did not care when they left.”

“Wait. Do I like Alan?”

“Oh my gosh! I do. I like Alan!! I don’t want him to leave. I want to go with him.”

Once I figured all of this out, Alan didn’t stand a chance. 😉 I had already racked up a couple of relationship failures due to playing ‘hard to get.’ Not this time. This time it was on. I would not chase him. I would not call him, but by golly I was going to act exactly how I felt: happy to be with him. I also made it a point to not flirt with others around him.

This was before our “group date”, but it did involve some of the same people. We all worked together on campus. We love these people!!

I even resorted to inventing a “group date.” My friend Katie was in town, and I told her, “Katie, I know who I am going to marry, and you have to meet him.” I called him up and told him a big group of us was going to Logan’s Roadhouse for dinner. He quickly accepted our invitation. Then I turned to Katie and said, “Oh!!  Now I have to actually make a group.” I got back on the phone and quickly but carefully put together a group of friends that knew both of us, included boys that my friends liked, and well…….the rest was history. Alan asked me out before he went home that night, and we have been a couple ever since.

For a look back at our last 12 years, see last years post:  11 Years of Marriage

Do you know what made Alan so great? Do you know how we “just knew” it was right?

Well, of course we were in love, but also we used our heads. I think you could possibly fall in love with lots of people, but you need to be smart about it. We both had the same faith, morals, values, and work ethic. We both love to laugh and don’t take ourselves too seriously.  The relationship flowed easily. There was no “Oh, I can’t tell if he really likes me” crap. We were just honest with each other and treated one another with respect. We complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I am a non-confrontational person. Alan will rise up to meet confrontation seemingly easily, and he can do it (normally) without being offensive. He’s an engineer. I would have never even gone near the Engineering school.

A friend of mine once commented,  “Who wouldn’t like Alan!?” That’s the kind of man he is.

He’s the kind of man that has turned down what I consider to be a big and important job because he knew it would not be family friendly. He helps with chores. He fixes the kids breakfast. He’s absolutely hilarious. He’s faithful. He loves me–even when I’m crazy-stressed-not fun-April, he still loves me. He’s still super-good-looking too. 🙂

This was a hard year for us. Going to four children was exciting, but it was HARD WORK. Plus, he had a very big project going on at work. PLUS, he had to take the exams, apply to universities, AND move the family this year. Meanwhile, I was juggling all that comes with managing a family of 6–the housework, oh the housework!

It’s been a wild ride. It’s been 12 years. I hope we have 100 more.

I’d like to stop and take a look back at the wild 12th year:

I was standing in Nevada. Alan was in Arizona.

I called this our 3rd honeymoon. 🙂

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!

I look forward to the 13th year. We will finally settle into a new house, we will tackle our first year of home-schooling–through the Classical Conversations tutoring service, we will be Californians, Alan will be in school, I will be blogging away, and who knows what else! That’s the fun of it.

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together,  let man not separate.”              Matthew 19: 4-6

We have spent all of July apart, due to this PCS move, but I will be with you tomorrow, Alan.

The post So they are no longer two, but one. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.