He's Mine

Today is his birthday.

He's 44.

He's older than I am. I like it that way. Although I won't tell you how much older.

On our way to church he comments, "I'm half-way to my death."
"Do you plan on dying by the time you're 88?" I ask.
"Ya never know," he replies.

This morning he took his family to church, of which I am so thankful. He then spent the day watching football, eating clam dip with Utz potato chips and feasted on one of his favorite meals for dinner, ribs on the grill, baked beans, and cole slaw.

He doesn't ask for much. Well maybe a gigantic bowl of cookie dough ice cream.

Beloved, my very best friend, my husband, I adore you!

Happy Birthday! I love you David Gay! And yes, you are mine!

Double digits and a Teenager

I am officially the mother of a teenage girl and a son who entered into the world of double digits. I'm scared! Pray for me!
We just celebrated two major milestones just a day apart.
Joseph turned ten years old and Rachel turned thirteen.
"Mom, I can't believe I'm a century old," commented Joseph.
"You mean a decade?" I corrected.
"Yes, that's it."

Joseph at 11 months. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Those brown eyes are the only thing that keeps him alive.

4 years old. The dimples also add to the cuteness.

6 1/2 years old

9 1/2 years old. What happened to the smile?

Rachel 7 1/2 months

Kindergarten - Rachel never liked this picture. She thought her bangs were too "poofy".

7 years old. This is probably one of my all time favorite photos of her.

12 1/2 years and she is growing into such a beautiful young woman. On a side note look for a future post of Rachel getting her ears pierced. Her thirteenth birthday gift.

Happy Birthday Rachel and Joseph!

He's amazing!

Who's amazing you ask? My husband. In fact I'm going to brag a little, well a lot.
When we moved into this house the first mental note we made was,'the back of the house faces west, and that's a problem, a huge one in fact'. Something is going to have to be done about this, we thought.

If a deck faces west and you desire to spend any kind of time sitting and relaxing during the summer months you need one thing ... shade!

For the past two and a half years Dave has been working on the over hang in his mind ... yes his mind. He never did draw it on paper or use a plan. Pretty amazing if you ask me. He started mid-May and finished mid-August. He built the entire thing by himself, expect for one beam he called on a neighbor to help lift when I could not.

So, who is amazing? Truly it is the Lord. He is the One who gives Dave the talent and ability to create such a structure. I am always amazed at the projects that Dave has done around the house since we have lived here. The list would go on and on.

Dave, you are amazing, thank you for working so incredibly hard. I love sitting on the deck and drinking my coffee while it is pouring down rain. This is by far my favorite thing you have done to the house ... next to the garbage disposal :)

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Family Pictures

After 4 years we finally decided to have our family picture taken.  In the past we have used Nancy Morrison, who provides her services to the homeschool community.  This past year we wanted to try something different.
We used our niece, Lauren Gay of Lauren Gay Photography.  Lauren graduated from The Art Institute of Washington D.C. with a bachelor of Fine Arts, with an emphasis in photography.  She has since gone on to become an amazing wedding and portrait photographer in the Northern Virginia / DC area. 

We met Lauren one Sunday afternoon at the Burwell Morgan Historical Mill in Millwood, VA, which is only two minutes from our house.  Yes, my hubby gave up half of a Redskin game.
Let's take a look back at previous family portraits.



Summer 2000



October 2006

Lauren suggested we have the family picture taken first to get that out of the way.  Then she took each of the kids for their individual shots, which we also use as their school pictures. 

Now everyone say "Aaaaahhhh, how sweet."

This is my favorite picture of Rachel.  Notice the pink stripe in the hair.  It's black cherry Kool-aid, thanks to her cousins.  Don't do it!  It's permanent! Seriously, I promise!  :)

My sweet, sweet Joseph. He is the only one out of eighteen grandchildren (on Dave's side) to have those precious brown eyes, which is a good thing, because he would never survived if he didn't have them.  So that makes him special :)

Nicole is like her Daddy in every way, looks, personality, humor, it really is scary :) .

Despite the lack of smile, this is still my favorite.  It is so Elise, very stoic.

Even though it looks as if Dave is posing he really is not.  Since he so LOVES participating in family pictures he was patiently waiting and Lauren just happened to catch this.  Dave was completely unaware.

Thank you Lauren, we love you!

Time, where does it go?

As I sat down to my computer early one morning, 5:30 am to be exact (and that's extremely early for me), I decided to check my email. Sifting through all the junk emails, Old Navy, Children's Place, Kohl's, I started clicking delete, delete, delete. 
Then I saw it, a Facebook message from Sarah.  She was asking to use me as a reference in regards to babysitting jobs.  Simple request, no big deal. Sure. I can do that. 
Then it hit me, I slumped back in my chair, and stared dumbfounded at my computer.  Quickly, tears were starting to form in my eyes. I know, it's crazy.  I'm thinking, "Really, come on. This is the girl who was born two months after I moved to Virginia at the very young age of 18." 

For the first three months of Sarah's life she scream her head off, literally.  I held her, rocked her, put her down, held her some more, rocked her some more.  Nothing helped, nothing but . . . time. 

"Where has the time gone?" I asked myself.  It seems like yesterday that I was changing her diaper, administering Mylicon and taking her on walks around the neighborhood and now she is asking to use me as a reference so she can care for someone else's children.

I'm overwhelmed by the fact that the past 18 years have flashed before my eyes.  Just like that, I blinked and they were gone.  Yes, I do realize I am only 37 years old.  Yet I didn't for a moment even consider it until I saw Sarah's email.

The girls that I spent 7 precious years with are now all grown up, well almost.  Elizabeth, who is the oldest is finishing her second year at the Coast Guard Academy.  Sarah is attending Lewis University with a major in Nursing and the youngest, Samantha is an 8th grader at Oakcrest School.  Both Elizabeth and Sarah participated in my wedding as flower girls and the dresses they wore now belong to my own girls. 

Now that is strange. 

The question is, will I give her a reference?  Absolutely, without a doubt.  I would be honored.

So... I just had to add this to the collection.  Dave and I came across this picture by accident a few days ago.  It was taken right after I moved to VA in 1992.  I look like such a baby and indeed I was.

Elizabeth and Sarah - 1993

I am holding Elizabeth and Dave is holding Sarah.  When Dave and I danced our first dance as husband and wife, Sarah slowing made her way onto the dance floor and by the end of the song she found her way into our arms.  Very sweet!

Samantha was only a year old when Dave and I married.  She misses her sisters terribly since they have left for college.

Elizabeth, Sarah, Samantha, and Nicole.  Sarah's graduation from high school (2010) before heading off to Chicago. 

Elizabeth, Samantha and Sarah.

Time, really does fly!

Catching up

As you can see the blog is lacking quite a few posts.  We are alive and well.  Just busy, busy and more business to keep us going.  Our summer was filled with a trip to Utah to visit family and attend the Carpenter family reunion.  Just days after returning home we headed to Bethany Beach, DE for the 4th of July.  After that we pretty much laid low for the rest of the summer.  Then ... came the start of a new school year, Little League, softball, and soccer.  And then ..... there's the fact that I discovered facebook, I know some of you are laughing and shaking your head.  That is probably the real reason the blog is looking slightly dilapidated.  Pictures of our summer will be forthcoming, just be patient. 

She actually did it!

Rachel has been contemplating for some time now as to whether or not to cut her hair and donate it.  One day she's willing to cut it and then the next she's not.   As for me, I want it gone, goodbye, see ya.  As beautiful as it is, it is so much work ... for me, not her.  No matter how much conditioner we used it was still a pain to brush and with swimming season here it would be that much worse. 

Fortunately for me, while in Utah, Rachel saw her cousin Kayzia and fell in love with her hairstyle. So as we are driving to the salon Rachel decides she is going to go for it.

Clearly, this is a before picture.  She looks this way because we are coming from the pool.

This is right before the tears started falling, which didn't surprise me.  She started crying and said, "I want my hair back."  So I started crying too. 

Personally, I think the style is adorable, cute and not to mention, easy to take care of.  In the end she did donate it to Locks of Love, which is a non-profit organization that provides wigs to children with hairloss due to any type of medical condition.  After about a week Rachel did say she really likes it and comments on how easy it is to take care. Thank goodness for that!

Memorial Day Weekend

On Saturday we attended our annual "Mr. Thomas' picnic", as the kids have come to call it.  Mr. Thomas is a long time friend and customer of Dave's.   The picnic is held every Saturday of Memorial weekend and we have been attending for 5 years now.  Amazingly, it takes place on the grounds of Oak Hill Farm, which at one point was the home of James Monroe, the fifth president.  Construction of Oak Hill began during 1820-1823 and he lived there following his presidency.  Oak Hill is located south of Leesburg in Loudoun County and today remains a private residence.

About halfway there, Middleburg to be exact, I hear from the back seat.

Joseph,   "My finger is stuck."
Me,   "What do you mean it's stuck?"
Joseph,   "It's stuck."

You see, for some time now Joseph has been fascinated with sticking his fingers in things and getting them stuck.  Example, the seatbelt buckle with the hole in the middle.  Well, you get the point. 

At this point he is crying. 

Me,   "What did you put your finger in this time?"

Joseph,   "A yoda toy."

Now I bust out laughing, which only makes him cry more.  Now Dave is laughing, and so is Rachel and so is Nicole.  Now he is really crying and saying his finger hurts.

So I unbuckle, climb in the back and take a look. This is what I find.  Which only makes me laugh harder.  I couldn't resist taking a picture.

As we tried to pull it off, it only hurt worse and made it swell.  So we decided to wait until we got to the picnic which was only about ten minutes away.

Cooking oil does not seem to work.  The problem was the more we pulled the more his knuckle swelled.

Super Dave to the rescue, with cooking scissors.  I can't watch anymore.

Me   "Did you learn your lesson?"

Joseph   "Yes."  sniffle, sniffle

The finger is just fine and has fully recovered.

Was once James Monroe's house.  This picture does not come close to displaying the beauty of the house and land that is sits on.  Oak Hill Farm consists of about 1600 acreas.

This year for the first time Dave was in charge of cooking chicken wings.  I knew you would want to know what twenty pounds of wings looks like.

Chocolate cake!

Horse shoe tournament.

Nicole turns 6!

She's growing up!  Nicole, (aka Colie Bird) who was born on a Sunday, on Memorial Weekend and during church turns 6 years old today.  Well she wasn't exactly born at church but I went into labor while sitting in Sunday School class at Grace Church of Gainesville.  We made the executive decision to leave (excellent choice on our part) and head to Prince William Hospital.  Nicole wasted no time making her grand appearance into this world.  My doctor didn't make it on time and the nurse practically delivered her, had it not been for some stranger doctor that appeared out of nowhere.  But hey, I didn't care. 

Who would have known that Nicole's future best friend would be born in the SAME room a few hours later.  How cool is that?! 

For dinner tonight she requested spaghetti, and garlic bread.  Her absolute favorite.  How easy is that to cook and yes the rest of us had salad.

Nicole at 2 years old.  I can't decide whether or not she looks like Elise.

This was taken tonight.  Note the penguin tattoo on the right arm.  You can thank her best friend for that one.

It's official, I've lost my mind.

I caved, again.  I'm insane.  I was overruled, big time.  What is this world coming to?

Carrie


The rest will now be posted by Rachel.

For two months now I have wanted a pet mouse. My friends, Abby and Sam had two mice and I fell in love. So this Saturday Joseph and I picked them out. They are adorable! Mine is the black and white one and her name is Rocky.  Joseph's is light brown and white and his name is Chisel. I talked my mom into holding Rocky but she thinks the tail feels weird. Rocky is pretty friendly and after thinking it over, will jump into your hand. Chisel is still skittish but seems to be warming up. We held them Sunday night and will do that every night until they become more comfortable.

Coming home from Petsmart.  Thanks to our friends Abby and Sam who generously donated a no longer needed mouse cage.

Everyone sitting in the bathtub holding them so they won't get out.  This is what we do on Sunday nights for fun.

Joseph and Chisel.

Here is Rocky. Isn't she adorable?

Rocky has a soft heart. I actually felt something wet, she gave me a kiss.