Gimme five!

Today I get to celebrate five years of marriage to my husband!

I am humbled and grateful to be Sabian's wife. We're imperfect, sometimes we're not so nice to one another (taking the liberty of speaking for him!) and sometimes we could just do better. But, we love each other and work, daily, at being the husband and wife God desires for us to be. I'm so thankful to have someone working with me and I am so glad that person is Sabian!

We've already celebrated, out for dinner and dessert and some wandering around on our own last night. We talked about what we were doing five years ago last night as we prepared for our wedding the next day. Today I remember the excitement and anticipation of walking down the aisle and committing to spend the rest of my life with a pretty awesome guy.

One of my favorite things to do at a wedding when the bride walks down the aisle is to catch a glimpse of the groom's face.

It's just such a sweet moment.

I love you Sabian! Thank you for these five years.

Today, of course, I am thankful for my sweet HUSBAND!

Critters, creatures and all of the above

I resisted taking a nap this afternoon so I could clean out the car for our upcoming trip. Once upon a time I kept up with the inside and outside of my car so that it rarely got too messy or too dirty. You would think now that I have a toddler eating, drinking and throwing crumbs to and fro that I would keep up with it just as I did or even better than in my past days. Not so. I think it has something to do with the lack of time. Go figure. My dad was an expert at getting cars to look brand new, inside and out, although he got a little too happy with the Armor All. Let me tell you, it is not easy to drive a car when your foot keeps slipping off the gas pedal...

Our upcoming trip is a trip...HOME! On the agenda - my oldest nephew's high school graduation and the wedding of one of our girls from our church in Illinois. Sabian is taking part in the ceremony and we are happy to be a part of it. There are also a few other things we'll do while we are at home but if I must be honest, I'm just glad to be getting out of town.

Our weeks and weekends have been busy but some of that busyness has been punctuated by trips to the beach, park and having some opportunities to hang out, just the three Chaneys. Much of the busyness has been occupied with church activities, birthday parties, errands and the general hubub of life. It's not bad, it's just...busy.

I mentioned in this post that we'd had the pleasure of a visit from one of our youth members, Hayley, and her horse, Dallas. Sadly at the time I did not have my camera. When she brought her horse, Ruby, to church, I did.

Again, didn't strike me as unusual. Just a fun surprise as we pulled up for youth service one night.

I witnessed another "fun" surprise a week ago as we were heading back to Wewa from Addie's doctor's appointment. Addie had fallen asleep and I was enjoying a peaceful drive. As we neared Wewa I spotted something off in the distance, an animal of some sort, crossing the road. As I got closer it was clear I was going to have to swerve into the other lane to avoid flattening it and as I swerved, I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was an alligator. Not a very big one, but an alligator nonetheless. I drove on home in a bit of a daze, really wondering if I'd seen an alligator crossing the road, grinning a wiiiiide grin. Before last week I always joked with my Floridian friends that I doubted the existence of alligators in Florida, as I had never seen one. Well, now I've seen one. Not only have I seen an alligator, but I've also seen two bears since living here. I also can't forget about the rattlesnake my neighbor brought home, but at least he was dead. I'm not so sure about all of these critters.

The excitement of the week this week happened a couple of nights ago when Addie had a teenager moment and locked herself in her room at bedtime. Totally unintentional, but a not-so-fun experience for the three of us. While Addie was crying and asking for us on the other side of the door, Sabian and I were trying every key we could find in the house. When those didn't work (and when I realized her window was locked so there was no getting in that way), he tried to use his drill to get through the doorknob, which didn't work. It was either bust down the door (least desirable option) or get the doorknob off. Finally, thanks to a hammer and gentle encouragement to Addie to step away from the door, we got to her. She was fine, having taken refuge in her bed while Sabian hacked away. I'm almost in favor of just leaving the knob off for now but either way, she's slept fine the last couple of nights with seemingly no emotional scarring on her part :)

Today I am thankful, again, for this awesome weather we are having. The longer we can hold off the oppressive humidity, the better!

Gone, but not forgotten

 

We're here, I'm here. I haven't forgotten about the blog.

Just wanted to let you know! Hope to have a more substantial post soon.

Today I am thankful for the wonderful May weather we've been having the last few days. Totally unexpected and totally welcome!

A sweet happy mother's day & a few other things

Something in the air has been making me soooo tired and soooo unmotivated. I had grand plans to be really productive and disciplined this week. It's only Tuesday and I think I've busted those goals. The good thing is, there's a whole rest of the week to be had so here I'll start it off with a blog post.

Mother's Day was a good day. In fact, the whole weekend was fun. We spent some time getting things done, playing at the beach and taking some time to relax. Sunday Sabian was preaching in the morning service and profiled Mary. If you're interested you can read his notes here. We headed home for lunch and naps and then back out to the beach to play around while the sunset. From there we got something to eat and then back home for bedtime. Between all of that, my sweet flowers and card from Addie and the family pictures we'll have taken in a couple of weeks, it was a good, good Mother's Day. I miss being with my mom at times like these but knowing I will see her soon helped!

Yesterday the mom duties kicked it into gear when Sabian and I realized we (I) needed to take Addie to the pediatrician. Another bug bite, this one near her eye, was causing Addie's eye to swell and as of Sunday night was looking pretty bad. I kept calling her "Rocky" because it looked like the poor girl had been in a fight.

As it turns out, it looked worse than it was, as no infection had set in and it didn't seem to be bothering her too much. Today it looks much better and hopefully will continue to do so. You'd think she was allergic to these bites since it seems like we have so much trouble with them but our doctor doesn't seem to think she is. 

Without further adieu, here are a few photos from our weekend.

Wearing Mommy's shoes before church.

After a few attempts, finally a Mother's Day shot.

Horseshoe crab shell!

 I am thankful to be a mom! It's the hardest, most challenging, most rewarding job I've ever had and will ever have.

Beach, bubbles & bug bites

Early this morning I stepped outside, shivered, and went back in for a jacket before I went out on a walk with a friend.

It's May, yet it was chilly this morning. Chilly. I was so pleasantly surprised. No heat, no humidity, no sweating between the front door and the car. No way. 


I had already thought about taking Addie for a trip to the beach today, one that included swimsuits and sunscreen. As it turned out, we still went, but instead we donned sweatshirts. After a little running around we were able to shed the sweatshirts but there was no swimming for us. We stayed until we couldn't stand the wind whipping the sand into our legs anymore and then made our way home for lunch and a nap.

Now, on to bubbles. If you have a bubble fanatic in your house (like I do), you need one of these:

Run by two AA batteries, this little fan blows more bubbles than anything else I've seen of this size. When I first saw it with our friends at Easter, I knew we had to have one, especially after seeing Addie's reaction to all of the bubbles. It sells for $8 and says "Infinite Bubbles" on the handle. I couldn't find it online but we bought ours at Wal-mart.

And now, bug bites. Addie spent some time running around outside with Sabian and some boys from church last night and is paying for it today with big bug bites all over her legs. I, usually on top of it with the bug spray, slacked and didn't even think about it. Before now we could douse her bites with Calamine lotion and we were good to go. It was as though she didn't know she had any bites. Well, except for that one bite last year. Okay, okay, two bites. Aside from those, she never really seemed to be bothered by them. 

That seems to have changed.

I guess now she is old enough to really realize that they itch and she's not as distracted by other things to keep her mind off of them. Shaun the Sheep helps, but she was none too happy this afternoon when she woke up from her nap. Poor girl. I plopped her in the bathtub for a bath (hoping it would help the bites and take care of the sand we brought in from the beach) and then we set off in search of some Benadryl cream before we headed to church. So far, so good.

I am thankful for bedtime today, mine and Addie's. But first, to catch up on Survivor!

Let the May-hem begin

As much as it may not seem like it, I really do dislike leaving up a stale blog.


In the midst of the busyness we've encountered lately, a new runny little nose and the start of a new month that really will be mayhemish, I realized I haven't posted about Easter. How could I forget about Easter?

Immersed in church as we are, sometimes the significance of certain things can escape me. I don't overlook the significance of Easter and what it means, but I think sometimes I get wrapped up in the busyness and business of the season that I fail to let its significance get to me. It was nice, this year, to spend just a little time reflecting on Christ and what He gave for us and the hope that lies in that gift. I am so thankful for it.

I am also thankful for the day we were able to spend with some friends from church and their family, including Addie's betrothed, Carson. We were invited to spend Easter afternoon with them for lunch and an egg hunt. 

This wasn't just any egg hunt.

Children and adults alike searched for many, many well hidden eggs that jingled with money! This was a serious, no mercy hunt and it was so much fun. We really enjoyed relaxing with our friends and watching Addie hunt eggs and chase bubbles. This girl likes her bubbles and thanks to this Easter outing, we now own one of the best bubble blowers ever. We witnessed it while we were all playing and hunting and I had to go out and get one for Addie. I'll look it up and post the information later, but if you know a little someone who likes bubbles, you must own one of these bubble blowers!

 So, that was Easter and now we move on into May, which means graduations, birthday parties, miscellany and a trip HOME at the end of the month. I'm so ready.

I'm thankful for Adelaide. Even with a runny nose, she is so much fun.