celebrate | Cheers to 80 years!

Cheers to 80 years! We celebrated our sweet, precious Honey this past weekend with a surprise party for her 80th birthday! Much planning and thought went into this shindig and while Honey hates to be the center of attention, she was such a good sport. We spent the evening talking with family and friends, celebrating Honey and all that she is to all of us. What a joy to see everyone there for her, recognizing what a special lady she is, and to hear stories & recollections of memories of her from those who came. 

Happiest 80th birthday to my Honey! 

Solomon is THREE!

For Solly's third birthday we had day of "birthday maximization" as we like to call it 'round here. We started the day with presents: a new glider bike (something you want), a super cool helmet (something you need), the Postman Pat story time book (something to read) & 2 pairs of Toms (new to us / something to wear) + the sweetest gift from Amos, a Paw Patrol figurine set that he thought up all on his own. Immediately after opening gifts, we headed to the Donut Experiment where Solly's donut of choice included pink icing + rainbow sprinkles. Next up, we ventured over to the airport park (our favorite) for a couple of hours so Solly could try out his new glider bike. After lunch at home + a nap for Ez we loaded up and headed to Gravitopia (thanks Groupon!!) ... where we had the place almost to ourselves for an entire hour of jumping, flipping (Solly got the hang of a front flip in the air!), Ninja-Warrior-course-completing fun. And, to top it all off, birthday maximization ended with pizza at MellowMushroom. Oh yea! I almost forgot ... one of my favorite things has been ordering special shirts for the boys on their birthdays! Solly is super indecisive at this age, but we landed on a Moana shirt with Maui (thank you Etsy!). 

Solly Mack Martin, you're so fun. I've loved watching you over this past year fully take on the roll of big brother while fully embracing the roll of little brother. You're such a middle child - you know how to push buttons without actually doing anything (something Mama will never understand, but Daddy gets perfectly). You love Amos and think he hung the moon and you take such good care of Ez, always including him in whatever you're doing (you two have the sweetest bond). 

You (still) love Little Einsteins and Moana. You're super smart & sometimes surprise me with Spanish phrases / counting. You loved the beach this summer and I'm confident will be swimming by next summer. You like to play with Play Dough, water balloons and side walk chalk. You still love sleep dog (more than anything). You're still hilarious and super witty, always making us laugh. And, recently, you've developed quite the sassy attitude (helllooo threeeeee). 

Little buddy of mine, you are such a joy. I love being your mama and watching you grow. You're so fun and smart and funny - I hope you know how much each of us loves you! Happiest third birthday to YOU! 

Celebrate | Mikey's 30th!

my sweet mikey turned the big 3-0 this past weekend!! and celebrate, we did! we started birthday weekend off with lunch at home + gifts from me and the boys + sweet potato cake from brick street, mikey's favorite. we continued the celebration with dinner at mimi & papa's with melbug & the grandmothers, more cake and lots of goodies for mikey. saturday morning our best buds joined us for a waffle & mimosa breaky that turned into an afternoon of conversation and plans and exciting things to come. finally, mikey & i snuck away to columbia for dinner at Cola's (thanks for the recommendation, Sue!) and a surprise Amos Lee concert, thanks to Mere & DP (& May)! 

mikey, you're my very best friend in the whole wide world. i love any excuse to celebrate you! you're brave and safe to me, you're such a hard worker, you interest me and make me feel special daily. you've pursued me now for 13 years and continue to tell me that i'm beautiful. you're my biggest fan and have helped me grow my photography gig from a hobby to a business. you're a freakin' amazing daddy & have three of the cutest shadows watching your every move. i'm excited about what this new year and new decade hold for us. all my love, always, my mikey! and, cheers to the next 30 years! 

a [birthday] letter to my mikey

Happiest [29th] birthday to you, my biggest boy! I sure do love you & love doing this life with you. You, my Mikey, are home to me. We've had a cra-zy year of moving, traveling, are soon to be adding another arrow to our quiver and are in the process of renovating a 100 year old house...know that there ain't nobody else I'd rather be doing this with. I've loved watching you be quite the adventurer over the past year...from relay races to a crazy 50k for this years birthday...you amaze me mister. I've also loved watching your eyes light up when you talk about the white house and our growing family. Mikey, you love us well. It makes my heart so happy to hear you wrestling the boys before bed, to know you've snuck out of bed an hour early in the mornings for time in the Word or to chisel away at work that needs to be done across the street, for you to be able to come home for lunch on almost any given work day (again), to watch the boys watching out the window for you at the end of the day, to sneak away for long weekends with you when we can (just the two of us), to plan and dream about the future (near and far) with you. I hope that you've felt special as we've celebrated your birthday slowly over the past week and that you wake up feeling extra special tomorrow (like "king of the world" status). My hope for this year is the same as last year -- that you are challenged and stretched, that you grow, that you are content and happy, that you are blessed beyond measure and that you know how treasured you are (and not just by us, but especially by us).

Moose, Solly (& BM3) & I can't wait to celebrate you all day!