I've Got My Eye on You...

For the second year in a row now, we have a little birdie's nest in our lilac bush outside the kitchen window. At the very beginning of my maternity leave last year, I can remember the constant chirping and birds flying back and forth between the nest and the fence post and tree and another fence post and blah, blah, blah... The mama and papa bird kept constant watch over their lovely nest. While it was adorably cute and touching at first, the chirping, I have to admit, got a tad bit annoying after awhile. And, I am not the only one who was practically driven to the brink by chirping little birds...Riley literally almost made a break for it through our window screen about 50 times last spring/summer.

Well, I had my hunches a couple weeks ago that our bird friends had taken up shop in our bush again, because the chirping became louder and more constant outside. And, sure enough, when I pulled some branches back and strained my neck...there was a beautifuly crafted nest perched way inside the lilac bush. Unfortunately, I can't get a good enough angle to get a picture of the eggs (the nest is much further back this year), but here are a couple pictures of the nest and Riley at his post (taking a break to eat, of course) making sure the birds know he's got his eye on them...

The Smiths Come To Town

This weekend was a great weekend and it was made even more special by the fact that David's brother and our sister-in-law and our niece were in town from Pennsylvania. We don't get to see them near as often as we would like and our niece, Jersey, is getting so big and she is such a beautiful girl with all her curly blonde locks.

Most of David's family gathered at his mom and step-dad's house today, after the guys played a round of golf, to enjoy Maw-Maw's famous, Baked Spaghetti and Porkchops (YUMMMMEEEEEEEEE!!) and to visit with the out-of-towners. It was a great chance to chat, laugh and watch the small cousins play together.

Danny, Joey and Jersey- It was really great to see you and we are SO looking forward to catching up with you in a few more weeks at the BEACH!!! Thanks for coming to see us!

Aunt LuLu Has a Birthday!

My sister, Laura, celebrated a birthday today and we were lucky enough to join her last night for some pizza and brownie "cake"! We had a fun time hanging out at Eagles Pizza with the family and then going back to mom and dad's house so we could sing to Laura and gorge ourselves on brownies with jiffy icing...YUM!

We sure hope Laura had a great birthday! We love you, Aunt LuLu!

Ahhh...Spaghetti...

Tonight we actually got to sit down and have dinner together (Hooray for Family Night!) and at David's request, I made spaghetti. Ally is a really good eater and she is close to a year old now (Yikes, where did the year go??), but she has never had spaghetti before, so we figured this was the perfect opportunity to introduce her to the wonderful world of Italian food. She absolutely LOVED it! After she tired of eating (which was a long time), she proceed to rub sauce all over her face...cute, but messy. :-) It was so much fun to watch her eat her "big girl" meal. She is growing up so fast!

My First Mother's Day

Today was an absolute wonderful day! I started my day off getting to sleep in just a wee bit (thanks, Bud!) and then woke up to two smiling faces. I jumped in the shower, knowing that we needed to get moving, because our first stop was at David's dad's house and we needed to be there by 11:00. When I got out of the shower, David and Ally presented me with a very beautiful and touching gift...a necklace and earrings that David had custom made for me, with Ally's semi-precious birth stone. It is a beautiful set and I was totally shocked! All I asked for was to have a tree taken out of my yard that I have wanted gone for two years (and I got that too! David yanked that tree right out of the ground after we got back from our day of festivities!) and I got so much more than I expected!! The thoughtfulness of the gift meant so much. What a great way to start my day.

We hit our first stop to see David's step-mom, Lori and we had a picnic breakfast with her (kitchen construction encouraged the picnic style eating), which was nice and something fun. We also got to see David's step-brother Duane and our niece Hayley, who came from Cleveland to spend the day with Lori. We don't get to see them very often, so it was an extra special treat. After we ate, we presented Lori with our stepping stones that the kids made and we had to be on our way to our next stop.

We arrived at Grandma Lang's house a few minutes late, so everyone was eating when we got there, but we were so full from our first stop that it didn't matter. It was just nice to see everyone and share in some nice conversation and good laughs. We did footprints on the stepping stones for Maw-Maw and they turned out super cute. So far everyone seemed to like them.

Our last stop was over at my parents' house to see my mama. Granny and Grandpa came up from Cinci and Laura, John and Dylan were all there. We had a really yummy dinner and ate on the patio. Ally had her first whole slice of watermelon and she devoured it! Dylan and Ally were both getting sleepy, so while we gave my mom her stepping stones, we decided to try the footprints at a later date. She loved them anyway!

My first official Mother's Day (I was pregnant last year) was really wonderful. Thanks to my hubby and my baby girl for giving me such a special day to cherish. I love you both very much!

And, Happy Mother's Day to all of my fellow mommies! I hope your day was as wonderful as mine was!