42 reasons to love Mr. C

Mr. C.....that's my husband. Today, he celebrates his 42nd birthday. It's pretty low key - nothing like his 40th birthday when he got an armadillo cake in honor of all the armadillos he had trapped that year.

Today, it's just the girls celebrating with C. We're taking him to our trusty old favorite restaurant: Casa Mexicana. Trusty, because it will be the food we love and the waiter who waits on us every week when we go in there. Exciting? Yes, maybe. It will be our first visit to the new location. Unfortunately, C does have to work after that though.

I would like to leave my list of 42 reasons why I love C:

1. He is handsome.
2. He is a wonderful husband and partner in life.
3. He is a wonderful father.
4. He is very predictable - which keeps things calm and steady.
5. He is just enough unpredictable to keep me on my toes.
6. He is my biggest cheerleader.
7. I love the fact that he has 40 + polo shirts in his closet but they are all in varying shades of only 4 colors.
8. I love the fact that he turns 42 today; yet, he maintains friendships with people he was friends with in high school.
9. I love the fact that he is passionate about what he does. He truly loves being a meteorologist.
10. I love the fact that he doesn't think twice about sitting down and having a tea party with Allison - and that means everything to her.
11. He's a news junkie....and so am I (although we don't always have the same opinion about what is in the news).
12. I love him for being the rock in the storms of the sweet, but sometimes, difficult moments of our life together.
13. He is a great painter (not artistically. I'm talking walls - take a look at my living room - it looks fabulous!)
14. I love the fact that he had NEVER changed a diaper until the day Allison was born - and he was hooked. He has changed diapers all the time.
15. I love the fact that he never complains about helping around the house. He totally does what he can, when he can.
16. He is a GREAT landscaper and yard caretaker. Drive by....you can see. It's beautiful. He keeps probably the greenest yard on the street.
17. He loves my cooking which makes it easy to cook for him.
18. I love the fact that he refers to Allison and me as "my girls".
19. We both love Bill Maher - for better or worse.
20. I love the fact that he stockpiles New Balance tennis shoes. He wears a pair to work until they are not fit to wear to work. Then they become his yard shoes until they wear out. And he's always got a spare in the closet.
21. He keeps our vehicles immaculately clean (and you have no idea how hard that is when I am the one that drives one of them.)
22. I love the fact that when Allison and I visit him for dinner at his office, he sits Allison on his lap and colors with her for a few minutes before we go.
23. I love it when he gets tickled....especially at something on TV. He will rewind the TiVo a million times just so he can keep laughing (like when Roseanne was on Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago).
24. I love the fact that he is the most trustworthy person that I know.
25. I love the way he loves Allison.
26. I love the fact that he's not a booklover, but he's always on the lookout for something that I might like to read.
27. I love the fact that he surprises me when I least expect it. See my "Fall into Reading 2008" blog.
28. I love the fact that he calls me "mama" and I call him "daddy" like we're some old and tired couple....(oops, maybe we are old and tired)
29. I love the fact that he still remembers what I wore on our first date.
30. I love the fact that he is loyal - he asks for the same waiter at Casa Mexicana; he's had the same hair dresser for 20 years; etc.
31. I love the fact that he refers to going to the symphony as "getting some culture".
32. I love his dry sense of humor...he can really come up with some zingers.
33. I love the fact that my husband willingly missed Monday Night Football last week just so I could watch "Dancing with the Stars".
34. I love the fact that the last time my husband sent me flowers, he had the florist replicate the flowers that I carried on our wedding day.
35. I love that C never misses an opportunity to tell me that he is proud of me (unfortunately, I miss way too many opportunities to tell him).
36. I love that C's nickname for me for the longest was SweetT (pronounced Sweet Tea). Don't ask me why....but I loved it.
37. I love that he calls me occasionally when he's at work or when I'm out and about just to tell me that he loves me.
38. I love that C brings me a Route44 Diet Coke from Sonic if he is running errands just because he thinks I might like one - and I would.
39. I love the fact that C has been known to accommodate my love of Christmas by letting me put the Christmas tree up the second week of November....just six weeks to go. (Just kidding)
40. I love the fact that it does not phase C for people to tell him he looks like Drew Carey.
41. I love the fact that C is Allison's hero.
42. I love that all of these things boil down to the fact that C is loving, kind, considerate, and fun.

Happy Birthday C!!!!!

There's A Monkey in the Jungle

Fall into Reading 2008

*Update: I was out playing in the driveway with Allison this afternoon when the UPS truck stopped in front of our house. I thought, "I haven't ordered anything recently." It was a box from Amazon with the last three books on my list. I was really just kidding with my husband when I asked at the bottom of this post if he would get them for me because I am perfectly capable of purchasing my own books. But isn't he just incredibly sweet for doing that?

I have decided to join the "Fall into Reading 2008" reading challenge at www.callapidderdays.com

I am doing this for a couple of reasons: 1. I use to read all the time, and I do love to read. 2. I don't think I have read a single book from start to finish since Allison was born.

So, I thought this would be a great way for me to get back onto the reading bandwagon.

I have always thought it is so important to read to your kids at least 20 minutes a day. But, I think there is one step further to take with that: I think it is important for your kids to see you reading and to see that books are important to you.

When I first read this challenge, I thought the challenge was to read 10 books from during the fall season. Well, I wasn't going to sign up for that - and I wasn't going to read callapidder's blog anymore either, because I need people to keep it real. But, thankfully, I went back and reread and I just need a goal and it can be ANY BOOK - even my bible study that I am doing.

Then the dates for this reading challenge snuck up on me: today is the first day of fall. This may not come as a shock to some, but it came as a shock to me for a couple of reasons. First, it is 85 degrees outside and HUMID. Second, my husband is a meteorologist and I had to look at the calendar to see that today was really the beginning of fall.

So, without further delay, here are my books that I am going to read between now and December 21st:

1. The Living Beyond Yourself bible study by Beth Moore
2. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
3. The Gentle Art of Communicating with Your Kids by Suzette Haden Elgin
4. The Shack by William Young
5. Three Cups of Tea: Once Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Olive Relin

Do you think that is a varied enough list? Gotta go....gotta get reading.

P.S. - Husband, can you order the last three books for me from Amazon? Just click on the link....I love you!

Thought for Today

"God reveals His majesty most clearly against the backdrop of apparent hopelessness." - from Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself

I'm going to try to write some of my thoughts on this a little later over at www.blessedmourning.blogspot.com

Move over Miss Arkansas....meet Miss Allison

This is what Allison came up with when she decided this week that she wanted to be "a pwincess too and ride on the cars":

Allison's 1st Parade......

.....and she LOVED it!!!!!

There were bands with "drums and trombones":



"Wots of Pwinceses":

"Floats":

"Tractors with big wheels AND little wheels":

and lastly, there were "horses that needed some potty pants":

Rainy day.......

......means art day.

That's right - when it looks like this outside (thanks to Ike):

We have to pull out all the art supplies inside:



And we even tried a new faux paint trick on the kitchen tile: