Ethan's Birthday

It was a beautiful 80 degrees and sunny here yesterday. But it makes me wonder, "If this is only January, what is the heat this summer going to be like!?"

Our mail box is located down the street from our house so we checked the mail while we were out on our walk. The birthday boy had two cards addressed to him.

Both Ethan's Great Grandma and his Grandparents in Ireland have amazing timing in mailing cards. They always seem to arrive exactly on the right day! We stopped at the park on the way home to open them.

Ethan opened one card to find Nana had tucked two balloons inside! Fun!

Then later after daddy got home from work Ethan got to open the rest of his presents.

A Raphael set from Auntie Rachel. Now he can dress up like his favorite Ninja Turtle!

For you, Rachel. 

Thankful for my family

Saturday evening was a special night. My mom had us over for my birthday dinner and made us a special African meal that we had while growing up in Senegal. It's one of my favorites and a gift in itself since it can take quite a while to fix it.

We had a yummy cherry cheesecake for dessert.

My mama made us a delicious meal of Ceebu jen (cheh-boo jen). An African dish with fish, rice and vegetables. I love it! I tried to find a recipe online and found this recipe here.

Mom gave each of her grand kids a Valentines gift. Here she is showing M her new book.

Grammy and Grandpa came over for the evening too.

I really appriciate my family and the effort they went to make me feel special.

Thanks you guys!

Elijah Turns 6

Elijah loves having bonfires. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores.

An armor set from Grandpa and Grandma!

My little knights!

A letter from cousin Kyle arrived right on his birthday!

Our Friend Donna!

Donna, the boys and I just wanted to wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope it is a day (and year) filled with blessings.


I'm thanking God for you today. He gave you such a joyful and kind spirit.

You are a joy to be around and we love you!




P.S. If you all would like you could visit Donna's blog and wish her a happy birthday too!

A Special Girl

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Crystal (sitting) and I (standing) on termite mounds in Senegal.

My sister and I are three years apart in age. She's always been my big sister, the brave and bossy one. Forging ahead and making a path for me to follow.

Crystal and I one Christmas at Grandma's house in New York.

Watching cartoons together.

As we grew we became more than sisters. We became friends.

Now she is a wonderful Auntie to my boys. They love her. She was there at both of their births.

I can finally share these photos with you! Back in March while i was still in Florida Crystal got in her wedding dress and we went to the beach for some bridal portraits. I'll share more in another post.

Things are changing. She is a married lady now. Her focus is on her husband now. Just as it should be.

But still, change is hard. I just have to remember that change isn't always a bad thing. Change can bring some wonderful new experiences. Like maybe some nieces and nephews in the future? ;)

Crystal, I hope Andy spoils you today and treats you like a queen! Happy Birthday! Love you!

Bloggy Birthday

This little blog turned 3 on the 3rd!The day passed me by and I didn't even notice!

When i started this blog it was called Elijah's Adventures and was written from his point of view.

His very first post was when he was less than four months old! And this was the first picture posted.

Our family three years ago.

Crystal was the very first commenter!

I didn't really know what i was doing back then. I've really enjoyed learning more about blogging, codes, banners and backgrounds.

But the two best things i've gotten out of this whole blogging experience is a) the connection to family and real life friends and the chance to "visit" with them and keep up with them and b) the NEW friends i've made. And really they are my real life friends now too! That is perhaps the most unexpected thing. I'm always touched when a new "follower" joins who doesn't know us in real life. I'm touched that they find something here worth following and that they would be interested in our family. Thank you!

We've had a busy week so you'll be seeing pictures soon involving donkeys, castles, light houses and friends! Fun fun! See you again soon!

Oh, i wanted to point out a new feature... the search box there on the right side bar, way at the top. I hope that will make it easier for you to look for specific things or topics.

Strangford Sunset

How was your day?

I hope you it was a good one. I hope you were able to spend time with those you love and the One who loves you more than life.

I just wanted to leave you with this sunset from tonight.


One thing that I love about this country is the long summer days. The above photo was taken around 10:00pm this evening. It doesn't get dark until nearly 11 these days!

We had a great dinner and evening with the family celebrating my mother in laws birthday.

Elijah is giving her some thing we made for her.

She was in a car accident yesterday so we are so very thankful that we have her with us to celebrate another year.

Life is precious. Don't take it for granted.

I ♥ Birthdays!

This weeks theme at I ♥ Faces is Happy Birthday!

This was our birthday boy back in February! He turned 3 years old and we had our selves one fun party!

Here he is in the bouncy house!


Also this week is a special "Pets" category.

I wanted to share this photo of one of my Aunt and Uncle's pups.

Isn't she just the sweetest? She was really shy and didn't really want her picture taken but she was just to cute to resist!
Click on the button below to see more birthday pictures or to join in and share your own!

Geoff's Birthday (part one)

Ahh, the dishes are done, the kitchen is clean and both boys are in their beds.

You won't believe how well Ethan slept last night! 9 hours! I repeat... nine hours! Hallelujah! I kept waking up wondering if everything was ok and thinking that at any moment he would be hollering for me to feed him... but no, he kept on sleeping so that's what i kept doing too! It felt SO good! Sleep... it's a wonderful thing! Here's hoping he'll do it again tonight. We're going to be out tomorrow with some friends so I want us all to get a good nights sleep tonight. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow!

But before I head off to bed I wanted to post some pictures from Geoff's birthday. I think it was so special how Easter fell on his birthday this year!

I have a lot of birthday pictures and it was making the post just way too long so i've decided to break it up into two parts. So here's the first batch...

Here's Elijah bringing his daddy's cake out and Singing Happy Birthday.


We didn't put 32 candles on the cake!


Elijah saw a cake in a magazine with these candy eggs on top and kept asking to make it. So he was thrilled when he saw that his Auntie Rachel had made one! She was also the one who made Geoff's gluten free cake.


After dinner and cake Elijah decided to hang out on Granda' Charlie's lap for a while.


Little Ethan's first Easter! No chocolate eggs for him! His Nana gave him a cute pair of overalls though! Elijah and all the other kids got a big chocolate egg at church.