Just look at how big this guy is getting! His legs are definitely getting longer and when I look at him I see a boy who is growing up fast. It is both heart warming and a bit sad as I’d love for him to stay little forever. But I also enjoy each stage and it seems that every age has been my favorite age.
This week we pretty much prepped for our vacation to Ocean Isle Beach, NC! Lots of running errands to buy our food, sunscreen, and in my case lots of lists were made. I just love being able to make a list and check things off 🙂 Sadly, our friend Chris Howard’s father passed away on Tuesday, August 2. While a sad time, we were thankful we were still home and not on vacation. We were able to go to the calling hours on Thursday and stay on Friday for the funeral, interment, and reception after with Chris, Christie, and numerous other folks. Though I never met Bob, you can tell by the number of people at his calling hours and funeral and the words spoken of him at his service that he was a special man. Chris gave beautiful tribute to his dad at the funeral. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
On Thursday Finn, Graham, Rowan, and Greta all ran in the Kids Dash which kicks off the Dublin Irish Festival. It was a super hot and sticky evening. Amy and Andy ran in the 5K right after the Kids Dash and after that we all (even the non-runners, lol) had some ice cream.
Kind of like playing Where’s Waldo – can you find Finn?
We cheered on Andy and Amy as they zoomed by.
Finn went to the last Lollipops Concert of the year in Powell this week. This is another one of the pictures that when I see Finn, I realize how he is growing up. He isn’t one of the smaller toddler’s at these things anymore! 
And of course a trip to the zoo, some artwork, baking some brownies with Miss Debbie to take on our vacation, and loving on Lily in his new Batman jammies! 
Throw back to St. Patrick’s Day Parade and other shenanigans as I’m still playing catch up on our blog posts! Check out this handsome fella and his spirited St. Patty’s Day gear.
This week was my big birthday, my 40th, so I decided to take the day off work. I received a lovely flower arrangement from Mom and Dad, and also a colorful bouquet of roses from Jaime, Aaron, Lexi and Chase. My birthday was on a Wednesday, so I was able to take Griffin to school and pick him up.  We had a fun day together, going to Target, the BMV to renew my plates, and of course a stop at Graeter’s for my free birthday treat (a delicious sundae!). Later that night Kevin and I went out to dinner at Cap City Diner, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and huge piece of chocolate cake.  They have the most delicious vegetable plate and I devoured it 🙂  When we got back home I opened the lovely gifts from Finn and Kevin.  Finn went shopping with daddy to get blush for me, and Kevin had life-size canvases of Hailey and Cameron printed for me!  They are super cool and we plan to put them in our Laundry room. 
(Finn took this one of his leg, lol!)
In preparation for Finn’s birthday we got a pre-reading on how tall his is.  He loves to measure himself (height and his feet – the special “tool” we use to see how tall he is). 
This year we went to the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was our first time going and it was a lot of fun! The weather was warm and sunny. And we got to see Cam and Cyd play in the Dublin Jerome Marching Band too!
I’m very grateful for my friend, Sarah, who insisted a celebration was in order for my 40th birthday. In all honesty I really didn’t care much about my birthday and certainly didn’t feel like celebrating. Â But as Sarah always does, she told me like it was and insisted it is time to turn a new leaf and celebrate. So she gave me the option of a dinner party at her house or a spa day with girlfriends. Whatever I chose, she would take care of all the planning. Â Kevin really wanted to have a party for me too, and I thought it would be nice to see all kinds of family and friends so Sarah graciously planned a dinner party at her house. Â It was a really enjoyable night, complete with the most delicious food based upon several of my favorite things (avacados, chicken salad, steak, salads, desserts, and such). Â It was a huge spread of food! Â And Kevin made sure I had a Bunny Cake! Â I’m really grateful to be surrounded by loving friends and family! Believe it or not, we didn’t take a single people-picture the entire night. Â What?? Only pictures of food…crazy, but here it is!
We ended the week with dinner with the Howards and Ackerman families. It was a Sunday evening and we basically had the place to ourselves!
In other adventures this week, Finn made some yummy shamrock sugar cookies with Debbie (that we took to the parade!), went to the zoo, and the music park!
