Emily has been all over Bo lately. She can't get enough of him...and I don't think he minds at all. I was organizing my room when I heard her talking to Bo. I peeked around the corner and found them laying together and her talking away. I tried to grab the video camera and record but she caught me so you can only see so much loving before she goofs off. ha!

Boxers are known for being gentle with children. And Bo is so sweet with both of the kids. Emily has especially come to nurture him and love on him and he eats it up. I am so lucky to have such a sweet dog. And to think that Bo was with me before kids, before Christian, before I owned a home. He will be 10 years old in May and how his life has changed since I picked him up at 6 weeks old. He has been the best dog I could have ever imagined and hope he is with us for a lot longer.

With last weekend's Springtime weather tease....where were we? The park, of course. We hit the park to have a picnic lunch and play with friends. Emily is learning to dribble the soccer ball really well.

According to Seth: "I want to be a firefighter when I grow up. Emmy can be a Tinkerbell. Mommy, you can be a princess. And Daddy, he can be a Kingdom!"

He was so proud of his stated goals that I didn't have the heart to correct his Kingdom comment. Yet, for all I know maybe he wants Daddy to be the whole kingdom. ha ha ha!

Who wants flowers and candy for Valentine's Day when you can have Water Frogs? We decided to get Seth and Emily a few water frogs for their Valentines. We let them name them. Seth came up with "Tuck" and Emily came up with "Ming-Ming." Straight from The Wonder Pets.

It snowed a ton here on Friday. It started about 1pm and rained down for hours giving us a tad over 4 inches! I can't remember the last time this area has gotten this much. And it was REAL snow not the slushy ice that we usually get. Of course, Christian was at work so it was the little ones and I. We bundled up and they had their snow boots on and ready to go. I was surprised how much Emily enjoyed snowball fighting with us. Bo acted like he was 6 months old again running around the yard and bouncing up and down in it. I taught them how to make snow angels but Emmy hated that. She complained about the snowflakes falling in her eyes. Seth loved snow angels...I forgot to take pictures of that.

Last weekend was our planned celebration of our anniversary. The kids were all geared up to spend the night with Mike and Melissa and we were heading downtown to do dinner at Chops and spend the night at the Ritz. Poor Melissa ended up with food poisoning Friday night from a work party...thanks work party! They called us around noon on Saturday to let us know. We tried to cancel and let them off the hook but they were insistent! Mike said he could play the single dad routine if he had to. ha! We are so very very lucky to have friends that feel like family and love our kids like family. Actually, we are blessed to have more than a few friends like this. So Uncle Mike pulled up Sat in his FJ and the kids went ballistic. They are little FJ groupies...even Emily says "I want to ride in the FJ." Christian hooked in their car seats and as we were chatting the kids were climbing to get in there and go. They gave us goodbye kisses just to boot us out of there. Not that we were hating it...they were so excited!

Off we went to walk around Lenox for a few minutes then to check into the Ritz!!! I had several friends tell us to let them know it was our anniversary because they always acknowledge it somehow. They upgraded us to a suite for free! The highest suite except for the Presidential Suite. We were on the 21st floor overlooking the Atlanta Skyline! Here are a few pics from our suite.
We ate dinner at Chops in Buckhead. The steak and drinks were fabulous. Our table was fantastic. The wait at the Valet - FREEZING. No problem though because we headed strait back to the room! The breakfast the next morning was AWESOME though not cheap. I think Christian and I would have been just as happy at the Waffle House but didn't hurt having it rolled into your room while you're wearing PJs!!!

Thanks again Mike & Melissa for a great weekend all around. The kids had an absolute ball with you guys and the kitty cats. They are still talking about them...and of course, the FJ.

For a few weeks I could hear pitter-patters of a different kind coming from our attic. Every night when I would sit at my computer or getting ready for bed, the little scurries would scramble around. We had little critters in our attics. I was convinced it was a rat or as the term I later learned, a roof rat! Lucky for us, they were flying squirrels. Have you heard of flying squirrels before? I have but thought they were urban legend. ha! Now here is a lovely little image to help you sleep at night.

So back to the story. We had three major pest companies come out to assess the situation and give us quotes to get rid of them. I couldn't believe the astronomical numbers that were handed our way. For a tiny little squirrel. No way! That being said, I know they can cause major damage and personally hate hearing the chewing and scratching noises in the walls. Creepy.

So a friend of ours recommended...ready for it? Drumroll, please. CROCODILE DAVE. I loved his name right off the bat. He came out in his truck plastered with advertisement for critter catcher services. He looked exactly like my friend, Stan. He gave us a very reasonable quote and off we went. Hopefully, the squirrels will be/are gone. I am listening each night but haven't heard anything for awhile. I hope that is a good sign!

Most nights, Christian is working and I am here with the kiddies alone. We have kind of settled into a routine each night. After dinner, we play a bit then clean up. OK, the clean up is still a work-in-progress but I have found they do a really good job when they know 2 mini marshmellows are at the end of that chore. Yes, TWO mini marshmellows - Christian says it sounds like child labor laws but I say if it works and their happy, good for mommy! Anyway, after clean up is bath time then PJ time. They really calm down and relax more in their PJs (like their mommy). So I took a video and a picture tonight to show a typical PJ time before bed...just cracks me up that they seem to independent.

Today is our Anniversary - 7 years. We both say that it seems like Time Flies so quickly but at the same time, we feel like we have been together a lifetime. I guess that is just because we have packed so much into a 7 year period that who has time for the 7 Year Itch. We both started new jobs a few months before getting married - we are both still working at those places so they must have been good fits. We bought our house to "grow into." We have been to Costa Rica, London, and Amsterdam. We were hoping to squeeze in more International travel but Seth became a much better use of our time. He was the best surprise we could hope for. Two years later, Emily made our family complete - Casa Feliz. Almost three years later, we feel so lucky to have a house of chaos, laughing, giggling, love, toys spread around, two little school bags, and a big basket of little shoes on our fireplace. To others, it may seem hectic and constant. To us, it all seems so complete and blessed. Fun.