Take Your Kids To Work Day

On Thursday, Derrick's company participated in the annual Take Our Sons and Daughters To Work Day and took Amelia and Elliot to the office. Both kids were really excited about going to daddy's work place for the first time and to see what he does. This day is a great opportunity for the kids to learn about different jobs people do, getting acquainted with parents' coworkers and to teach them about being in a workplace means taking on responsibilities and what it takes to be hard at work. Since Derrick works usually 3 days a week from his home office, he travels to downtown Nashville on the other two days and leaves here latest by 6am. Everyone was ready and up early to leave for work:

Amelia reviewing some documents on the computer while Elliot plays on the Ipad:

By 8am, everyone had arrived at the office and the day began with the Pledge of Allegiance and then some breakfast for the kids. (Amelia memorizes the Pledge of Allegiance as they recite it every morning at school) 

Derrick's office worker did a great job of keeping the kids entertained and busy. Since he works for the Department of Veteran's Affairs, the children (around 12-15 were present) were asked to help stuff goodie bags for homeless veterans, draw pictures of every member of the military branch and played some games. 

The children that came to work yesterday and their parents:

After working in the morning myself, I drove over to Derrick's office to pick up the kids after lunch. When I arrived, they were all eating pizza and singing the Armed Forces Medley. As you can imagine, most people working there are veterans, just like Derrick, who served for over 7 years in the Air Force, and it was quite touching to see them all sing their military's branch theme song. 

They finished off the day by awarding each child a certificate of participation and a goodie bag to take home.

All three of them enjoyed this day at work (even though the adults didn't really get any work done) and are looking forward to next year's Take Our Sons and Daughters To Work Day. 

Happy Birthday, D!

Yesterday, we celebrated Derrick's 51st birthday. We started his special day off by giving birthday hugs and kisses to the best Daddy and husband ever! 

Birthdays are celebrated big in this house, with lots of yummy treats, pretty decorations and making sure the birthday person feels special all day long. And it doesn't matter if you are 3 or 51 years old. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, D! You are truly a blessing from God and we are lucky to call you ours. 

Derrick was such a good sport at 6:10am to be surprised about his birthday song and eat a cupcake as the kids were so excited for his birthday.  He even unwrapped his first gifts. Amelia and Elliot couldn't wait to congratulate him and hand him their homemade birthday cards. On her own, Amelia decided to buy Daddy a gift for his birthday and went with me to the store to choose a shower gel and then paid for it. Such a sweetheart. She is definitely a Daddy girl and loves him so much!

After work, Derrick taught the kids some baseball moves in the front yard while I mowed (it had rained all weekend and the lawn desperately needed a trim). 

Before dinner, it was time for Derrick to unwrap all his other gifts. Of course, his two little helpers were eagerly by his side: 

A proud Daddy and his two little munchkins:

Cheers to my team mate, partner in crime, best friend, lover and the backbone of my life.

  Happy, happy birthday to you, my Love and to many more!

Easter Weekend 2017

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Jesus' Resurrection. Despite the fact that Derrick and I had to work on Good Friday (Amelia was off from school and both kids enjoyed playing at home with Ms. Janet), the work day passed by quickly. My office hosted a pot luck BBQ to welcome the new people and say goodbye to another employee. We all brought something to share and so we ended up with plenty of delicious food. This also gave me the opportunity to get to know my coworkers a bit. A great way to start off a holiday weekend:

Poor Elliot started his weekend off with a fall in the driveway and from the looks of it, I would say the pavement won. And for once I thought our Easter pictures would look perfect 😉

On Saturday morning, I took Amelia and Elliot to an Easter egg hunt at a local church where the Easter bunny made an appearance too. Both kids look so grown up here:

There were lots of eggs to be found at the hunt. 

We also dyed some Easter eggs this week. I tried out a new method (put some white rice in a Ziploc bag, add some food coloring, drop in a hard boiled egg and then mix it up), and it worked very well. The eggs looked great and there was no mess:

Even though the kids enjoy these Easter activities, they know the true reason why we celebrate Easter. Just listen to Amelia's answers:

On Sunday morning, there were baskets filled with little goodies waiting for the kids and some chocolate bunnies for the adults.

Both children loved their electric toothbrushes the best:

After breakfast, we all got dressed in our Easter outfits and then headed to church: 

We participated in a beautiful church service and the Easter message was so uplifting:

The rest of the day we enjoyed being together as a family and having some fun outside: Amelia and Elliot love digging for worms and insects and so their new bug kits came in very handy.  

Daddy played some soccer while Amelia and I flew the kite:

 She is the happiest when she can run (wild):

 Picnic lunch on the patio:

We finished the Easter weekend off with a home cooked meal (ham, sweet potatoes and green beans) and more quality time as a family. It was a pretty perfect weekend to rejoice and thank the Lord for all he has done for us. We are truly blessed!