big girl bed

this month has been a month of "bigs" for little stelly. big girl potty, big girl panties, big girl bed... and it has made mommy quite sad. i cried like she was leaving for college when we took her crib down.

we decided to opt out on the toddler bed thing and just move her into a twin bed. these are the before lights out pics. as you can see, she's very excited to be in her big girl bed!

and after lights out when we checked on her a few hours later this is how we found her sound asleep...

ain't no party like a detroit party

recently i read an article that told us michiganders to come on and just admit that we like saying we're from metro-detroit b/c it gets a rise from people. the article made me laugh b/c i think how many times after saying where we live, we've gotten the response (and you can imagine the facial expression that goes w/ it), "oh. is it really as bad as we hear it is?"

i must admit when we first moved here i thought i had traveled back in time to an era where bruce springsteen's music was the rage, chunky oak furniture was the decor of choice, and mesh shirts were en vogue. the past five years have made me grow to appreciate this area though and the occasions are less frequent when i double-check the calendar to make sure the year really is 2007 and not 1987.

so, we are kind of proud to say where we live and yes, we must admit, it is fun seeing how people respond. here are a few things we have enjoyed in and about the city and that we submit to nay-sayers as we try to convince them that no, detroit really isn't as bad as they've heard it is...

(why do i start w/ food first?!)

1. andiamo riverfront

2. coach insignia

3. atlas global bistro

4. small plates

5. hockeytown

6. greektown

7. mexicantown (lupitas, el comal, xochimilco...)

8. vicentes cuban food

9. the newly constructed riverwalk

10. campus martius park

11. superbowl XL

12. tastefest

13. belle isle

14. fox theater

15. detroit institute of the arts

16. pistons, tigers, red wings, and even the lions

17. detroit zoo

these are just a few of the things we've enjoyed in the "D." more recommendations of things to see and do in the city from you native detroiters are appreciated too. i know the eastern market is top on our "to do" list before fall.

with aunty jenny at the riverwalk

clown at the arab and chaldean festival in hart plaza making a ladybug wrist balloon for stell

playing in the fountains at the riverwalk in some of our recent visits

with joy and lisa at hart plaza

all grown up?? well, kind of!

here stelly is sporting her new "bob" haircut and going potty on the big girl potty! she has done great and is such a big girl - almost! i guess "big girls" don't usually suck their thumbs, but that's just fine. she's still our baby, after all!

happy birthday to our little girl

Stella Grace turned two on Saturday! We are just amazed at how fast the time has gone. To me it seems like those first 6 weeks before she slept thru the night were longer than these past 2 years have been! After the struggles of the year, we are more grateful than ever that God has allowed us to be parents. We praise Him for the good gift of Stella and are sobered by our responsibility to raise her for His glory.

Over the weekend, we had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday with both sides of the family. It is nice living close enough that we can all be together for these special occasions.

I love themes and this year we deviated from the ladybug theme that saturated her whole first year of life and did an ice cream cone theme. Quite fun for me and her! Carrie from church made her the cutest little ice cream cone bow (I need to blog about Carrie's amazing bows soon) for her hair and her outfit had ice cream cones on it too! Miss Liz even got her an ice cream cone dress and matching bow for her to wear to church on Sunday to finish out her birthday weekend! We are thankful for our friends who get excited with us over her even though they really don't have to (Mr. Ben, Miss Wendy and Miss Joy too!)

Stella is teary here b/c she got scared when everyone

started singing "Happy Birthday" to her!

She, of course, chose the "cherry on top" scoop

Ammy and Appy

Aunty Jenny, Mimi, Gampa and Poppop

Thank you Uncle Philip, Aunt Betty, Adam and Joy!

(getting the "say cheese" part right but forgetting to smile!)

Loving the quilt her Poppop (great-grandpa owen) just stitched for her. He's amazing! Wish we had a picture of the quilted pattern part to post.

Giving Rachael Ray a run for her money in her new kitchen.

Children are a blessing from the Lord!

a few more vacation pics

abuelita and the girls having fun with bows!
viv's little party
making a wish
little cam's chubbers
after some delicious tiramisu and coffee

Of relaunched churches, timeshares, and sweet tea

We were blessed to go on vacation to the Orlando area last week. We spent Friday through Tuesday morning with Andrew and Vivian Haney at their home in Odessa. Andrew has been pastoring for almost a year now at Keystone Bible Church, and it is exciting to see what God is doing down in that assembly of believers. They could always use a hand so if you are moving to the Odessa area, check them out. And if you're not planning on moving to Odessa-why not?

Our next stop was a Hilton Grand Vacations resort in Orlando. We got a great deal on it and just had to listen to a teensy-weensy presentation where we are shown all the benefits of buying into the system. Unfortunately, the presentation consists of being thrown into a dungeon and being flogged in an attempt to get you to relent. Anyway...it's just minutes away from Disney World, Sea World, and an assortment of other attractions. However, we had no desire to visit any of these attractions. If we weren't in the pool, we were next to it. Now that is my idea of a vacation. The only difficult part was leaving Stella with both sets of grandparents-not because they would do a bad job!-but because we would miss her so much. We're glad that she was able to spend some time with them, though, and were equally glad for a little break.

These are the Haney's four kids. They gave us our kid "fix" since we were sans Stella.

Erica had a surprise birthday party for Vivian at a Cuban restaurant called Arco Iris. They had spent all day shopping, and fortunately, I did not have to be a part of that. To me, shopping and vacation are incompatible concepts.

This was the building that we stayed in. It was called Villa di Tomaso which if my Italian translation skills return to me, means Villa di Thomas. If you're scratching your head right now, that's just a joke-don't worry about it.
In case you couldn't tell, this is a picture of an ornate ball fountain thing. Moving right along...
Here is a shot of the pool. We spent all of our time here. And I do mean all.This is just a general shot of the resort.
Another shot-it was a Tuscan theme, and I have to say it was very beautiful and very well done.

Perhaps the greatest discovery (at least for me) of our vacation is pictured above. This is a $1 sweet tea sold at McDonalds. This was something almost too good to be true. The north/midwest knows nothing about one of the south's greatest treasures, sweet tea with lemon. I consumed more of these than I care to admit and still miss them even now.

This is the kind of stuff we didn't miss on vacation :)

Endeared Friendships

No doubt Christian friendships are a means of joining and holding together Christ's body. Ephesians 4 speaks of the body being built up in love as each part does its work.

Endeared and intimate Christian friendships are used by God to sharpen His people as iron sharpens iron.

We are thankful for those God has used in our lives to build us up and leave us different than we were when we first met them.

It's an understatement to say we'll miss you guys.

stella hearts daddy

happy father's day!
a smooch for her favorite

still smitten

happy 5th anniversary, baby!

summertime, and the livin' is easy...

"i sure am glad they built these cupholders all around our house. now i never have to hold my cup again no matter where i'm playing in our yard. sweet!"

walking the only pet she'll ever own (if it's up to me - which it's not - but daddy's not pro-pet either!) :)

2 different shoes on the wrong feet and fingerprints all over her sunglasses

Cupcake Run

Whether you're a busy mother or the coach of an NBA basketball team in the middle of the eastern conference finals, you're NEVER too busy for for a cupcake run.



So this is Erica with Flip Saunders, head coach of the Detroit Pistons, at The Cupcake Station in Birmingham. I don't know if he called her to meet and discuss what defensive looks the Pistons are going to throw at Lebron in game 2 or how Chauncey is going to avoid the high trap in the backcourt. But I do know that cupcakes were had by all. And that is the important thing.

Happy Mother's Day