Cheers to 17 Years + 4 Marriage Tips

Kevin and I celebrated 17 years of marriage on Saturday!  What a big milestone :)  We didn't plan any big trips or do anything extravagant; just celebrated with our little family and it was nice.  I guess you'd call that a real life anniversary.  Sweet and simple.

We always look forward to our family's birthday and including the kids in our celebration.

We exchanged cards and no gifts.  Actually, I take that back.  We bought a few things for the house that had been on our wish list this year - like a nice patio table!  And we really love having a big table for entertaining out there.

Let's walk down memory lane for a sec... July 24, 2004.

We planned our wedding in 6 months.

It was an unseasonable cloudy and cool day in Southern Indiana.

We took almost all of our wedding pictures before the wedding.  It was so nice to have those done first.  And we had a private moment alone where we got to see each other for the first look.

We had a candlelit service at 5:30pm

I loved my dress.  I tried on several and just knew this one was perfect for me.  It was only $99 and my veil cost more than my dress.

We ordered a square cake to go with my princess cut diamond ring.   

Kevin wanted to wear gray tuxes and my mom said no.  He still gives her a hard time about this.

I wanted hot pink and light pink roses in my bouquet, but my florist said no.  Something about brides do don't bold colors in their bouquets.  We compromised by adding Lily of the Valley, greenery and some pretty ribbon.

Back to reality... We enjoyed a quiet weekend at home :)

We headed to our favorite hibachi restaurant in town with the whole crew.  Our waiter was one of Kevin's former students.  He got called Dr Jordan all night :)  We also bumped into some friends that used to be our neighbors when we first moved to town.  It was fun to catch up with them and everyone wolfed down their food.  Leo loved it, too.  The kids love the hibachi cooking in front of them.  We headed to a bookstore afterward to do some browsing and book buying.

This cutie was the only one at our table who caught the zucchini the chef tossed at him in his mouth.  Everyone else missed and he was very proud of himself.

I love this crazy crew!

Kevin picked up grocery store flowers (probably with a coupon :) in our wedding colors like he always does - light pink and dark pink.  They are so pretty!  I am making us a strawberry pie - our favorite summer pie - to celebrate. 

I'll end with 4 marriage tips:

1. Communicate.

Talk about everything.  The good.  The bad and everything in between.  Don't expect your spouse to read your mind.  Even after 17 years we have plenty of things to talk through.

2. Always ask your spouse, "How can I help you?"

Whether you're having people over for dinner, planning an event, managing kid schedules, working full or part time, making dinner or cleaning the house.  It just feels good to know that someone sees your effort, notices you and is asking how they can help.  Both spouses need to ask and answer this question.

3. Establish your own family traditions

Both of you will come into your marriage with traditions you grew up doing.  Some will be super meaningful and others may be less important to you  Pick and choose the ones you want to continue and then establish some of your own.  It'll feel really special to have these traditions to look forward to all throughout the year.  It's especially fun if you add kids to the mix and you include them in your family traditions.

4. Do new things together.

Visit new places.  Learn new hobbies.  Move to a new city.  Buy a new house.  Try new recipes.  All those new things you do together will bring you closer.

What's your best marriage tip?

Friday Faves

Happy Friday!  I hope you've had a great week.  We had a good one despite Fletcher not feeling great for several days.  We're all feeling good now and ready for the weekend.

Let me share my Friday Fave moments from the week with you!

1 // 40 Charcuterie board!

My favorite thing that I've made all week... maybe all Summer was this 40 charcuterie board for my husband's 40th birthday!  It was such a fun themed dinner.  He really enjoyed it and so did the kids.  I loved making the 40 boards and am adding them to my shop.  People are excited about them!

2 // Normal Things

It's so nice to see some normal things returning.  We all went to the store to pick out a birthday present for a party the kids are going to on Friday.  We spotted this penny horse ride at Meijer.  It had been put away for over a year thanks to covid.  Leo had never gotten a chance to go for a ride.  He LOVED it and we loved watching him.

3 // Summer Fun

Every day we're getting out and about, going to parks, meeting up with friends and trying to enjoy our Summer days together.  Summer is really flying by so fast.  All the kids have grown so much, but Leo is really looking less and less like a baby every day.  He's a big guy.

4 // 18 holes & a fox

Kevin's been playing a lot of golf this Summer.  He snapped this picture during his round this week and couldn't wait to show it to us.  Of course, Olive asked him What did the fox say?  Such a handsome guy!

5 // Patio Meetings

My mom's group has been meeting at different patios all over the area.  I have had dinner and desserts on lots of different patios with the board planning lots of fun events for the coming months.  We tried a new Mexican place recently and this week was pie on the patio from Grand Traverse Pie Company.  Yum!

6 // Salad of the Week

I figured out that I do best eating salads when I eat the same salad several times in one week.  I buy all the ingredients, chop veggies for several salads at once and then change up the dressing each day.  This was so good - tons of veggies, ham, hard boiled eggs on a bed of romain lettuce.

7 // Lemon Love Charcuterie Boxes

I'm building lemon themed charcuterie boxes today and tomorrow for my Jordan Bakery Boxes.  They're going to be SO CUTE!  I was really excited to find all of this lemon stuff at Aldi this month.

8 // Feeling Good

I've been on such a good roll with exercising in June and July.  I feel really good and proud of myself for making this a top priority.  I think it's so easy for moms to focus on everyone else in the family so I literally put exercising on my to do list every single day.

9 // Art in the Afternoon

We've been enjoying art in the afternoon most afternoons at home.  The kids have been loving the free time to paint.  We did all kinds of paints, all kinds of brushes and Leo caused all kinds of chaos in the background :)

10 // Kitty Smiles

It makes me smile when I catch a kitten smile :)

Cheers to a nice weekend!!  We're celebrating our anniversary and hoping to have a great weekend!  Hope you have a good one, too :)

Linking up with Momfessionals

Summer Day in the Life

Hey!  It's time for a day in the life post.  I love looking back on these day in the life posts years later.  So here is a little glimpse into our Summer days with an 8 year old, 5 year old and a 1 year old with Kevin working full time and me being home full time with a part time side hustle.

 

6:45-7:30am My Leo alarm goes off for the day.  If it's not a Leo alarm, it's a Fletcher alarm.  Olive no longer has any interest in being the first one up in the morning.

7:30am Wake up the house - turn on the lights, open the curtains, get a cup of iced coffee and hop on the computer for a bit to make sure everything is up and running with my blog, social media and keeping an eye on the accounts for my mom's group.

8:15am Make breakfast for everyone - cinnamon toast, granola bars and cereal are the top requests.  If we are having a slow morning we'll do something warm like french toast sticks, bake bran muffins or banana muffins.  The kids watch some shows in the morning.

9:00am Everyone gets ready for the day - hair, teeth, fresh clothes and we're ready to go.  We make our beds, start laundry, do dishes and tidy up the place before we head out.  Kevin heads to work about the same time we head out.

9:30-11:30am We like to get out early to avoid the heat.  Meet friends at the park, go to a playgroup, run errands, grocery pick up, grab lunch, etc.  Or some days we stay home and play outside before it gets too hot.

12:00pm We try to be home/eating lunch around noon every day.  We all eat together and clean up the kitchen right away.  Leo goes down for a nap and the big kids are busy doing big kid things.

1-3:00pm I read aloud several chapters of a chapter book for the big kids (currently reading James & the Giant Peach).  I hop on the treadmill most days during nap time and we do some school review work, have art time where the kids can create, they play and I work on my blog.  They play on their tablets and really just play the day away.  We've been painting during art time this week.  We did paint brushes one day, finger painting another day and we'll do watercolors.  They also love Perler beads and Play-Doh when the baby is napping.  Leo wakes up and we gear up for the last half of the day.

3:00pm Snack time - fruit smoothies are a summer favorite for all 3.

3:30pm We play, go outside, ride bikes, check on the garden, water flowers, etc.  I will often start prepping things for dinner during this time because everyone is happy and playing.  If I wait until 5:00 to do everything, it's hard.  The baby needs lots more attention and it's hard to chop/prep foods when you're holding a 30lb chunk :)  We also take a moment to pick up the house at this time.  Toys get put away, a quick vaccuum and wipe down the counters for the millionth time.  Cleaning up after our meals and then a couple times throughout the day really help keep the place neat and tidy.

5:00pm Kevin gets home and is ready to go on a walk or play outside.  In the Summer time, he gets home at a different time every day.  His schedule is flexible and we're thankful for that.

6:15pm We eat dinner together most nights.  I cook, Kevin grills or we get takeout.  The kids usually turn in their tablets at dinner time and they're done for the night.

6:30pm Eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, bath time, games, playing and we all work together to tidy up the house before bed.  Teamwork makes the dream work!

If we have a meeting or a golf league event, we tag team the dinner/bedtime routine.  We alternate our meeting days so that Kevin's golf days are different than my board meeting nights.  It saves us big time not having to pay a babysitter and the kids seem happiest when their routine is the same with mom or dad putting them to bed.

7:30pm Leo is ready for bed.  The big kids watch a show or play.

8:30ish Olive & Fletcher are ready for bed.  Kevin reads a chapter book with them every night - they're currently reading a book from the Hatchet sequel series.

9:30pm Kevin and I enjoy some quiet time.  He catches up on news/shows and we have a dessert together.  Today it's brownies and ice cream.  We have different taste in shows so we each watch our own shows.  Kevin heads to bed first.  I stay up late working on things for my business, my blog or my mom's group and then finish off the night with some binge watching on Netflix.  I'm currently watching Jane the Virgin and can't wait to start Virgin River season 3.  The cats stick close by my side all night and love the individual attention.

Midnight-ish - time for bed for me!

Do we have any similarities in our routines?  Do you wake up super early or stay up super late?  I'm a major night owl and always have been.  I get so much down from 9-mightnight every night..

Birthday Charcuterie Boards

Happy Birthday Charcuterie Board!

I've always wanted to put together a number charcuterie board and with Kevin turning 40 it was the perfect opportunity.  I picked up the big cardboard numbers at Hobby Lobby.  They're $7.99 each and if you plan ahead you can grab them on sale.  I miss their 40% off coupons for purchases like this, but if you plan ahead you could grab the numbers when they go on sale.  I didn't have time to wait for that.

Directions for prepping the cardboard numbers:

Supplies:

Grab an exacto knife

scissors

and your cardboard numbers

Directions:

Lay your numbers flat and slice with your knife along the edge of the numbers.  It isn't thick cardboard - just push your knife right through.  Then stick your finger in and pop up the top layer of cardboard.  The top cardboard will come off pretty easily once you break through the cardboard.  It really doesn't require much cutting after you first break through the cardboard.  Pull out the cardboard dividers.  They aren't attached to anything so it's really simple.  Gently pull off the cardboard along the edges.  If there are any rough edges - trim them off with scissors.  The numbers with straight lines are easier to work with than the curved numbers like 0.  This whole process took me 10-15 minutes tops.

Time to build your number boards!  I lined mine with thin strips of Saran Wrap first.  Added the condiment cups next.  Then it was time for the crackers, fruits and veggies and did meats and cheeses last.  I totally unintentionally ended up with 40 different things to eat in the 4-0.  We love a good mix of foods for our boards.  I popped them into the fridge when I was done so everything could cool down again before dinner. 

These number boards turned out so cute.  Kevin just loved it!!  I know my kids would love to have a number board for their birthdays - maybe next year :)

Who would you like to make a birthday board for??

40 with Family

We celebrated Kevin's birthday at home with our little family and then headed out of town to celebrate with our extended family.  He requested golf, golfing with the kids at the end of his round, dinner at the country club and donut cake.  Done!

The weather was beautiful on July 9th.  Kevin got in 18 holes and then we packed the kid's clubs and met him at the driving range.  I'm not sure who was more excited - Kevin or the kids.  I have a feeling my life will include lots of "Meet me at the course with the kids!" moments as the kids get older.  Then we headed inside for dinner.  It was delish.  Everyone was excited to celebrate Dad.

Coach Dad :)

Olive started this tradition of a donut cake and it's been so much fun.  We grab about a dozen of our favorite donuts from our favorite shop - Square donuts - in the morning and then stack them right before we serve the cake.  Top with candles and it's perfect.  So easy and so good.

The weather went down hill for the weekend - lots of rain - but some special birthday prayers were answered for Kevin.  He got to golf with his brother and the rain stopped just long enough to do fireworks.  The kid's helped his mom decorate his cake and we had a great time celebrating with family.  We had a party with his family and breakfast and lunch at his favorite restaurants with my family.

His go to birthday cake request is a homemade buttermilk cake.  His mom makes one for his party every year and I make one for us to eat at home the week of his birthday.  I rarely make cakes from scratch so this spongey cake is something we all look forward to eating once a year.

Cheers to 40 years!  We both feel pretty lucky to be turning 40 this year and are excited for the years ahead with our family.