10 Years

Today, Eric and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary.

A decade has passed since I promised to love him faithfully, entirely, and endlessly. At the time, that day was the most perfect day I could have imagined, but it was only the beginning.

In the past ten years, we have spent countless nights with the TV paused for hours, too engrossed in conversation with each other to concern ourselves with the show's conclusion.

We have embraced each other's interests and found joy and togetherness in new shared hobbies.

We have lived and loved in New York City and Washington, D.C., making memories that will last our lifetime.

We have packed up our belongings and created new homes nine times, in four states.

We have made new friends, and bid them farewell as life led us to new places.

We have prayed and planned and jumped without knowing the outcome into career changes, always in search of the best life for our family.

We have made a home within whatever walls house us at any time.

We have made unforgettable memories both overseas and across seemingly countless miles in the  U.S. (and a touch of Canada!).

We have cared for each other in sickness, and cheered for each other through physical challenges.

We have leaned on each other through Eric's mother's stroke and grieved together after her passing.

We have mourned babies that might have been and rejoiced at the first cries of Elizabeth Alice and Eric James. Eric tirelessly supported me physically, mentally and emotionally through labor and childbirth, and since those life-changing days, we have celebrated each of our children's milestones together (including Ellie's first day of kindergarten this week).

We have watched each other grow from kids ourselves to parents, both feeling more confident in this new role because the other is by our side.

We have laughed ourselves into hysterics, and wiped away each other's tears.

We have supported each other's ambitions and encouraged each other's dreams.

We have been each other's constant in times of change and upheaval.

We have loved each other. So much.

Thank you, Eric, for this beautiful decade. It is tempting to say it has been the greatest time of my life, but as I look eagerly at the decades still to come for us, I have no reason to believe things won't just keep getting better. Thank you for loving me so completely, for our family and for the life we have built together.

I love you through and through. You are my favorite, my lobster, and my wish come true.

VIDEO: Meghan & Eric - 10 years!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I hope you all are having a wonderful day celebrating those important men in your life. I'm blessed with several myself, two of whom I'm missing today - my dad and my grandpa. Happy Father's Day, Dad! We'll see you soon! And Happy Father's Day, Gramps! We love you!

As for the father that I live with, the kids and I are going to spend some time today making sure he knows just how much he is appreciated. I've been thinking a lot lately about just how lucky we are to have a man like Eric as the head of our household. I've had some extra time to watch Eric in action this week, as he has finished up his school year so has been home more, plus I've had jury work, so he's really taken charge of the parenting responsibilities the past few days. And he is awesome at it.

I love to watch Eric with our kids. I love to watch him immediately morph into Aladdin when Ellie dons her Jasmine pajamas, breaking out into a duet of "A Whole New World" with his little princess. I love to watch him fall to the ground when E.J. "tackles him" with a big hug. I love to watch him teach them things and read to them and get down on the floor and play with them. He is just so involved with everything they're doing, and you can tell by the deafening chorus of "Daddy's home! Hi, Daddy!" that rings out whenever he walks in the door that they just adore him. I'm so, so happy that my children are growing up with such a great dad, so eager to be such a major, positive presence in their lives.

I also know how much Eric has had our needs in mind lately as we work to figure out the next steps for our family. His temporary teaching license has expired, so it's time to move on, and I know that as Eric considers all of his options, what is best for our kids is a top priority. I admire him and his dedication to finding a plan of action that is best for our family as a whole. He is a great provider and an exceptional partner in our marriage and in parenthood and I am so blessed to be his wife.

Thank you, Eric, for all you do for us. We could never fully express how much you mean to all of us. Thank you for our family and our life together. We love you.

The Rest of Our April

Of course, all of our Disney tripping was a big part of our month in April, and Ellie's ballet recital was a major highlight. But, we did even more fun stuff throughout the month!

To kick off the month, Grammy came to visit/hold down the fort while Eric and I went to a marriage retreat weekend that was really great. The kids had fun with Grammy, and Eric and I got to spend some time focusing on each other and our relationship without those pesky rugrats running around and interrupting our conversation to tell us really important things like that they just saw a tree or what have you (this happens daily). Thanks, Grammy!

Grammy and the kids

E.J. had another Nature's Newbies class at the zoo, and we met a baby alligator. He and I also had a little one-on-one fun at the zoo itself, including a rare ride on the train.

Hi, alligator!

Train ride!

We all went downtown one evening for Spark Walk, which was the scaled-down version of One Spark from years past. It was not nearly as cool as last year, but it still was a fun atmosphere.

With The Giant Chicken sculpture in the Hemming Park fountain

We also enjoyed our first baseball game of the year, during the Jacksonville Suns opening weekend.

Baseball!

The kids developed a great love for picking flowers.

So many flowers!

Speaking of flowers, we also planted seeds at storytime for Earth Day, and they are miraculously still alive under my care, so they were magic seeds.

Little gardeners

We also went back downtown to Hemming Park for the Bourbon & BBQ Festival, which is really my kind of festival.

Ellie with our BBQ feast

The kids and I also went down to the St. Augustine Outlet Mall for Feel the Wheels. The kids really enjoyed it, with the helicopter and fire truck being particular favorites.

Feel the Wheels

We also went to the World of Nations festival and had a great time. We collected stamps in our "passports," and Ellie got a henna tattoo in India and a bookmark with her name written in Japanese in Japan. E.J. requested a photo with the big Chinese dragon and fell in love with his little American flag.

Fun at the World of Nations festival

Grammy came for another visit and we took the kids to TNT Gymnastics for their open gym, and the kids really loved that. They ran around like crazies, jumped on trampolines, bounced in a bounce house and climbed around in the foam pit.

Gymnastics fun

We ended the month with a trip to the beach, which started out fun for everyone but quickly turned into E.J.'s worst nightmare. He just hated it. I have no idea why, but the girls really enjoyed themselves!

Beach Day!

At that was our April!

I'm Here! I'm Here!

Well, would you look at that: here I made my triumphant return to blogging a month ago, and then went dark again. Ha!

I've had things I'd like to share, but I've been keeping myself quite busy with preparations for Ellie's fourth birthday party coming up this weekend. True, she won't actually be four until the end of March, but my sister is leaving again for Japan a week from tomorrow (let's not speak of it), so we decided to have Ellie's party early this year so Aunt Heather could make it. She has never been able to come to any of the kids' birthday parties because of show schedules/non-U.S.-residence, so this will be a treat!

In addition, our February fun was marred by a stomach virus that very slowly but surely made its way through our entire family, thwarting most of our fun Valentine's Day plans and proving that romance at eight-years-married-with-two-kids means cleaning the vomit out of the couch and picking up some Outback Steakhouse to-go when the sicklings are finally to bed. My Valentine is the best!

So that's where we've been. I'm excited for Ellie's party and will definitely be sharing all of that with you, as per usual, and then doing some further catch-up posts soon enough. We have lots of fun things coming up for the remainder of the spring, too! Finally, our barren January and February are coming to an end and our calendar will once again be filled with fun social engagements.

In the meantime, I'd like to just share this picture I've had in mind to post for months now. Heather snapped it while she was visiting back in November, and it has quickly become one of my favorites of me with my babies. It was just a sweet, candid, snuggly moment and I'm so happy Heather caught it for us. Given all that has been going on in our household for the last month, we've been sharing lots of cuddles like this.

Enjoy the rest of your February, friends!

Farewell, 2015

Here we are again! Another ending to another year that has passed by in the blink of an eye.

This year had a lot of ups for us, and a couple of major downs. This year we said goodbye to both Eric's mother and grandmother, and it is still hard to believe they're both gone. We have also been struggling with some more uncertainty as to what the future holds for us, though we are confident in God's plan and look forward to finding out what He has in store.

As for the more positive parts of the year:

• We made two trips to Disney World this year, including one that featured Eric's successful completion of the Disney marathon! 

• After a long battle against solid food, E.J. started eating and now eats constantly (though his nonstop movement keeps him contentedly in the fourth percentile for weight and size 6-9-month pants, the little shrimp!).

• We celebrated birthdays for all, including a Doc McStuffins-themed third birthday party for Ellie, a Star Wars-themed 33rd birthday party for Eric, a we're-leaving-on-a-two-week-road-trip-in-two-days-themed 33rd birthday mini-celebration for me, and a "Hole in ONE" golf-themed party for E.J.'s very first birthday, which also coincided with a great July Fourth celebration here in Jacksonville. Eric and I also celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary this year! Additionally, we attended celebrations in honor of both my parents' 60th birthdays.

• The kids racked up their own list of celebrity sightings, including myriad PBS Kids stars and Disney characters ( such as Thomas the Train, Disney princesses, Mickey et al., Sesame Street friends, Daniel Tiger, and Buddy from Dinosaur Train). They loved every second of it!

• The big summer highlight was our two-week road trip that included stops in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Sesame Place, Pittsburgh, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood at Idlewild, Cleveland for the annual Hesterman reunion, and Pinehurst, NC. The kids were angels and we made some really wonderful family memories!

• Eric started his third year of teaching (honors students this year!) and Ellie started preschool. She also started ballet lessons after school.

• We went crazy with Halloween activities and had a blast in this year's family costumes inspired by the Disney movie Tangled!

• We got to watch Ellie perform in her school Thanksgiving program, and watched her sulk her way through both her ballet recital and Christmas program. At least she has true sulking talent so it was quite a sight to see.

• We enjoyed very nice holidays in St. Pete, spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas proper with family. We followed that up with our own family Christmas celebration back at home in Jacksonville, which was really special as both kids were very into it this year (Ellie especially). 

• We wrapped up the year today with the VyStar New Year's Eve Run—my very first 5k! Eric has been helping me train and it went so well.

What a year! 2016 promises to be another filled with potential change and, hopefully, continued progress down the path that will lead us to where we are meant to be. In the meantime, we are enjoying each other, our family, and all that Jacksonville has to offer.

May 2016 bring happiness and good health to you and your loved ones, friends. Wishing you all the best!

VIDEO: A look back at our year in 2015

Signing off for 2015,

Meghan

Thirty-Three is the Way To Be

Today is Eric's 33rd birthday! We have some Christmas-y fun planned for tonight after work (plus cake and that sort of thing, naturally), but otherwise it's a pretty laid back birthday for him. As for me, I opted to keep with tradition and am spending my day thinking of all the reasons why I love my husband!

In addition to all the reasons previously listed (see: 32, 30, 29, 28, 27, and 26), here are 33 bright, shiny, new reasons why I love Eric!

33 Things I Love About My 33-Year-Old-Husband

(in no particular order)

1. I love that whenever he sees E.J. looking at/playing with a Mickey Mouse, Eric says "Oh, boy! It's Mickey Mouse!" in full-out Mickey voice.
2. I love that he always makes the phone calls that I don't want to make.
3. I love that he is willing to push the jogging stroller for me so that we can all go for family runs together, and I can just focus on running (I'm a newbie!).
4. I also love that he praises my "fast" running pace even though we all know it's far slower than he would run on his own. I appreciate him slowing down for me.
5. I love that he is SO EXCITED about the new Star Wars movie.
6. I love how "Clark Kent" he looks in his new glasses.
7. I love that he is the type of person that is willing to change his opinion on important topics. He actively seeks out convincing arguments on both sides and when presented with information that contradicts his current stance, he will amend his position according to what he now recognizes as truth.
8. I love that in his math classes every day, he writes the date as a math equation. So nerdy, but so adorable.
9. I love that he cares so much about exposing his students to the full range of options before them for college and life after high school.
10. I love how hard he works in search of the perfect next step for him, his career and our family.
11. I love the way he calls E.J. "the big guy." (Ellie must love it too, because she has adopted it herself!)
12. I love that he will always read books to Ellie. Always. I complain about it sometimes, when bedtime has long passed and I'm ready to get her tucked in and get on with our night, but he insists it's important and I know that he's right. I'm glad he doesn't allow that to be brushed aside.
13. I love that when he reads to the kids he creates different voices for all the characters. And, if there are other people around, instead of toning it down (as I would likely do), he embraces it and asks them to read the part of the narrator so he can better focus on his characters.
14. I love the way he stirs pasta.
15. I love the way he stepped up and took care of things when his mother and his grandmother passed away.
16. I love the beautiful words he wrote and spoke about his mother and his grandmother at their memorial services.
17. I love that he always sleeps on the couch without complaint when I am sick, so I can cough and sneeze all night without worrying about disturbing him (and still having the comfortable bed).
18. I love that he is always willing to crack or massage my back at my request.
19. I love that he always tells me I'm beautiful even when I don't feel it. And by the way he looks at me, I know he's not just saying it; he really means it.
20. I love that he is constantly in pursuit of knowledge. He is always reading, studying and learning, and enjoying it.
21. I love that he always drives when we ride in the car together.
22. I love that he texts me a nice little "good morning, have a good day" message every morning when he leaves for work.
23. I love that he takes our cars for oil changes for us.
24. I love that he doesn't think twice about donning a tiara and sitting down for a princess tea party with Ellie.
25. I love the way he eats Kit-Kats (even though it's wrong).
26. I love that as soon as he saw I was feeling sad about my sister leaving for another six months (at least) in Japan, he started talking about ways to get me over there for a visit, even if he can't come with me (and of the two of us, he has always been the one who wants to visit Asia). He can really be very selfless like that.
27. I love that he is always willing to give the kids use of the entire house for their play, while I usually try to contain them (read: contain the mess) to the main living area. He wants them to explore!
28. I love that he is so amused when our kids do something clever to get their way, that he will likely give in.
29. I love that he takes Achilles to the vet for his shots for me.
30. I love that he is willing to give up his holidays in our home this year in favor of being in St. Petersburg while my sister is home this Christmas.
31. I love that he points out when it has been a while since we've hugged (by "a while" I mean roughly a day) and makes sure to remedy the situation.
32. I love that he did Japanese cosmetic face masks with Heather and me over Thanksgiving.
33. I love how much he values our marriage and how steadfastly committed he is to sharing a long, happy life together with me.

Happy birthday to a truly great man!

Celebrating 17 Years at the Beach

Phew, I took another little blog hiatus there! So, let's backtrack a little bit.

We had a very rain-filled Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, we planned to go down to St. Augustine for their 450th anniversary celebration, but it started pouring rain (like, torrential downpour) within minutes of our arrival at our destination. So, we called it and outlet shopped instead. On Sunday, we wanted to go to the beach, but again, as we were pulling into the beach parking lot, it started raining buckets. Then on Monday, we planned to go to the last Jacksonville Suns game of the season. We bought our tickets and went inside, and had just enough time to wander through the gift shop before the rain delay (and eventual game cancellation) kicked in. What a soggy weekend, indeed.

I'll share some pictures from the game in my next post, but today I wanted to talk more about our beach day. See, Eric and I made these plans to go to the beach over Labor Day weekend for a very special reason: Labor Day this year marked 17 years since Eric first asked me to be his girlfriend, and he did so the very first time we went to the beach together. So, it seemed fitting to go back to the beach, now with our two kids in tow, as a little mini-celebration.

So, we loaded up the car, covered everyone with sunblock and headed out there (no small feat, my friends). And right as we arrived, the rain started. We decided to just park and sit in the car for a few minutes to see if it would blow over, and eventually our patience was rewarded. As it started to clear out, we got out and decided to walk along the boardwalk and out on the pier to let things dry out a bit.

Not ideal beach weather

Family photo on the pier! The sun is shining!

Lovebirds

Piggyback problems

Convinced the rain would continue to stay out over the ocean and let us have some beach fun, we returned to the car for our things and made the most of the rest of our morning. We ended up having a really nice time!

Honestly, this child.

Ellie loves playing in the sand!

Looking like a little baby model

Pretty Ellie!

Happy kids at the beach!

Chasing seagulls

"Kiss, E.J.!" (He obliged)

Buried!

Handsome guys

Off to fetch some water in our buckets

Looking so big

Looking so big, too!

E.J. loves the waves!

Fun in the ocean with my boy!

I'm so glad we waited out the storm, because it was really a fun morning for all of us!

And I'm even more glad that Eric asked me something so life-changing on that Labor Day in 1998. It was the start of something really special!

Eight Years

Today Eric and I are celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary! We don't have any major plans for the day, though we are working on putting together a date night this weekend. We have spent most of every day all summer long together, but most of it has been a whirlwind of activity so it will be nice to carve out a few hours for ourselves.

A few weeks ago Eric and I were talking and the conversation turned to the topic of my impressions of Eric. I'm not even sure how it came up or what the exact context was, but the question that was hanging out there, as I saw it, was: "Am I impressed by Eric?" I answered something along the lines of, "Of course I'm impressed by you!" because of course I'm impressed by him. I thought that was obvious!

I mean, I think my husband is a pretty objectively impressive guy: he played myriad sports in high school; he graduated with a 4.0 in college; he has a law degree from Georgetown; his first "real" job was at a big law firm in New York City; he gave up his law career in favor of teaching in a Title I School; he's a doting husband and father. Sounds like a pretty stand-up guy, right?

But there's more to him than that. These are just a few examples of things that impress me about my husband:

I'm impressed that after a long day at work, he comes home and jumps right into changing dirty diapers and reading children's books ad nauseam (and he even does voices!).

I'm impressed by the grace with which he handled himself this summer when his mother and grandmother passed. He stepped up to do what he needed to make sure their lives were remembered as they should be. They would have been very proud, I think.

I'm impressed by the amount of time and effort he puts in each and every day to try to figure out what our next step in life is. He is constantly looking for new options and weighing all possibilities. I know that it is always on his mind because he is so committed to making the best possible choice for our family.

I'm impressed by how much weight he gives my feelings about our future location. He knows that I miss New York City so spends hours searching for apartments that might in any way be affordable for our family of four within reasonable distance of the city. I know that if I said, "I want to go back to New York," that is exactly what we would do and he would figure everything else out along the way to make that happen for me.

I'm impressed by his last two years of teaching. Not only is he a finalist for Teach of the Year, after only teaching two years ever, but he is constantly re-evaluating his methods and trying to figure out what is the best way to reach his students.

I'm impressed by his relentless thirst for knowledge. He is forever reading books about things like the economy and history and politics, trying to grow his knowledge base. He enjoys debating current issues because he, unlike so many, likes to be challenged in his beliefs and is eager to rethink his current positions in light of opposing arguments (and he actually does it!).

I'm impressed by his patience with the kids and how perfectly we seem to balance each other out. When I'm about at my wits' end, he is always the calm voice to step in and take over so I can catch my breath. He works hard to teach them things and help me raise them to be good people.

I'm impressed by what a great husband he really is. He is so attentive to my needs and my concerns. He always listens and offers his best advice. He wants to make me feel special. He lets me know he appreciates me and all that I do for our kids. He talks often about how much he values our relationship and how lucky we are, and he is absolutely right.

My husband is a very impressive guy, and I'm so pleased that I am the woman who gets to be married to him. This past year has been another crazy one for us, with a new house, a new baby, the loss of three family members, a marathon, travel, etc. And of course, we are still very much in transition and are working every day to figure out where we are headed next. But even with all that madness all around us, the love we share never wavers. We are in this thing together, and we can handle anything that comes across our plate as partners.

And so, onward! Let's see what else the future brings for us and for our family!

Happy anniversary, Eric, you impressive man, you. I love you so much.

Washington, D.C., Part 2: The National Mall

Our first full day in D.C. was a busy one. E.J. woke up earlier than usual, and then napped longer than normal in the morning, so we got a bit of a late start. But we set off on a mission—we had lots to see!

E.J.'s early wake-up call afforded him plenty of time to play with Buff before starting his day!

We hopped on the Metro and took it to L'Enfant Plaza, where we began our journey.

Ellie loved riding the train!

Catching our first real view of the District: for the kids, their first ever, and for me, my first in seven years!

It was so exciting to exit the station and walk out to the road to see the Washington Monument! Ah, I missed this place.

Hello there, D.C.!

We're excited!

We made our way out to the Jefferson Memorial first. Ellie was excited to climb the stairs and see the big statue!

The Jefferson Memorial

Up the steps!

Inside the Memorial

My pretty girl playing by the columns

We continued around the Tidal Basin to the FDR Memorial, which is one of my favorites. I love its sprawling design and all the fountains. I think it's very pretty and peaceful.

At the FDR Memorial

Eric and Ellie by the fountains

Eleanor

Ellie LOVED the dog!

We stopped at the FDR Memorial both for a little break and a photo op down by the Tidal Basin. Back in 2006, Eric and I had our engagement pictures taken there and we were eager to recreate our favorite one, but this time with our kids in tow!

Cuddle break!

Our engagement picture, taken in March 2006...

...and the current version, 9.5 years and two kids later!

From there we continued on to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, which is new since we left D.C.

The MLK Jr. Memorial

There are these long walls on either side of the large statue, and they feature numerous quotes from MLK. This was a particular favorite.

Eric and Ellie at MLK

Then we went over to the Lincoln Memorial, which has always been my favorite of them all. Of course, it now holds a particularly special place in my heart, because that is where Eric proposed to me! We checked out the monument then stopped at our "proposal spot" for some pictures.

The Lincoln Memorial

Inside the Memorial

Eric and the kiddos

Eric proposed to me right in this spot on January 19, 2006! It was significantly colder then.

Look at this sweet face!

The view of the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial

By that time we were ready for another break, so we stopped and sat on the Mall for a lunch picnic.

Relaxing!

My E.J.!

Feeling refreshed, we continued up the Mall to the World War II Memorial.

The World War II Memorial

One of two "Kilroy was here" engraved "graffiti" marks on the memorial - an homage to the graffiti sketch that became popular with soldiers during WWII and came to be a universal sign that American soldiers had left their mark on an area as they passed through.

The column in honor of the Pacific Theater

Looking up inside the column

We each found the pillar with our birth state on it!

I took selfies with E.J. throughout our trip, but this was was my favorite of them all.

Then, we made our way up to the Washington Monument (or, as Ellie calls it, "the big pencil"). We sat at the base and snapped a few more photos.

Looking lovely against that blue sky!

The boys

So big!

Sweet babies at the base of the monument

Three of the four of us!

By that time, we were spent. We made our way back to the train and returned to Jeff and Sarah's house. We put the kids down for naps (with mixed success), then when everyone was a bit rested, we went down to Jeff and Sarah's pool for some further relaxation. Ellie was very proud to show Godfather Jeff that she was "swimming all by [myself]!"

My little fish!

After swimming, Jeff and Sarah prepared a really exceptional meal for us: steaks and artichokes on the grill, with tomato and mozzarella. It was the best meal we've had in a long time, and was only made better by our al fresco setting and a little red wine. The kids also were on their best behavior (though Ellie declined the delicious feast and opted instead for cottage cheese, applesauce and bread, because that makes sense), so it was a really perfect ending to the day.

Dinner. Yum!

Or, you know, this looks delicious, too.

Dinner with friends!

After dinner we got the kids to bed and then spent more time visiting with Jeff and Sarah (and enjoying a yummy dessert of berries, brownies and whipped cream), until they made their exit to spend the evening out again. Eric and I spent some more time hanging out on the couch before calling it a day ourselves. Another day in the books!

To see more pictures of our National Mall sightseeing day, click here.

Coming up next: More D.C. sightseeing, and a trolley ride in Old Town Alexandria!