to my man

Dear Daniel,

Today is our anniversary. (Don't worry, I won't let you forget. I reminded you last week, two days ago, last night and first thing this morning. Some may see it as redundant and nagging, but I like to think of it as proper notice.)

I took some pictures of the photos in our wedding album (all of them were taken by the fabulously talented Laura at Lark Photography, whose website is right here.) Don't we look like babies??
It seems like a lifetime ago, maybe because a whole life's worth of change has happened in the past four years. We've changed too.

(For example, that waist line of mine? It's never going to look like that again.)

You know what I've learned along the way babe? Anybody can get married. Heck, the wedding is the easiest part! Marriage is what separates the men from the boys and the fairy tale chasing girls from the covenant keeping women.

I know you're in this for the long haul, because I've witnessed first-hand how you make the choice to stay in, protect and lead our marriage. Even when I haven't been the ideal spouse. (Especially during that one dreadful month when you continually woke up next to the Wicked Witch of the West. Any man would have been begging the Lord to drop a house on himself just to put him out of his misery. Thank goodness it wasn't an alien that had invaded my body, just the embryo of our first born.)

Good things come in hormonal packages.

Look, here I'm putting on your bling. That's the blingiest you'll ever get, huh? Good thing you don't have a penchant for shiny stuff. Because if we end up with that passel of girls your heart's set on having, we'll be too broke for bling of our own. Broke but blessed.

This one's my favorite. Little did you know what you were getting into when you slipped that ring on my finger. Thank goodness you didn't know all we'd face together in the coming years. You might have hightailed it back up the aisle and out the front door.

Then again, any man who's been faithful to Kansas City sports teams for as long as you have shows great fortitude when it comes to disappointment by the ones he loves most. Thank you that when I muster up enough humility to admit my shortcomings, you're quick to forgive. Thank you that the apologies in our marriage aren't one sided.

You lay down your life day in and day out for your girls. I will testify until my dying breath that you're the real deal. There isn't a man on this planet I respect more than you. It blows my mind how faithful God has been to us. We'd be such a mess without Him. And He's the only way even the messiest parts of our marriage could turn out to be something beautiful.

Well, I better wrap this up before you start skimming. :)

I love you. And when you get back from leading all those teenagers, we'll celebrate properly. We have so much to be thankful for.

Proud to be yours,

Mrs. Hinton

"He is before all things and in Him all things hold together."

Colossians 1:17

let's go to the movies

Guess where we went tonight? This picture might give it away. :)

When the first commercial came out advertising Toy Story 3, I knew I wanted to take Chica. For her first "official" trip to the movies, what could be better to see than that? When I found the shirt, I brought it home and explained what it was for. She talked about her "Movie Shirt" for the next week.

The icing on the cake was when Sarah P. gave her a Jessie doll. She couldn't get over how her cowgirl matched the one on her shirt.
She loves this doll and uses her braid to swing Jesse around.

My face would look like this too if I was carried around by my hair.

We loaded up my purse with snacks and stuffed some dinner in there too. A family passed us in the parking lot and commented on our hidden food. I asked them not to snitch and they said they just stowed McDonalds in their diaper bag. Movie or no movie, it was dinner time!

Big Girl was nervous to enter the theater. The previews had begun and they were loud and intense. At the end of every one she announced (very loudly) that she was ready to see the movie on her shirt. Once it began, I wasn't sure we were going to make it. She was doing play by play commentary for the whole theater to hear.

"LOOK! IT'S THE HORSE ON MY SHIRT!"

"WHAT ARE THEY DOING UP THERE MOMMY??"

"I WANT SOME SNACKS, MOMMY!"

But about 20 minutes into it, the newness wore off and she settled into the storyline. And what a cute plot it was! She told me twice she needed to go to the bathroom and each time we exited the theater she said, "I like this movie Mommy!" She repeated it about 16 times throughout the rest of the movie too.

I will warn you, if you go see this, take your tissues. I was boo-hooing at the end and Dan said he couldn't believe a movie about toys made him so sad. As the credits rolled, I wiped off my face and we loaded up our family's buffet. As we headed for the parking lot Chica declared, "I want to see that movie again!"

If she mentions it enough, her Daddy might give in and take her for an encore performance because it was so good.

As long as there are plenty of snacks.

my jumping banshee

On our recent trip to the homeland, Reesie had a fabulous time jumping on a mini-trampoline in my mom's basement. Throughout our stay, she'd ask to go "upstairs" to jump. (She's a little directionally challenged like her mother.) We took many trips "upstairs" to the basement.

She jumped.

And jumped.

Ricocheted off the sides.

Smashed her face up against the net.

She took a little break to interact with fans.

They were a captive audience.

And then she jumped some more.

I think she liked it.

The End.

while we were away

On my first day as a stay-at-home mom, I packed up our car and drove Chica to Missouri to visit our family. We stayed for ten days, the longest I've been back since I got married nearly four years ago. We had a great time and went on all kinds of adventures.

We jumped in the lake...(and by we I mean she.)

She drove a boat.

We went to a fun restaurant...

Where a train delivers your food to your table. It's quite exciting.

We ate homemade ice cream.

And licked the bowl clean.

The bowl ended up cleaner than her face.

We played with vintage toys that were there when I was her age.And then there was this. If this doesn't land us in therapy I don't know what will.
It's an exhibit with life-size robotic dinosaurs.
They move and growl.I don't know how I'm going to explain the counseling bill to Daniel.
I do not recommend this for children under the age of 35. But we made it out with zero tears! (I think she's saving them for the shrink's couch!)

We posed for a million pictures. (Can you tell she loves her aunties a little bit?)

And we saw lots...and lots...

and lots

of family.
It was a great trip.