A Very Happy Mother's Day (Week)

With Sprout due in just a little over a month (at the time of mother's day), my own mom was willing to come out and spend a few days with us and give me some much needed help!  She claims she didn't do much, but just having an extra set of hands around the house and someone to give Bean some extra attention does wonders for this tired momma ;-).  

She came the week leading up to Mother's Day.  Between having her here for a few days and Steve taking over most of the parental responsibilities for my Mother's Day Weekend, I got nearly a week "break" of being a mom.  I obviously just can't turn that off and desire to still spend time and give attention to Bean, but it was nice to not feel the weight of "motherhood responsibility" for that week!

While my mom was here, we had a library trip, special lunch outing, ran other errands, and mom babysat 2 nights in a row! It worked out that she was able to watch not only Bean, but also Bean's friend James one evening while I attended an awards ceremony for James's mom (which she won the Lima Chamber of Commerce award for emerging business! Go Sara's Sweets!) and Steve was at AWANA.  

(Congrats Sara!!  The awards ceremony was on Star Wars Day - May 4th and they had a Star Wars themed Gala.  How could I pass up on that?!)

(Mom documented her portion of the evening with the 2 kids.  Bean being her typical crazy and James losing it over Bean being crazy. Haha, okay, usually it's not this bad.  He didn't nap and just wanted to cuddle and NOT play in a block castle with Bean.)

(I stole some light saber/glow stick decorations to take home to Bean.  Ahm had to show her the proper way to fight with light sabers.)

(Soaking up all the attention)

(Kisses for Bean!)

(Love back to Ahm!)

My mom returned back to IN on Friday.  In the Ackerman house, Mother's/Father's Days are just enjoyed on the Sunday, but the entire weekend.  Steve stepped up parental duties and did all the story times/ tucking in at night (and dealt the multiple bathroom trips or crying because a toy fell out of bed) and even let me sleep in one day (usually I let him sleep in on the weekends since he wakes up so much earlier during the week).  He also made sure to make my duties easier by getting dinner 2 nights AND lunch one afternoon.  I only had to cook once the whole weekend, and it was glorious.  But the best part of my weekend, was soaking up time with my precious little family.  Hard to believe there will be one more added into this crazy soon! 

(I tried to get a decent shot of Bean with some flowers to send out to our mom's and such, but she was very uncooperative.  She didn't care for the sun being in her eyes, or for sitting still.  She just wanted to go and play on the neighbor's swing set.)

(I was surprised on Saturday morning with breakfast in bed! I was blown away.  I actually was thinking of asking the others if they wanted to go out and get breakfast once I was up, but Steve and been secretly slaving away in the kitchen.)

(Steve is not a cook.  He will be the first to admit that.  Good thing he had a cute sous chef who knew what she was doing to help him out!  I was very impressed with his cooking! I'm not a fan of french toast or eggs for that matter, but his were very good! He had researched the recipes and did a great job!)

(We all piled on the bed and ate a delicious breakfast together.  I'm not sure what Bean thought of eating on the bed.  I really thought we'd hear about it and her want to eat up there for meals later on, but she hasn't asked about it.)

(We ended our weekend by making some special red velvet brownies.  Bean LOVES to help in the kitchen.  She always gets disappointed when she can't help me with something -- like making dinner with raw meat.  I can tell you one thing, if there's chocolate involved -- she's right there to help in the process and earn her chocolate chips or licking the spatula.)

(A chocolate mustache is always the best kind of mess to clean up.)

I am one blessed Momma!

Year 4

We made it another year!  Yesterday marked our 4th wedding anniversary.  Seriously, where has the time gone?!

I say this every year, but the past year was by far the best. During our 4th year of marriage we traveled to Indiana several times; spent some time in Cincinnati; spent a week with family at Disney World; visited with friends Tennessee; cruised Nassau, St. Thomas & St. Martin; and spent a long weekend New Jersey.  We've completed several more projects around the house including 2 more room transformations.  We lost a baby with a miscarriage and are currently anticipating the birth of our Baby Girl!  God has been good to us yet again :).  We are beyond blessed.

I think back to when Steve and I met almost 7 years ago and how never in a million years did I ever think we would date yet alone get married (and if you ask Steve, he doesn't think we met until 6 years ago - haha).  I always thought Steve was way too cool for me, and the truth is, he is way too amazing for me!  I'm sorry ladies, but I must say, I have married the most amazing man and have the best husband around.  Watching him grow from a college student to husband to spiritual leader of our family brings tears to my eyes.

And now, I get to watch him become a father.  Things are becoming more real around our home that a baby is quickly approaching.  Our living room is now littered with baby clothes, toys, and baby furniture.  We still have our freak outs over the fact that we're about to become parents -- how can that be real?!  All I know, is that with Steve by my side, we can take on anything -- bring it on Baby Bean!

I am madly in love with Steve and look forward to the experiences, changes, and adventures year 5 has in store.  Love you Steve!

(Every year, I try to make sure we take a picture on our anniversary.  I love looking back through all the pictures and seeing how they change.  Check out pictures from the beginning through year 2 & picture from year 3. I absolutely love the fact that Steve is wearing the same shirt he did in our year 2 picture -- haha!)

After spending our 3rd anniversary in Belgium, we knew we couldn't top that with year 4 so we didn't even try.  Ha ha, okay that's not why this year was low-key.  We had debated on going away for the weekend, but with Bean quickly approaching, our time is better used at home on the weekends so we can prepare for her.  We celebrated by going out to dinner.  We went all out with a 4-course meal thanks to Red Lobster's awesome deal right now.  When we got home, we pulled the trigger on our last big baby items which should arrive next week.  I know, Ackermans getting crazy!

(We couldn't leave Bean out of the anniversary celebration!  It's so bizarre to think that this was our last anniversary of just being husband and wife.  In just a couple more months, our titles will change to Mom & Dad -- yikes!)

Day 5 -- Anniversary Adventure

Today marks 3 years of marriage for us!  It's just crazy that we've been married for 3 years and all that we've gotten to do as a couple.  In the past year alone, we bought a car, made a move to a new state, bought a house, visited Colorado, visited New Jersey 2x, and went to Europe 2x!  Absolutely ridiculous.  But I know that I am truly blessed not only to have done all of that, but to have done it with my best friend and love of my life.  I'm so amazed what God has done in both of our lives to bring us together and the growth that we've gone through in the past 3 years.

(Per tradition, or anniversary picture.  Love you!)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, now back to today: 

The cleaning lady comes today from 1-4 in the afternoon. I wasn't told I had to leave, but who wants to watch someone else clean?  Especially since I want to live in the fantasy that this place is clean and not see the reality of the process.

My morning was filled with cleaning up our stuff and trying to consolidate it to a small area.  I didn't want our things in the way of the cleaning lady so I stacked stuff up on a desk and pretty much through everything else in the suitcase underneath it.  I thought it was a great idea until later in the day Steve (nor I) could find anything -- oops.

So I set off just before 1 on my grand 3 hour adventure.  Prior to the trip, Steve found a brochure online about Mechelen.  After looking through the highlights and with the map in hand, I set out to explore some "hot spots" in Mechelen.  First, I went in search of "A picnic area by the river to watch fisherman".  After meandering through some alleys (I had to step over a dead mouse in one) I found the area marked on the map.  Although there was only 1 picnic table next to a playground (with kids playing) and 2 fisherman sitting on a cement block smoking.  Not what I had in mind with "watch fisherman".  You couldn't even see the river by the area.  

With the picnic area a bust, I continued walking and found the St. Rumbold's Cathedral in the heart of Mechelen.  Behind the church was a grassy area (which is uncommon in European cities) with nearby benches.  I sat for 1.5 hours in front of the cathedral just writing, reading, and people watching to pass the time.  After that, I continued to walk around the church and entered the main area filled with little shops, people, and cafes.  While walking through the area back in the direction of our apartment, I discovered a little store that reminded me a lot of Ikea.  Casa was set up just like the Marketplace inside an Ikea, it was full of "Swedish" style decor, towels, picture frames, kitchen chotsky, etc.  If I had discovered this store back home (or even towards the end of the trip), I would have come out with some items :).  It's probably a good thing Steve gave me a limited amount of Euros as well as not being home.  

The little shopping area dropped me off right in front of the super market.  I decided to go meander in there since I still had a little bit more time to kill.  While inside, I found a card for Steve (the one thing I forgot to get before the trip) which just so happened to be a birthday card.  Oh well.  By the time I got out of the store it was 4 o'clock and time to go home!

(Some little kids fair was set up in the square in front of the supermarket.  2 guys were dressed up in "ring masters" garb, and they kept getting people walking around to come into the area.  Inside, kids and adults tried to juggle and such.  It didn't make much sense to me.)

(The supermarket - Match - is located just under an apartment building just a few blocks away from our apartment.)

I wasn't home long before Steve rung the buzzer to be let in through the gate (he usually has the keys, but I had them for the day).  It was pretty overcast and looked like it was going to pour rain any minute.  But we decided to go ahead and stick to the plan and go walk through the main area and see the church together.  We also threw around the idea of getting dinner out, but we would make that decision when it came.

With our little Mechelen brochure, we kind of created our own little walking tour.  The brochure had some facts on different spots in the city and we would stop and read them when we got to those areas.  We learned about some old houses, about the church, saw the city hall, and went to visit the house of Margaret of Austria.  By the time we got to the shop area, everything was packing up for the night (even though it was 6 o'clock).  Steve was able to get some ice cream before a store closed, but we were out of luck for the chocolate shop.  Steve and I aren't ones to go through the hassle of a sit-down dinner (neither of us want to deal with the language barrier) and all the quicker places were closed.  Plus, it was starting to sprinkle, so we headed back to the supermarket and picked out a frozen skillet meal to take home.

(These 16th century houses are located just down from the Supermarket and are decorated with religious scenes.  The green house to the right had images of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden; while the house in the middle had images from the story of the prodigal son.)

(More of the architecture in the main square.)

(St. Rumbold's Cathedral.  They ran out of money while making the tower and just capped it off.  They had dreams of finishing the tower recently, but decided to do a different project with the money.)

(View of the Cathedral peaking up behind the main square known as Grote Markt.)

(The front of City Hall in Grote Markt.)

(Bridge crossing a canal.  The main area and the Cathedral is on the left side; while the supermarket our apartment are on the right side.)

Our anniversary dinner was just like a normal night at home.  It wasn't anything extravagant, but it was nice just to be the two of us and reflecting on 3 years (seriously, where has the time gone?).  We might attempt a fancy dinner in Paris, but we haven't decided yet.