As most of you know..yesterday was our Birthaversary (as we like to call it).   Our anniversary (4 years) as well as my (Melissa’s) birthday.   Technically, I’m 28 years young, however, in my mind, I’ll always be 27 years young.  27 was a good year for me, haha.  Some people have asked us why we got married on my birthday.  It’s kind of like having a birthday on Christmas.  You get 1 gift instead of 2.  My answer is always, I’ve never been a “need to bathe me in gifts” type of person.  To me, a birthday is celebrating another year of life because time is a gift.  If I could ask for one gift, it would be to have many more healthy years to live as a 27 year old (ha) with my kids and husband.  That’s all ;0)

This entire week, Michael and I have been in and out of the office trying to one up each other in creativity for our anniversary.  Michael is quite the creative person, always has been.  Me, well I’m crafty and obsessed with Pinterest.

Last year, for our birthaversary, we had a good friend babysit the girls for the night and we had a date night.  Date nights are always great.  However, this year, I wanted the girls to be with us.  After all, they are a huge part of who we are and having valuable family time is something we truly cherish.  We also know that come April (tomorrow), our weekends with the girls will be very limited.  Wedding season for us, is just about to start.  They’ll also be starting Kindergarten in the fall (need tissue.) and any chance we can have with them, we are going to make the best of it.

I also feel that once you have children, your love for your spouse is still there (obviously), but it challenges you to be more creative with romance.  Things become or can become rather routine very easily without even noticing.

So, for our anniversary, Michael had pretty much locked himself in our barn for the last few weeks working on my gift.  He carved our initials (MMAB) in the bark as well as a heart on the top of a log.  The log was from a tree in our yard that the previous owner had cut down.  The idea behind it was that we originally wanted to carve our names in this one tree, but he thought it would be great to carve it in a log.  This way, when we do sell our house one day and move on, we’ll have a piece of it to take with us.  I thought it was incredibly cool and it makes for one awesome table centerpiece.   Along with the log, he was also busy making a picnic table out of wood that was left in our barn.  I’m quite impressed with him, first the headboard and now a picnic table?  Who is this man ;0)

The picnic table came in handy and I’m happy he finished it yesterday.  I was originally planning a picnic on the ground, but the table is so much cooler!  I bought some bed sheets from Walmart, on clearance (score!), and hung those on a line from tree to tree.  It broke up some of the wind as well as created some privacy.  I am also a big thrifter (guilty!) and found a set of really neat fine china for $4 (total) and a few other fancy do dads.

The only thing I really spent money on was a bottle of Dom.  I figured, we would have spent that much going out for dinner.  We would have also paid $40 for a bottle of $10 wine at a restaurant.  So really, why not.  At least this way, we wouldn’t have a headache in the morning.  And, we didn’t.  Although, Michael would have been completely satisfied with our favorite $7 bottle of wine.  It’s called Love My Goat, haha.  =0)

We just wanted to share with you a few of the photos we took in our backyard.

 

Having a picnic in your backyard like this is kinda corny, I know.  We are corny people =0)

Michael’s gift.  It’s personal, handmade, and I love it.

He also made a pig for the girls, lol.

One of the deserts, little flavored cupcakes from Crumbs, came from our Boston friend, Jess.  She always seems to deliver me fantastic high calorie treats on special days, haha.

Hmm…I wonder who decorated the cake?!

Probably, the same kids blowing out the candles!

I think they were laughing at Uggs pooping or something ridiculous.  Because that’s funny (when you’re 4).

And yes we (the girls) dressed up, because it was a special day.  That and Ava & Bella think Fancy Nancy happens to be the “coolest” girl ever, and everything Nancy does is fancy, haha.

Thanks again for the birthday and anniversary wishes.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

<3

M&M