four years closer to the rest of our lives

 This is my husband. He is the one I watch the clock for all day. Near 11:00 am I get excited because it is almost his lunch break. Near 5:30 pm I get excited because he is almost done and ready to fling the double doors to his office open with triumph. Near 3:00 am I get excited because he is the one that gets pushed out of bed to go take our 2 year old to the bathroom. I like living life together. He is also the one that takes on the adventure of planning a special day to celebrate the last year God has given us in our marriage. He rises to the challenge and stuffs his sleeves full of surprises.

 Surprise #1 - After shopping all morning at an outdoor boutique area, he did NOT order coffee. I did. We discovered Mimi's and fell in love. It comes complete with real muffins and a full espresso bar, on top of a flavorful french menu. I will return. 

 After freezing in 17 degree weather, shopping our feet off, and leisurely taking lunch, we wandered home. Jon picked up the older two boys (Blake had been with us all day), and we drove off for a short surprise all together.

 Surprise #2 - Paper Lanterns. I don't think there is any way to write the full story of these beautiful lanterns. So, I will just tell of the climax. This little balloon pictured above, nearly got us all thrown in jail. At least that is where my imagination took us about 10 seconds after it got caught in the power lines. We watched it agonizingly, slowly burn out while our conversation went something like this...

Me - "Dear, you need to call the fire department."

Dear - "Honey, the lines are insulated, and the fire is suspended by metal wires, it won't reach anything before it burns out."

Me - "Dear, what if you're wrong and it starts an enormous fire?"

Dear - "That would be bad."

Jack - "I don't like this. Why is it stuck?"

Me - "I don't think I like it stuck either."

Jack - "Daddy, get it down."

Dear - "Let's light another one."

 Thankfully it sputtered out four extremely long minutes later without any fireball explosions or sirens lighting up the dark field.

 Jon lit one for each of our years married, and the rest he released beyond the wires, and they merrily danced against the grey winter night until they were out of sight.

 They were beautiful. After we took the boys home to go to bed and we went to the Cheesecake Factory. The wind had worn us out and we sat side by side quietly eating cheesecake and staring at the painted ceiling. So peaceful.

I could mention the shipping crates we went dumpster diving for at 11:30 pm, but you will probably see them in a post once we finish turning them into bookshelves.