Happy Happy Birthday ...

Daddy! Today is David's birthday - the big 27:) I don't know about y'all, but at the Cain house we LOVE birthdays - they are a very big deal! And we love Daddy!

Happy Happy Birthday to you David/Daddy! Thank you for being a fabulous Daddy and husband - we love you dearly! The world certainly wouldn't be the same without you! May today be a wonderful celebration of your life thus far - we're so glad you have chosen us to join you on the ride! We love you!!

Happy Birthday Daddy - July 29, 2010

I love looking back and seeing how much Catherine Ellis has grown and changed (and Daddy too - he's 40lbs lighter!) in just a short 365 days! Here she is with her Daddy last year for his birthday (I forget how tiny she was!!):

Catherine Ellis & David - July 29, 2009 (3 months old)

I had an early morning meeting (7:30 a.m.) so we didn't get to do the typical morning celebration before work - instead Catherine Ellis and I surprised David at the office! He's had a really busy week and I thought it would be fun to have Catherine Ellis deliver his present in person - along with a yummie lunch from Surin and red velvet cupcakes from Urban Standard. It was a hit!

Catherine Ellis loves visiting his office, there is SO much to play with and lots of space to run around - not to mention lots of people to charm - and boy is she good at that! Here are some pics from our birthday visit to Daddy's office:

Charming my Daddy ..

Silly girl

Making the rounds - she has to say 'hey' to everyone!

Running into Miss Sherry's office

Trying out the big girl chair

Yummie Birthday cake from Daddy's co-workers ...

YUMMIE!!

And last but not least, the birth verse for David's birthday - one of our favorites:

Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”

2 Samuel 7:29 NIV

Sweet summertime

Isn't that the truth? We think so! The Cains have had a fabulous summertime of sun, sea, sand, good times with friends and families, watching Catherine Ellis experience the world of summer and spending quality time together on these long days of summer. I hope you all have had wonderful summers too!

I feel as if our summer (while there are still 2 months left) is coming to a close. My downtime at work is ending - as well as my downtime at school (no class this summer) - and it's back to event season, graduate school full-time and life as we know it. I am forever grateful for a wonderful job that has allowed me to take lots of time off this summer and spend it with best friends, traveling, and family. You all hear me say this often, but it's so true - God has richly blessed our family and we are so very thankful for all of his blessings - without him we are nothing.

Without further ado I'll post the pictures from our last 3 days at the beach - we have had the best time - what a wonderful vacation with the Cain family - thank you Gran & Pop! A fair warning that this will be a heavy picture blog!

Playing hide-n-seek with my Daddy

Chillin' in my pool by the ocean

Taking a rest in my chair

Catherine Ellis & Pop Pop

Three generations

Cutest behind ever

Girl talk with Mama

Dinner at Captain Anderson's

Lounging by the sea

Sand time with Aunt Stace

Ocean waves with Gran

Getting away from the shark

Hey hey!

Our family

Daddy & his little lady

The Cains (minus David who was jumping around making CE smile)

Aunt Stace & Catherine Ellis

Gran, Pop & Catherine Ellis

July 21, 2010

Every day life

One of my best friends came to visit last week and lived what she reminded me was 'every day life' with us for 3 days! Jenny and I met at Camp McDowell back in 2002 and have remained great friends since our short time there (we only overlapped 11 months). She lives in Colorado and while her hubs, Mac, is on a study abroad trip she decided to travel the Southeast and boy are we glad she did!

Jenny decided she needed to leave a day earlier to get on the road and all I could think was - I didn't even get to have a deep conversation with Jenny! As I teared up telling Jenny that I felt like we'd not had any time together - she smiled and hugged me and said "Oh Megann, but we have! We've shared every day life together and it's the every day moments that are so hard to capture in pictures and share with the world!" You all know I wanted to do a blog post on Jenny's visit, but it turns out that we were too busy living every day life! Thank you Jenny for ALWAYS reminding me that any time with friends is a good time!

So, we headed to my all time favorite place on earth - Tillers - and had a fabulous afternoon. Thank you Jenny and Camp McDowell for refreshing my soul on a hot summer day! I can't wait to see you both again soon!

Tillers - Camp McDowell

Jenny Lynn & Megann - Self Portrait 2010

Jenny & Luna girl at Tillers!

Another part of our every day life that you don't often see here are our fabulous dogs - Cain & Emma. They are a HUGE part of our family and we certainly wouldn't be the same without them. Typically 3-5 times a week we have family strolls in the evening with the entire family - me, David, Cain, Emma and Catherine Ellis -and it is hands down the highlight of Cain and Emma's day .... just see for yourself how excited they become when told they are going for a w-a-l-k (we can no longer say the word or else the house comes close to falling in - see for yourselves):

Bliss

We are at the beach again - this will make our 4th time this summer - and we're loving it! This week we are in PC Beach with David and his family for vacation. Catherine Ellis is having a blast and seems to love the beach more and more each time she visits. Since she LOVES every thing about the great outdoors we've spent the past two days on the beach almost the entire day with only one break to eat lunch.

Vacation is so blissful and we've had a lot of vacation days this summer - one of the first summers in over 8 years that we've had some down time (you'll remember I was a summer camp director, then an urban summer camp director, you get the picture) - and I must admit we have loved every second!

So what does our fabulous, sun, sand and beach lovin' 15 month old do the first part of her beach vacation?:

Climb the stairs with my Aunt Stace (there are 3 flights of them!)

Tell my chauffeur to hurry it up!

Ride in style ..

Play with my handsome Daddy (aka Chauffeur)

Pose for a rare pic with Mommy (enough with the camera, can't a girl just play?)

Decide which area of the beach I'm going to do the most damage to ...

Do a little tunnel crawling ...

Take another ride in my buggy, please notice my color coordinating bracelets

Take a little siesta

Wade in the pool ...

Lounge in the chair ...

Dig in the sand ...

Cut up with my Gran & Pop ...

Hop on my Mommy and make sure she gets sandy too!


Now who's ready for tomorrow? We are! Hope everyone is having a great week .. I'll try to update a few more times from the beach!

Far Far Away

Two weeks ago David and I ventured to Mexico to celebrate our 4th anniversary and the past two years of life that were full with the birth of Catherine Ellis, graduate school, me starting a new job, and just life! It was a trip that we've been waiting for and we had a fabulous time!

Mexico is far, far away - but Catherine Ellis didn't care and had a blast with her grandparents again. This summer has been full of travel for us - so thank you to Gran, Pop and Meme for always helping us when we need trusty, fun babysitters!

So we won't bore you to tears I'll make this a picture blog - the pictures will tell the story. We were in Playa Del Carmen for 6 days and loved every minute. We mostly R&Red - as there are not many moments we get to just 'sit and relax' so that we did. We also had some fun excursions and met another couple friend the night we got stuck in Miami because Mexicana Airlines couldn't get their stuff together - but what a nice way to end a trip by making new friends! All in all a fabulous time!

Anniversary Dinner - July 1, 2010

Beginning of our sail to Isle de las Mujeres

Gorgeous day for sailing (with 30 other people!)

Isle de las Mujeres (the Island of Women - it was gorgeous and a small fishing community!)


We scored the front of the boat & had a great view the entire trip!

David charming the crowd with his rendition of 'the squirrel'

Our new Mexican friends (the party animals on the boat that of course David befriended)

Our lovely view from our room courtesy of Mexicana

Our new friends, Jennifer & Brian Dickson (that was the only good thing that came out of Mexicana Airlines)