Friday Family Fun

Last Friday night after dinner we went out for Cole Family Fun Night. We started by eating yummy doughnuts at Krispy Kreme and then walked around downtown Spartanburg. Viviane enjoyed being free from her stroller around the fountain and grassy area near Morgan Square, and we had fun reading the paper with that man who is always sitting on the bench across the street from the fountain :-) We walked down to the library and then headed home to put Viviane to bed. A fun evening was had by all.

Sisters by Heart

My sister sent me this Willowtree figurine "Sisters by Heart" for my birthday. I absolutely love it!

Thank you, Jenny. You are my dear friend and my sister, not only by blood, but also by heart. I love you!

Flowers from My Fabulous Fellow

In relaying my birthday adventure yesterday, I forgot to share that Michael surprised me with these beautiful flowers before we went out for the adventure. Aren't they lovely? And isn't he sweet?

My Birthday Adventure

Yesterday, I turned the big 3-0. Yes, that's right, I have entered the wonderful world of the 30's. Michael called me yesterday morning after he got off work at UPS and told me to be ready at 4:30 and to dress in "business casual." (I put Viviane in the closest thing she has to business casual...a lavendar-and-white-striped onesie with cute little crocheted cap sleeves and a matching lavendar skirt. Oh, and her white open-toed sandals with an adorably big flower on top...thanks to the Hursts for getting her these cute-as-a-button sandals.) So, as my sister and I discussed on the phone yesterday, it was a pretty safe assumption that we weren't doing any hiking or skiing for my birthday celebration :-)

Anyway, the 3 of us had a great evening together. We started by eating dinner at Fatz (Yum, yum! It was really so neat that we went to Fatz b/c I had been thinking yesterday that Fatz sounded good, and that's what Michael had secretly picked. We must be married or something.) Then, we went to Hobby Lobby to drop off a custom-framed piece that needed a correction made to it and I got to wander around and just look. I LOVE that store! Michael then took me to the Mall to pick out a watch for my birthday present (which I was very excited about!). He and Viviane were so patient with me as I tried on 87 watches and then finally made my decision. We ended the evening by swinging through the Dairy Queen drive-thru and bringing home a sweet treat to enjoy after we put Viviane to bed.

I feel sufficiently celebrated. Thank you my sweet Michael and Viviane for a wonderful birthday evening!!!

(I apologize for the picturelessness of this post. We forgot to take the camera with us.)

Early Proposal?

I thought this picture was too cute...looks like Micaiah is proposing to Viviane :-)
I'm hoping to have 30-something years before a true proposal comes Viviane's way.
That will give me lots of time to train her on proper social etiquette--that it's really
more acceptable to leave your baby doll at home.
P.S. This is no attempt to prophesy about Viviane's future husband :-)

Playing with Daddy

Viviane thinks playing with Daddy is oh-so-fun...especially when he tickles her!

Books, Books, Books!!!

Viviane loves to "read" her books. Michael found her one day pulling her books out of the cabinet in her room. This is now a fairly regular event in our house. (Although, yesterday she seemed more interested in pushing the Play/Pause button over and over on her CD player that sits on the same shelf as her books.) Anyway, back to books: first thing in the morning, she usually points at her book cabinet and says "Oooo." Shortly after that, she slides off my lap, heads to the cabinet, picks out a book, and hands it to me to read to her. It's SOOO cute! I'm thankful for her early interest in books (Michael thinks it's the greatest thing ever :-) ) and look forward to further cultivating it.

Catching Up

Apart from posting about My Dr. Cole, I've missed sharing alot of big events over the past month. So, I'm going to do one big "catch up" post :-) Here, in a nutshell, is what has been happening over about the past month of our lives . . .

Viviane has been walking for several weeks now. She's getting faster and faster and going just about EVERYWHERE! I love to watch her waddle :-)

Michael and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary on June 14! (Well, we actually celebrated on the 13th, due to a church event on the 14th.) We had a delightful evening going to dinner at Outback and then strolling around downtown Spartanburg. (For those of you who know Spartanburg, downtown is getting better. Really.) Thanks, Nana and Papa, for babysitting Viviane! (We know how big of a sacrifice it was for you. Tee hee :-) )

Here we are 5 years ago:

I love you, Michael!!!

We enjoyed participating in Family Fun Fest, our church's evangelistic outreach in our community. Michael's Mom and Dad came down from Charlotte to help out. Mom made a wonderful clown :-) and Dad made the archery booth a hit!

Our friend Donna Bixby accompanied us for a 24-hour-getaway at Mom and Dad Coles' in Charlotte the weekend after the Fun Fest. We got to swim, have a delicious pot roast that was cooked over the open fire, sit by the fire at night and enjoy S'mores, popcorn, and hot chocolate, and just plain RELAX (Oh, and I can't leave out shooting BB guns! Donna was quite the sharp shooter). It was wonderful. Thanks, Mom and Dad! We love you!

The following week, we enjoyed a picnic/strategic missions planning meeting with our coworkers, Tim and Ruth Bixby. I caught Tim and Michael in deep discussion:

July 4 was a great time of celebration with some dear friends from church. We were going to eat outdoors, but it started pouring rain, so we moved to the Bixbys' porch. By the time we ate, it was sunny again. We enjoyed a great meal, delightful fellowship, and a time of singing and a devotional. There was also a surprise birthday celebration for Tim and me (who both turn 30 this month--Tim is actually the big 3-0 TODAY!) complete with decorated and delicious carrot cake made by Ruth. The evening culminated with fabulous fireworks shot off by Tim. A great time was had by all!

And, last but definitely not least, Michael successfully defended his dissertation this past Monday!!! Here are a couple of pictures we took with the Bixbys after the defense:

There you have it, folks! A month of our lives in a not-so-small-nutshell.

My Dr. Cole

My sweet husband, Michael, is now . . .

DR. COLE!!!!!

This picture was taken just a couple of hours after Michael successfully defended his dissertation on Monday afternoon. (The artwork behind us is a calligraphy I had made for Michael. It includes the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Michael's dissertation was an investigation of the relationship between the 2.)

Tim and Ruth Bixby were so kind as to babysit Viviane and give us a monetary gift so Michael and I could go out to dinner to celebrate! We had a delicious meal at Steak and Ale and enjoyed a relaxing time together. Thank you, Tim and Ruth!

Congratulations, Michael! I'm so proud of you, and so thankful to our God! Praise to God for His faithfulness to you and His sustaining grace which He poured out on you. I love you!!!!