To My Mr. Wonderful On The Occasion Of Our Eighth Wedding Anniversary

To My Precious Husband,

I love our life together!

(so much)

These eight years have been more wonderful and happy and exciting and difficult amd joyful and stretching and fabulous and love-filled and peaceful than I could have ever dreamed possible!
Thank you for loving me, protecting me, caring for me, working so hard and for creating our precious family with me. You are my favorite person in the world--I am so thankful for you! You are my best friend and I have never been more in love with you than I am right now!

This song reminds me of how much we have together and although I don't think being "Lucky" had anything to do with us, I still think it's apropos!

My heart is full of love and thanks for you!

Happy Anniversary Honey!!

Hello Gymboree, I Think I'm In Love!!! Alternately Titled: Girls Clothes Rock

I Think I'm Raising Jersey Girls (Not that there's anything wrong with that =)

Sometimes it's weird to me that my girls are growing up someplace so different than where I'm from.
I grew up on a farm, with a hundred acres, our closest neighbor was our grandparents, my closest friend was my puppy, my horse and whatever life was creeping about the place.
I spent a lot of time alone, quiet, outside, reading.
Traffic only occurred on Sunday when 4 cars would drive by the house on their way to church.
And we knew who was driving every single car ever that drove by!
We swam at the reservoir or at a lake and spent our vacations camping.
You had to drive 20 minutes to get anywhere.
You had to drive an hour to get to the mall.
There were no Targets.
(Just let that one sink in a little!)
******************************************
My girls live in the land of everything-that-you-need-in-life-exists-in-our-3-mile-radius
(in triplicate even).
We go to the mall once a week--and take them out to eat as well!
(I never went out to eat on a regular basis until I started dating Mr. Wonderful--who says it's only men whose hearts you can find via their stomach? =)
I had dined merely at Pizza Hut, KFC and Mc Donalds and had no idea what an Applebees was.
We don't run in the fields--we play at the park or parks (there are many close by).
We take walks through town and not through the woods.
We all love Target.
***************************************
I can't say I'm entirely used to being here.
But I can say, beyond a doubt, that I am thankful to be here with my family, my friends and the many, many Malls.
And although I may still love farm living, lake swimming, country-dwelling life over the life of a Jersey girl, I'm thankful for my little Jersey girls and their Jersey Father and our Heavenly Father who loves us just the same in the city as He does in the country.
Amen and Happy Sunday ya'll!

Sun, Sand, Sisters

Maeve's Mode Of Transportation

1.5 is an interesting age.

An interesting, exciting, adventurous age!
Little Miss Maeve has quickly adopted an independent personality, become mostly uncontainable and has developed a dislike of being in the stroller when big sister is walking around so I pulled out an old trick. We bought this puppy backpack for Amelie when she was about the same age--only, it never really worked for her. Amelie loved to run as fast as she could with the thing on and sling shot back to us. It was awful! We gave it up immediately! But Maeve enjoyed her freedom and was a bit more sensible when wearing her leash =)

It's the little things that make life easier!

S'Wonderful! S'Marvelous!

We're back!
We spent hours on the boards

and the beach

and had buckets of wonderful family time!

What an excellent vacation! I was worried our parade would be rained on but it was actually lovely! The girls loved all things water, beach, swimming, sand, shells etc. And I loved sitting on a beach chair watching them have tons of fun! What a joy and delight!
Vacation rocks!
((Being at home rocks too--you know, except for the after-vacay-clean-up. =))

On Vacation Until Further Notice

Yay! Vacay is finally here!

Off to the shore ya'll!

Happy week to you!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I love you!!

Happy Father's Day Honey!

You are the most amazing Father to our sweet babies--I couldn't be more thankful, grateful and awed that God gave me such a good, loving husband! Muah!
A Special Happy Father's Day to: My brother Matthew whose firstborn will arrive in November! and To My Fathers In Law and Grandfather-in-law--God Bless you all!
And last, but not least---Happy Father's Day to all of the Father's out there!

Shelly Just....

...sent Amelie off to watch a dance recital wearing an outfit of her own choosing:

* Lady bug costume top

*Black stretch pants

*Knee High Red Cowgirl boots

and now I feel weird about it.
That is all. =)

Today In No Particular Order

* i gave maeve her first haircut! she has this weird 3 layer thing going on and now she's down to 2 layers and looking very presh.
* p.s. giving an almost 20 month old a haircut is not fun or easy! she's squirmy!
* i had an ob check up today and heard that my quad screen and ultrasound all turned back normal results--woot!
* heartbeat = love
* i want to know how it's possible to have only gained 5 pounds but feel like i've gained 105. eh.
* i started packing for our big vacay next week and i can not wait! even it if rains everyday at least we'll be AWAY! together! in lovely, free, deluxe accommodations!!
* i've been exceedingly delinquent in taking pictures--hopefully we have many photo ops on vacation.
* i see *grayson* is the poll winner! i still can't commit to a name--this is more complicated than i expected =) cullen and deacon also did well in the poll--i threw in the other two: archer and ezra to see what people thought--i'm surprised more people didn't vote for ezra--i think it's kind of a cool Bible name. anyways! thanks for voting and stay tuned because SOME day, we'll decide
* in other baby boy news--mini boden may have sold out of all things boy and cool but i did score some cute finds on ebay on the cheap. woot!



happy thursday!

Sporty Soapbox; Looking For The Silver Lining In The All American Past Time

My husband and I love one another.

One of the reasons I especially *heart* him is because he allows me total control of the tv remote.
He is content to watch anything Food Network-y, HGTV-y and Housewives of Fill-In-The-Blank-y until the cows come home
just because I like it.
He also doesn't watch sports.
Or at least, he doesn't ask to watch sports.
My husband actually really loves the Phillies
(that's a Philadelphia Baseball team for those of you, like me, who forgot everything they ever knew about sports once they hit the age of 13)
and has loved watching them since he was young.
But he loves me more.
And never really watched the games because he knew I probably wouldn't enjoy it.
You see, I have a small problem with professional sports--I think they're a wee bit ridiculous.
Yes, I know these are strong words and no, I don't have ANY problem with watching or participating in organized athletics in schools (as long as they don't take precedence over academics...ahem), or privately or publicly with friends, family, in leagues etc and I think they're wonderfully valuable as a way of forming bonds, developing skill and confidence, team work in people.
But I think it's freaking insane that people get paid large amounts of money to
PLAY A GAME FOR A LIVING.
I just don't understand it and I never will.
(1. Probably because I've never enjoyed sports personally and the sport-i-est thing I do is chase babies.
2. And yes, I *know* that I'm the only one AND you can take my words with a grain of salt--
3.I don't even like Disney World for goodness sake! --so just go ahead and ignore me =)

N.E.Wayz...my husband has recently started watching games when I'm otherwise occupied and dutifully turns the channel when I walk in the room but I find that I'm loosening up in my old age and have started to sit through parts of a few games and I've finally done it!
I've found the reasons that baseball (or at least, Phillies baseball) can be watchable.
Here they are:























That's Chase Utley and Jayson Werth
Um, they're cute and actually good at the game--as long as you can ignore
1. Utley's endless scratching, shifting, hat fixing, bat swinging, dirt kicking dance between every. single. pitch.
2. The fact that Werth's first name has a *Y* in it.
Oh yeah, and the main reason baseball is watchable...
(at least the first 9 innings anyway--did you know that sometimes baseball just lasts forever and no one wins until the team who is marginally better than the other team by fluke makes a run? I'm learning...slowly but surely.)
is Him:
He's my favorite reason to watch baseball.
Cause I love him more each day and love the little smile that a simple sports game brings to his face....as long as they're winning that is =)

Shelly Is..

* excited that it is a two-playdate day! woot!
* really excited about vacation next week!
* really really excited about baby boy wonder and the slowly growing patch of blue clothes in Maeve's girly closet!

Wait, Sunday Night Already?

This is one of those posts that I've had to start. stop. start. stop. erase. and start again.
So. Instead of complaining a little bit about the tiredness, the small frustrations, the up-in-the-airs about life I'll focus a bit on the positive. =)
It's quite an effort sometimes, isn't it?

I'm so glad I went to Sunday School and Service this week--I'm always glad that I've gone to church but especially this week because both our Sunday School Teacher and our Pastor spoke to things /started series on things that have been weighing on my mind.

1. I've been trying to reconcile in my mind the God of love we so often hear about and the God of law I've spent so much time reading about in the Bible. Our culture is so focused on accepting all people, all things, all lifestyles, all belief systems--that it's easy to lose sight of the absolute truth in the Word. People don't like to talk about/hear about absolute truth because--let's face it--no one wants to be told that they're wrong (especially ME!) or that there's a better way to live. Bringing up absolute truth doesn't make you popular--it doesn't win friends and often brings others to look down on you because they think that in sharing truth you're looking down on them. There is such a delicate balance when it comes to sharing truth with love and judging/condemning others. And seriously? Who are any of us to judge? I've been a regular Judgey Judy in my day and I long to
stop
and
edify
and
rightly divide the Word of Truth
(2 Timothy 2:15)
instead!

2. The answer to all of my questions about God, His character and ways rest in spending more time with Him. Only in getting to know Him and His Word better can I ever hope to have any real understanding.

3. Ephesians 4:11-16

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

She's Big. She's Big. She Knows It. Woooo (Sung to the tune of Michael Jackson's *Bad*....Or not)

Yes. She's making a funny crooked little smile
(this is her *look* when Mommy says, "Say Cheese!").
But isn't she starting to look grown up!?
Where did the time go!?

Shelly...

* has mixed feelings about spending an entire week either at home without her husband or gone without her husband in the evenings. i like him and miss him.
* would post a countdown until the end of the school year but has no idea when her husband will actually be done with school, if ever, due to the project of combining the elementary and high school campuses into one building.
* is so thankful to have a vacation to look forward to!!!
* needs to renew her driver's license...which is a little sad because i look so YOUNG in the picture =)
* is feeling needy lately....i'm pretty sure it's all the fetus' fault.
* remembered why it isn't a good idea to watch : A baby story, Bringing Home Baby, Deliver Me etc. while pregnant--every story--good, bad, normal, cute, ALL make me cry! HA!
* has a patch of baby boy blue in maeve's very pink closet and i like it!!
* went to H & M and found AWESOME boy clothes on super clearance. Nice!
* had two girl's nights this week and a visit from her best friend and cute family this weekend--it was WONDERFUL! yay for friends--i am so thankful to have them!
* has never worn high heels--mostly because i can barely walk in flip flops.
* just remembered she is cooking dinner--yikes! better stop for now! ha!

For The Grandparents: Amelie's Recital Dances

We've had a wonderful semester at dance class!
We even had the privilege to take the same class as our friends--so it was even more enjoyable for everyone! Thank you Granny and Pop (of the East) for making it all possible! Amelie has learned so much and is very athletic--go girl!!
For more cuteness--head to Tales From Wonderland for some gymnastics action....once I get the videos uploaded....and at the pace blogger is going--this might take a while!!
\

Vote!

Help a blogger out and vote for your favorite boy name(s) on my sidebar!

I'm still having name block but sense that we're "getting closer." =)

***20!!***

Half. Way. There.

Irritating Church Sign Of The Week

"Better *Saved* Than Sorry!"

As if being "saved" were just a "get out of hell" free card....urgh.
Following Jesus is so much more than a one way ticket to Heaven!!

That is all.

Shelly Was...

...very excited about super cute Mini Boden boy clothes until I realized that EVERYTHING is sold out =) HA!

My Lovely Ones

So. Happy. It's. Friday. A.K.A. Friday Free For All

1.I've been extremely remiss in taking pictures lately--let's blame it on pregnancy exhaustion. I've actually been feeling very well--just still dealing with the oh-so-fun nausea/heartburn/intense gag reflex syndrome. Thank goodness the girls are taking naps--because *I* need them!!

2. I wasn't planning on posting pictures from our recent ultrasound because they are really,
too horrifying for words.
Sweet little Baby Boy (who doesn't have a name, but does have two solid contenders) was ultra comfortable and wouldn't roll around into the oh-so-photogenic-profile pose and only stared straight on at us the entire time. So basically he looks like a combination of
an
Alien,
Skeletoror the painting,
"The Scream." Literally--his mouth is open in this shot--can you see it? It's very scary but also somewhat amusing....you know...once you get over the terror of it all. Let's just blame it on the fact that he isn't used to getting his picture taken yet....but someday soon he will be! Ha!


3. That's all for now--we have a busy weekend ahead with a visit from our favorite PA people, church activities, errands etc.

Happy Friday!

Something To Consider the Next Time Around; Amelie Says

At the doctor's office yesterday, a nurse asked Amelie her name.
She pulled the shy act and ran away and moments later told her father
(with her hand cupped near her mouth to hide what she was saying from the nurse....)
"I don't want to tell her my name because she's going to call me EMILY! And that is not my name!"

This is going to be a challenge.

So, you know the first thing my mind flew too upon the "it's a boy" proclamation was---
"What the heck am I going to dress him in!?!"
Well, it's going to take some research but in honor of the boy--our first baby purchase!
Cute little boy suit! I found this cool store--"No Sugar Added" tres chic clothes, tres scary prices--but you're allowed to splurge at least once, right?
Tee hee!