Well, the van is one step closer to ours as we have ensured financing and are now working out all of the little details of buying a vehicle out of state.
We're heading to NY tomorrow!
It's not going to be quite the peaceful weekend we had hoped for as Mr. Wonderful is heading back home bright and early Saturday morning to play a wedding in the area. The girls and I will stay a couple of days in NY to recover from the trip and head back home Monday or Tuesday. I'm not thrilled about driving a new vehicle 6 hours with both girls by myself--so pray for me my peeps!
On a happy note we do get to attend my cousin's wedding which I didn't think we'd be able to make and we'll get to spend some time with my parents doing fun stuff (zoo!).
I have so much to do today to prepare I don't even know where to start!
And to top it all off Mr. Wonderful's Spring Concert is tonight!!
I'm very excited about his concert but hoping I have enough time to accomplish the packing, the shopping and the cleaning that must be done.
Yeah...maybe I had better stop blogging now and get to it!
Happy Thursday!

Joyful Joyful I Adore Thee

The Cutest Cookie Chef

Amelie girl loves making cookies!
She inherited her love of baking from her Mama and it's something we enjoy doing together.
(well, I don't totally enjoy the mess we create--but other than that it's enjoyable!)
I spent much of my growing up years on the farm cooking--baking snacks for my brothers and parents and even cooking a lot of our meals while everyone else was out doing farm stuff.
Anyways, back to the cookie maker:

The cookie she made for Mommy--very artistic!

Decorating Daddy's cookie!

Note the smiley face =)

Yay for fun times!
(and delicious cookies!)

To Be Or Not To Be Excited....That Is The Question.

It's no secret that we've been looking for a van for our expanding family.
It's been a stress in my mind for a while now and I've been keeping an eye on prices and vehicles but it's near impossible to find something affordable, economical, dependable and with low enough mileage to make it worth all the effort.
The only things I've found are $2,000 more than I want to spend with 50,000 more miles than I can stomach.
Well, my parents may have found us a vehicle with low mileage and a good price!
We're off to the bank tomorrow to see if we can get approved for a loan-
-easier said than done in this economy for a Christian school teacher's family!!!
Say a little prayer for us and for the Lord to reveal His will in a clear (gulp) way.

All This Talk About Mothers Got Me To Thinkin'

Boy oh boy--do I know a lot of ladies having babies this year!
Why, me for one =)
Not to mention my sweet sister in law and brother who are expecting their first this Fall
(Amy here, pictured with baby Maeve!).I have 10, count 'em TEN good friends and relatives
(that I can think of and this is not even counting plain old acquaintances)
having babies this Fall!
I mean, is it just me or is it in the water now?
I love it!
I don't think there could ever be enough babies!
And you know, I like having people around who can commiserate with the pregnant woman and all! tee hee!

Happy Mother's Day Madre!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!I wish I could spend more of these special days with you!
I'm so thankful for our long-distance love and the time we do get to spend together.
Thank you for teaching me all about what it means to be a Mother.
I love you! And I miss you!

The Best Mother's Day Gift Of All!!

Pictured here.
Sitting on my couch.
Wearing matching dresses and smiles.

I'm so thankful to be your mother little ones!
I love you!

Fun Fun Fun In The Bright and Shiny Sun!

This morning we headed over to Philly bright and early

(and I mean that literally since the sun is still really shiny today! woot! yay for days of sunshine after weeks of rain!)

to visit the zoo!

We arrived 20 minutes before it even opened since there was absolutely no traffic

(which is a small Philly miracle!).
The crowds were nonexistent--we parked close, walked through the reptile house all by ourselves, (that place is usually a mad house!), had beautiful, perfect, lovely warm but not too warm and not a bit cool weather and really enjoyed ourselves!

Mr. Wonderful and Amelie even rode the work horse together and the paddle boats and we all had fun on the carousel and train and Amelie did a pony ride too!

We got back to Jersey in record time (even with construction!), had a lovely little family lunch and are ready for nap.

Oh yeah, AND we wore shorts AND needed sunscreen! Wowee!

What a fun, free, fabulous, family day! Woot!

My favorite =)

(p.s. forgot my camera today--so enjoy these pictures taken friday morning of Amelie girl, =)

The Cry Of My Heart

As a Mother you find yourself wanting to do nothing more than to protect your child from

everything.

Oh-so-much easier said than done.

The best I can do for her (and for me)

is to bathe her in prayer and love

and equip her with the strength of character and mind

to live in a world so far from ideal.

I love you sweet one and pray that you stay as sweet, sensitive and loving as you are no matter what the world throws your way--because to me, you are perfect just as God made you and I am blessed to be your mother, friend and protector for this short while.

Moments In Motherhood

This morning I couldn't find my other brown shoe.

So I looked in the most logical place, under the bed.

I did not find my shoe.

Instead I found:

half a bagel

a cup of water

7 tissues

6 books

3 crayons

crumpled paper

1 sparkly pink shoe

goldfish crackers

Apparently this is the contents of Amelie's secret under the bed stash.

(Or at least, what I've found so far)

Oh. Boy.

The Little Things

I *heart* making lists.

It makes me feel like I've accomplished something...like I'm one step closer to a more orderly and fulfilling existence.

Ah...I could wax poetic about lists for a long time...but I'm pretty sure no one wants to read about that! Ha!

The list I've been working on lately is a bit more on the theoretical as opposed to practical side as I can't really put it into action for a few months but here are big purchases I'm thinking I'll need for baby number 3--you know, just for kicks:

1. another bedroom

(too bad I can't throw this into my cart at Target because this, my friends, will be a project!)

2. minivan. OY.

(because there is no stinkin' way that 3 Britax car seats will fit into the back of my

tiny little car. )

3. a crib

(you know, since we'll be using two for a while-

-i am so not ready to have a newborn and train a little 2 yo to sleep in a big girl bed!)

4. a sling of some sort

(i'm pretty sure i won't have any free hands for this baby to be held in =)

5. 0-6 month clothes

(even if it's a girl...cause you know, i was SURE after Maeve was born that we weren't going to go there ever again. ha!)

6. clothing storage

of some kind....now, where to put it? hmm...

7. a name

(because i'm already having second thoughts about the "perfect" girl name I had picked out and second, third and fourth thoughts about a boy name because boy names are soooo much more difficult!)

That's my list for now!

I hear whining in the distance--off to save the day!

Good night!

The Mysteries Of Maeve Part Two: Starring *Marvelous Maeve* Featuring: Her First Temper Tantrum Ever

Cutest little tantrum thrower ever....I think it was over a granola bar or something. I only caught 1/3 of it b/c I was too busy finding the first much more dramatic part of the tantrum (complete with thrashing and melting to the ground) amusing.

p.s. can you tell who thought that she was the star of the show? silly amelie. =)

The Mysteries Of Maeve Starring: **Marvelous Maeve**; Featuring The Strange And Endearing Habits Of The Second Born

Maeve has developed a strange habit (or twelve, but who's counting?)...

She loves looking at books and especially at her favorite book.

But lately she'll only spend time looking at her favorite book while wearing her favorite hat.

Oh. My. =)

Gymboree and Their Super Cute 4th of July Gear!

Shelly's Snippets

1. Going to bed at 8:30 heals a myriad of ills. Love. Early. Bed-time. Ahh...

2. It's raining it's pouring--with no signs of stopping! Too bad my feet are swelling already so that I couldn't fit my stinkin' rain boots on.

Pregnancy is full of cruel and unusual punishments (all, however, TOTALLY worth it!).

3. Speaking of pregnancy...I've been craving turkey for weeks so I'm making one today! Woot! Turkey in May for no reason at all will be wonderful, I can feel it!

4. We had such a lovely weekend! Saturday started out rainy but turned out to be lovely in the afternoon. The girls played outside for hours with our little neighbor children and had a wonderful time! They got along perfectly and were all happiness and joy to be outside together. Amelie had a nervous breakdown when she had to come in for bed around 7. Poor thing! Ha!

5. The girls have both been sleeping from 7-7.... and I like it.

8. Amelie is pretending recently that her "wrist" is "broken" so she's been wearing a "cast" made out of toilet paper and tape. I have no idea how long this phase will last....oy!

9. I started and finished the "Queen of Babble" series by Meg Cabot this weekend. It was cute and light and fluffy and just what my brain needed to snack on.

10. Mr. Wonderful is nearly done travelling with music team and I couldn't be happier--I can't wait to have my husband back in church every Sunday with ME! woot!

11. Maeve is getting tall and smart and big and I don't like it. Well, it's good and wonderful and all but it's a little sad that she's much more a toddler then she is a baby. What a little love!

Happy Monday!

It's Here! Woot!

My much anticipated copy of

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Awesome.

I can't wait to see how Mr. Darcy fares against the undead! Woot!

What's The Deal? Alternately Titled *Shoe Limbo*

I'm in the midst of a baby-shoe crisis!!!!

Well, maybe not a crisis...

but my sweet little Maeve

(who has inherited a veritable treasure trove of shoes from Amelie)

is between sizes....and the size she needs they definitely don't sell at my stores!!

(well, they don't sell them at Target or Payless and honestly, I don't shop/haven't looked anywhere else...but still)....

She has outgrown size 4 infant shoes and has feet a titch too small to fit into size 5 toddler shoes and for some reason

4.5 just doesn't exist.

oy!

I"m scared that if I smush her feet into size 4 shoes I'm going to hobble her for life and the

Poor little lamb looks like she's wearing freakin' clown shoes in a 5! Ha!

And I'm done.

Cutest Cubbie In The Land

This past Wednesday our church held it's Awana closing ceremony

(which we were able to attend as a family!).

Amelie finished her 1st cubbies book and was super excited to rec. her final patch.

Here she is--diploma in hand!

Our friend Miss Megan did an excellent job running Cubbies this year!

Thanks friend for so many nights-o-fun for Amelie!
For some cute Cubbie singing action click here!!

No Swimming Today--Unless You Count Wading Through The Puddles...

Well, our 90 + degree days may be over-

-but we kind of like it better this way!

I love cool/warm-ish spring weather and the light spring showers

(although I still haven't gotten to wear my new rain boots!).

But here--a memory from days gone by--our taste of august in the midst of April: