Crazy Dogs

On our trip to West Virginia, we took a picnic up to Woodbine next to the Cranberry River. Molly and Bear got to play and run around. Molly loved having another dog to run crazy with. As you can see, Bear is running for his life from Molly! Molly catches her "prey" and is victorious!!

Notice Bear's "psycho" face!!

Trey's First Birthday!

Trey had a great first birthday! He was not too sure about his cake, however. When we sang happy birthday, he looked at his cake and then cried! He was a little nervous about eating it, but he did give it a try and ate most of it. Trey had fun opening presents....although he was a little nervous about some of them. It was great to have almost all of our extended family here for the celebration. It truly made his first birthday very special. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

The giraffe scared Trey, but as you can see, he really loved it! Happy Birthday to my big boy!

Cousin Campout

Let me begin by saying this is the first time Daddy has taken his girls camping....alone. Needless to say, going to the bathroom was an issue! Poppy, Uncle Bill, David, Uncle Roo, Wilson, Uncle Jimmy, and Ethan were there too! The campout began with a 2.5 mile hike to their campsite....in a thunderstorm! Lily was very brave even though she was very scared....she hates thunder! Daddy told me that she kept saying "Mommy save me". Talk about feeling guilty! My baby survived though....she is such a big girl! The girls enjoyed the campfire, making smores, and hanging out with everyone. Lily says they had smores every night! That was her highlight! They went "swimming" in the river, which of course, was FREEZING! Meg carried her own 20 pound pack with no complaints the whole 2.5 miles! Way to go, Meg! Lily said she would go camping again if she could drive there! Molly had a great time too! She loved the water!

While the campout was occuring, us girls had fun of our own! We all headed up to Pipesteam with the babies for a little R & R with style! We just hung out, talked, played Apples to Apples, and laughed! It was great fun and very relaxing! We took the babies swimming and we hung out at the mall. The best part was just being together and being able to unwind. Let's do it again soon, girls!

Check out our shirts!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Return from WVa

We have finally returned from our trip to West Virginia. We all had a great time, even though we are tired. Daniel had to return to work today, which I know he was very tired this morning after driving back yesterday. We have been busy doing laundry, laundry, laundry. The girls and I have also been helping Mimi and Poppy pack up the stuff they still have upstairs, so that they can rent the house when we move. Meg has ballet practice tonight and we have Trey's birthday tomorrow, so I will post more on our trip this weekend!

Our Princess (1992-2007)

Today we had to put Princess down. She was 15 years old and she couldn't see/hear and had arthritis. She hadn't been eating or drinking well and slept alot. She had begun to have bowel control problems as well. It was a very hard decision to make (one that we kept putting off), but she was miserable and Dr. R agreed. Daniel has had Princess since she was a puppy and he was in college. I know she is in a better place and I am sure she is running around like she used to do when she was younger and is finally reunited with Boo. I know Molly will miss her, too. Dogs seem to have a second sense when it comes to things. I noticed Molly hanging around Princess more this morning as Princess did not go to her usual outside lay down spot . I hated to see her walk away with Daniel to leave, because I knew it would be the last time I would see her. She was a good dog and really great with the kids. I think my most favorite memory of her was when we took Meg (Lily was a baby) trick-or-treating one Halloween and we had left some candy in a grocery bag on the couch. When we came back, there were probably 5-6 empty mini candy bar wrappers on the floor. Of course, we knew who the guilty one was. Upon inspection of the rest of the house, we discovered she had hidden two other mini candy bars in her bed for later! What a stinker (and she didn't even get sick from all the chocolate)! We will miss you, Princess!

WE GOT IT!

This is our new house (or will be in 30 days or less!)! They accepted our 2nd offer at about 10:30pm last night. We are excited and nervous all at the same time. The girls, of course, are excited to move. That is what I dread the most, especially because it will be after school has started. Luckily, we can move a little at a time. Our house hunting process lasted a quick 3 weeks and we think we ended up with a great house!

My big 5 year old!

Alyssa and I must have passed each other today at the doctor's office!! We were in today for Lily's 5 year old checkup. She was very nervous all day (memories of the dreaded 4 year checkup!). She was fine when she got there....had her hearing tested (which she passed) and was weighed in at 49 lbs and was 46 inches tall....right in the 50th percentile! She did great telling the doctor what she was doing this summer, like swimming and looking for a new house! Then the break down occurred. Dr. H informed us that all children entering into elementary school were required to recieve another chicken pox booster. Lily did not catch on until the doctor left the room and Mommy had to explain that a booster meant SHOT! She cried and cried, but did great for the nurse when she came into give her the shot. She counted to 3 and then it was over. Then Lily was told to go potty in a cup, which she refused to do when we first got there (said she didn't have to go....I think she was too nervous). She took the cup after the shot was over, went into the potty all on her own. She did not want Mommy in there! What a big girl I have! She was so brave today! Yeaah Lily!

My Three Fishes

Lily is finishing up her second week of swim lessons. She is doing great! I promised her a pair of goggles for learning to go under water all the way. She did it during the first week and as you can see in the picture, she is sporting them during her lesson. Trey loves the water too....even when Daddy dunked him under a couple of times! Meg loves swimming....and being silly!

Jesus Laughed

My friend Heather sent me this link. A young preacher named Dan Smith rewrote the song "Baby Got Back" from Sir Mix-a-lot and called it "Baby Got Book", a Christian version celebrating women who read the bible. It is hilarious....especially if you know the original song and what it is about. Just click here!

Did You Say Three??

Our youth group is staying at a local college while they work (summer mission trip). In the evenings, they have free time, so Andy divided them up into teams, each team starting with a penny. The object is to go door to door, trading what they had for something bigger. So they would trade the penny for say, a hat. You get the idea. Well....this bike is what one team ended up with! How cool is that?! It is three wheeled (flat tires, but Daniel quickly fixed that with a pump from home) with a basket on the back. What a great ride!!! :)

Houses, Houses, Houses

Why is house hunting so difficult? We looked at 8 houses yesterday morning (not including the 3 we looked at on Tuesday) and came away with three definite possibilities, but not one real super clear house. I like each of them for different reasons. House #1 is in a great neighborhood, great schools, but it requires the MOST work.....most of it is cosmetic, but some of the work requires a little more. This house is towards the top of the price range, but we think they will come down. House #2 is move-in ready, great neighborhood, great schools, but at the top of our price range. It also has no real possibility for a 4th bedroom. House #3 has a great price, potential for a 4th small bedroom, great screened in back porch, but I am not crazy about the neighborhood. I am really hoping to get a house before school starts, so that I can have the girls transferred. Keep praying that the right house presents itself to us soon! (And if you know anyone who likes to paint.....send'em our way!!!!)

Grandpa was here!

Grandpa came visiting from Memphis, Tennessee this past week. Meg, Lily, and Trey enjoyed having their Grandpa for a whole week at our house! He was able to bring us a book about his side of the family so Meg and I could complete quite a bit of the family tree we have been working on. We were able to go all the way back to the 1500's!!! It was lots of fun and we hope to get to Memphis sometime this next year.

LemonAID

Here are the girls and their LemonAID stand at the parade! They made money to help homeless children for a local shelter.

Happy Birthday!

It is Trey's first 4th of July and he had a blast at the parade! The girls did great selling lemonade for homeless children during the parade. How fortunate that men like my husband (our hero)serve our great country so that we can celebrate every 4th of July. Happy birthday, America!