Overindulgence

This is Lila after she ate two pieces of pizza. "Ohhh.... I got a bad tummyache, Momma..."

Blueberry Ice Cream

"How is it?"

Swimming!

The girls love to swim! Emma is an excellent swimmer and Lila is unbelievable for a 3 year old. Last night she was jumping in the deep end (with no flotation device) and swimming to side. We are lucky to have so many neighbors and good friends with pools - no to mention my parents, who live close enough to ride our bikes there!

Grammy and Gappy's pool with friends...

...or by ourselves

We love to watch our neighbors' houses and cats - especially when they have pools!

Over A Year

That's how long I've officially been a blogger. Wow! I've written 159 entries since last 6/17. I started this blog as a way for far away friends and relatives to keep up with us, but honestly, I've enjoyed the idea of keeping a journal for my own memories the most - no matter who reads or doesn't read it. Feel free to comment anytime so I know who is reading - I love your comments. I just read through some of my oldest posts and I'm amazed at how we've all grown and changed in a year's time.
Here's one of my favorite entries from my first week as a blogger last June - Powder Problems

Our New "Lawnmower"

2nd Grade Graduate

Yesterday was Emma's last day. I can't believe I'm the mother of a 3rd-grader! She was sad to day good bye to Mrs. Donnelly - we loved her! We were all ready for summer, though. At least I was ready until about 10:00 this morning when the fighting and wrecking the house began. We'll adjust, and it was nice to not have to rush Emma out the door. Cartoons in Mommy's bed are a great way to start any day!

Emma and Mrs. Donnelly

Daddy brought Emma roses to celebrate her finishing 2nd grade.

Pray For Edie

My friend Edie has just been diagnosed with leukemia. She's started a blog to keep friends updated. Many of you may know her, so here is the link. Take a moment to lift her in prayer to our Lord and Healer.

Happy Father's Day!

Two little girls couldn't love a Daddy more!

The scratch on Ryan's nose? - screen door injury.

5K and Honeysuckle

This morning Ryan ran a 5K.

The girls enjoyed the honeysuckle at the finish line for 22 minutes.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan's birthday was yesterday, so we've been celebrating our awesome husband and Daddy. The girls wanted to know towards the end of the week when Daddy's party was. hmmm... When you turn 36, I think you just get to have dinner with your wife and kids at home. But that wasn't nearly exciting enough, so we threw together a little impromptu party. We had some family and a few friends over for Gramma's famous ice cream pie. The kids all played outside. It was a beautiful night and we ended up having a fire on the patio and even enjoying a few fireworks.

That's the ice cream pie.....

Ryan and Grammy....

Ryan's oldest friend - Eric (and Andrew)

Tonight when Ryan got home from doing audio at church, the girls and I surprised him with a small more intimate gathering. We had snacks for dinner (one of our favorites) outside, a rousing game of patio bowling (an early Father's Day gift), and a dip in the hot tub. It was nice to relax at home as a family and not be rushing out to do something or trying to finish a project.

I wrote in Ryan's card this year that I remember celebrating his 18th birthday with him, so I've been around for more than half of his life - wow. We are blessed to have each other.

Kid's Choir

This is what Emma did before she played two soccer games. Our kid's choir is so good and so cute! They are a joy to watch!

In the first picture, you can see Emma better (in the front row), but I like the second picture because you can read the lyrics that they're singing on the screen. "That You would guide me in every single step I take. That every day I can be Your light unto the world." What a great message for these kids to be soaking in.

Poconut Syrup

"What do you want for breakfast, Lila?"
"Um, I want a waffle with butter and poconut syrup, please."
"Sure. One poconut waffle, coming up!"

Hot Soccer

What a hot week to end the soccer season! Earlier last week the team loved the annual Kids vs. Parents game. Unfortunately, Ryan was away (in Alaska) and I don't play soccer and watch Lila at the same time. Emma still had a great time. The highlight was when she beat Coach Ken in the relay!
Saturday and Sunday we had a tournament. In case you don't know, NJ is having an early heat wave. So 3 games in 100 degree weather was fun. Emma was a trooper. She complained of not feeling well on Sunday, but we just told her to toughen up, she'd be fine. We went to McDonald's after the first game for an air-conditioned lunch. She did feel much better .... after she threw up her chicken nuggets! By the second game she had had some coke, pretzels, grapes and lots of gatorade and she played an awesome game - one of her best! Lila had a fantastic time with her soccer sibling buddies. Basically a spray bottle kept her happy for 2 days. She was really good and is getting old enough to play without me watching her every move. In between games they had an inflatable water slide set up. That was necessary and fun. Notice I didn't take any pictures of the actual games!
That night we had a great time at a team pool party one of the families hosted. The girls swam, we had dinner with the friends we've made this year, and then they had a little award ceremony. Coach Doug talked about each of the girls, and they each beamed when it was their turn. It was a super ending to a great soccer year. We'll see you in August, Coach Jeff!

Water Slide

Here's my little soccer star trying to stay cool.

New Cups

My neighbor gave us some really cool antique cups today. She was cleaning out her cabinets and thought I'd like them. I have a weakness for glasses or dishes of any kind. I would have 20 sets if I had the storage space. Anyway, these are really cool 1950-ish orange glass mugs - fun!

I've always been happy to be known as the girl who'll accept hand-me-downs. In fact much of our decor and wardrobes has been given as other peoples throw-aways over the years. Hey, I'm not proud - just a little cheap. In fact, Sunday night I (well actually I made Ryan carry them) trash-picked some adirondack chairs for my parents' side yard! Hopefully their neighbors won't recognize them. :)
So what do we do in this house when we come upon some new cool cups?.... Have a tea party, of course!

The News

I just turned on the news to check on some local thunderstorms. Lila said, "Mommmm, I don't wanna watch that Barack Obama show!"
Ahhh, a sign of the times.

My Gardening Habit

I love to garden! Ryan sometimes gets impatient with my attempting new things. While our neighbors all have very manicured yards, ours tends to be a little more hodge podge-y. I'll try to grow anything! My vegetable garden this year has everything from tomatoes to raspberries (which, by the way, flower but never produce berries - any suggestions?) to luffa sponges and everything in between. I never throw any plant away - I stick it in the ground somewhere and see how it does. We actually have a healthy, quite large (10-12 feet tall) maple tree in our side yard that started as a weed in my front bed. Anyway, my flowers are my favorite! And this is the best time of year for them. Here are some pictures of my flowers both inside (because you have to be able to cut them!) and out.

New Kitchen

Since I blogged about the my countertop birthday present, I figured I'd better post a follow up.

We did the countertops and tiled the backsplash over Memorial Day weekend. Wow - it was a big, time-consuming job, but it looks great! I'm so lucky to have a talented, capable and confident husband! Last weekend we grouted and refinished our (in poor shape) kitchen table. The table was an impromptu decision, but it turned out really well. We're still waiting for our island counter to come in. In the meantime, I need to paint and recover our kitchen chairs. As Ryan said, "We are Design on a Dime champions!"

BEFORE

AFTER

TABLE IN PROGRESS