Woo Hoo!!

Check out my new fridge and range!! Pretty sleek!

We have connections. ;)
My brother-in-law, Chris called yesterday morning from an appliance store he used to work for. They were closing their doors (sad sign-of-the-times) and Chris made us a great deal on the two appliances - cash and carry. We've been thinking about replacing our old, on-the-blink, appliances, but were waiting for the right deal. Chris went back with Ryan in the afternoon and they used a friend's pick up to get them here. Luckily, Chris has the complete know-how to move and install appliances, so by last night, it was done!
We celebrated by taking Chris and Becca out for dinner. Lila was thrilled! Emma had other plans, and she got her aunt and uncle all to herself for once. We also discovered that my, always surprising, 4 year old daughter loves wings - ordered "hot" for her dad and uncle. You never know!! :)

Miss You Gramma!

We had a wonderful, though too short, visit with Gramma. The girls are really missing her, but excited to go to her house in July!

Gramma, Lila, and I got to go to Emma's Chorus Assembly in school, since Gramma will miss the real concert next week.

Gettysburg

Ryan's mom came in a few days ago for a visit, and we don't like to disappoint when it comes to entertaining a guest. :) So we headed to PA for a Memorial Day Weekend Soccer Tournament in Gettysburg.
We took Emma out of school Friday so we could a get an earlier start, and headed to PA. We decided to go through Lancaster for the scenic drive and to visit an Amish farm, and it was great! After lunch and ice cream, we went to "Amish Village" for a super tour of a farm house and barn. Emma was really amazed at the Amish lifestyle, and Lila just liked the barnyard animals. The tour was very informative and the 3 adults learned a lot too.

Check out the clothes hanging on the line...

Family shot in the Covered Bridge.

The girls wished there was really a horse attached to this wagon!
I liked the windmill and garden in the background.

Hmmm, which one looks more studious to you?!

We tried to get away while they weren't looking!

We checked into the hotel, grabbed a quick dinner and let the girls swim with about 100 other soccer players (I don't think I'm exaggerating!) in the indoor pool.

Saturday Emma played 3 mini games and 1 full game - we were at the field from 8:30am until 7:00pm!!! We had a great team "set up" with tents, food, and drink, but come on now! At least it was in Gettysburg, and when we had a few hours off, we took a beautiful drive through the battlefields.

Go Warriors!

A little "Uno" down time

I had never been to Gettysburg, but what a great experience! We took the "auto tour" driving through and getting out to look at different monuments along the way. It's huge! I pictured one field where the battle that ended the Civil War took place, but it was so much more! How amazing to be able to picture how this 4 day battle took place over hills and valleys and past farm buildings that are still standing. It was a great place to spend Memorial Day weekend, anyway.

I tried to capture all of the tiny American flags at the cemetery.

The valley from a lookout tower

Gramma and her girls

The Pennsylvania Monument is the largest one there.
The girls are in front of it here...

...and on top of it here!

My beautiful soccer player with the battlefield behind her

Cool cannon shot

Beautiful countryside and a cute family

Re-enactors

Saturday night, we drove through McD's for dinner, because pool time was more important than food. :)
Sunday, Emma had 2 more games. Her team finished in 3rd place out of the 8 in her age group. Emma played better than she ever has. We were so proud of her playing and her character with her friends. We also had time to take another drive and see the sights.

Starting the last game...

Both girls slept the whole way home, but not before visiting Dairy Queen! :)

Lila's Idea of a Great Pool Party

Our 1 dog + Rob's 1 dog + Becca's 2 dogs + Mom and Dad's 3 dogs + Lila + freezing cold pool = GOOD TIMES.
Mark my words - that child will grow up to work with animals in some way!

Soccer

While Melynie was here, she took some awesome pictures of Emma playing soccer. We just got home from a weekend tournament, and are wrapping up the season, so I thought I'd share them now.


Nice sequence, huh?! Emma's doing really well with soccer lately, and Melynie's doing really well learning to use her new camera on the sports setting.

Mommy's Birthday

Last weekend was my birthday, and it was very full and very fun. I had to be at church all morning on Saturday. While I was there, the girls baked my cake completely on their own - Ryan just turned the oven on.

They decorated it the next day at Grammy's house.

Notice the full mouth..... :)

My great friend, Melynie, drove up from VA to surprise me! She met me at church with her tiny baby, Morgan, and they tagged along with us for the rest of the day. (My girls were thrilled to get to play with Morgan all afternoon!!) Then, for dinner, she had organized a group of eight girls to go out to dinner! Wow - what are they going to do in 4 years when I turn 40?!?! :)


Melynie left the next morning, and I went shopping with my mom and sisters for the day - quite a treat without my normal tag-a-longs. We went back to my mom's house for dinner and the cake.

I feel so spoiled!

Cousins

Trudy and Penny after some wild playtime:

Mother's Day

We had a great day here! The girls made awesome signs for me (instead of cards - nice idea, Daddy!), breakfast in bed, and Ryan built me a new window box for the front of the house. It looks terrific, but I told him I'd get the flowers this week, so I'll post a picture then. We had donuts after church with Grammy, and then went back later for dinner with my family. I'm a very lucky mommy!!!

Graduation Video

Here it is - the video of my silly daughter receiving her Certificate of Achievement. I don't know which part I enjoy more - holding her paper directly over her face or tossing her mortarboard on the floor. One of a kind.

Graduation

She's only four, but today Lila graduated from her "Mom's Morning Out" program at a local church. It was pretty cute. After singing a song, the names of the "graduating" (i.e. going to a different school next year) students were read. Lila did great! She went over to Miss Betsy, who placed a mortarboard on her head, and walked across the stage to Miss Mimi, who handed her a certificate. Fine. Very nice.
Here's where it gets a bit more Lila-ish. She then stood in the front row with the certificate completely covering her face - as if she were reading it, but with her nose touching it. As her mother, I know that there were a few reasons for this: 1. She was embarrassed. 2. She didn't want me to take her picture. 3. People were laughing at her (class clown - mark my words!)- she could hear the snickering throughout the audience. So then she removed her hat and threw/dropped it on the floor. She held this pose for most of the rest of the name-reading.

I got some good video of the shenanigans, but I have to wait for Ryan to come home from Chicago to teach me how to get it off of the video camera, so I'll add that later. Here are some (grainy) pictures in the meantime.

Bri and Lila

"Baby Emma" and Lila - poor kid will NEVER lose that title in our house!