Happy Birthday to our sweet little girl!

It is hard to believe that our "baby" is 3 years old today. I wanted to post a few pictures of her in her birthday glory over the past 3 years!! We are so blessed and lucky to have such a sweet, caring little girl. We love you Lily!!

1st official BIRTH day - 1st night in hospital - November 3, 2005


1st Birthday - November 3, 2006


2nd birthday - November 3, 2007


3rd Birthday - November 3, 2008

It's done!

I know it has been a little while and I totally got off of my usual Monday updates. I wanted to share a couple of pictures of what has been happening with the house. It is DONE and our settlement will be on Monday! I thought I would do one final update before we are in there for real.

We had our pre-flooring walk-thru a couple of weeks ago. At that point everything was pretty much done except for the floors/carpets. I took a couple of pictures of some things in the inside.

Here is a picture of the kitchen.


The chandelier in the entry way/foyer.


And the matching light in the dining room.


The staircase in the foyer.


And we have grass just starting to bud!!!


And one last picture of the whole house.


We are pretty excited. I was able to meet with an interior designer to help decide color choices for the house. She was wonderful and really gave me some great ideas. We think the colors we chose are going to look great. Now we have exactly 2 weeks from today to get this house packed up and ready to move!

Wish us luck!

I've been sleeping.

Literally! I was thinking a lot of people might wonder where I have been but then I remembered the only people who really read this are family and message board friends who already know my news. I have been sleeping the last month away because I found out that I am pregnant!! Yes!! Can you believe it?? Exciting times, huh? Yes, sure. I have to say I really, really dislike this beginning part of being pregnant....I am not a good pregnant person. Of course I love the after part with the little, sweet baby and all of that but I just feel sooooo lousy. I know I have to be thankful for this wonderful gift I have been given and just go with it. I am trying, I really am.

Anyway, my life has been a little hectic needless to say. We are doing a lot of last minute things to get ready to move in a little over a month. Things are great with the new house. It is looking fantastic and we are so excited. I hope to do an update sometime this week. Lily continues to go to school two days a week and she is really enjoying it. With all of the craziness in the news we have not had much progress with the selling of our house. We had a few Open Houses and will have another this weekend. We are just doing what we can and praying that we sell it soon. I was gearing up for the Philadelphia Race for Hope on November 2nd. I was training and running so well...then one day I was really, really tired and then I found out why I was having such a hard time running!! I will still be doing the race although this year I think I will opt for walking - I am hoping I am even able to do that!!

So that is a little update about where I have been. I am hoping to get back to posting a little more often but I know it will be few and far between with the move coming up. I certainly will have A LOT to blog about in the spring.....hopefully if I can find some time!!

One of these days....

I really haven't forgotten about my blog. I just have a couple of things going on right now and haven't had the chance to sit down and do it!! I haven't forgotten about all of my millions of readers out there....I will be back to posting sometime in the near future. Sorry!! Please keep checking back and I will try to get some pictures uploaded and posted sooner than later!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Progress 13

It has been an exciting week! We got shutters! We were very excited to see them and think they look really nice.

A couple of closer pictures of the shutters.


Then on Sunday we took a drive over and saw that they had done the landscaping. I think it looks pretty nice.




And one final picture from this week. It is on its way to being done! WOW! We can't believe it. The countdown - 43 days! They will probably be seeding our lawn soon. I am also hoping they paint the molding around the windows soon...I have been waiting for that for a while. If you see it on the picture it looks white - it will eventually be a khaki color. Then the outside will be complete.

We have one last walk-thru (Pre-flooring) this Friday. We will get to see the counter tops and pretty much everything else except the floors. That should be exciting. I will get some good pictures of that!

Thanks for checking back!

Fun, quick weekend!

We had a fun weekend but it seemed to go very quickly. I always look so forward to the time we all have together and it seems in a flash Matt is back to work.

We had an exciting day on Saturday. We went to Sesame Place for the day and got to see a special concert performed by Dan Zanes. It was really great. For those of you who have kids you have probably heard of Dan Zanes. If not, you should check him out. He is a Grammy Award winning singer. He sings music for "families and people of all ages" as they say on his web-site. He was there with his band and they were all really good. I think Matt and I enjoyed them more than Lily and the other kids! Here are a few pictures from the concert.




Dancing with all of the kids!

Getting an up-close look!
It was a good day. We also got to see a couple of other shows and rode the carousel. We plan on going back a few more times before the Sesame Place season ends at the end of October.

Today we had an Open House. It seemed to go pretty well. Not too many people came through but out of the people who did there is some interest. We will see if anything comes of it this week.

So tomorrow it is back to work for Daddy and back to school for Lily. I am hoping we have a good day with no tears! We'll see about that too!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

I was featured!!

I am excited to say a craft I posted on my blog was featured on Tip Junkie! My first "feature". I am so proud and I know so many of my readers will be too! :)

You can check it out at this Teach Me Thursday link. Scroll down a bit and you will see a link to my altered clock post.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Mushroom Fun for Cousins!

Huh?? You are probably wondering what that silly title is all about!!

Well, a couple of weekends ago we went to the Mushroom Festival in a little town known as "The Mushroom Capital of the World!" Can you believe it?! My sister happens to live only about 10 minutes from the town so we got to go to the exciting Mushroom Festival. It really was a fun day and the kids especially had a great time. My sister, City Momma/Country Momma, already did a very fun post all about the festival so you can take a look here to see more details about the actual festival. I didn't seem to get many mushroom pictures....just pictures of the cute kids having a BLAST!!

The day started off with a parade that Lily and her cousin loved! It was not the most exciting parade ever but they sure thought it was fun! They loved waving their flags and watching the cool cars go by. And to top it off "Mr. Delaware" was in the parade!! WOO HOO! Not sure what he is all about!! :)

Waving the flags in anticipation of the parade!


Here is a silly picture of a person dressed as a mushroom!

After the parade we went to a little kids stage area where they had some music and dancing. Lily and her cousin had so much fun dancing, twisting, playing instruments, and marching in a little parade. What fun!!



All dressed up for the "parade"!

This lady was having a grand old time dancing right along with the kids! Pretty funny!

And the big finale...the parade!
It really was a fun day. I know some of the pictures are very similar to my sister but I couldn't resist posting them on my blog also.

So, if you are ever in PA and you are looking for something fun to do check out the Mushroom Capital of the World. Also be sure not to miss the Mushroom Festival held annually in September!! I know we will be going back!

Progress 12

It has been a pretty busy week on the new house. Not too much to show you on the outside but they are making progress. Here is a picture of the driveway that they poured late last week. Notice the lights above the garage! They installed all of the lighting inside and outside the house and it looks fantastic. Matt got a chance to go inside but he didn't have the camera that day! I guess you will just have to wait for those inside pictures for another post.


A closer picture of the garage lights.

If you look closely you can see the lights on either side of the front door. They look really good from the road and sidewalk but when you get up close they are super big lights. We are a little unsure of them but they are staying obviously. I think they will look more in place when the outside is completely done.

And a whole house picture this week. I think it is about the same but they did level out the lot. I am hoping this week they do the shutters and paint the door and moldings. I have been waiting for that for a long time!

Just about a month and a half until settlement day. It is getting exciting! Thanks for looking today and for following me in our house building journey!

Oh what a week....

It has been a busy week and I think I have been "blog bored". (I don't know if that is a real phrase, I just made it up!) I have been really slacking and I apologize. I hope to get some posts in this week.

We did have a good week with Lily's first week of pre-school. Matt had the weekend off so we have been busy doing some fun things. Yesterday we hung out at Pop-pop's for a while. Lily always has fun at Pop-pop's house. After that we went to Sears and bought our new refrigerator for our new house. That was fun! Today we sort of just hung out, checked up on the progress of our new house and I just got back from grocery shopping alone!! That is always a pleasure to do by myself. I can actually get some shopping done in peace! :)

There has been no action at all on the selling of our house. I am getting discouraged and hoping that things work out. We will be having Open Houses the next two Sunday's. Here's hoping that brings along a potential buyer. This selling market just royally stinks!

I guess that is it for now. I hope everyone out there in Blogland had a nice week and a fun weekend. I will be back tomorrow with a house update.

First Day!

Lily had her first days of Pre-school yesterday and today! Yesterday was an "ease in" day with the parents and today was the first official drop-off day!! She did great! She cried at the drop-off which didn't make it easy for Mommy but I knew she would do OK. Her teacher called me at about 9:30 a.m. and told me she had calmed down and was playing dolls and tea party with a new little friend. She was doing fine! I was so happy to hear it.

When I went to pick her up she was very happy to see me and very excited to tell me what they did during the day. Her teachers were very pleased with how well all of the children did for their first day. They played on the playground, played trucks and tea party, colored pictures, read 2 stories, had snack time and had music class. It was a busy morning. One of her teachers said she did exceptionally well in music class!! I was so proud! She knew how to play all of the instruments and the teacher even said "Lily could have taught the class!". It made me laugh and feel very good too. Definitely some musical abilities there! Those Music Together classes have really paid off!

We are just so proud of her and can't believe how fast she is growing up. I am sure it will be a fun-filled first year in pre-school with a lot of neat activities! We are looking forward to it!

Here are a few pictures of her on her first day. She was super excited!



And this picture is a picture they colored the first day. The teachers put them in frames and used them to decorate the classroom. Pretty cute!

Thanks for checking in!

Progress 11

Things are coming along nicely and I am still counting the days on my calendar. 57 to be exact!!

This week was pretty exciting. They finished the walkway and laid the driveway.

Here is the completed walkway to our front door.

I didn't get a picture of the completed driveway but here is a picture of them getting ready to pour it. (Not too exciting!!)

The excitement came when Matt realized Friday afternoon that the back door was unlocked! We all got to go in and see the work they have been doing on the inside. It was pretty neat to see. All of the cabinets are in in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Here are the kitchen cabinets.

The family room and fireplace.

Back staircase in the family room with the railing now!

Front staircase when you walk in the door.

The cabinets in our master bath.

Lily by the fireplace!

Mommy and Lily in the kitchen where the refrigerator will soon be.

Daddy and Lily by the sliding doors in the kitchen.

Front view at the end of the week. I think it pretty much looks the same as last week.

Thanks for looking. As you can see it is getting near the end! We have the painters hired and I am working on choosing colors. I am thinking about packing but don't want to start that until this house can sell. I guess if it gets to be too close in October I am just going to have to start and potential buyers will have to deal with a packed up house!

I had a funny feeling today thinking about how sad I am going to be when we leave our current house. I cannot wait to move but Matt and I both know we are going to be a bit sad. We have so many great memories in our little townhouse!! But it is definitely time to move on and make more memories.

Have a great week everyone!

BEACH!

I know that summer is officially over and a lot of you are back to work and back to school. A lot of you are probably longing for the beach or the pool! I don't mean to make you sad but I want to take a look back at one of our favorite summer memories of our day at the beach.

We really had the perfect day. The weather was flawless, not a cloud in the sky. Lily was happy and so good the whole day, even without a nap. We are so happy we decided to take the day to go because we all had a great time and the memories will last forever.

Lily LOVED the beach. We weren't sure how she would react to getting a bit dirty but she got used to it right away. She was right in there digging and playing. She had sand from head to toe!

Building our sand castle.



Here she is a little unsure of how messy she is getting!

A walk to the water.

Daddy buried her feet and legs in the sand!!

Running around chasing after Daddy.

After our day at the beach we got cleaned up and headed to the Boardwalk. We rode the carousel and Lily checked out some other little rides.


We had a YUMMY dinner at the famous Mack & Manco pizza on the boardwalk. It was to die for! We felt so bad Lily couldn't enjoy it too (because of her milk allergy) but we weren't going to miss out on it! She didn't mind!

Some pictures of our night on the boardwalk.


Lily got a special treat of some Polish water ice - another yummy boardwalk favorite! She loved it!




My favorite picture of the day.

And fast asleep on the way home.

Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse at our summer day at the beach. Now I sit here typing this on the gloomiest, rainy day and wish I was back there again!! Oh well...there's always next summer.

Happy Weekend everyone!