Monday, September 30, 2013

Our Ellen - on TV and a fun Birthday Party!

Our Ellen....she is someone special. That fact is true =)

She always wanted to cheer. She was born with some challenges and knowing how to make that dream come true seemed daunting. Several years ago we heard of UDS cheering and we signed her up. What a fabulous experience this has been for her. This past Saturday our local NBC channel 8 was there to film the game. The kids who play flag football, and our girls who cheer them on, are all very special kids.

There's our Ellen standing in front of  
Mike Hostettler,
one of the sportscasters at channel 8
and the one doing the story.
The shorter girl in front is also a cheerleader.
The rest of the girls are the awesome volunteers 
from the Donegal HS Cheering squad.
This High School has been so supportive of our girls.
They are at every game to teach them cheers and cheer with them.
♥ Love ♥

Wednesday at 6:00!
Don't miss our kids on TV!


Sunday afternoon was also a special day for Ellen. She was invited to a birthday party for Emily, one of her friends who also cheers.  Emily has 2 brothers who worked at Dutch Wonderland this summer. They were each given free tickets which the family wasn't sure what to do with. Bless Emily's Mom...she decided to have a party for Emily at the park and give the tickets to the girls and their Moms. We had such a wonderful time! 


 Serena, Ellen, Nicole, Emily (the birthday girl), Marissa, Brianna, Elizabeth
Emily's parents provided pizza for lunch.
and beautiful cupcakes for dessert.
Emily opened her gifts...
then it was into the park for more fun!

♥ Notice the BIG smiles on all the girls ♥


 Ellen and Nicole

Bree, Serena, Marissa, and Nicole


 Ellen and Bree


 Emily, Ellen and Serena


 Ellen and Emily
Ellen wanted to ride in this car on the Monorail...
did they ever have a view!!


 It was a beautiful day!


View from the Monorail ride... 
I remember when this park was built.
I was about 10 years old.
We have had so many fun family times here with our children.
We even enjoyed a fun day here this year with our Grands =)


Marissa, Emily and Elizabeth
on the boat ride.

 No kidding,
our Ellen drove the boat =)


 That face says,
I can't believe I'm doing this!!
This is awesome!
He left her steer for a while, then he took over again.
We went around once, he asked us if we wanted to go again. 
We did....and he took us around again!

Did I mention it was a very pretty day?


 This is Ellen's favorite ride. 
That's Ellen in the last car =)

What a fun day. I enjoyed time spent with Ellen and with the other girls and their Moms. We all thought we should plan more activities to do as a group. It's so good for our special girls. And, so good for each Mom, too. I'd find time for that, yes I would!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

♥ It's a Beautiful Day ♥

It is a beautiful day!

Blue skies...oh, so blue!


Ivy geraniums continue to show off =)


These beauties, too


Lovely!


A friend brought me flowers today.
Aren't they beautiful?
I had something I couldn't use
which she was in need of. 

This was her thank you to me  =)
♥ Love them ♥
(Feel free to help yourself to some candy corn!)

Yes, it's a beautiful day! 
Thank you, Lord!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Happy Birthday, Gina and Greta!

Aww, 24 years ago.....I gave birth, not to one baby but to two! What a wonderful day. We knew they were going to be girls and we had the names already picked out for them. When you have more than one baby, you have to wait till they are born and you hold them and get a good look at them to decide who gets what name. Gina was the first born and the smallest of the two. I think that's why we chose Gina Kate as her name.  The name Gina seemed to fit her. Greta was born soon after her sister. She just seemed like a Greta Mae to us. These girls never looked alike and their personalities were completely different. We never had a hard time telling them apart!

 This picture really doesn't show how big I really was. 
The girls weighed almost 14 lbs. total. 
That top was about the only one I could wear at the end.
 We had an uneventful birth.
They were healthy babies ♥
They waited till their due date to be born...
this picture was taken when they were about an hour old!


 First birthday!
What fun!

These two provided many happy times for our family.
They were so stinking cute!!

How time flies. It's so hard to believe Gina and Greta are 24.
The joy they bring continues.
Gina and Greta, God has blessed us with you two...
that I will never doubt!

Love you soooooo much!!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Our Dessert First Night

Some people may think eating dessert first is not unusual and not that special. Well, we thought it was special, indeed! Just take a peek at these faces...

 Zoe looks like she is ready to dish up!


 Are we ready yet? Are we ready yet??


 Stinker =)


 Three kinds of goodies...
Zucchini Bread, Pumpkin Bars, Pecan Bars
(sounds mighty healthy, don't you think?)

Yes, we are ready!
Aidan claps 8 times to let everyone know =)

 Whoo-Hoo!
Mommy serves Zoe.

Can you tell Zoe is loving this?


Yes, we ate dinner, too...
Stromboli and corn on the cob.


We are thinking about doing a special meal once a month.
Christy suggested an Asian themed meal.
She will have to make that one.
Hubs is not too thrilled 
and said he will be home at 5:45 sharp - 
with a thick chocolate shake in his hand!
(possibly a hamburger, too)
Crazy guy!


Friday, September 20, 2013

Happy Anniversary, Marcy and Scott!

10 years ago today! It was a beautiful Saturday. Rain had been in the forecast but it came and went before the big day, whew! My daughter was a beauty...she should have been featured in a magazine. I'm not kidding! Their ceremony was so personal, so beautiful, so touching. Lots of work went into this day, and it's one I will never forget.

These pictures are not the best quality. They are from the disposable camera I had that day. I have better photos, but, I guess they are in the attic....it's dark up there!!


 Marcy gets her make-up on.
Know who that little cutie is beside her?
It's Ellen!

 Dressed and ready to become a Mrs!


Scott and Marcy with 
Andrew, the Ring Bearer,
and
Ellen, the Flower Girl.

(the next one is one I posted before -  the photographer took this one)

Love these people!
Marcy had 2 friends in the party.
Scott had 2 friends,
the rest are all family ♥

Scott and Marcy have given us two precious gifts - 
Paityn and Brinley.
What a lovely family!

We are so excited for them as they begin the process of 
building a new home.
A home where Marcy will not be restricted to the main floor.
She will have access from the basement to the second floor;
an elevator will be part of this home.
Love that!


Happy Anniversary, Marcy and Scott! Love you!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Special Day

Not much news to report around here. 
Nothing new. 
Each day is mostly the same as what happened the day before.

Except....
when we decide to have a special day ♥
Yes, indeed, we have decided.

It's called 

Eat Dessert First Day!

Yes, we are planning to eat dessert first 
tomorrow at dinner.

We are sooooo excited!


(Was a busy kitchen day today)



Friday, September 13, 2013

Beach Time!

We didn't spend a week at the beach last year or this year. Sad, indeed. So, if I get a chance to spend a few days at a beach, I take it!

Last week was our chance. We drove to Wildwood, NJ on Thursday afternoon. Christy's brother owns a three bedroom condo there, PERFECT! Corey, Christy and the kids went too. They also love the beach.

Warning - lots of pictures. I won't be offended if you skip through them real fast or skip altogether!

We walked the boardwalk and had dinner at a neat burger place Thursday evening.

Friday - 

 Friday was a beautiful day.
Had it been cloudy, it would have felt cold.
But the (almost) cloudless sky brought warmth.


 There was a breeze.
Aidan wanted to fly his kite.


Not a clear shot...
it's a bird, no,
it's a plane, no.....
it's a dolphin kite!
(the kite we gave him for his birthday)


So relaxing!


 Friday evening, we had pizza on the boardwalk.
(I had a salad)
Every time I said, Where's Ellen?
She would be by the fence watching the rides =)
.

 They also rode the go carts...
(I kept missing them as they went by!)

 There they go!!

 I drove one the next night.
I was NOT a fan.
Everyone passed me twice.
Every turn, I was saying, can we be done now?!!!


 These two thought it was wonderful!


That's Aidan driving a mini car. 
He loved it!
He drove again on Saturday night.


 Zoe pretends!


 Changing drivers...


Zoe gives instructions ♥


Saturday -

 It's another beautiful day, says Zoe.
Was a lot warmer hotter!
Perfect ☺


 We saw a Blimp!


 No question who this is...
can you see the name in the sand?


 Time for some sand castle building.
Girls against...


...the guys!
(notice Aidan with the bucket going to get some water)


 The girls build a tunnel.


 The guys stay with the traditional.


All that building wears a girl out.


 There he goes!






That was fun!


Saturday evening spent on the boardwalk again.
It was only a 1 1/2 blocks from the condo!

So pretty but I will not ride!

Christy and Ellen rode a wooden roller coaster.
It went under the pier!

Aidan and Zoe,
along with Corey and Gina,
rode the carousel.

And, as I stated before,
we all rode the go carts.
I will never forget Zoe's little face pressed against her Daddy's arm
as they whizzed past me....
Zoe saying, Hi, Nana ♥

Sunday - 

All too soon our mini vacation was coming to a close. 
Corey and his family had a birthday party to attend that afternoon,
so they left before lunch.
We cleaned the condo then walked down the boardwalk
 to a mini golf course
Dale and Ellen saw on one of their many walks.
It was a longer walk than we expected.
It was hot.
 but, we had fun!




 It was a dinky little course
and we were the only ones there.
Oh well, as I said, we had fun!


I Love the beach.
I Love time away.
We Loved this condo!



We will return!

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Of course, my thoughts and prayers go to the beach town in NJ where the devastating fire destroyed their newly renovated boardwalk. How terrible! Was hard to watch the newscasts. 
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