Happy Anniversary

Yesterday, Ray and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed a fun, family day and took the girls to the farm to pick pumpkins. While we were there, we visited friends and checked out the hay maze. Ray and Elise disappeared for a while and came back with these...

My loving husband picked me a bouquet of wild flowers! I am so thankful to the Lord for providing me with such a God-fearing, thoughtful, caring husband. He is an amazing leader for our family. Everyday is great knowing that Ray is the one the Lord has designed for me. I'm looking forward to what God has planned for us in the coming years, as these past four have been wonderful! I love you, Ray! Now and always.

Hershey Park

Last weekend we went to Hershey Park. We went up Friday afternoon and spend the evening camping at the Hershey Highmeadow Campground. Camping in a tent with a two year old, one year old, and nine month old was interesting but went a lot smoother than I thought it would. I did feel badly for Ray when he had to take Elise to the potty twice in the middle of the night though. We had a bit of a hike to the bath house!

The girls had fun on the rides at Hershey Park, although they weren't up to part because of their rough night's sleep in the tent. Elise really liked the big slide, and we all had fun on the train. Ray and I had fun seeing the park through the girls' eyes, but we were ready to catch up on our sleep after the busy time away!

Busy Week

My birthday was last week, so Ray took the day off, and we had a fun family day. That evening we went out to dinner (which we hardly ever do) by ourselves (which is almost unheard of) to a great restaurant. It was one of those places where dinner takes a couple hours. Needless to say, we really enjoyed ourselves, but the girls had a bit of a rough night. We are very thankful to my mom for her patient and loving babysitting services! We got home close to 830 to find Rebekah awake but snuggled in Gram's arms and Elise like this...She fell asleep right in front of the door, waiting for us to get home. Apparently, she didn't want to eat any dinner, didn't want to take a bath, and didn't want to read books in her room, all because she thought she would have to go to bed without mommy and daddy home. She hasn't yet caught on that Gram (and other babysitters, I'm sure) bend the rules a little while mommy and daddy are away. It was really sweet to see her laying there though when we got home and to see a BIG smile from sleepy-eyed Rebekah. God certainly blessed me with a great birthday!

Ray's parents came to visit us Thursday through Sunday, so we had the opportunity to be tourists in our own city. Because it was raining on Thursday, we had to do something inside, so we took the girls to Storyville at the Rosedale Library. Because you know I love going to the library and doing free activities, this was perfect! We spend a few hours there in the morning, and the girls got to use their imaginations and play, all while cultivating a love for reading and spending quality time with Mommy, Daddy, Grandmom, and Grandpop. Friday was a great day for a trip to the zoo. We got there right when it opened and had a wonderful time visiting the exhibits and seeing it all through the girls' eyes. Some picture highlights...

Saturday morning we went to the Inner Harbor and took a free walking tour. It was really quite interesting, and I think we all agreed that it ended in one of the best areas of the city- Little Italy. And just in time for lunch! We had a nice picnic lunch under a tree near Pier 6. Ray and Elise had a lot of fun playing in a new fountain downtown, and we all enjoyed the amazing weather!

I just noticed...

Elise is wearing her "shrimp" shirt in quite a few pictures on the blog. It's not because she doesn't have any other clothes. Believe me. We could dress at least three other children with the amount of clothes we have for Elise. It's just that the "Who You Calling Shrimp?" shirt is her absolute favorite. Appropriately so!

Elise's Heaven on Earth

On Thursday, we had two van loads of workers show up in front of our house to istall FIOS for Verizon. When I came downstairs with Rebekah before 7:30, I went to the living room to open the shutters. What I saw would only make Elise's heart go pitter pat. There were about 20 men in hard hats with shovels, brooms, and rakes getting ready to go to work. Since she was in the kitchen with Ray eating breakfast, she had no idea what was going on. I said, "Oh, Elise. You better come look out the window! You are going to LOVE this!" Needless to say, breakfast was abandoned. I quickly took her upstairs to get dressed and let her finish her breakfast outside on the porch while she watched the "boys," as she called them, work. The only time we came inside all day was to put Rebekah down for a nap, use the potty, get Rebekah up from her nap, and to eat lunch. There were wheelbarrows and pick axes, and they even used a jack hammer to make two whole in the street. I'm also pretty sure I heard some kind of a saw. Elise really liked watching them and digging in the dirt piles they made. She was a little sad when they left for lunch, but was glad to hear the generator going before she went down for her nap. I think she probably fell asleep watching them out her bedroom window. The men didn't finish up their work until after 6pm. I wasn't home when they left, but I think Elise was probably a little disappointed. Having them here all day was a dream come true for her!

A Song to Remember

I hope that when the girls are older and if they're going through self-esteem issues that I'll be able help them from my experience. If that doesn't seem to get the message across, I hope this song will. So powerful and so true for young girls and women today!

Elise-isms

So more for my memory's sake than anything else, I want to record some of the funny, interesting, quirky, off-the-wall things Elise says. There's usually something memorable everyday.

"mmmm. A blueberry sandwich!" -this was about a NutriGrain bar.

"Hello, Beekah, Bookah, Beeks, Bekah!"

"Hi, Bekah. Good morning. How you doing? What you doing, Bekah?" -I overheard this when she went into Rebekah's room one morning.

"Hi, Bekah Harmer!"

"Cook Daddy!" -every evening before we start making dinner.

"I help Daddy cutta the gas."

"What you doing, Mommy?" -this about 12 times in a row after I've already answered her.

"Where'd (insert name here) go?" -typically during mealtimes, she'll ask about family members or pets.

"Mawmellow. Boom. Shovel." -when we get out the toy lawnmower, all of the other grass cutting supplies need to come out too.

"Em. Mommy Jane. EASE!" -when I asked Elise what her name was.

And just for fun, here is Elise in August 2008 and last week. She's really grown! Elise is such a sweetie and makes every day a joy for us!