The Epic Adventures of The Conrad's

Basketball Conrad Style

2012-01-17T21:48:00.000-05:00

So we are playing Upward basketball! The only way I could get Adeline to play was if I would be her coach. The only way she and I could get there was with Esther. So the staff of Upward allowed her to be on the team, but as an assistant. Though she has a players jersey and #. Adeline so far loves it. We are so glad to have another girl on the team too!

Can you see that I am holding Esther's hand behind Adeline? After this segment she sat with Daddy!

Girls having fun!

2012-01-14T21:38:00.000-05:00

Best.Weekend.Ever!

2012-01-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all!

We had so much fun hanging out at the river :)

It started with Adeline and Esther having a blast picking as many flowers as they wanted. Our yard doesn't produce more than a few so this was probably a little like heaven for them. So with beautiful lighting provided by God I snapped a few:

being silly is so much fun :)

Bryan got a cast net for Christmas. Here he is trying it out!

Yes, January 2nd and we were in the water!

He didn't catch us dinner but he did catch some cuties!

We also went for a kayak trip!

Thank you God for such a sweet family. You have blessed us beyond anything I could hope or dream. These two girls are so sweet and love each other and our family so very much. They love God too! Essie had been praying the sweetest prayers. Praying and thanking God for going where we go and that we go where He goes. Thanking God for baby Jesus and that Mary kept him warm. She continues to pray such sweet prayers straight from the hear.

I pray in 2012 we stay close to God hiding His word in our hearts and that You God move unmistakably in the life of our girls so that they will not miss that it is You working in their lives. Thank you God for the priviledge and opportunity to do the partial homeschooling of Adeline. It is such a sweet time with my girls. I pray you grow our marriage with deepening roots of love. Help us get our strength/power source from You so we can love each other and our girls and the people you have placed in our lives the way You would want us to. Direct our priorities every moment of every day.

My Sweet Daddy T

2012-01-05T21:59:00.000-05:00

Daddy T (Jesse Thomas Ross) June 1, 1918 (yes WWII vet) - December 19, 2011

August 2010

August 1989

Daddy T's creative side 8/1989

My MUSC graduation 12/1996

May 27, 2010

My sweet Daddy T (Jesse Thomas Ross) passed on Dec 19th at the age of 93 and 1/2. I don't know exactly when you start tracking halfs again, but it seems important. His services were on the 21st (my mom's birthday, her dad). He was a devoted husband, loving dad and super fun granddad and great-granddad. Though I know I have the benefit of knowing him when we would climb up fire look outs, drive to the mountains for the day and much more adventuous things than he could the past few years. More than anything he lived the life of loving others well. He loved Jesus, his church, his pastors (over the years), his neighbors, coworkers, and fellow brother and sisters in Christ. He was always ready with a practical joke and yet sentimental as well keeping his bride's shoe for their 65th wedding celebration when she didn't even know it. He was a great photographer. I am sure he is going to have a multimedia presentation ready for me whenever I get to heaven.
His ceremony was well planned (due to his initiative) and I felt a message was being delivered to each one of us from his heart. It was clear he wanted us to know how important Jesus was to him and he wants Jesus to be important to us. When the processional started he had chosen In my life Lord, be glorified to be playing. It touched me deeply. The graveside service was at the church. Despite the day being one of a heavy misting it wasn't until go time we were sure it would happen.
But it did and it was touching.
Though this was unexpected family pulled together at a difficult time to all get together in Easley, South Carolina. I got to see cousins, second cousins, aunts and uncles some I hadn't
seen in several years.
After having the visitation, the service, and burial we headed to their place to visit with all the family. It was great to catch up with all of them. We had the most time with The Ross family from New Hampshire! Adeline and Esther love Jesse and Abby. They are wonderful with kids. After having dinner with them and then breakfast the next morning we thought best to head home. Before we left we went by the grave site as Essie stayed with me, but Adeline chose to play in the church gym during the prior days events. She had been asking many questions on the ride to SC so we thought we would take her to the grave site of Daddy T and spend some time talking about him and all that had happened with her unaware. So that is why some of these pictures are here.

George's Creek Baptist Church. Most memories involve this church as this is where my mother was married (all his daughters actually) and all his children were baptized. You have to drive on Prince Perry Rd to get there. Perry is Rossie's maiden name!

Lots of appropriate questions

Eston with that amazing detachable thumb! Abby being supportive!

Best buds! It took all of 5 minutes before the girls remembered Jesse from last August!

My favorite Aunt Kathy from Alaska! Did I mention crazy fun too!

Rossie!

My favorite Aunt Sue from New Hampshire!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

2012-01-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

Christmas happened for the girls for 3 straight days. (and I didn't get them in order)

I love the Christmas Eve service at Westside. This year was no different.

We got to sit with the Tilley's!

We had to get a picture with baby Jesus!!! We are wearing our best, just like the Wisemen did I am sure. These are Bell Christmas dress Aunt Annie gave them earlier in the day!

Sweet sisters on the morning of December 25th at our home!

Out of order, but Christmas with my folks on the 23rd!

Cousins!

We had Christmas with the Conrads/Overmans on the 23rd/24th:

Our favorite thing... reading :) and especially reading with Papa and Meme!!!

Newberry Christmas Parade

2012-01-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

False advertising as this first photo is of their gingerbread village! So proud! and tummies were so full of junk :)

Below are all from the parade route! Bryan drove the truck with Bill (Mayor Bill), Martha, our girls and Henry in the back! I was on the route taking pictures!

Essie started taking photos :)

Christmas with Cornerstone

2012-01-02T21:41:00.000-05:00

We love Cornerstone and the priviledge we have to go there. One small little benefit was a wonderful Christmas program that told the story of Jesus birth through Scripture and song. Adelines class sang 3 songs and did sign language for Silent Night as you will see below.

Here is Esther so excited to go see her sister that had been inside for an hour with her class warming up while we waiting outside before being seated:

Essie being super sweet while we waited for the program to start!

Adeline did great!

Signing Silent Night

We were greeted by the K5 class art work of angels when we arrived. This is after the program Adeline holding her masterpiece!

Below are from the class Christmas party! So much Fun that the morning started with the class celebrating all the scripture they had memorized. This is Adeline sharing hers from Romans.

This is Mrs. Thompson whom Adeline quotes all the time with bits of wisdom!

Essie got to join us and is ready to start going to Mrs. Thompson's class. She will be disappointed when it isn't next year as she would only be in preK.

Merry Christmas to all! - Puzzle

2011-12-23T15:35:00.001-05:00

So this year instead of sending out a letter it is more of a puzzle. If you have time please test your knowledge and see how well you know us. Answers to the puzzle will be in the comments! Below the picture will be a word bank if that would help too!

Crossword Puzzle - Conrad style 2011!

Disney
Five
Gators
Jesus
Kindergarten
Pizza
Pink
Popup Camper
Purple
Salt Springs
St.Augustine
Three
Volleyball

Merry Christmas!!! 2011

2011-12-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

Well... we try to not focus on Santa this time of the year. However, I noticed Essie has no pics of her with him. So off we went to the mall to find Santa. Adeline asked for a stuffed butterfly and Essie did the same, however prior to seeing him she had decided on something different. Not sure if she forgot or just figured it must be good if Adeline wants it. Adeline in the car had said she wanted a stuffed Santa, but was too embarassed to ask him for that. Wow... now to keep materialism away for another year I hope. Santa even asked them "Don't you want a baby doll". You could hear crickets. I think they like the ones they have! (until they know different at least).

Elf on the shelf

2011-12-12T23:41:00.000-05:00

So we adopted Elf on the Shelf this year! We named her Christmas Eve Snow! She seems very diligent. We tend to find that she likes to hang around our Christmas decorations. We look forward to learning more about her. Tonight I found her checking out the girls sleeping. find out more at Elf on the Shelf.

Helper Adeline

2011-12-11T23:34:00.001-05:00

Adeline is such a helper. Today she ran into the living room and drug Bryan to their bathroom to show him this leak we have under the sink. So they worked together on it. Then she informed him she would update him on Friday of its status. If there is water in a little cup she will tell him. If there isn't any water.... she will tell him then too!
We have noticed Adeline does seem to regularly take initiative on her own doing. I wonder how God is going to use that character trait.

Do you see what I see?

2011-12-08T23:16:00.000-05:00

Can you see a difference?

Adeline lost her first tooth tonight! She was brushing her teeth... and the way she tells it she brushed them a little too hard. She says she though she had a nut in her mouth and it was her tooth. She came running in and said my tooth came out. I screamed a happy scream which really ended up scaring her (oops). Then I realized there was blood every where (in her mouth) so we ran to the kitchen with a napkin and in hopes of ice. But once I got some pressure on it and told her she needed ice cream to make it better all was good.

Can't wait to see what the Tooth Fairy brings her! Good thing Martha made her a tooth pillow and had given a book. This whole loose thooth thing only started on Monday.

My girl is growing up so fast. We thank God for you Adeline. He has a plan a purpose just for you!!! Today it was that tooth coming out.

God gave you that tooth and it served you well eating lots of apples, carrots, and even some candy.

The rest of Disney!

2011-12-06T23:52:00.000-05:00

Animal Kingdom Christmas tree!

Adeline loves Bamboo!

Chef Mickey and more

2011-12-06T23:04:00.000-05:00

We had a buffet breakfast with Goffey, Micky, Minnie, Donald and Pluto (Chef Mickey)!

Adeline is kissing Mickey's nose here :)

She sure is happy! She was so excited to "go shoot the guns"!

Great form little girl!

Off we go to Splash Mountain!

We love Christmas Trees! This actually was the first one we saw and the girls were so excited!

Our first boat ride to Magic Kingdom!

We love adventure! Epic Adventures! Essie won't leave her Mama behind though :)

Princess Dinner fun!

2011-12-06T22:50:00.000-05:00

We have wands!

Delicious butter

Adeline spots her first princess of Dinner - Bell!

The girls made a wish on a star... can you see it!

Adeline told Ariel, you are my favorite princess!

Perfectly decorated cupcake!

Essie told Briar Rose she was her favorite princess!

After dinner we had to ride the Carousel!!! Even Bryan likes it :)

love the castle in ice as the girls say

Disney 2011

2011-12-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

We had so very much fun camping out at Fort Wilderness and enjoying the Disney Parks!

We had an adventure getting there. Bryan's truck overheated after a couple miles down the interstate. Praise God we weren't much further because Bill was able to come rescue us. We had our camp chairs on the side of the road. I didn't want the girls running around so I had them do home school assignments! What fun :) This seems to be one of the main memories the girls have regarding the trip.

Weather was wonderful as you can see below. God blessed us over and over with great attitudes, perfect timing and loving family!

Here we waited for an hour to see Rapunzel... worth it!

Here we just happened to see Mary Poppins walking down the street on our way out to her little spot here. She took the girls hands and walked them here and they were just mesmerized.

Silly Daddy while we wait for a bus within Ft. Wilderness! We had just finished swimming. They have an awesome slide that the girls LOVE!

Waiting for the boat that takes you to Magic Kingdom from the campground!

We had dinner with the princesses in Cinderella's Castle! It took some convincing Adeline that is where we were, but she believed us as we were walking out.

Fun today

2011-12-05T23:04:00.001-05:00

So we started out with a long day of homeschooling. Had fun reenacting the fiery furnace of Shad-rack, Me-shack and Abendigo. The girls loved going into the furnace and took with them one of our christmas angels from the nativity and Joseph (Abendigo). Adeline made herself and Essie cheese sandwiches, apple slices, green beans (for her) carrots (for essie), and yogurt as lunch. Then we cleaned up. Adeline reorganized the books in the living room. She really wants to play Library soon. Then we went for a bike ride (they rode and I ran/pushed up the hills) to the wooden park, painted the remaining pieces of our nativity set (that Adeline calls "activity set" no matter how many times I correct her). Then after dinner we headed out to look at lights. The girls were SO excited. Great cheers! Loud cheers! Excitement over an awesome nativity/activity set that was all white with a camel and everything. Then when we got to a house that had so many lights Adeline said it was a "circus of lights" (don't know what that means really), she said she was jealous. We talked about being jealous. I admit I was too a bit. It would be fun to have them. Hard to set them up as every square inch in the yard and on the house was covered (even with music playing). Hard to store them I am sure. So maybe we can just check them out every year. She has a request for Bryan when he gets home. Hope he is ready.
Sleep well little girls! You have had a full day!

We have been praying for a distant friend named Luke. If you have a moment and lift up a prayer for him today as he has a bone marrow transplant coming up. We have been calling it cancer of the blood around our house. Praise God they did get good news today. Erik mentioned their feelings being like the Bible story we studied today - Praise God because He can do a miracle even though He doesn't have to. They have one to celebrate today! Here is their link if you want more info: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lukeshamblin

Happy Birthday Adeline - You are 5! (a few months ago)

2011-12-04T23:32:00.000-05:00

Oh sweet Adeline. How I love you so much. You are such a sweet girl. You love to dress up. You are my girlie girl. You love Jesus and tell him how thankful you are to him. You sing your prayers most often every night. You enjoy singing your own songs to God. You love your family so very much!

You started Kindergarten before you were 5 (for about a week). Bryan and I are blessed to be your teacher each one day a week while you go to private school for 3 days a week. You aren't too sure about all this. You love your teacher Mrs. Thompson but do not like the uniforms. It actually torments you to this day that they "tell you what to wear". We have prayed for you to have joy over your mornings. You told a parent recently your favorite thing is handwriting. You have started writing our memory verse on the chalkboard. You love art and anything that puts a tool in your hand that allows creativity.

This year you learned to ride your big girl bike (with training wheels). You started piano at the begning of the summer. You told me you do not play team sports, but I managed to talk you into basketball later this year. That was a funny day. You stoped saying finking this year for thinking. Your annunciation is pretty amazing. You are inquisitive. You love watching movies and are partial to princesses, but recently watched "How to train your dragon" and loved it and as below we even had a Rio party. We have a lot of fun singing in our home and the soundtrack to Rio has been perfect for us.
You love reading. You really love reading books, magazines, anything. If we go anywhere you can do anything if we have a book or crayons and paper. Since you graduated to a booster seat you have had trouble sleeping in the car, but that is the only place that you have trouble sleeping. You are a great sleeper. You have a vast vocabulary. You love choir at Church. You offer to share your prize possessions without even being asked. Your generosity is amazing. I once stopped in my tracks and prayed in front of you that God make me as generous as you. You give up candy and stickers to Essie all the time knowing that there is no payback. Though I am sure you would readily admit you like to swap tries of ice-cream, smoothies or anything really. You are a healthy eater. Recently you told Daddy you wanted cashews, sandwich meat, applesauce, yogurt and broccoli for dinner. So that is what you had.
You have a tender heart. You enjoy visiting our neighbors.
All you wanted for your birthday was a beach party. So we headed to the same location as last year - Anastasia State Park. Bryan grilled out burger and dogs. We had Sandcastle cake. I had so much fun making it. Sweet friends and family came and it was a great day on the beach.

Birthday Celebration - a little late for sweet Esther - turning 3! I'm free!!!

2011-12-04T22:54:00.000-05:00

Esther Maeve Conrad turned 3 this summer!
Some things she has learned this year:
Going potty,
Riding a big girl bike (with training wheels)
Getting herself dressed
Hitting a ball with a bat!

She has amazing fine motor skills and early in this year started writing the letter E and then quickly the letter A. E is always E for Essie, E for Elmo, E for Elephant. She can pick them out of anywhere. At the Shell Station. This girl thanks God for the princesses every chance she gets. She is just about always smiling. She wants to be where her sister is. Anytime there has been the occurrence that she and Adeline are separated she is consistently awaiting their reunion. Essie has trouble sharing though Adeline has done a fabulous job teaching her by being a great example. Essie is the most appreciative. She is very quick with a thank you for simple things (milk in the morning for example). She is very good with her manners. She loves her flip flops. We have to pack a pair in my car for when I pick the girls up so they can change out of their school shoes. Esther loves her teachers at daycare. So much so she has renamed one of them. She can say Megan, but insists she is Regan. For a while earlier this year she was Ruggins, I think we are all okay with Regan. I was initally concerned with her hearing, but this seems to be the only problem. She calls umbrella's rainbrellas. So our whole house hold calls them rainbrellas because I just love it so!!! She really enjoys being outside. She is not so much into books and movies like Adeline. She is a bit more busy than to sit still. Though she is able to do so and go to big church/Worship with us on occasion. She sometimes prefers this than going to her class. She loves to dance to the Mickey Mouse Club House Hot Dog song. She has great rhythm with her elbows out to the side. Looks more like a basketball move :) You are very independent. You love to play with Adeline. Typically Adeline chooses what you play, but you often take charge with your own details of how the game is to go. You love playing with Barbie's. Though you are best as puzzles of any kind.
You really do enjoy coloring. Here lately you use lots of colors and when using the dot markers you leave no white on the page. You promptly take your work to our hallway or outside to dry. (as I am sure this is what you do at daycare).

Daddy Fun

2011-12-03T21:39:00.000-05:00

Today Bryan decided to brave the hammer and nail with the girls. Just know that you can use a hammer no matter what your attire. Essie has no safety equipment as they started before I was aware. Adeline however is fully dressed in her new fancy dress with appropriate goggles and work apron filled with nails and the "map" as she called it to make her bank.

Both girls ended up making their wood project and a wooden hammer of their own.

River fun

2011-12-03T21:25:00.000-05:00

We have so much fun at the river. Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring :) There is always beauty and fun awaiting! We caught lizards and minnows over Thanksgiving weekend. We found a new spring out in the river near Conrad Springs! The river is at an all time low right now and there is always something to find.

The girls helped Papa peel and slice the apples and Meme put the pie together!

Thanksgiving is a great time to be out at the river. You just feel closer to God, the one that gave it all for you. He gives us the breath in our lungs, the joy and peace in our hearts, and salvation through His son. God I thank you so very much for my sweet family of four. Essie so dear, Adeline so sweet, Bryan a loving supportive husband. The Conrads and Shunks that love us so well. I am blessed beyond belief with such peace in my life with where we are in this stage of life. I am thankful for today and hope I don't take it for granted. I am thankful for friends that have changed my life along the years and ones right now that I can't imagine living without. So many encouraging women of God that do a great job of showing what it means to love their husbands and kids. Thank you God for all of these wonderful things!

Adeline's deep thoughts

2011-12-02T22:40:00.000-05:00

So Adeline and I were noticing steeple's on the different Churches. She was wondering why some had them and some didn't. Then she noticed some had cross's and some didn't. We talked about some churches have people in them that don't believe that Jesus was God's son. She immediately said, Well that is sad. I asked why. She said that up in heaven they will have to be separated from God. I mean how could they not love Jesus. We are born sinning as babies, but He never sinned. He did lots of good deeds, don't they believe that. Oh My I almost fell out of my chair. We talked about believing Jesus was good is not the same as believing He was God's son who died for us (and was raised back to life - I skipped that part today though she knows it). She then got a little off track, though I am very proud still, but she asked if people that go to those church use bad words when they talk. (Maybe I should have asked her how many times has she heard these people with bad words... little ones do hear everything!) We talked about very good people still might not love Jesus. That is why we have to tell everyone about Him and how much He loves them. You could tell it was about all she could handle and quickly started talking about Essie.

Thank you Jesus for the spiritual awareness you have given this sweet dear. I pray you fill her with love for You and sharing that love with others.

A belated Happy Halloween!

2011-12-01T21:05:00.000-05:00

This year was a great year! Essie was Strawberry Shortcake! Adeline was Ariel with legs (rather than tail):

Bryan decided to make a "Trunk" for Westside's Trunk or Treat event! It was to represent Sonshine Day. The girls helped him with hand prints, animal stamps and much more! Children would toss a bean bag to get candy! It rained the night before the event and the morning of. The board has a little weather ware!

Look at those mad skillz!

Fun with friends!

Fun stuff

2011-11-07T22:14:00.000-05:00

I am so very much enjoying be a part of Adeline's schooling. Today I had the girls acting out Goldilocks! They were bouncing around having so much fun. What was shorter, colder, coldest, soft, softest, etc! Adeline is such a sponge. She has learned so much in the past 12 weeks. She is writing her name in cursive (just not connected). So cute!

We have been going to a few of the UF Volleyball games. We have many of their signatures. After a couple of games one week. Essie asked... why are they in "time out". I asked what do you mean. She pointed out that they sit down and their coach sternly speaks to them then they can go play again. I was almost laughing so hard I couldn't explain to her they were not in trouble.

Adeline has been very intent on getting a sewing machine. One would think I have been sewing around her, though I haven't. She wants to know the right age to get a sewing machine. She is to talk to Meme about it. So today we made something. She wants to give it as a gift to show appreciation. We shall see if she is able to do so. Essie has already deemed hers is for herself!

Essie still calls an umbrella a rainbrella! Somefing is for something. She has taken up doing school with Adeline and I. She had one book for when Adeline does handwriting. She does remarkable well for 3yrs old. She was writing B's last week and C's this week. She is ready to have Mrs. Thompson for her teacher ;)

more fun at Coon Hollow

2011-11-01T22:52:00.000-04:00

Fall fun at Coon Hollow Corn Maze

2011-10-30T21:58:00.001-04:00

We joined up with the sweet Tilley family and one of their Home school groups for a field trip. We went to Coon Hollow over in Micanopy. We had great fun exploring through the corn maze that was just perfect for us. It had posts with stamps that you were to collect. We collected 9 out of 14 or something like that.

Then off to climb the hay bales! Essie needs to thank Gracie for helping her up the top one :)

We had tons of fun in the corn!

We even went on a hay ride to feed the cows. I never knew they had such long tongues.

Two Tales

2011-10-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

Two Tales is a elephant farm that I was able to visit along with Adeline's K-5 Class!

This is Luke and he likes to paint!

Adeline feeding the elephant, Roxy, a carrot. You will see us riding Roxy later on in the post.

Fun at Universal

2011-10-29T08:34:00.000-04:00

So we had an EPIC adventure with my folks and brother at Universal.

Times are changing as below you can see we have 2 very patient girls waiting for us to get our tickets activated:

Here we are riding on the Seusland Carosel:

This fun ride went up in the ari and had fishes spitting water on you. I was thinking we were going to finish it and stay dry when both girls were getting sad they were dry. I had to force it into water! It was sucessful, only girls got wet!!!

essie and adeline found sleeping:

Adeline has been learning about elephants and was amazed at this one and told me it was Asian because it only has one finger on its trunk!

Instead of knee high to a grasshopper my girls are now knee high to a giraffe:

Adeline Art

2011-08-31T22:59:00.000-04:00

Adeline describes this as a girl moving a moutain and worshiping God. She loves writing her initials.

Didn't get the story on this one, but I just love it!

This is special! She said it is a picture of her and I. Sweet!!!

This is a sweet picture of a momma bird bringing

a worm back to feed her babies. You might need

to cock your head to the side, but it is there.

sorry Adeline I got the picture wet!

Adeline's movie on Genesis

2011-08-29T12:26:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling: For fun today we decided to make a movie about Genesis 1:1!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Day 1: Day and Night
Day 2: Sky and Water
Day 3: Land and Plants
Day 4: Sun and Moon and Stars
Day 5: Birds and Fish
Day 6: Animals and Man
DAY 7: God Rested

Adeline's First Movie!!! (videos should work now!)

2011-08-13T20:12:00.002-04:00

Bryan just asked Adeline if she wanted to make a movie. Off they went and this is what she came up with (below is the same event just a different creative process!):

This is the trailer of her movie. Don't worry it doesn't give away the plot!

Bike Riding

2011-07-01T22:08:00.002-04:00

Adeline will be 5 this summer, so she is really 4 years old. Esther will be 3 this summer, so really she is only 2 years old!!! 2.. can you believe it, I guess you don't know until I tell you what she did.

Yet both girls have taken to riding the big girl bikes (with training wheels). We just started trying this again about 2-3 weeks ago. Friday of last week we had a friend join us for dinner and we went for a ride after dinner. This was the first time Essie started steerring most of the time without running into the curb. So of course that means Bryan is ready to take them to the Village Center the very next day. It is just a tad further than 0.5miles. They had ridden at most .25 miles in one trip. So off they go giving me some time to get a project done (turning my blog into a book by the way... due to arrive 7/20 and I am so excited). So I watch them leaving and thinking if they make it around the corner chances are I will get a call to pick them up at the Village Center. There was a 50% chance Essie wouldn't make it around the corner. Of course she surpassed my expectations :) Which lead to my next amazement that they made the whole trip. Here is the picture after they arrived home! My EPIC adventurers!!! Be bold be brave as one of the VBS songs went this year!

Date night: For Bryan and Girls!

2011-06-30T22:08:00.000-04:00

So Chic Fil A (CFA) had Daddy date night. It began with the me helping the girls get dressed up with lip gloss and eye shadow with high-heals and dress of their choice. Then on to the mall where a limo picked them up at one side of Belks and then drove around the mall to drop them off at the other side of Belks. Then up the escalator greated by cows (galore from the sound of it). Each girl got a flower and stuffed cow upon arrival. Dinner was served just like at a restaurant. Craft table with a paper flower. Leaving they were given a "gift bag" that bryan says had Belk coupons. I bet the girls will tell me it help treasure and they were excited. Then Bryan finished off the night by going to Starbucks where the girls get hot chocolate milk.
For those interested keep your eyes peeled as Bryan says it will happen again in October. (I got to do a 1.5 hr much needed shopping trip and got home before 10pm...very nice!)

Boston - Wedding!

2011-06-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

Below is the start of the Rehearsal dinner. The girls were so good.

Above a cute couple and below ditto :)

Essie getting her hair done by now her best friend though a the time she wasn't so sure, Briann.

Aunt Fran joined us, what a treat!

My cutie Adeline with curls galore!

Here the girls are admiring the leporad print shoes Sandy has on! You can still see the curls in Essie's hair. They were gone by wedding time. Though she enjoyed them while she had them.

We rode a trolly to the wedding and again to the reception. My diva's loved it!

Beautiful couple!

What a lady!
We forgot to take our camera in at the reception. We are waiting for the professional pictures to come out. Essie fell asleep on the trolly to the reception and those series of pictures, but don't worry she woke up for the party. She and Adeline danced the night away. They were so well behaved and had a ton of fun. The McDonald family (esp Jerry and Jean) were so sweet and welcomed us right in. We all slept well that night. The next morning we made a dash for the airport and got home with a direct flight. We found in Orlando we love Sweet Tomatoes. We had it after Disney and once we returned home by request of Adeline. It is a salad bar. That girl is after my heart for sure!

Boston - in Boston

2011-06-18T21:09:00.002-04:00

Our Boston Adventure started with lunch downtown at the Prudential Center. Then off for a Duck Tour of Boston. So excited.

Adeline got to drive the boat even.

Essie took a much needed nap after many days of no nap and late nights she was tuckered. Well worth the ticket price :) An angel!

My other angel. What a great pic bryan!

This is in the lobby of the Boston Children's Museum. It was about 2.5 stories high and a web of fun. Adeline at the top was shouting, "We need this at our house so the Tilley's can play. This is the most fun EVER!" She pretty much has never said that before or again to date.

Bryan' having fun above and below... below you would get the golf ball to go where you put the magnetic things... it was right up his alley! The girls love it too. The girls loved just about all of it!

Then after The McDonald family's wonderful advice we took off for the Swan Boats. These have been a part of the Boston Experience for over 130 yrs.

This is also a McDonald suggestion and Boston must do right there with the Swans, the Brass statues of "Make Way for the Ducklings". Apparently this is a pretty popular book if you are from up north. All on the duck tour, other than us, had read it. So we plan to get this from our library soon!

Essie says the duck was eating her fingers!

Just hanging around in Boston! These girls love to hang in trees. Wonder where they get that from, a hem... Bryan!

More Graduation - Class of 2011 (on to Kindergarten)

2011-06-17T23:03:00.000-04:00

For some reason I didn't think we had any pics of Adeline graduating on our camera. Bryan did so good! God helped with the lighting though:

Disney - to Boston!

2011-06-17T20:51:00.003-04:00

So our epic adventure to Boston all started right at Disney. Go figure right! My sweet fam in front of the castle. Did you know that you can fast pass to the 3 princess below? Well, now you know :) The princesses were so sweet. They loved their dresses that Meme made them. Many at Disney loved their dresses. We even ran into Uncle Frank and all his family - what a sweet surprise. We hadn't seen The Kanaru Family in some time.

Essie was standing on a little rock and loved that she was so brave and adventuresome.

I think this is Adeline and Bryan on Thunder Mountain. Essie and I are right in front of them. Yes... she was just 40 inches so she could ride this and Splash Mountain. Adeline rode Mt. Everest the day prior at Animal Kingdom (it goes backwards). She was so brave she rode it 3 times! Love it!

Our Family photo :)

We did lots of swimming. At the Disney Pop Century, the airport Hyatt... lots of fun was had!

Flowers 2011

2011-06-14T22:26:00.002-04:00

Rumor has it the flowers weren't as pretty as years in the past. I have to say they were pretty close. I thank God he had a beautiful day set aside for us as this was the only day we could go. So I packed up like 4 outfits, tea party essentials, baby dolls, chairs, drinks, snacks, and camera of course. I planned for us to be there a while. Over 300 pictures is what I think the final count ended up being. At times I can't imagine not documenting all the fun we have and other times I decide for us to have fun and I will skip documenting. Well today was all about documenting and we had fun. Though of course there were times I thought they were done. But a piece of gum or princess gummies and we were back at it. Plus they were just so cute I couldn't not take more pictures.

Adeline was patiently waiting for me and I just snapped one. It was a very bright day!

A very nice person also there to take pictures of the beautiful field offered to take one of me and the girls. It turned out wonderful. I should have worn pink though!

Adeline might be why folks thought the number of flowers were down this year. She picked and picked just like her great grandmother Rossie would have I do believe. She said after the third of fourth time I told her to not pick too many, " They are just too beautiful. I just can't stop picking them." Loved it! How could I stop that.

Sisters by God and friends for life. These two just naturally get along. I am soooo blessed. I hope we can continue to foster the friendship. I pray for this regularly. They are as beautiful in their character as they are on the outside. They were giving kisses to each other, hugs, did ring around the rosie even. When we left the house we had their baby dolls dressed similarly to the above Easter dresses. Well they wanted their babies hair done. Granted it is plastic hair. So I hot glued a ribbon hair band on the babies. It was cute and the girls LOVED it. Though in relaying these events to others later on I have had some reactions when folks think that I hot glued the ribbon to Adeline and Essie. Love it!

Now to get some printed and hung in the house... hopefully by Christmas :)

Adeline Graduates from Pre-K

2011-06-12T23:04:00.001-04:00

Adeline so proper and grown up! I can hardly believe you are finishing up with preschool. You had amazing teachers. Missing already Ms. Amanda who took care of you during your 2yr old class as well as this year, Ms. Caitlin who drew you a gazillion pictures to color, and Ms. Trista that took you on nature walks (she and Ms. Caitlin did your hair a gazillion times too!!)! The things you have learned are amazing, but your character is even more amazing than that. You love your family, friends and God. You are so generous you made me cry just the other day. I prayed then and there with you that God would make me as generous as you. You really do think of others pretty often. You are very artistic. You got the award from your teachers for being most artistic in fact. You love to draw. We bring home lots of art every day and our walls, floors, and counter spaces show it. We love it. You love to have books read to you. You are just starting to consider to read on your own. You told me just today you don't like team things as I tried to see if you would want to play soccer. You just started piano lessons (one down actually). You are a bit timid of your bike (my fault in not staying close enough for your first couple tries and you ran into a curb), but you can go wild on your big wheel. We walk to "the hill" pretty regularly. You love our neighbors Ms. Pattsy and Mr. Buddy. Calhoun is a friend of yours who regularly gets prayed for with the rest of our family. Today at lunch you said such a mature prayer, showing thanks for our food the people we were with and ended it in Jesus' name. I love praying for you and you ask me to specifically pray scripture over you when I have neglected to do so regularly. I think you are starting to be a Daddy's girl. I am excited about this but at the same time selfishly sad. Your Daddy loves you so very very much. You have grandparents so proud of you. In Uncle Andy and Sandy's wedding when you and Essie were flower girls everyone said how well behaved you were. I though along with that you were brave with so many strangers around. You had a few shy minutes in the begining, but by wedding day you were good to go! I can't wait to see all the plans God has for you. To prosper you and give you a hope!

You are amazing and I am so glad God made you YOU!

loving you time with Daddy on June 2nd!

This is when you turned 4!

This is around the time of your 3rd birthday:

And then here you are around 2yrs old:

And here you are around the age of 12 months:

Here you are at 6 months:

The day you were born! So cute :)

Video catch up

2011-06-12T21:44:00.000-04:00

Musical girls

River Ratz :)

Recent Art

2011-06-12T20:57:00.000-04:00

Adeline has been into mermaids here lately. This was drawn back in April!

Essie is my dot and line girl. She has some excellent fine motor skillz :)

Adeline drew a picture of her Momma and herself. I know they are both labeled Adeline, but that is her story and I am sticking to it. I am the one on top with the darker hair.

Essie did this around Easter as well. She is into those dots as I mentioned but also cutting paper and gluing. And gluing doesn't always correspond to another piece of paper.

Apparently this isn't a very good photograph of a beautiful picture Adeline drew and now I can't find the pic to retake it. This is probably my favorite one she has done. As you can see she has learned her initials and like to color every inch of the paper.

Easter Extended

2011-06-12T17:11:00.000-04:00

We love our cousins Juliana and Lily Grace!

I love when we share holidays with folks we love and some we are just getting to know. I am thankful that Abdula was willing to experience this with us and Russell as well since his lovely wife was out of town. We also had the Tilley's, Overman's, Orlando Conrad's, and M&B as well that made this day extra special (but didn't get photos of the group). I am thankful Martha doesn't seem to mind when we invite tons of people over.

How to tie a bow

2011-06-09T23:40:00.000-04:00

Adeline was so proud to tie a bow all by her self. Beaming with pride. She has been pretty independent in working on this task refusing my help for months.

Essie too is working on this task. She gives props to her friend Ian David at school (who also helped her get that shiner today) and Ms. Jenn for teaching her how to tie her bow.

I love you girls!

Easter eggstravaganza

2011-04-26T22:09:00.002-04:00

We love the fun at Trinity United Methodist Church. We met up with the Tilleys for some additional fun. We joined in the race for egg hunting a little late and missed almost all of them, but that ended up just fine as soon as we got to the dip a peep table. We dipped peeps in chocolate on a popsicle stick and then put sprinkles on top. I only had a nibble, but very delicious. We jumped in the bounce house, pet cute ckicks, dyed eggs, saw the Easter Bunny, and ate hot dogs and climbed on this awesome tree.

Friends for life:

Sweet Daddy’s girl (with a silly face):

My adventurer:

So beautiful:

and Ditto:

Funny thing is Bryan was getting the hotdogs, I had my hands full with 5 icee’s and I got a stranger in line to take photos of the girls with Ms. Bunny as Jill was busy with kiddo and Ms. Bunny logistics. It was too funny. He took like 20 photos and even said, “work it” to the girls. They were oblivious of course just hugging and sitting with her. He was flying all around getting some good photos for us. If you happen to be stalking us, thanks for everything. There were lots and lots of girl smiles with the bunny! I just wanted one with all 5! And just so I don’t ever forget, we call ourselves the TillCons. So here is a pic with all the TillCons! Party with the TillCon’s :)

Fun

2011-04-22T09:51:00.001-04:00

A day off....and it is already full of color.

How does the Conrad Garden grow?

2011-04-14T06:07:00.001-04:00

So we started a garden (4 weeks ago)! What fun!!! There were a few times I wondered if we would have any plants to grow.

Bugfest

2011-04-10T23:55:00.001-04:00

We had fun at the department of entamology bugfest. We touched a tarantula, touched a huge south african millipede, held roaches, threw a cricket, and raced roaches.

Earlier in the day we collected 4 catapillars in our cool new bugfest container. I think it warmed Essie up to the idea. She was least comfortable holding the roach as evidenced by her little grunts. So brave! Both girls were pushed to the front of the line for cricket spitting. Adeline quickly got put of that line. Essie stayed and threw it. Smart girl I say to know better than to put it into her mouth!

Happy Spring

2011-04-04T10:34:00.001-04:00

Essie and Adeline's recent artwork!

Joy in the Journey – Essie

2011-03-30T22:21:00.000-04:00

So our sweet Essie has been having a little independent streak. So last Sunday after leaving Boston Market our favorite lunch location, she decided not to get right into her seat. So we said we would have to wait there until she did. So Bryan and I closed the doors. She was screaming in protest still. But no hint of obedience evident. So we unbuckled Adeline and left Essie alone (we went to the rear of the car as she was in the floor board.). No change in the direction of obedience, but she did climb into Adeline’s seat and began reading books. So then Adeline and I try to make an obvious movement over to look at flowers. She didn’t seem to mind. Bryan took the books away. There were some tears shed and then Bryan calls Adeline and I back over. She was in her seat. Bryan asked her why did she get into her seat. She replies,

“God told me to!”

Hallelujah, because we certainly teaching her anything. Now to pray harder than ever she continues to obey Him all the time :)

We love you Essie, no matter what!

Joy in the Journey – say WHAT!

2011-03-30T21:48:00.000-04:00

Bryan!! So many of you may not have seen just yet, but bryan removed his excess facial hair. We were talking about its recent disappearance and he said “It (his face) is as soft as a baby’s bottom…without poop”. Say what? why mention poop? I just don’t get it! I actually had just took a sip of water and sprayed bryan with it. It was funny! Had to share :)

Awesome weekend!

2011-03-03T23:28:00.001-05:00

Friday our epic adventure began at Hollywood Studio catching up with Bell and Ariel of course.
Though notable is that Adeline went on Tower of terror ...falling from 30 stories and wanted to go again.
Then to Ft Myers to stay with my folks in their new location. We hit the pool, girls picked oranges, hung a fan, and had more Christmas with Andy and Sandy. That was all in one day!

Needless to say …
they were very tired girls. We had a super blast and look forward to going back soon. The pool had its own splash park ...crazy fun!
We want to check out the imaginarium down there.

Fun at the pool. Essie now does circles all on her own with the water wings on. She jumps in from the side of the pool and goes under with no issues (with goggles on of course):

Lovin on GrandPa!

Andy being super cool. I hate I missed a pic of Sandy :( We had an awesome Christmas though! Thanks guys!

We love their new home and hanging out at the bar in the tall bar stools. Essie can get up “all by myself”.

Potpourri with the Shunks

2011-01-31T21:53:00.000-05:00

The trip all started with us arriving in N. Charleston, beloved South Carolina, just before Midnight. The next fun adventure was waking up for a 6am garage sale. It was amazing what all sold and what didn’t. In the pulling of stuff out we found lots of memories and even my Strawberry Shortcake baby dolls, cheer leading sweater from when I was 4 yrs old that Adeline now loves and so much more. It was a very successful day of selling, dropping items off that were sold and Bryan’s favorite thing – going to the dump. I forgot to mention it was 22 degrees outside when this all started and only got up to 40 for a high that day – brrr.

Then next on the list was a Bridal Shower honoring Sandy and Andy by my Mom’s good friend Sandra. Yes there was a Sandi, Sandy, Sandra, and even a Sandee. We had lots of fun. Here we are arriving:

My future sister-in-law is georgous, sweet, and super smart (a nurse of course… and she is marrying my brother – love ya Andy):

Here are the girls (wish we had on with Mom in it, but my battery died – ugh):

Then after the shower and then dinner we had a Christmas celebration.

The next day was filled with fun, from making cookies with Sassy to plain ole fun:

Here is even the obligatory family photo! Bryan mentions as we are leaving to be sure and take it all in as this is the last time I will ever be back to this as my home. My folks are moving 9hrs to be 1.5hrs closer to us (just 4 hours in the opposite direction)! We are looking forward to all of our immediate family being in FL.

Since this (on the 27th) my Dad has had surgery to remove his bladder cancer and is doing great! Thank you God! Now for him to go back for frequent check ups.

Christmas with the Conrads & Overmans

2011-01-29T20:56:00.000-05:00

Do you see Baby Henry? Thats right, he is still in Annie’s belly! Something the girls love to talk about. Adeline even drew a few pictures of Annie with Henry in her belly.

Girls ready to go and such good Mommies!

I thank God for you Bryan!

A cute couple…. about to enter the club of parenthood. So many miracles and blessings! We thank God for you lil Henry.

Esther is 2.5 yrs old!

2011-01-26T23:09:00.001-05:00

Oh, Esther how I love you :)

We do the I love you with our fingers. You can get 2 of them, but that third one is a little hard. You randomly tell me I love you about once a day. Your smile lights up a room. You are a sweet, sassy, and independent girl. If it is something you don’t want to do you demand “you do it”. So we typically hear “Essie do it” or “you do it”. You lately have started counting in Spanish (mainly saying tres and cinco). cute, cute! You love your baby doll and pushing her in a stroller. We go on bike rides pretty regularly, which means I push you in the tricycle while you pedal your feet round and round. We love playing on the hill chasing balls. We have sweet friends we play with regularly. Kate loves to hold your hand and give hugs. You really love it, but pull away acting independent. You stay up way too late… like 9 or 9:30 always. Frequently calling “Mommy, pencil”. Meaning for me to tuck you in like a pencil (something your Daddy taught you). Though I think you staying up late is just a product of how good of a napper you are. You sleep with your “lanky” and made me “fix it” when you found a hole in it (sewing it up). Though you can sleep without it just fine you like making me look for it. EVERY night we sing “all the childrens” by your request. Your next song would probably be Victory in Jesus. You know Proverbs 3:5 from just listening to Adeline and I practice…. so smart! You know your shapes, most colors, and you find “E for Essie” everywhere. When traveling you see it in signs, in the Pepsi in the gas station. So smart. You love Elmo. This Christmas you carried around Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus just about everywhere. I found them in purses, in your bed, in the car… it was amazing. You can jump so high and love for your Daddy to “catch me”. You color with itty bitty marks, so precise. You have to do everything Adeline does :) You are very much looking forward to your next birthday, since the day after yours in reality. So now you say, Essie’s birthday after Grandpas!

Esther I thank God for you and how much He blessed us for bringing you into our lives. He has great plans for you. I love praying over you, though you don’t hold very still or seem too interested. As Adeline asks me to get the prayer cards out as she calls them. I count it a blessing to by your Mommy!

These are a few of my favorite things…

2011-01-08T22:43:00.001-05:00

Oh how we all love Christmas. The JOY of celebrating the birth of our Savior who came to this earth as a precious baby to deliver us from sin by death on a cross and defeating death to reign forever.

What fun to have 2 girls so very excited about the same thing. Every day Essie carried around Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. Sometimes she did so very much we couldn’t find them by the end of they day. We have multiple sets and some days we seemed to have lost all of them. If that is the price to pay I will buy more. However the beloved have all been found (over and over and over again)! Right now resting in time out for not being picked up when asked actually. Hmmm… never thought before now about putting Jesus in time out. anyhow!

We got our tree up Thanksgiving weekend. Adeline loves to decorate. She was a busy little bee putting all kinds of decorations up. Bryan even hung lights outside on a tree we have in the yard that held a large wreath that he also covered in lights. The girls loved it. The first night we came home I had to run up and plug the lights in, leave the house and arrive again so they could see what it looked like driving up to our home.

Went to Disney Fort Wilderness and were exposed to so many displays of Christmas lights and wonders. The girls went with Martha and Annie to see lights at a state park near Lake City. It was a wonderful adventure of popcorn, lights, seeing Santa (who promised Adeline a baby doll – say what!), watching egg art, roasting marshmallows, and have a violinist tell us Essie’s amazement with music would make her perfectly suited to start lessons very soon.

We have gone on a few neighborhood light adventures. Adeline fell asleep on our first outing, so we had to do it again that week.

Here is some of Adeline’s art work (Jingle Bell Bracelet, Jesus wrapped in a blanket, and Mary’s belly from where Jesus came from):

Catch me if you can

2011-01-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

So I have had the longest radio silence in the history of Suzanne Blogging.

So we had a great Fall Festival/Halloween fun time. Esther was Minnie Mouse (when we got the costumes as we had just returned from a trip to Disney) and Adeline was Snow White with gloves, apple purse and all.

My folks visited just in time for some trick or treating and making cookies:

Here is some artwork of Adeline’s (pumpkins with clouds in the sky, though it is upside down – can’t seem to figure that out – and even worse is that the orange and blue coloring is flipped - sorry!)

We went on a road trip to Nashville, TN early November to see some great friends and watch a little Gator football:

Veteran’s Day is always a lot of fun. Parachuteres land in our nearby park. Adeline was so excited about it she wanted to wear her “America colors”. It looks a bit like Christmas, but this day we were all in the brightest, warmest red clothes we had:

Adeline had a little Thanksgiving program at Sonshine. Here she is with some friends:

We had Thanksgiving at the River with Bill, Martha, Annie, Chad and our dear friends The Tilley’s. It was a warm one :)

As a family of four we went to Disney and managed to not take a picture with our camera. We have some photos posted on FB of our travels between Epcot and Magic Kingdom from our phones. We had a blast. We got to take our newly purchased Popup camper. It was freezing… in the 20’s I am sure. Our first night we went on a boat cruise to go to Magic Kingdom to see the parade and fireworks. It was an open boat… and we got to see the fireworks from the boat, which made the trip wonderful. We got to take our Calhoun, which was a different spin on our vacation. We can’t wait to go on more camping trips. Maybe a bit warmer weather will be in order.

Essie just before she rode her first rollercoaster ever, Barnyard Stormer (this was Adeline’s at about the same age). She even just today said how she wanted to go back and ride some more:

Our Christmas Photos playing on the hill out back with our new balls:

Proof Christmas Day I was around (just stuck in the woods for a while):

Trip to Charleston

2010-10-25T20:36:00.000-04:00

A little overdue post, but it was so much fun that a little lateness will just have to be overlooked. We went up to see my folks (to Adeline and Essie – Sassy and Grandpa). Actually Essie calls Gradpa, Epapa… it is sooo cute. We had fun going downtown. Though my Dad had to skip out as he is still recovering from that knee replacement. We ate at Wild Wings, checked out the public bathrooms (nice I must say), and went on a carriage tour. I probably shouldn’t mention the bathroom visit, but really I could probably do a south eastern review of public bathrooms, rest-stops, visitor centers and the like. Back to Charleston: We had so much fun waiting for the tour and after the tour seeing their animals. The guy we bought the tickets from was named Calhoun. I kind of closed my eyes and prepared for the worst, but nope neither Adeline nor Essie let out that our dog was named Calhoun. One reason they didn’t was he had a deep southern accent and it definitely sounded a bit different than when we yell out the door for the dog to come back in. Yep we did the tourist thing and it was wonderful. We even got to go over to a friend of my moms and go swimming. We did that all in one day actually. The day prior we were battling those pesky lice. It is over a month – so thank goodness those bugs are behind us. I will say one funny thought I had was when we went to Walmart to buy our delousing treatment. I was looking at organic options and pesticides. It was just so gross to see 6 or so bugs in my child’s hair I only pondered this a minute before I chose the full out out pesticides. I wanted them GONE and fast.

Us downtown (still feels like home):

We loved the animals/horses at the Carriage barn:

UPDATED: How tall will my kid be?

2010-10-22T23:07:00.002-04:00

We made a little calculator so that you can get an estimate on your child's height when he/she is fully grown. Research shows that this simple estimate is accurate to about 2-4 inches (lower for kids closer to medium height). Check it out and let me know what you think!

UPDATED: I am using a new form for entering info, hopefully it will work a little better!

Height Estimator

Imagine 1-2-3 with Elmo and Friends

2010-10-18T06:08:00.000-04:00

We went to see Elmo!!!!

can you say mesmerized:

Dancing with Elmo and some friends:

Painted nails

2010-10-16T23:45:00.000-04:00

Adeline and Esther both painted their own nails today:

Tied up?!

2010-10-16T14:48:00.000-04:00

Adeline’s first time tying her shoe all by herself. She isn’t able to duplicate this every time or maybe even often, but she can do it. She was so proud and so are we!

Art work

2010-10-16T10:56:00.001-04:00

This is Adeline’s more recent art work. In this she drew some people. Do you notice their “side braids with bows in them”?:

Here is one of the first papers Adeline brought home (before the above pic) with her name on it. Only a few weeks ago. Now she writes her name on just about all her work:

Here is Esther’s recent artwork. Though just the past couple days while at restaurants she seems to be into writing with her left hand and very small lines/zig-zags. I will try to capture one of those drawings soon.

Road Trip

2010-09-15T22:40:00.000-04:00

So guess who went on a most AWEsome adventure. Me and my girls. We went over 1000miles in a little over 48 hours. The trip begins we are suppose to stay with our dear friend Katie, but she had a GI bug so we stayed at a hotel. So sad for Katie. There also was the possibility little Sarah might be joining us that day, but she held on until her due date. A little added drama because I got of work really late (grr to myself because I have issues in passing work off. Is that a pride issue? double grr). We had plans to skip Macon and head for Atlanta and stay with some other friends, but they were leaving at like 5am for a flight and I didn’t know if I could stay awake until midnight driving to get there. (4hrs of sleep the night before because packing wasn’t as ready as I thought…triple grr now). So my concierge (dear hubby) got us a hotel in Macon. Esther in the gas station parking lot (next to the hotel) gets choked on water from a water bottle. Why did I give the 2yr old a water bottle?) She vomits and I can’t get the door open fast enough because after driving 5 feet the doors locked and I had to run to the other side (quad grr). She was and is fine. Almost there without any incidents. The next day I went to Walmart and got Febreeze to get the vomit smell out of her car seat. UGH! (cinco grr… though maybe not, because I really enjoy the febreeze smell now).

End of grrs!

After the trip to Walmart to get he Febreeze and yes a cheap bathing suit we played at the hotel pool. (okay one more grrr… I left my phone charger at the hotel) Then we headed to Rossie and Daddy T’s. Along the way I called my concierge again and he hooked us up with some Chick-fil-A that didn’t even have a sign on the interstate. Love google!!!Thanks dear (and I love you more than google)!!!! It saved the day!!! The plan all along was to catch up with Rossie and T, my brother with his fiancé, and Uncle Eston, Sue and their 2 grown up cuties Jesse and Abby(Ross’ from New Hampshire). We had a cute and awesome little hotel there in Easley. Eston, Sue, Abby, and Jesse picked me up/car pooled over to Rossie and T’s. On the way we hit a Radio Shack for a cell phone charger. Sue stayed in the car with the girls (thank you!!!). Guess what… on sale. Praise God for some relief to the grrs. Back up, so it was so awesome to see FAMILY we hadn’t seen in years. Did I mention Sue and Eston haven’t changed a bit. Abby went in my mind from 18months when I stayed up there for a week (my first trip by myself) to now a Senior. Amazing and so so so sweet. Jesse went from 2 (the next time I stayed there when Bryan and I were dating), he is the younger sibling…. I would have it in my mind all jumbled, it IS the Suzanne way) to High School Quarterback. Ugh, I am getting or just AM Old. Ha ha! Adeline automatically does this turtle sort of maneuver. She shrinks into me. I guess I am the shell. She smiles HUGE, but can’t open her eyes or talk. Esther on the other hand is all smiles and eating up the attention.

Next we head to Rossie and Daddy' T’s. Out comes Andy and Sandy! So good to see them. So sad that we didn’t get more time to chit chat, but it was a quick trip. Is it okay to say it is sad to see your grandparents? It was and it wasn’t. Daddy T loves his grandkids. He had videos all dialed up to show that had us grandkids as youngsters in them when we had visited decades ago. All visits Rossie and T would have something fun for us to do, somewhere to go, and always an adventure. Sometime in the back yard, sometimes in the work-shed, sometimes in the kitchen. Always an adventure. For me the adventure this time was keeping little hands off of breakables, not too rowdy, and cute. Okay the cute part was easy. I know they loved the visit, but it was just different. They are really getting old. The twinkle in the eye is still there though. I got to love on them and that was neat. I took a lot of pictures, but none show what I saw. All the memories are hard to capture sometimes in a picture. All the expectations of what my kids would get to do with them. What was I expecting… some miracle of aging. It was really good though. From all Daddy T has been through the past couple months we are blessed to have him. His mind was very sharp compared to what it is some days. He knew us by name. Daddy T even wanted to hold Essie. I didn’t want her to break him and she was not in a sit still mode after traveling for significant times for 2 days. That was sad. He seemed okay with it and realized it wasn’t going to work. Rossie was busy making sure all were comfortable. She rested between. I am sure we wore them both out. We stayed with them for a couple hours. Then were off to dinner with the Ross fam from New Hampshire, Andy and Sandy. Jesse and Adeline hit it off. He made a play dough Mickey Mouse and the deal was sealed.

The next day we had breakfast with the Ross’s and then headed over with Eston to see Rossie and T for a couple hours. Great great visit. Adeline and Esther were much more mellow. Adeline and Esther were thrilled to leave with dish cloths made by Rossie. It was so cute. Then we headed over the the Ross’s hotel. When we were surprised to have so many extended family join us for some family time. Jan and Harolw came from Ashville, Fran came from Georgia, Cynthia with Heidi, Lindsay, and Emily from Gastonia. It was a dream come true. Though Adeline did the turtle shell thing for almost 15 min. I finally got her to go swimming with Jesse in the pool and the world was right. Esther loved swimming with Lindsay. So sweet. We had lunch and then headed off around 2pm to head home to Gainesville.

But wait… we took a delightful detour in Georgia to see some fab friends, The Judah Family! So exciting. They treated us to a dinner, tour of their home, smiles, water and rejuvenation to hit the road again. Luke has grown so much in 2 months. Such a big boy and will make such a great big brother. Katie is such a hospitable 9month pregnant friend. She and Joel really wanted us to stay, but it just felt like we had to get home. We arrived home sometime after midnight. What a journey. So much fun. We go to see so MANY people.

Adeline still says she wants to spend the night again in Georgia since we didn’t on the way home. She loved visiting Georgia and family she calls it. I guess I didn’t emphasize South Carolina enough. Though when we drove into South Carolina I was pointing out Lake Hartwell and she asked if South Carolina was an island. Pretty smart girl I think.

Talking with Daddy T:

Being silly with Abby:

Asking Rossie about her refrigerator magnets (one by one):

Adeline and Jesse:

Esther and Lindsay:

All the cousins (though some 1st and some 2nd if you were curious):

Adeline’s new best buddy (thank you Jesse!):

Birthday Celebration

2010-09-13T22:52:00.000-04:00

So on August 20th we headed down to Disney! Annie, Esther, you and me! We had a lot of fun.

Then on the 21st (your birthday) we went to Pizza Vito for special pizza dinner:

and then to the local Game room/miniture golf, climbing area, with a dancing game. We had a family blast. You and Essie loved climbing in the huge play area.

We only made it through 9 holes of mini golf before we needed a bathroom break and we never made it back out there.

We also collected tickets from the game room and spent it on, you guess it… candy in the trading shop. We had a blast Adeline.

Meme and Papa took us out for Japanese Steak House dinner. You dressed appropriately. Here you are with the shoe dessert we had after dinner in your dress.

So then what else you might ask did we do….well we had a part at the beach just like you asked for the past 6 months:

Above is Adeline as we arrived at the beach… she was READY!

So we had a most excellent destination party for Adeline at Anastasia State Park on the beach (with an excellent picnic area – we had the gazebo spot).

Thanks to all who drove across the state to attend. She had so much fun. The day was a very cloudy (no direct sunlight all day) day. It seemed it would rain at a moments notice and only sprinkled for about 30 or so minutes… not bad. The kiddos has fun in the water, fun in the sand. Adeline, Esther and I buried some treasure in the sand earlier in the day and had all the friend do an adventure race ending at the treasure finding area.

Above they are lined up for the adventure of jumping over the rope, filling cups with ocean water and racing back to the treasure area. Below I think Gracie found some treasure:

Bryan cooked hamburgers. We had a great dinner. Adeline wanted a glass slipper for a cake. I had learned earlier in the week when I tried to do a double layer cake and cut it out in the shape that it was not stable. So we went with a single layer cake and decorated it to look like a shoe. She loved it. She and Esther added sprinkles before we left. I froze all of it the night before the beach hoping it would help the homemade icing last. Jill gave me the website of some delicious butter cream icing and the secret that you substitute some almond extract in for the vanilla (not all of course). It has been on all her girls cakes and is rather delish! Once we had the cake at the party Adeline then decorated the cake with “beach umbrellas”. The umbrellas were a hit as all wanted one. (Didn’t see that coming, so of course there were not enough – sorry kiddos!) While we were there a wedding occurred on the beach. Adeline was very enamored. Unfortunately it happened right when it was raining. Sorry for them.

Being a Conrad I have always learned to expect an adventure. This fine day the matches were a little wet, so we lit them with the half cold coals. It only took a few folks, but it got done:

Another super fun party day fact: Squirrels decided to eat through our “green/recycle” bags in hunt for the roasted peanuts (fully closed in their packaging).

Some random cute photos:

(Sweet Jonathan who was in her 3yr old class and probably the only student she talks about regularly from that class… good buddies at school and church)

(Sweet Gracie and Claire – with Jonathan too. We live real close to Gracie and Claire and catch up almost once a week for play dates, great buddies.)

Julia looking for treasure with Esther (Julia loves Addy and both the girls love to find Julia on Sunday’s at church, it is like a Where’s Waldo game until they do):

Some other cuties having fun on the beach (Sammy loves Addy, watches videos and always looking for a hug so sweet! Kate is a dear friend of Essie’s and Adeline):

The gang (Julia was just arriving – sorry we missed you, though you can see her way back there!):

I am having video difficulties, otherwise I would have some birthday singing… maybe another day!

Adeline is 4!

2010-09-09T10:16:00.001-04:00

And she sure is super sweet and cute on top of that! So here is my sweet Adeline in pictures the last year:

Adeline we have had so much fun. This past year you did Children’s choir, Worship Dance at Grace United Methodist, Cubbies, and had lots of fun with family and friends. You went on your first cruise this year and were a cruising pro. All the staff on the ship knew you by name and you could tell they enjoyed having you. Some even brought you chocolate milk without us even asking!!! What a treat. You had so much fun on dress up night. You were radiant!!! You have a huge vocabulary. You love pink and would quickly follow that up with purple. Though the other day you told me blue was your new favorite color though I don’t think it lasted longer than 24hours. You are super duper helpful. You love doing just about anything to help your Dad and I around the house. Just today you helped drill in some screws for a new swing in the back yard. You are a dear sister. One night Essie was calling out and you reached over gave her a huge and she settled right down. You are an impressive share’er. We call you share bear all the time. You wanted a birthday party at Disney this year and at the beach. So we have invited folks out to the beach with us and then Annie, and us 3 girls headed to Hollywood Studios so you could see Ariel sing. It was a blast. Annie gets all kinds of trooper points for going in August heat. We have been to the beach several times. This year you took to swimming like a fish. You jumped off the high dive at Blue Springs. You love your baby doll, bitty baby that has a new name every couple of months (katie, and then you make up names because you want them to be different you tell us). You love love love to read books. We read several every night. We typically sing out of the hymnal as well. Your favorite song here lately is Blessed Sunshine. This year you have loved Victory in Jesus and Nothing but the Blood. We love pizza and park nights, movie night and going to run up the hill on the path near our home. You never want to go home after being at Sonshine all day. You ask every time I pick you up where are we going and aren’t too happy when I say home. The Tilley family are our favorite folks to hang out with. We typically catch up weekly or almost. You love to sing your prayers over dinner. (Oh the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord, for giving me, the things I need, like the sun and the rain and the apple seed). You can ride you two wheeler with training wheels if you want to, but here lately you prefer the big wheel. You still say finking for thinking and I LOVE IT and somephing.

At your check up you were 44inches and 43lbs! greater than the 97th percentile for height. The internet estimates you at 5’11”. We shall see big girl!

Everyone in your life loves you so very much. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for you. You have already blessed our socks off!

Catch us if you can!

2010-08-09T21:50:00.000-04:00

So we have lots to catch you up on:

Essie is likely going to be over 6 ft tall according to all the internet calculators (you know 95% accuracy within 2 inches). She measured at her well check at 38 inches (off the charts for a 2 year old). And now a pic of my cutie with Adeline and cousin Faye at Blue Springs:

Adeline jumped off the high dive at Blue Springs. She saw me jump off and made a bee line for the platform. I intercepted her and she not only jumped off once, but twice. So brave! LOVE it! (I deserve kudos too for not freaking out that my 3yr old wanted to jump for it). Now granted we had Papa in the water there to rescue her after her jump (and we had Cousin Tess and Faye there to cheer her on, surprised it didn’t require goggles!).

So the recent thing to knock my socks off is that tonight Adeline said I was her best friend. No prompting either. Never even have heard her say much about what that means. I just drank it in as a blessing that she enjoyed the fun we had today. Which I might add was a tea party that involved all the dolls in the house and we ate ice-cream. Think I know my way to her heart. Did I mention sprinkles and even more Willy Wonka candy (that is the name of the candy now that we have seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Bryan is now officially University of Florida, College of Medicine, Research Assistant Professor. I am super duper way proud of him. So now instead of Dr. Bryan he can be called Professor Conrad, ha ha! Love you dear!

As for me…. for the record, the beat goes on in Heart Transplant world. It is a great job with a boss/coworkers that is very flexible with letting me have family time. It only feels like a job after being away from my cuties for too long. I bring several of my patients to this blog to show off my sweet family. Just about every time I am in clinic someone gets to look at these cute girls! It is way easier than carrying around outdated photos!

Birthday fun!

2010-07-27T23:24:00.001-04:00

It all started with a party at Sonshine Day. Adeline helped me after nap time to bring a craft and ice-cream to the class. We hung out for a bit on the playground as well. We love Ms. Beck, Ms. Shelia, Ms. Jenny, and Ms. Staci:

Then Our little family of four had some fun on the 22nd with a pizza dinner per Esther (and likely really Adeline’s) request. Then off to publix to pick out a dessert and eat it at our neighborhood water fountain.

Here are pictures from her Elmo party. They made Elmo hats and decorated the letter E (for Esther) with fun stuff. We even played find the shape! We had Meme, Papa, Aunt Annie, Uncle Chad, and The Tilley family (Rob, Jill, Gracie, Claire, and Kate). Thanks for coming everyone!

Here are my cupcake decorators earlier in the day (suppose to look like Elmo):

Some of the decorations (I cut these out weeks ago). This party was brought to you by the letter E and number 2:

Time to blow out those candles:

And time to enjoy the cupcake:

Some party attenders:

Any idea how Adeline ended up in her Aurora dress and Esther in Tinkerbelle… I can tell you the party didn’t start out like that. Oh, my sweet dress up girls!

Essie’s sweetest friend Kate (in her Elmo shirt of course!):

Here is front side of the invites we gave out. Put together by Adeline and Esther:

Essie is TWO!

2010-07-22T01:18:00.000-04:00

Oh what a blessing!

Esther you are a blessing from God to us. For you created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. Ps 139:19; He cares for you 1 Peter 5:7; God has plans for you. Jeremiah 29:11! Oh Esther God has so much in store for you and I can hardly wait to see and enjoy it as it unfolds.

You love to be our “prayer warrior”. You pray over dinner with our sing songs and when left to do your own thing you bow your head and pray very quickly “thank you God, Thank you God, AMEN!” and then at night before bed you pray the same every night. If prompted you thank God for each person in your family, most of the time each multiple times – so cute. You have a smile and eyes that speak to the heart of us all. You draw us in with these. You give the sweetest kisses. You have a lot to say. You love your sister and have trouble falling asleep if she isn’t in the room. Then again, you aren’t the best sleeper. Here lately you have been trying to sleep in the same twin bed with her. You love to paint and color. You sing your ABCs. You know most of the words to Amazing Grace, Jesus Loves Me, Victory in Jesus, and Nothing But the Blood of Jesus. You say “me do it” pretty often. You LOVE shoes. You are a little upset when others are without their shoes or shirts… even at the pool. You go to bed often with shoes on. You climb into bed with us from the footboard (sometimes at 3am and sometimes at 6am). You rarely go back to sleep if up near 6am. You love the tricycle that Adeline has outgrown. You can pedal a little, but are not strong enough to go more than a foot or two. Already you are a great mommy, caring for your baby. You push her around in the stroller and change her diaper daily. She sleeps with you too! You love to spin to show off your dresses (just like Adeline). You have the cutest way to say Adeline too! You can jump at least 1-2 inches off the ground and love to do so at every chance. You are brave and do all sorts of things most your age won’t (bounce houses, trampolines, etc). You are a great helper. Already you have taken to trying to help me in the kitchen and set the table. You feed Calhoun too, though you have been doing this, but now it is in the right bowl. You love to dance, dance, dance when you hear music. You did great a VBS and jumped right in with the big kids.

Here are a few (less than 200 pictures from this past year in two videos!):

Essie being cute. We have done a couple of movie nights. Here she is eating popcorn like her Sassy loves and feeding her baby some too.

Here I just LOVE how she says hippo!

Oh the memories of the day you were born. So special to me the day our family became a family of four. Thank you for joining us on these Conrad adventures!

Naples fun with the Shunks

2010-07-14T22:25:00.001-04:00

Bryan had a conference… so we headed south.

We stayed with my brother and his fiance, Sandy. They put a ton of effort into making our stay comfortable. My folks flew down and made it a reunion of sorts. Adeline showed off her swimming skills she had just learned days before at Salt Springs. Here is a video from our first time in the pool:

Here is a video after Bryan has worked with her on some tricks:

Sweet Andy, Sandy pants, and Addy pants:

We went on a boat ride to the beach and saw pods of dolphins, what fun:

Sandy and Essie (with Calhoun edging in):

Adeline loved it. The day we left we saw an awesome urgent care doc who diagnosed her with swimmers ear (a first for her) and likely a middle ear infection as well. She was tough. The night before we were up a bit with ear pain and tummy ache, but by morning she was bouncing around the house (a most gorgeous home):

Look at these cuties and their suits!

Dolphins:

Even a project was done (notice Jim Shunk – Dad supervising!):

Adeline’s steps toward God

2010-07-11T23:28:00.001-04:00

We had an awesome week this week. Adeline prayed “Jesus come into my heart”. Earlier that day we had lunch and play time with The Tilley’s our dear friends. I can’t recall at which point during lunch but we talked about Gracie praying with her daddy on the couch asking for Jesus/the Holy Spirit into her life and how she had prayed that on her own earlier. We did a mini celebration about this momentous decision and then continued on with our lunch. Jill and I talked more about it after the girls were done and off playing in another room. I thought to myself I didn’t think Adeline was near any type of decision like that, but have always prayed even before she was born she would come to know Jesus in a personal and real way at a young age.

So that night after church we were in the kitchen talking and I don’t know how the subject came up originally but she said she had prayed at lunch for Jesus to come into her heart. I told her I was there and that isn’t what happened, but that she did need to talk to God about Him coming into her life. I asked her why she wanted to do this, “I love Him” is what she said then she went on to say “He died on the cross for my sins”. I questioned some more that I don’t recall the specifics, but was sure I was uneasy through this all. Could my 3yr old be ready for such an important step? We talked being dead (and she mentioned that Jesus just died not that long ago – I think she might think He just died this Christmas as our church does the whole Easter and Christmas at their Christmas program. She went on to say He lives forever in heaven). After that we talked about how some are separated from God while others spend every day with Him. She then said she wanted to pray because she wants Jesus everyday. I said she had to wait until Daddy was home. Thank goodness he walked in just about then. We talked about what she wanted to do. He full court pressed her on all the above points and she gave excellent answers. Things we have never strung together for her: Jesus dying on the cross, dying for her sins, praying for Jesus to come into her heart. At one point she said “you need faith”. We didn’t question that statement. So she and Bryan prayed on the couch. She said “Jesus come into my heart”. I started taking video at some point, but it was after about an hour of talking about all this and she was getting giddy and evasive. We gave her lots of prompts for my videoing compared to the prior interrogations. I will likely post that at some point. I think I videoed the prayer. She then immediately asked to call her friend Gracie and Ms. Jill to tell them what she had done. We called Meme and Papa and then Sassy and Grandpa. Adeline told Ms. Jill, Gracie, Papa, and Grandpa that night what she had done with not an ounce of timidity. She was bold and it was exciting. I can’t wait to see what all God has in store for her.

I also strongly believe we have to give Sonshine Day Preschool some credit as she has come home from school talking about righteousness, the Holy Spirit, and other topics (like Jesus dying on the cross) before I know I had mentioned them. I have an idea it is related to the weekly or biweekly Chapel time they spend with Ms. Heather. I can’t wait to see her on Monday. She has been out on vacation this past week.

What vs Why

2010-07-05T23:17:00.000-04:00

So just when you think God has given you a baby food type of nugget to enjoy… on parenting this time…something comes up that makes me rethink and refine it maybe. Pastor Phil at our church preached a few weeks ago on don’t ask kids why they did something. We all know they (and we) have sinful hearts. He gave the example from Genesis when God asks Adam, What did you do? He didn’t ask why did you eat of the fruit. (Genesis 3:12). He talked about when we answer the what we have a repentant heart. I know that often I want to know they why of Adeline. It was great to think the purpose is to get them to repentance. Sometimes I don’t know WHY I have sinned when I know I shouldn’t have done it that way. Pastor Phil talked about parenting from the Bible and not going off on Books.

However another Pastor in our church has mentioned a good resource is Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. In the very first few pages it mentions that we, as parents need to get to the why (the heart of the child) and not just the what of the actions of the child. Okay… so at first I am thinking Why do I read or listen to anything on parenting when God keeps directing me I need to know His word all the more and lean less on men. Then it seems to start melding together. We need them to repent, but we also need to teach them or as Tedd Tripp says lead them on a path of discovery. This path being to the attitudes of their heart. That being what would help them see how God works from the inside out. To a 2 year old I don’t see it working. To my now oh so sweet, but pushing all the limits 3 year old I see some room for instruction on self control, enjoying a toy and bringing sadness to someone else (by not sharing) is also a sin. I am really only on page 11 (and it put me to sleep, though most books do at 9pm).

So for now, my girls will hear who, what, when, why and how just to make sure I cover all the bases…. ha ha!

Salt Springs Fun

2010-07-03T23:38:00.000-04:00

All the Preston Clan headed to an Elite Resort at Salt Springs. We had cabin camping. So much fun! Adeline and Faye R. were best buddies! Here is Martha’s summary:

We sure had ALOT of kids there!! I think I counted at least 19 for Saturday dinner!!! crazy....
Addy and I had a great time the last couple of days....she was an absolute doll....we asked Fay to spend Monday night with us and they were really cute together!! Fay said she was 'sleeping over with her cousin'! One time, after they had a disagreement, Addy came and said that Fay said that she wasn't going to be her cousin anymore!!! :) Sounds like she had heard some other kids say that about friends, I guess. Oh, and they also asked Uncle George if he had a 'baby in his tummy'!! Guess they got even for all that 'teasing ' about sucking their thumbs!!! [Which Adeline does not suck her thumb]

Peer pressure can be a good thing, and when that happens we call it a good impression. Adeline had all her swimming lessons from last year combine to help her follow her cousin Faye’s lead these past few days. All last summer she never put her head in the water to look at the bottom of the pool and swim. After seeing Faye do it, she was after the goal. Go Adeline go!!! So proud it clicked. She caught us so much by surprise that I didn’t get video of it while we were here.

We had golf cart riding going on as well as riding bikes. Adeline was on her 4 wheeler (2 plus training wheels) for the first time other than her birthday last year. As below Faye and Adeline were not separate often or by much!

Essie with her Papa:

A side note is that Sunday we had a great great bathing suit service with an awesome camp pastor who changed her sermon to reflect to all those with kids. It was about protecting their minds. Keeping the garbage out so we don’t let bad stuff slip into their lives (i.e: watching cartoons with violence, scary movies, etc). She prayed over each of our families and it was awesome to feel the Holy Spirit right there with us.

Saddleridge Ranch – VBS 2010

2010-07-03T22:47:00.001-04:00

was awesome!

Bryan and I taught the 3/4yr olds (Adeline’s class). It was exhausting and overwhelming. Praise God for good friend that help me cut out a ton of verse/necklaces/hanging decorations from the ceiling, make western vests, decorate the room, cut string, and a million other details. A big thanks to all the Sunday help by Katie, Deborah, Angela, Annie and Martha. Thanks to Martha for getting me all sorts of stars and other craft odds and ends I couldn’t find and didn’t take time to find due to the rush leading up to this event.

It was great. The kids LOVED it. We did Welcome time (2-3 crafts/coloring pages), snack (another couple did this), Bible story (each night I recreated some fun Bible story), Craft (2 crafts at a minimum), then recreation (aka bounce houses, balls and hula hoops), Worship time (our friend Sarah – high schooler and 2 others singing ultra fun VBS songs), followed by video time. Bryan made me a triangle to ring (or let the kiddos ring) with each transition. You made up things to do, like have Annie (who braved it with us one evening) lead the group around the room on a journey from Cannan to Egypt. She did great being impromptu to help with timing until we could go to recreation. We had a wonderful youth worker Megan who set up the room several nights and did a great job helping without even needing to be asked. We got to make new friends and play with some we already knew. Since I was teaching I got a CD with the VBS music. Adeline still is requesting it. It is a lot of fun because we learned hand motions with several of them. I need to video her singing and acting them out for a great post.

Essie participated too and was in one of our friends classes most or all of the evenings. She got bumped up to the 2yr old class with Terri and Sam Delucca. She was doing crafts and all sorts of stuff. We got to see her during the Worship hour which consisted mainly of singing the VBS songs. She was cute “jumping” and clapping to the music.

River Fun

2010-06-30T23:22:00.001-04:00

We love the Suwannee River! Even more so when you add some family and friends!

So after Bryan and I celebrated our 10yr anniversary down in Apalachicola we joined up with the Conrad’s & Overman’s for some Low Country Boil. We had the best welcome with 2 little girls squealing with joy. Adeline is now sleeping in the bottom bunk, with Essie on a mattress beside her on the floor. Then Monday some friends (Borges’, Tilley’s, and Deluca’s) joined us for some bounce house/water slide, No Dog Beach, Boat riding, Kayaking, food fun. It was a blast. The best watermelon to kick summer off with.

Essie agrees:

We always have to swing at least once:

Adeline did the Tube behind the boat for the first time. First with me and then later with Bryan. She loved it.

At the end of the day we asked Adeline what was her favorite part and basically she listed off everything we did that day. And I agree with her, it was so much fun you couldn’t pick just one thing!

Before the Morning

2010-06-24T10:17:00.004-04:00

Before the Morning is a song by Josh Wilson that seems to keep talking to my heart and seems to come to mind all the time to share with folks going through some tough times. It also is something that I feel I can rejoice in those times that God has pulled me through already! Praise God I have many morning lights and am waiting only for a few to come!!!

So here are the lyrics and click here for the song:
Do you wonder why you have to,
feel the things that hurt you,
if there's a God who loves you,
where is He now?

Maybe, there are things you can't see
and all those things are happening
to bring a better ending
some day, some how, you'll see, you'll see

Chorus:
Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing,
'cause the pain you've been feeling,
can't compare to the joy that's coming

so hold on, you got to wait for the light
press on, just fight the good fight
because the pain you've been feeling,
it's just the dark before the morning

My friend, you know how this all ends
and you know where you're going,
you just don't know how you get there
so just say a prayer.
and hold on, cause there's good who love God,
life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time,
but you'll see the bigger picture

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing,
'cause the pain you've been feeling,
can't compare to the joy that's coming

so hold on, you got to wait for the light
press on, just fight the good fight
because the pain you've been feeling,
it's just the dark before the morning
yeah, yeah,
before the morning,
yeah, yeah

Once you feel the way of glory,
all your pain will fade to memory
once you feel the way of glory,
all your pain will fade to memory
memory, memory, yeah

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing,
'cause the pain you've been feeling,
can't compare to the joy that's coming

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing,
'cause the pain you've been feeling,
can't compare to the joy that's coming

com'n, you got to wait for the light
press on, just fight the good fight
because the pain you've been feeling,
it's just the hurt before the healing
the pain you've been feeling,
just the dark before the morning
before the morning, yeah, yeah
before the morning

Christian lyrics - BEFORE THE MORNING LYRICS - JOSH WILSON

A Visit with friends!

2010-06-06T22:27:00.001-04:00

It was quick, but included just about everything on our top 10 list: Ricketts, Disney, The River, and Backyard BBQ.

Have I mentioned I love Flip Video. I just got the HD version. And on top of that there was a recent upgrade that summarizes your movie for you. I made a 30minute video and then had Flip summarize it down to 1min. Pretty cool stuff:

The girls love the carousel as do we adults as the line is SHORT! Adeline waved the entire parade and through Its a Small World too. The girls loved playing with Jamey. Us Adults scammed in some PB & J into an air-conditioned eatery (That one little pizza for the 6 of us was delicious – thanks John). Thanks to bryan for supplying the PB&J, we missed you. Some cute hugs at the end of the day… Adeline was getting attached for sure. We have talked about when we are going to see Jamey. I keep having to remind Adeline of Jackson and parents. Kudos to John and Jennifer for seeing the opening and closing of Disney Magic Kingdom (9am-10pm, no short day)

Camping

2010-05-20T14:08:00.000-04:00

We had so much fun at Little Talbot Island at the end of April. The saddest thing was that the Borges were not able to join us. Adeline was very distraught. Next time we hope to have them. So yes that is a clue. It went so well we hope to have a next time.

The park was in excellent condition. We only had to walk 15 min to get to the beach and play chicken crossing a busy road. But really it went just fine and the girls rode in the wagon. Plus it gave us something to do.

Adventure: The first night was got soaked when a toad strangler front passed through. Praise God it was not like in NW Gainesville with trees down and all, just a lot of lightening and rain, rain, rain. Essie woke up in a puddle nad I pulled her in between bryan and I where I thought was a dry area. Then later found Adeline on her air mattress soaked (the blanket had soaked up all sorts of water and ergo she was soaked). She promptly too went between bryan and I. Now literally we all three were sleeping on our sides to fit on 2 sleeping bags. Adeline went right back to sleep. In the morning all blankets and bags were dripping with water. However, Praise to God again, it was a very hot Saturday. So much so it dried out pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, tent and all. So Saturday wasn’t as memorable, we slept dry and very well that night. Though we did eat some delicious burgers and mac-n-cheese.

Our camp site:

The Beach where we flew our kite every time we were out there. Adeline was so excited. Much time was spent digging, building and breaking down sand creations:

Essie wouldn’t have much to do with the water and insisted on being held when my feet were all that was getting wet. Now to figure how to undo that fear! Where as Adeline LOVED the water and kept asking to go out deep. Deep to her thankfully was to her waist. That’s my girl – cautious (or at least for now).

We awoke to some fierce gnats. So that lead to breakfast in the tent. Which we already had prepared – biscuits and honey. Go figure, we had already had this a couple of times, but this time (in the tent) the lid of the honey popped off and went just about everywhere. Adeline enjoyed that biscuit for sure! After beach time Sunday morning we had lunch at their picnic tables, and then we headed home (girls fast asleep). Once home we promptly started on the Dora slip n slide. It was a great weekend packed with fun! And a huge side note… about 7 loads of laundry got done before we went to bed Sunday night. Thanks Bryan!!!

Bryan did all the cooking that required fire or heat… and the dishes! Thanks Babe:

God is good! What a beautiful world he has created:

A family photo (hard to come by):

A more artistic photo:

Conversation with Adeline

2010-05-17T22:47:00.000-04:00

Just to remember how cute and smart of a 3.5yr old she is. It all starts on our beach camping trip to Little Talbot Island with the beach right across the street. So we all went for a walk on the beach. Adeline and Bryan start racing back to the home base (wagon, drinks, towels, and a few snacks). Bryan is winning. Adeline calls him back by saying: Daddy I have a secret to tell you. (note: usually she whispers “I love you”).

Bryan comes back to her.

Adeline whispers “I love you. You can’t beat me to the blanket.”

Adventures of a Flower Girl

2010-05-16T23:38:00.002-04:00

Did my Mama tell you I love South Beach? I loved the pool too – both of them just in case she didn’t mention that. She let us swim before heading back to Gainesville. She was right, it had us super tired. We took a great nap. So the trip that started at 9:45 and ended us in Gainesville at 6:30 for the rehearsal dinner flew by. We even had ice cream at Wendy’s in Ocala. Yum yum. We arrived right on time at Austin Cary Memorial Forest for some dinner. Then on to the practice. Essie had a blast and you wouldn’t have guessed any of us had been traveling all day. We lined up pine cones as the isle:

We played with Brylan:

Essie is a sweet little sister and is really in to doing all I do. I am glad I did such a good job otherwise she is ready to take over flower girl duties:

Then Saturday came. We met up with Meme and Papa in Newberry for the Watermelon Parade. Essie got to have special time with them while Mom and I went off on our special day. It started with new high heel shoes. And I love them. Then we picked up my dress and headed over the the Gateway Grand for lunch and having my hair done. I love Ms. Stephanie (even before she bribed me with tons of gum):

Here is my hair with glitter and flowers (though I don’t understand why Mama won’t let me put my dress on yet, she says it won’t fit in the car seat).

I had a quick nap over to the Wedding site location for lots and lots of pictures. I love Monica:

Mom didn’t get a picture of me with all the bridesmaids, but I love em all. Mary Katherine, Jenny, and Miriam (who loves the Disney princess maybe even more than I do).

I love my dress, shoes and hair:

Here is the video of my entrance if you have almost 2 more minutes to spare:

I started off a little shy, but it wore off real quick:

Well, I thought running would get it over a little bit quicker:

After dumping all the petals out I thought I would sit for a bit:

Time for a little break after all that walking:

My Mom wanted one more photo:

Job done, it is time to party:

I was busy zipping inside and out to watch their first dance, see the alligator that visited the reception and watch up close the cutting of the cake. I don’t know why Ms. Stephanie and Mr. Jason made such a mess. They should have had bibs on:

Time to dance, so dance we did:

More South Beach

2010-05-14T23:49:00.002-04:00

We love the place we stayed – The Savoy Hotel. Tony the doorman is wonderful and keeps us laughing as we come and go. The suite is super sweet. They have chairs, umbrella, and a specially groomed kiddy area with sand toys! Anyway… on to the real reason you checked this out, cute pics (thank you bryan for my awesome camera):

Here Adeline saw our first sunrise and came running to get Bryan and I saying "look, look a beautiful sunset". She had to have her picture taken with it. Though is is a great photo of her, I missed a beautiful sunrise. That's okay by me :)

Then Essie wanted her picture taken, just like her big sister!

Adeline gets dressed every morning before she eats breakfast in our room, then she will get into her swimming suit. Thank goodness she can dress herself these days. It speeds up the process.

Bryan was with us for the afternoon on Wednesday after the morning session. The below pics are after our afternoon beach and swim. Can you believe Adeline can touch the bottom of the pool (3ft). I didn’t even think to let her try until we saw another little girl do it. So Bryan ran out at nap time and got wings and a tube for the girls.

This picture is of Bryan try to get proof I was here and it wasn’t just he and the girls in South Beach. Adeline was ready for dinner and not in the mood for much of anything until we fed her. I understand… I get grumpy when I am hungry too.