"The Hunt"

Well, tomorrow the hunt for a house officially begins. Our house in NC is under contract and supposed to close on September 14th! It is such a praise that it was only listed for about 10 days. Mike has been in Dallas for the past couple of days scoping everything out for us. We are very limited in where we can live cause the church is in the city. We will live in the closest suburb which is Richardson, TX. However, it is a unique market there that mainly consists of older brick ranch style homes from the 1960's to 1970's. I am trying to not look at to many that have the same appliances, carpet, etc.. from 40 years ago. There are many that have been remodeled which I am very thankful! I'm sure it will be a journey for us over the next couple of days and for my parents as they watch both girls. It is the first time I have been away from Anna over night. She is such a good sleeper though that she should be fine. Ellie will enjoy all the attention. I hope you are all doing well. It is so hot here in GA. I'm thinking the southeast has been way more hot than TX this summer. I think we are fully prepared with the majority of days since July being 100 degrees. I hope to post a picture of a new home soon!

Sold....???

We may have sold our house in Youngsville today! We knew it would happen there are just a few details before we sign the contract. It has been quite a journey with this house, but I can tell you I am so glad I am not going to be a resident of Youngsville, NC. However, as we were driving out there last night to meet the lady who wanted to buy it we kept saying we'd miss the country. There will not be to much country in Dallas. I'm sure every once in awhile we will have to drive north and see some cows and land! The house next to ours was for sale and a young couple bought it about two weeks ago. We put a for sale by owner sign in ours and they called us to look at it for their mother. This family will now have almost 3 acres with the combined property and they will e living right next to each other. I'm thinking this is how people do it in Youngsville! A unique fact about our land is that we found a tombstone right by the deck with a guy's name on it who lived for 86 years. One lady was scared that he was buried there? It reminded me of a story that Stephanie Armstrong told me that they once went to a visitation for a person who went to their church in Franklin County where Youngsville is located. The visitation was held at their house and the body was in a bedroom. We have learned that funerals in rural North Carolina are very strange. Anyways, we are very excited that the house is sold and we don't have to deal with it anymore!
We are flying to Dallas next week to try and find a house. We should be able to move sometime in September! It is still so crazy to me that we are living our last few days on the East Coast. We are trying to do some things we will no longer get to do when we are Texans. Tonight, we are going out with some friends to Chapel Hill. It is one of our most favorite places mostly cause of the Tar Heels. We are not taking the girls which will be nice cause I think we have been with them everyday for almost a month with no break besides church nursery. It should be a nice night, but kind of sad because we will probably never go there again unless Ellie goes there for college! I am posting a picture of Anna. She is almost sitting up and started baby food this week. She's 6 1/2 months old and I took both girls to the doctor last week. Anna weighed 13 lbs. 2 oz. and Ellie weighed 20 lbs. 4oz. We were so excited cause we were hoping Ellie would make it to 20 lbs. at her 2 yr. checkup!
Anyways, I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll keep you posted on the house.

Charlotte's Web......

Today, we had a very fun morning. I've been taking Ellie to the free kids movie almost every week. Last night I looked online and saw that Charlotte's Web was playing at a theater nearby our house! I have been wanting to see this movie and I think secretly Mike wanted to see it as well. It was the first time he's been able to go with us so it was really fun. It was such a sweet movie and we love Dakota Fanning. I hope she doesn't end up like Lindsey Lohan. She's to sweet and cute to grow up. Charlotte's voice was played by Julia Roberts and there were many other stars who had voices in the movie. It was so much like the book which I loved as a kid. Ellie did so well and Anna just looked around and enjoyed her bottle. Anyways, just wanted to share with you all and encourage you to see this movie! Mike was so shocked at how well the kids did at the movie and he said "Do you think we could take them to see Bourne Ultimatum"? I don't know if our girls need to see that much action or violence for two hours, but it would avoid getting a sitter!I hope you all have a great rest of the day and stay cool!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

We had Ellie's 2nd Birthday party on Wednesday night. I think we are still recovering from all the fun! We ended up having to have it at our house cause it was supposed to be 104 degrees on Wednesday. We went with the Dora theme which was mainly just lots of pink things! Our small group from church came along with Kim and John Hurley. They are some of our friends from seminary who live in our neighborhood. There were 6 kids there and two were babies. I think this is the perfect amount cause more than 5 kids under two could easily lead to disaster. The crazy thing was they all behaved great and there were no melt-downs. They all love parties we have decided. We had pizza which every kid loved along with the parents! I made cupcakes with pink sprinkles and ice cream for dessert. Ellie along with all of her friends seemed to enjoy the cupcakes very much. They also had candy in their goody bag. I think Ellie's best bud Cana was up until 11:00 at our house playing with Ellie. The sugar high was pretty crazy how it affects children. The next morning her mom said she woke up saying "party, party". The Via's came back over last night for a game of mexican train dominoes and Cana walked in ready to party. Ellie stayed up until 10:00 last night then we put her to bed. Cana watched Mickey Mouse Club in our living room until almost midnight. The summer is so crazy and we love "laid back" friends like us! Kelly said she thinks Cana is going to always want to come to our house cause she has so much fun.
I am guessing many of you got our email that we are moving to TEXAS! I never thought I would say those words, but we are really excited. We are not so sure about the "Big D", but we know working at Watermark will be an awesome opportunity. We have so much to do in the next month or so that just thinking about it gives me a headache. However, we know it will all get done and most likely by October we will be Texans. Please, pray for us as we have a house to sell here in Raleigh and then have to decide what house to buy in TX. We will be living in Richardson, TX which is the closest suburb to the city. We will truly miss the east coast. I am confident there is no greater place to live in the USA, but we know that Mike has been called to be at Watermark. I hope you all have a great Saturday. Enjoy the birthday pics!

Ellie's Almost Two!!!

One Year Ago.....

I found these pictures today of Ellie from last summer. She has grown so much not just in size, but in so many ways. She turns two this Sunday! Wow where has the time gone?
She was not walking this time last year and now she is running everywhere! She now can communicate and tell us what she wants. She has a 6 month old little sister now whom she adores. It is amazing how in one year so much changes especially in the life of our children. Anyways, enough of the "teary-eyed" talk... We've had a good week so far. We took the girls to a Carolina Mudcats baseball game last night. We are still not sure what a mudcat is but it is close to our house and cheap. Ellie has been obsessed with games lately. She's always talking about a ball or a game since I took her to a movie about baseball. She seemed to enjoy the game although I think we left after the 7th inning cause it was already 9:00. Both girls ended up sleeping till almost 9:00 this morning cause we were out so late. Maybe we need to do this more often?
Mike preached on Sunday and did such a good job. I think he enjoyed getting this opportunity as it has been awhile. He also showed his camp video which I hope to be able to post on here soon. You can watch or listen to his sermon our website www.takeajourney.org . Our pastor has been away on vacation so he asked Mike to fill in this past Sunday. We told our pastor about Kanakuk and he sent his son there for two weeks to K2. We are anxious to hear about their trip to the Ozarks. So for those of my friends who actually read this blog I thought I would start a "tag" to hear what you all have been up to this summer. I've read about "tags" on other's blogs and it is basically like a forward with a topic that you have to reply to on your blog.
So my topic is what has been your top 5 events of the summer?
Here are ours in no particular order or excitement!
1.) Our trip to the OBX with Mike's family. It was so fun and to actually get to stay at a beach house for a week was awesome!
2.) We've gotten to go out on a boat twice this summer and I've loved it. I grew up going to the lake and getting to water ski etc....It has been so fun!
3.) I've loved not being pregnant for the first time during the summer since 2005. It has been nice to not be wearing maternity clothes and actually being able to be active this summer.
4.) I've been at my parent's house almost 3 weeks this summer which was really fun having the girls with their grandparents. They bring Ellie much joy!
5.)I am finally on a routine with the girls and am having consistent daily times with God that have brought much renewal. I am currently doing a Beth Moore study again and it has been awesome. God has been very good to us this summer in drawing us close to Him. I feel like our summer has been very purposeful and I'm excited to see what God is up to in our lives!

So I want to know what you all have been up to this summer or at least it gave me something to blog about today!

TGIF!

Well, it's Friday and I am looking forward to the weekend. We don't have big plans or anything, but it is nice to be back in Carolina! I made it with both girls on the plane! I think it was one of those days that was very empowering as a mom. I kept thinking I wonder if there are any dad's out there who have done this with two kids under two? I doubt it.. We can do more than we think as mother's. Anna did really well cause I just held her the whole time. Ellie had her own seat so the trick was getting the seatbelt fastened tight enough so that she could not get up. I had a new toy or snack in front of her every minute! They did so good and I will do it any day over a drive with two kids for 8 hours! The crazy thing was that once I got home it was only l0 A.M. and of course our house was not exactly clean. It was driving me crazy so I started to clean and it felt so good. However, I was like how do I still have energy after getting up at 4:30 in the morning! It is good to be home though and see Mike. Ellie was thrilled to be with her Daddy! Tonight, we are hanging out with some of our friends from our small group. We are going to play spades which we love and go to Taco Bell with them. It is a very "kid-friendly" restaurant for a Friday night! The girls in the picture are all of the girls from our group. We went out on a boat a couple of weeks ago. It was so fun and I remembered how to water ski! The other picture is of Ellie. I love this outfit on her. Someone gave it to Anna to wear this summer? It is 6 moths, but very large. I think Ellie looks like such a big girl in the picture. I hope you all have a great weekend!

I'm going home.....

Well, tomorrow is the day we reunite with Mike after 10 days and I attempt my first flight with both children. HA! I know most of you are thinking that it is crazy to fly with one baby. I do agree, but I can tell you after driving many times lately by myself with both girls for 8 hours. I will totally take a 1 hour flight. I also am going to have some help. It worked out that the chepest flights were for tomorrow and my mom is already flying out tomorrow at 8:45 A.M.. The really cool thing is that my flight is at 8:05 A.M. so she is going to be able to help me get through security, change diapers, check both carseats, and our bag! We have to leave by 5 A.M. because of Atlanta traffic so we are putting the girls down early tonight! I will give you a blog update soon on how it goes. Ellie will have her own seat. Even though she is under two they will not allow you to have 2 kids in your lap. We have really enjoyed out time here with Nana and Papa. Ellie totally loves being here and all the special "treats" she gets while at her grandparents house. I have enjoyed being able to spend some one on one time with both Anna and Ellie. Today, I took Ellie to the free kiddie movie by myself while mom stayed home with Anna. It is a great time cause all Anna does is nap at the time. It gives mom a break from crazy Ellie world! We went to see a really good kid movie. I normally don't like them because they are all rated PG. It seems like they are all animated, but all have adult humor. The movie "Everyone's Hero" that we saw today was rated G and was so cute! She loved it. It is all about a little boy and is dream of playing baseball for the NY Yankees. I would recommend it to every mom out there to watch it as a family. Ellie kept saying as we left the theater "More Game, More Game". I asked her what the movie was about and she said "game, ball, game, ball". She sat on my lap the whole time and it was really fun to just take care of one child for two hours. I can't believe I used to stress about it! Mike is busy this week with church work. It is going to sorda be a youth Sunday at church this week. He is preaching, making a highlight video from camp with student testimonies etc....I'm really excited for him! He always does such a great job when he preaches. Anyways, I hope each one of you draws close to the Lord this week. I have really enjoyed listening to the Hillsong United music on my dad's ipod this week. It is cool that my dad has an ipod by the way huh? He also knows how to work it. We haven't taught my mom yet, but she likes having it in the car! You must listen to Hillsong United if you don't have any of their music you should go get it. They are from Hillsong church in Australia and they are the college worship band. It is very similar to Passion, but I think their music is really catching on here in the U.S.. We sing their songs all the time at Journey. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Sports Fans.....

Well, as many of you know I ran track and cross-country all of high school and college. I have continued to follow the sport through various websites and ocassionally on television. I know running is only popular every 4 years when it is one of the highlights of the olympics. However, an amazing accomplishment just happened over the weekend. There is a 24 yr. old guy named Alan Webb that set the American High School record for the mile 8 years ago and he went on to run at Stanford. He is now running professionally for Nike and has continued to improve. The world championships are approaching in August and so all of the runners go to Europe to compete during the summer. They have these awesome track meets all over Europe. Some are very small and some will have up to 75,000 people in attendance. Everyone thought Alan was going to try and set the American record for the mile that has been held for 25 years. He did it at a small track meet in Belgium. He ran 3:46 for the mile. Awesome! I promise you that you will know this guys name in 2008 when he is representing the USA in the olympics. Anyways, you can view his race at this website..... www.flocasts.com then click on Alan Webb AR and you might have to watch it on the low-res to get it to work. Anyways, I got chills watching this guy who has trained for years for this one moment to be the fastest American ever in the mile. The crazy thing is that he did it with no competititon and at a track meet that was very small. It is so frustrating that so many other sports get so much publicity with all of their negative role models and here is a guy that is just an awesome talent with an amazing work ethic and no one even knows about it. Anyways, just thought I would write about something that I thought was very inspiring to me to be the best at whatever I do each day!

Birthday Help?

Okay, I need some help. I can never decide what to do for birthday parties? I always want them to be "perfect" even though I know Ellie will never remember it and Mike doesn't really care. I just remember as a kid looking through scrapbooks at all my birthday parties and thinking that was a fun party. I want Ellie to look at her pictures and think the same thing. So I am going to give a few options and all those who read this please comment. Remember her party will be on Sunday, August 5th and that is not to far away! Here are my two options:

1.) Party at the house around 6:00 P.M., cookout, cake, ice cream, etc...
2.) Party at a park around 6:30 P.M. with just appetizers, cake, ice cream, etc..

This is where the concerns come in.... at home we have no back yard so everyone would be inside. Although, we have very few "little friends" we would invite there are quite a few adults and students I would like to invite. I don't know really what we would do beside eat, presents, etc... although, i thought about making a slideshow with pictures from the past year of Ellie. I couldn't do this if it was outside?

The park would provide more room and I wouldn't have to cook as much. However, it could be really hot or rain? I also couldn't decorate really or show a slideshow. It would be easier though to invite more people and the kids could run etc... also, Mike could bring a moonwalk there.

My other thing I can't decide on is I do not like the whole "character" party. I know Ellie would much rather have a Dora party than a ladybug, polkadots, flowers, or princess party. I just think those things are so cute. I love the cute, sweet invitations, cakes, etc.... but which one should I choose? I thought of doing just simple invitations in pink/orange (dora colors), pink and orange plates, etc.. and doing the cake with dora.
Anyways, I know this is silly, but I would like some input from my friends! Does anyone else stress about this stuff? I haven't been able to post any pictures cause Mike has my camera. I wish you all could be at Ellie's party! Please reply with some much needed help! Ha!

Camp days....

Mike is now at Big Stuf camp in Daytona Beach, Florida. I am in Georgia with my parents. The girls are loving being at Nana and Papa's. They are always so happy here. I haven't heard from Mike much since he is in charge of the 40+ people. He might be a little busy. However, we did talk today and he told me it was good that Anna and I did not make the trip. They ended up crowding the kids into the rooms so that atleast a couple people have to sleep in the living area on the sofa bed. I would not have had a room with just Anna and another adult. I am so glad that God knew He had other plans for me this week! I am really excited to hear about all that God is going to do in our students lives while at camp. I love camp. It really is a place that I always had so much fun. I think I have attended atleast 15 different camps in my lifetime. In junior high I went to church camp in North Carolina and Tennessee. I remind you we drove from Arkansas to these places on buses that would always have issues and definetly no air conditioning. I also went to so many different basketball camps. I would go with my friends and we would get to stay in the college dorms. I remember sweating all day and then staying up way to late at night. We would order pizza almost every night cause the camp food was so bad. In high school I continued to go to basketball camp with my team and I think I started going to running camp, but I can't remember. In college I began to work at camps and I loved every minute of it. Mike and I both worked at Kanakuk. He worked at K-Kountry for young children and I worked at Kids Across America which was Kanakuk's camp for inner city children. I also started being a counselor at my good friend Amy's running camp in Indiana. It was crazy we would run like 15 miles a day and then listen to speakers talk about running, nutrition, etc... and we thought this was fun. When Mike and I were engaged we were interns at a huge church in Memphis and we had to be counselors for all their camps that summer. We went on a missions camp to Alabama which was crazy. We went to Tennessee for a choir tour with their middle school students. It was a fun summer learning all about ministry from someone who was an incredible youth pastor. We got married and then Mike began youth ministry and the camps have never stopped. We've been to two different church camps in South Carolina and then I was pregnant the last two summers which eliminated me getting to go to camp. I can't wait for the days when Ellie and Anna are old enough to go to camp. There is nothing like the feeling of staying in a cabin with your friends and being isolated from the outside world for a week. It has always been a growing experience for me and my walk with Christ. I know this week I am supposed to be here with my girls. We are having lots of fun. Ellie is currently obsessed with pennies. We found this old piggy bank and she loves putting the pennies in the bank. Today, though she has figured out to put them in her pocket so she can hide them from us. Tonight, while I was out at the library looking for a book to read she stayed her with mom and dad. They said she kept pointing to a bib. Mom put it on her thinking that she wanted one cause Anna had one on today. She put the bib on her and Ellie began to say "ice cream". She knew she had to have her bib on to have an ice cream cone. She brings us so many laughs these days. Tomorrow, she is having an early birthday party here with my parents. She is going to have so much fun with her Dora cake and balloons. I hope I didn't bore you all with my camp stories. It is just that time of year when I miss it so much!

Random....

Well, it seems like there has been alot going on this week, but I don't have any pictures that go together so I thought I would post some from the past couple of weeks. I will start with a funny story. Last night we met a youth family in downtown Raleigh at Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Yumm..... Ellie liked her pizza and the family was 30 minutes late due to rain etc... We began to think this could get interesting with our two kiddos trying to sit through dinner for a long time. We did all kinds of things to entertain Ellie. She had diet coke with cherry (Mike's idea), played with their kids, and looked at video games. We decided to go to Krispy Kreme after dinner since we were already downtown. She had part of a donut and enjoyed every bite. We get home and we put her to bed around 9:00 P.M. and she was not tired at all. We bring her downstairs and she finally got sleepy around 11:00 P.M.. We were more tired than her. We will never do that much sugar so close to bedtime. We felt like awful parents.
I am leaving on Saturday to go to my parents while Mike is at camp. He's really excited about camp in Florida. I'm so jealous. However, I know we will have fun at my parents house. They are having an early birthday party for Ellie. They ordered her a Dora cake and some Dora balloons. She is going to think it is the greatest thing ever.
These pictures are of Ellie outside in her baby pool. She seems to enjoy it more than the big pool. It has been so hot here this summer that it has been great. The other one is of Anna at church. She is laying beside her good friend Hannah. Hannah is one month older than Anna. You can tell that once again I have a tiny little girl! I'm thinking we could have 2 members of a gymnastics team in the near future! I hope you all have a good day!

Travel Times....

Well, I really don't have much to write today, but both girls are asleep so I thought I could come up with something. I was gone for a week to my parent's house and did the drive there by myself. Why I do these things I do not know? However, it is so worth it once I get there. My mom rode back with me to Raleigh. It was so helpful cause she could sit in the back seat and give Anna a bottle. We stopped halfway and stayed the night in a hotel. It was really fun. It was the first time I have done this with Ellie in a really long time. She thought it was great sleeping in the same room with us. She was in our bed some of the time cause she would not be quiet and I was afraid she'd wake up Anna. Eventually, around 11:30 P.M. she finally fell asleep in her crib. The next day was pretty good cause we only had about 4 hours to go. It was so helpful having my mom here with me cause Mike has been so busy with out "flip" house. We took Ellie to the movies again. We saw the Veggie Tales movie "Jonah". It was pretty good, but Happy Feet is still her favorite. My dad came on the 4th and they drove home on Friday. We ended up watching the neighbors fireworks and they were quite a show. I can't believe people spend that much money on fireworks, but it was a free show for us. Ellie really enjoyed them and was not scared. Anna was already asleep! Our crazy dog Jabez ran away that night and ended up in a nearby neighbor's house. I think maybe he is getting sick cause all he wants to do is lay in his crate and his fur is turning really strange colors. He is even driving Mike crazy.....
Our house is coming along. We have found excellent workers who have led us to new workers etc.... They work really hard and are doing some amazing work. Mike is even brushing up on his spanish and has been able to communicate with them which he said they love. They are now painting the walls, laying tile, putting in windows, etc.. When it is all finished I will post some pictures and you can see the transformation. It was truly way worse than an "Extreme makeover" home and Mike has done such a good job with being a contractor, house manager, etc...We have lived at Lowe's this week and have quickly decided in NC it is a much better store than Home Depot.
We will be home for one more week then we are off again. Mike is going to camp in Floida and I am going back to my parent's house. I decided I really did not want to stay here with 2 kids by myself for a week. I also do not sleep when I have to stay by myself. I wish I was going to camp, but it is just not going to work with the travel schedule etc...They are staying at a church overnight on the way to Florida and I really do not want to stay in a room with 20 girls and Anna.
I hope each of you continues to have a great summer. We have realized lately that in the midst of desiring an easy, relaxed summer that God is still in control. He has a plan and some of it requires hard work, chasing kids, traveling with kids, etc...Mike always reminds me everything is only for a season. Whatever season you are in it will be over with someday and you will realize "Jesus has plans to prosper you not harm you, give you hope, and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Nana and Papa!

I decided at the last minute to bring the girls to Georgia to visit Nana and Papa. We left on Monday and of course the drive was not fun. However, once we get here it is always so great to relax and hang with the fam. i have gotten up with Anna every morning to feed her, but then I have gone back to sleep. It is such a rare event that I love it! I think I am really tired and it doesn't catch up with me till I get a chance to relax. I have taken a nap every afternoon when the girls have gone down for a nap. Ellie is loving seeing Nana and Papa. She can now say their names and recognizes them. We went swimming in their pool today. Ellie is slowly enjoying the water more, but we are not in the pool to long before she says "all done". We took Anna to the Target Portrait studio today and she did so great! I love this place cause you can get a whole package for $7.99. Ellie is not into pictures and hasn't been since her first birthday. She did like trying to make Anna smile. It is so great to have a helper with me when we do things like pictures etc..! Tomorrow, we are taking Ellie to see Happy Feet at the free kids movie. We'll see how it goes with both kids at the movies!
Mike has been busy this week with church work and working on our investment house. He has taken over the house and is now the project manager etc....a long story. However, I think he is secretly loving being like Armando from "Flip that house". I am really proud of him and he is doing a great job. He is picking out the paint, door knobs, cabinets, doors, etc....I am letting him handle all this while I am away this week. We've come a long ways in our 6 years! I hope everyone is having a great day.Blessings upon you all!

Mike's 28!

Well, today is a big day for Mikey! He is now 28 years old. It makes me feel a little better cause I will be turning 30 in 6 months. So instead of a card that he won't read I decided to do a little surprise blog for him. I know this may be a little long, but here goes 28 things I love about Mike in no particular order....Happy Birthday Babe!
1.)He loves me
2.)He loves Jesus
3.)He adores Ellie and Anna
4.) We met in the midwest as very young naive college students, but we've survived!
5.) He did college in 3 1/2 years and seminary in 2 1/2 with very little effort. Secretly, he is really smart and can get any job done.
6.)You have gotten so many free things it is not even funny.. to name a few: timeshare gifts, macbook pro, iphone, ipod hifi, airplane vouchers etc... very few people will put forth the effort will they?
7.) You let me pick the music on the ipod most the time which we mainly agree upon. Lately, we are addicted to Hillsong United (you should all check them out.)
8.)You have very strange things happen to you that you just laugh about and never even worry about them (ex: sea lice, staph infection, fake colon cancer ha ha)
9.) You have a very good pallet for food. I really do think we eat more than most couples.
10.) You love college basketball and somehow we end up in great cities for it!
11.) You challenge me daily to grow in my walk with Christ.
12.) There is no dream to small for you.
13.) You have a moonwalk company (enough said)
14.) You love to travel. We have been on some amazing trips together (many before children). Some of my favorites are: Disney, Breckenridge, OBX, Williamsburg/D.C.,Charleston, Hilton Head, The Cruise(ha ha)
15.) You are really good at student ministry and still have a desire for it.
16.) You are not afraid to work and figure out how to make money.
17.)You are growing and maturing daily. I really respect how you are making decisions a little more slowly now and desiring what's best for your family.
18.) You are a very loyal friend. You can keep in touch with almost anyone.
19.) You are very good at technology and put up with my lack of technological skills.
20.) You are compassionate and caring toward those who need help. You will try and find a way to help those in need.
21.)I can't wait to one day finally take a really cool anniversary trip with you without our babies.
22.) You are an amazing father who has really helped me transition into having two girls under two years old.
23.) You still want more children even after the past couple months of insanity and "you've even said I don't mind if they are girls"!
24.) We are laughing more today than we did 6 years ago I think. I have a lot of fun with you.
25.)You are really calm during stressful situations. I am thinking of when it is 2 a.m. and I'm telling you I think we need to go to the hospital so I can have Anna. I am dying in pain. Our bags are not packed and you ask me if you can take a shower? However, we made it to the hospital in 19 minutes from N. Raleigh to Cary.
26.) You love to research all kinds of things. You are really good at finding good cars, houses, etc... aka NACA! (inside joke)
27.) Your birthday gift is coming in one week. The anticipated IPhone. Will our world ever be the same?
28.) Happy Birthday Mike! I hope you've had a great day!
We love you,
Holly, Ellie and Anna
ps- these 2 pics I thought were a good image of Mike.

Pool Time???

Well, this morning I realized that it is almost July and we have yet to make it to the YMCA pool. We have been gone quite a bit in June and the weather last week was not good. Today, it is supposed to be 97 degrees. So after an hour or so of getting both kids ready we are in the car! I know that I cannot handle both kids so I check Anna into the YMCA playhouse(glorified childcare). I get there and Ellie is screaming cause she wants to go play in there with Anna. I'm thinking I did all this work to get us both in swimsuits, sunscreen, towels, extra clothes, toys etc... We are going to the pool. So we get there and Ellie is more interested in walking around the pool and maybe getting her feet in sometimes. We did this for about 30 minutes and went into the indoor toddler pool. She liked this much better which was encouraging and was actually kind of sad when it was time to go pick up Anna. We go into the family locker room to change clothes. I wouldn't have done this, but we had a few errands to do for awhile. I'm changing clothes and Ellie has her hand in the YMCA toilet. It is so gross cause there are on average probably 2,000 kids that go there everyday during the summer. She also almost throws my swimsuit in the toilet. We go to get Anna and once again Ellie is really upset about not getting to go into the playhouse. I decided next time I think I'll pay the $4 and go lay by the pool without the kids. She seems to like the indoor world more than outside these days. Anyways, I just had to laugh and share my time at the pool. We'll try it again sometime soon, but I might take Mike with me next time. The only good thing is that the pool induces an extremely long nap. Enjoy your day in the sun!

Father's Day.......

Well, this year Mike is the daddy to two girls! Wow! I have been kind of distracted lately from the blog world. I haven't been to motivated, but I figured Father's Day would be a good topic. We are doing well. We actually celebrated Father's Day on Friday night. Mike wanted to go see a movie and to dinner without the kids. We have quickly learned that to really enjoy ourselves at dinner or especially a movie that taking the girls would not be a good idea. We had a couple in our small group watch the girls. It worked out perfectly cause they have a 20 month old girl and a 6 week old girl. So they had 4 girls under two at their house. We have done this for them and it is not to bad! Ellie loved it. She loves her friend Cana. She actually was not to up for sleeping in her pack and play so they just kept her up till we got back at 10:30 P.M. We ended up staying there and talking to Jonathan and Kelly till midnight. Ellie was quite the night owl. She fell asleep on the way home, but ended up sleeping till 11 A.M. the next day! So we went to our favorite chinese place Pei Wei. It is PF Chang's fast food place. We love it. If you haven't been you should see if you have one in your city. We saw the movie "Ocean's Thirteen" after that and it was great. We both really liked it.
Yesterday, we went to a birthday party for a friend of ours from church. Her family cooked a feast. It was so good. We love these kind of parties. Ellie ended up getting kind of sick yesterday. She had a fever, runny nose, etc... last night so I stayed home from church this morning with the girls. I was motivated to clean so the downstairs actually looks great... the upstairs is a different story. Even more of an incentive to remind myself to look for a one-story house one day. Today, we are just relaxing at home. We are watching the US Open. It is one of our favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon. I know we are strange, but it is pretty exciting. I got Mike a new Timex Ironman watch. He lost his a couple months ago and it was also from high school. It was time for a new watch! We put both girls down for a nap at the same time. We took a 2 hour nap. It was very nice. I think tonight we are going to go out for dinner near the mall somewhere. There is a new shopping area with a coldstone creamery there. (Mike's fave and Ellie likes to look at the water fountains!)
Anna is quite strong we have decided. She rolled over last Sunday. She's 4 1/2 months old. Ellie did not roll over till around 6 months and she is already loving her exersaucer! I am so glad she likes it as well. Anyways, we miss everyone. We hope both of our father's have a great day. We are very thankful to have such great dad's.

Anna Katherine

I am going to try and post every month what our sweet Anna is up to these days. It seems to be that I post more about what Ellie is doing probably because she is doing so much these days! I might be tearing up by the end of this, but I hope to print these off one day since I don't scrapbook!

Dear Anna,
You are now 4 months old. I cannot believe you are no longer our little tiny newborn who slept all the time. You are developing your own little personality. You love for people to talk to you and you love to smile back at them. Your sister is obsessed with you. She loves having a new playmate all the time with her at home. She loves to bring you toys or try to feed you a bottle. You put up with her trying to climb on you and poking your eye. I am very busy now taking care of you and Ellie. My favorite time though is when I put Ellie down for her nap and I hold you in my lap. I love to see you laugh and smile. Your dad normally spends time with you at night. Your eyes will follow him all across the room. We have a new routine of putting you and your sister to bed at night at the same time. Ellie loves to pray with you and say "Amen". You roll over on your side, suck your thumb, and watch your aquarium mobile. You are now sleeping from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.! I don't know how we are so blessed, but you have loved to sleep from birth. We've been busy so far this summer with a trip to the beach and going to the pool as much as we can. You look so cute in your swimsuit and I know this time next year you will love the water! You weighed 11 lbs. 13 oz. at your 4 month appointment. You are 10 oz. bigger than your sister was at 4 months. However, it looks like you are going to be kind of small like Ellie. One day you will love being the small girl! We love you so much Anna. I can tell you are going to be an awesome girl one day who will shine brightly for Jesus. We picked your name as we pray that one day you will be like Anna from the Bible who loved to worship Jesus! I look forward to many more days of being your mommy. You are a special gift to us.

Summer Time.....

I think summer has arrived in Raleigh. It has been in the 90's the past couple of days which makes things interesting with 2 kids! We had a great day yesterday cause my play group met at a girl's neighborhood pool. It was such a great pool cause it had the little fountains for the kids to play in and there were parts where the water was only a foot deep. Ellie is obsessed with three things. Water, Anna, and Daddy are the highlight of her day. She is trying to play games with Anna. She takes her toys like the play phone and puts it up to her ear. She also loves to try and put a bottle in her mouth. She gives her hugs all the time and says "Ahhnnnaaa" in this russian like accent all the time! I've also started to notice that by the end of the day she really wants to see her daddy. She loves it when the garage door opens and she knows that daddy is about to walk in the door. Mike has been really busy this week. It seems like he's had something almost every night that he had to be at so I've been creative in trying to get out at night till bedtime.
I've also decided I no longer have a newborn. Anna is for sure becoming more like a 4 month old who can no longer be on our schedule. It is going to get interesting. I normally do all my errands, seeing friends, etc... in the morning. She is really fussy if she doesn't get her morning nap. Which means on most days we can go somewhere around lunch time, but have to be back by 2:00 because of Ellie's nap and then Anna also needs a nap at that time. It is great that I can put them down at the same time in the afternoon and at night now. It allows us to have a break and spend time together. I can just tell that I am going to now have to organize two kids schedules instead of Anna just sleeping in the car etc...A stay at home mom really is like a home/baby manager. It takes a lot of organization and energy that is for sure! Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. We miss you all!

More OBX Pictures!

Here are some more pictures from our week at the OBX. There are so many cool things to do there. I think our favorite was driving onto the beach. They have one section where you can drive your 4wd onto the beach. Mike was all about this of course and our goal was to see the wild horses. We've heard lots about them, but didn't know if we would actually see one. There were two out on the beach this day. It was amazing just seeing them roam on the beach. I also wanted to get one good family picture. We have yet to do this since Anna was born. The picture session lasted about 5 minutes cause then Anna had a "blowout" all over Mike. I think this was his first experience of having baby poo on him. Welcome to my world! It was a great week and we will always look back on the memories of having family out on the East Coast with us. Today, was church and it was awesome. Our pastor and worship were great today. A great way to start back into the "real world". Ellie cried for the first time today when we dropped her off. It was sad. She was fine though after about 5 minutes. I saw her playing on the floor with some of her little friends. Enjoy the pictures!

OBX!

Well, we returned from a great vacation on the Outer Banks. We stayed in Duck, NC. I think it is the one beach area that I could actually live at year round. It is so nice and we both love it. I am tired so I am going to only post these pictures for now. The girls did great, but today has been a different story. I think they liked all the constant attention, ice cream, Barney, pool, etc... so now it is back to reality. However, it is the first week long vacation we have taken in a long time. It was so awesome! We had a great time with Mimi and Granddaddy Shelton! Aunt Kathy and Uncle David made the trip even more great! It was so great to have everyone come East instead of us go West. The sun could not have shined more bright all week. A huge blessing cause it seems like many beach trips I have been on the weather has been horrible where all you do is sit inside most the time! God was so good to us and we both feel very refreshed and refocused for the busy summer months ahead of us! Have a great Sunday!

Am I that old??

So tonight we went to the mall to look for me a new swimsuit. I remind you the past two summers I have been pregnant so I have been really looking forward to not wearing my maternity gear! Mike and the girls go with me which could have ended in a disaster, but they all three did really well. We start at Dillard's and there were lots of cute ones, but I wanted to check some of the other department stores cause they are normally less expensive. We head to Belk and I find lots of cute ones. I think they were in the junior sizes cause I picked Large in almost all of them. I try them on and let's just say they were not to flattering and I felt like I was showing way to much. I was so annoyed. Mike was in shock cause yeah I have had two babies since 2005, but still I am not a Large ever in anything. So we try the XL on and they were not to much better. So we are wondering who besides a 14 yr. old skinny girl who has not gone through puberty can wear these pieces of fabric! We look at the misses (mom) swimsuits, but they are so momish and I am just not ready to wear a one piece with a skirt going around it!
We decided I would go back to Dillard's another time this week cause they do have the best selection and I really didn't look much there. We ended up just getting a cookie (Ellie's favorite thing about the mall) and left to go home and watch Idol!
Jordin did incredible. I was so frustrated that Blake was up there. He is creative, but I feel like many people in our church can sing better than him. I wish Melinda and Jordin could have battled it out. Did anyone notice the last song was written by Scott Kirpayne? Isn't he a Christian artist? Anyways, thanks for listening to my whining and maybe I will have to move up to the "mom" suits since I am almost 30! Have a great Wednesday!

OBX!

Well, it is one week till we go on vacation to the Outer Banks with all of Mike's family. We are so excited for them to come to the East Coast. We are renting this huge house at the Outer Banks. We are staying in a little town called Duck, NC. It is a great town! So we have been trying to prepare Ellie for her time at the beach. In this picture she was discovering sand and loving her new sand toys. We also have gotten her a lifejacket for the pool etc... She seems to be obsessed with water. We have to stop at every fountain at the mall. Anna just kind of goes along with whatever which is so great! In this picture she is asleep at the beach. She is so sweet. She is laughing all the time and she loves it when Ellie tickles her. Today, Mike suggested getting out the exersaucer to she see if she was big enough for it. She did pretty good in it. I think I am going to save it for awhile though cause I really want her to not get bored of it to quickly. Tonight, we went to CVS and bought 30 12 packs of coke products. They were having a huge sale......5 packs for $11. We mainly stocked up for youth group, but we are keeping some for us at home. It equaled 18 cents a can! The CVS people thought we were crazy cause you could only by 10 at a time. So Mike would go buy 10 drop them off in the car and then go back in for more. We did this at the Wake Forest CVS and the Rolesville CVS. The Shelton's are always up for a good deal. Tomorrow is church etc... I am excited as Journey is really growing and each week is really awesome. Ellie loves her teachers. We taught her to say "Paul"... he is one of her teachers that she thinks is pretty cool. I will be next door in Anna's room. I am in the nursery every week during the second service. It has been a good way to meet people and other mom's with babies. I still think Anna is the best though by far! Anyways, blessings upon you all!

Fun Times!

Well, I thought I'd tell you what we have been up to the past couple of weeks. Mike attended a conference in Atlanta so I decided to go away with my friend Kim for a few days. It was lots of fun! We went to Myrtle Beach and it was one crazy trip. We had four kids under three in her minivan. It was full with luggage, pack n plays, carseats, diaper bags, dvd player (Praise God!), and happy kids (ha ha)! So we get there at midnight on Sunday. It took us a little longer to pack the car, unload the car etc...The kids survived and we went to sleep that night excited for the next day. Well, it was of course crazy weather. It was a typical cold, windy east coast day. We tried the beach and it lasted for about 10 minutes. Even though it would take us 30 minutes to get anywhere. We had a double stroller, single stroller, and Anna in the Baby Bjorn carrier. It was so windy that all the kids cried because sand got in their eyes. We then tried the indoor pool which was a big hit! Ellie loved the water and wanted to get out of my arms so bad. It was then naptime which was great for Kim and I! It was a crazy couple of days, but really fun to get away with another mom of two! It was kind of empowering knowing that we could do all this by ourselves... although I'm not sure if I would want to do it again anytime soon. The last picture is of Ellie with her new play kitchen that Mimi got her! She loves it. She was so excited the night we got it for her she ended up playing with it till 10:00 that night. I am going to look for some play food this weekend at a neighborhood garage sale. Anyways, hope everyone is doing great! Post comments so I know someone is reading this blog!

blog errors

I know now that I am not to good at posting things... sorry for all the strange errors! I meant to do them all in order, but I messed up. I need Mike to do these technological things!

more pics!

Here are a few more after pictures. I love the improvement on the deck!

After Pictures!

Here are some pictures of the outside after the power wash, paint job, fixing boards, glass etc....It looks so much better!

Before pictures

Here are some pictures of the outside before the paint job. The deck especially needed work. Eventually the gazebo area will be a screened in area. They will also fix up the hot tub etc....There will also be a new front door. We love the plywood one that is on their now ha ha!

Flip That House!

Well, many of you know that we are currently trying to "flip a house". It is just north of Raleigh in Youngsville, NC. They have been working on it for about a month now and finally we are seeing some progress. The outside was a big mess and the inside well it is a total dump. However, it is in a great neighborhood and on 2 acres of land. I wanted to post some pictures of the outside. It got painted this week and looks so much better. We are going to add some black shutters soon. Mike is loving this project I think. He now watched "flip that house" on discovery home every night. Have a great Saturday! I may have to do a couple different entries cause blogger is so slow sometimes!

The Beach!

Well, I will be away for a few days. Mike is going to a conference in Atlanta with our children's ministry team. I really did not want to stay here by myself. My friend Kim's husband is also going away on business. We knew each other from seminary. I asked her if she and her kids wanted to go away for a few days. We are headed to Myrtle Beach tomorrow evening. Her minivan will be full with 4 kids in carseats under 3 years old. Doesn't this sound like fun? ha ha... Anyways, I am really looking forward to it. We are staying at one of our timeshare resorts. We'll see how Ellie likes the indoor pool and playing in the sand. I don't think the weather is going to be great, but there is plenty to do in Myrtle. Anyways, I hope everyone is has a good week!

Anna Katherine

Anna is 3 months old. Wow! She's already changed so much. She's a beautiful, sweet baby. We love her so much. However, I think she has totally captivated Ellie's heart. I think Ellie says "ANNA, ANNA" at least 70 times a day. She loves her little sis. So I thought I'd catch you all up on little Anna and why she has blessed us so much over the past 3 months. Here's a tribute to Anna Katherine Shelton
1.) We still love your name. Anna fits you so well. I have read about Anna in the Bible. We can only pray that you will also strive to be like Anna as you grow older.
2.) We love your sweet smile. It is so amazing how you began to smile just a month into this world. You now love to smile and laugh. You love it when we clap your hands together. You begin to laugh really loud sometimes.
3.) We love how you just go along with our crazy lives. You tend to just go with the flow. You don't mind your carseat these days which is a good thing!
4.) We call you one "low-maintenance" girl! When we brought you home that first night you only woke up once. We were able to just lay you back down in your crib and you would fall asleep. You are amazing. We did not give you a paci for 6 weeks and now you don't even want it. You love your little thumb. It is so sweet to see you in your crib sucking your thumb.
5.) You slept last night from 8:30 P.M. to 8:30 A.M. this morning. What else can I say? You are an angel who's allowing mom and dad to get some rest.
6.) So many ask who you look like? Then they realize you look just like Ellie. I know as you get a little older people are going to ask us if you are twins.
7.) I love how you stare at your daddy when he holds you.
8.) I love how you remind me to stop during my day and just treasure a few minutes with you as you will only be a baby for such a short time.
9.) I love how you let your sister annoy you. She loves to take your blanket, paci, poke your eye (ha ha), and be really loud while you are trying to sleep.
10.) I love your sweet little features. You also seem to be small like your sister.

I didn't know we could love someone so much in only 3 months. Anna truly is a gift from God. "Every good and perfect gift comes from above" James 1:7

Shower Time!

Well, it seems like Ellie is always dirty these days. She's quite the messy eater! Then, we've been playing outside more and more. So alot of days she needs two baths especially if we are going somewhere. She has really fine thin baby hair that gets so out of control. So today I thought how could I save time by getting myself ready and Ellie. So I decided to see if she would like to take a shower when I did. She loved it!
I did it in her bathroom where there is a shower curtian etc... I filled the tub and she just sat their playing with bath toys while I showered and then it was so quick to get her hair washed etc....I think this could become a regular thing! All mommies out there you should try this! Well, it is already Monday again and the weekend fun is over. However, tonight I am really excited for Mike. He is going to a Derek Webb concert in downtown Raleigh. Derek is a former bandmember of Caedmon's Call. He's going with two guys from our Journey Group. I think I may hang out with one of the girls from our group. They live in Wake Forest and her husband just graduated from the seminary. They just started attending Journey. They have a 19 month old girl and Kelly is due tomorrow actually with their second girl. I am really exctied to get to know them better. I think our girls could be great friends! The other really cool thing is that we were really good friends with Jonathon's brother and his wife all of seminary. Well, we are about to go burn some calories at the Y. It seems the closer to 30 we get the more difficult it is to keep the pounds off!
Ellie also wanted to say Happy Birthday "Papaw". We hope you have a great day!

Big Sister!

I finally got a cute picture of the girls a couple of days ago. It was first thing in the morning so they were both happy and clean! I can tell Ellie is enjoying her role of being the "Big Sister". She is really sweet to Anna. She says Anna constantly and says "uh-oh" when she starts to cry. Ellie is about to go the Dr. for a weight check. They want to see if she's gained any or enough since her last checkup. She's still 18lbs. We are hoping for 19lbs. today! Anyways, we are doing good. We went to the YMCA this morning. I'm finally starting to workout now that Anna is sleeping through the night. I am joining at training group next week at the Y for a race for the cure 5K in June. Have a good afternoon!

A Beautiful Day....

I've been thinking lately about how blessed we are to live here in North Carolina a place we love. The weather has been so nice and I've discovered so many great parks. God has been so good to us to relocate us here. We love our church, our kids, each other etc... God has shown us so much lately about how we want our kids to love being apart of the "Shelton Family"!
I read recently that children are not drawn to the evils of this world when their home is a place of love, excitement, and new activities. We were saying today that we want our home to be the place where our children want to have their friends over. We want to have crazy family nights, traditions etc... We are trying to start this even now, but it is a little hard when Ellie just wants to play with the ball. Hope you all have a great night! We are watching American Idol. Go Jordin! She's a former Kanakuk Kamper so we have to cheer for her. She's also incredible at 17!

Ellie's on youtube!

Here's a link of Ellie on youtube... Mike made a funny video while he was watching the kids.. enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rceO0UUfiL8