Lake Tobias

Yay!!!!  We finally got to Lake Tobias!!!  And it was totally worth the hour drive and $60 spent!!!!  The safari tour was so interactive and I doubt the kids will forget it! The zoo was way better than the Philly Zoo! 

Jaylee loves taking pix with Jason's new IPad...

 

The Safari Tour...

Where else can you pet a zebra, chicken, horse, goat, peacock, alligator, snake, and more in one day???

Jennibelle is EIGHT

My baby girl is EIGHT!!!

She had a week of celebrating!!  Lucky lady!  After Meg's shower, the family stayed to celebrate with her... hot tub, presents and ice cream.  She even got a (drum roll...) American Girl Doll from Poppop, Nan, and us.  Mandy got her a few outfits for the doll and Meg got her outfits for herself.  She was in Heaven.  I love this picture of her, when she opened her doll...

Tuesday night she took her two bestest friends in the whole wide world to Laser Dome for a laser tag session. We had a great time, and with all my coupons only spent $60!!!  We did a 40 minute tag session, $50 worth of arcade and laser obstacles, and dinner for all of us.  We were there 3 hours, and they let us bring our own cupcakes. Plus the kids got prizes with their arcade points. It was money well spent!!!

The green dot in the middle is actually her shooting and Jack and I threw the viewing window...

JB is terrified of roller coasters... I was surprised she got on this arcade game!!!

Thurs was her actual birthday.  She woke to a doorway full of streamers.  Breakfast was doughnuts and cereal, dinner was her favorite meal (Rotisserie chicken with Bob Evan's mashed potatoes and mac-n-cheese) and ended with home made cupcakes.  She handed out Wilbur Chocolate coins to her class, since we had a field trip in down town Lititz the day before and visited the Wilbur store. She also took chocolate chip muffins to soccer practice that night.  The girl likes to eat - junk, mainly.  Jaylee put together a movie night package for her with popcorn, Redbox coupons and candy.  And "Jackson" got her another doll outfit.  I made a video for her, here's the you tube link.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2raw9BiRCYs

  

I think that she had a great birthday!!!

Meg's Baby Shower

Mom threw a great party... like she always does.

D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

The theme was "Sweet Pea" since they don't know if it's a boy or girl.

Mandy and I made a pea pod diaper gift... turned out "amazing".

Her favors were her favorite sugar cookies.

Her cake came from Brookhaven - Kyj's Bakery.

Mini ham/cheese sandwiches, mini burgers, potato salad, salad, chips, baked beans... YUM!

Mommom and Aunt Helen (Aunt Lola had eye surgery and couldn't come)

Coupons from Mommom Matheson :)

I HATE being pregnant with her... she is so beautiful and glowing and I've reached way too big stage. 

 

New baby, new big girl, new house...

...so, why wouldn't I be up at 4 am?!?!

I know that I think all the time that life will slow down, but why do I think that... it obviously is not slowing down in any way, shape or form!!!

This is the picture of the house in the perfect location, with the perfect yard, with the perfect remodels that has sent our world a spinning...

we weren't even looking for a house.

But, with five offers within the first 12 hours of being on the market, we didn't even have a chance to get inside to see it!  Boo!!!

So, then we thought "Why not look?!?"

And 1 week later (and 19 days before my c section) we put an offer in on a foreclosed home. 

It is a very low offer because the house has been sitting for 8 months and has not been maintained.  It's in a neighborhood full of the girls' friends, which will be a BIG change from life on the farm. I'ts also on a corner lot and the yard is a hill... two things I swore I would never consider again when buying a home.  BUT... the checklist of the home itself is worth it...

4 bed, 2.5 bath, mud room, living rm, family room with wood fireplace, open concept kitchen, sun room, dining room, finished basement.

So, it's 4 am (now Jennibelle's EIGHTH birthday) (and with a pending birth around the corner) and Jason is asking me - with a straight face- why I can't sleep.  Hmmm.... I think the real question is HOW can he sleep?  

Mommom Moore

I've seen her more the past few weeks than I have over the past 10 years, but I miss her more than ever. 

I miss her smile...

it's been dwindling over the past few years.  It seemed with each TIA, her smiles became less frequent.  But since her world was turned upside down two months ago, I can count on one hand the times I've seen er truly smile.

She is so tired lately also, without an appetite... what a vicious cycle!!  She's now taking Ensure shakes for my Mom and it seems to at least be helping regulate her blood sugars. She wakes, dresses, naps, uses the bathroom, naps, comes to the table for dinner and gets ready for bed.  She can make it up the stairs at my Mom's house with assistance, but I'm not sure for how much longer.  She now uses a walker and shuffles her little bunnioned feet. 

Each time I see her, she tells me that she is "just happy to be alive another day!" But, apparently it is another story when she talks to my Mom.  She is repeatedly having dreams that she has died, yet they don't wake her in a cold sweat... can you imagine EVER being "ready"???  I simply can not...

I miss you Mommom!!!!

I hope she knows how much she is loved... we tell her all the time and tried to show her with our monthly visits and weekly phone calls, but everyone needs to feel love differently.  I hope she knows that she is surrounded by it.

May 19, 2013 At Meg's Baby Shower

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Things I never want to forget about Mommom:
*"Budd-Y!" when it was time to eat
*clothes shopping for school every fall
*Wawa or Little Caesar lunch at her house every Sunday after church
*Her pound cake... yum!
*When she bought me the same perfume as her (in college) b/c I had complimented hers
*How she always gave Jason a hard time about shaving his hair off.
*Her beautiful flower gardens
*She always let me pick her "bunny ear" plants that were so soft.
*We always had vanilla ice cream with sugared strawberries at her house
*The candy dish!!!
*All of the cookie and tasty cake containers rubberbanded closed in her pantry
*How clean her Ford Tauruses were - and with a box of tissues in the back seat
*The day at the Mall that she left me accidentally at the top of the escalator b/c I was afraid to go down it... she had to come up the elevator to get me!
*Just two months ago, she was kicking a beach ball around her house with Jackson
*She liked my blue and white checkered silverware so much that she asked me to buy her some
*She'd let us come bug her every month with the kids to say hello, eat lunch, and chit chat.
*The coin game where we'd "race" up the stairs
*Her arts and crafts drawer
*The time she yelled at me for singing "Bad Bad Bad Bad Boys... You Make me Feel so Good..."

Jenn: the Photog of Meg's Maternity Shoot

It was fun!!!

Maybe I missed my calling?!?

I promised not to post any pics on Facebook, but nothing was said about my blog.

So, here's a sneak peak...

(Mind you... I have no editing software... not like she needs it anyway!)