A "Three" Celebration weekend!

What a full, blessed weekend! We have had celebrations since Friday, with Meghan's 16th birthday...and we have a few more this week to go! First, Saturday, we had Tommy and Kelli's bridal shower! Here are Tommy and his beautiful bride-to-be, Kelli!
Kelli,with the chenille afghan that I made for them.

Beautiful cake!

One of their engagement pictures. ( sorry...took a photo of a photo...but loved the pose!)
Love this one! It was a great shower, and we're all looking forward to their wedding day over Labor day weekend.
Then...it was Meghan's birthday party with all our family and a few special friends, who are like family! Because Meghan was born on my Dad's birthday, we always celebrate together with both of them.

Meghan and Gabrielle....one of the best birthday surprises that Meghan has ever had!

Sara and my beautiful niece, Tina.

Some of the people helping us celebrate were.....

Cousin, Jill

Jill's son, Michael with Ronnie
And, Jill and Mike's daughter, Mia with Anna

Ron and our dear friend, and former neighbor, Jamie!
My beautiful Mom, flanked on either side by two of her big sisters...Aunt Pat on the left and Aunt Marilyn on the right...all they were missing were Aunt Joan! Missed you, Aunt Joan!
My sister, Lori, her husband Todd and everyone's favorite baby....Ty!
Meghan and Elissa...these two have been friends since birth...she is Jamie's daughter, and we have oh, so many pictures of these two from babies on up! Aren't they beautiful young ladies?!

Meghan recieved many, many special gifts for her hopechest, from items that belonged to her great-grandmother, to these special needlework works of art made by our friend, Debbie.


One of the special gifts that she received was a new "winter" Vera Bradley purse and a matching wallet...was she surprised!

Meghan and my mother, her Grammy!

Meghan and Ron's mom...her RoRo! (both grandmothers are where she gets her blue eyes...as Ron and I both have brown eyes)

Meghan and her "M.E." and "Zedoh"...my Dad and step mom.

Fun cousins picture! (Ronnie looks up to and loves Timmy so much!)

Love this pyramid! The girls had a lot of fun!
My youngest sister, Pam and cousin Kim.
Ron and my cousin, John....HUGE Penguin's fans!!!!
Jolyn and Debbie....special, old family friends!
The five of us, myself, my two sisters, and Jolyn and Debbie....friends since the 70's...we have so much fun together! It was so nice to be together!

~We all had a wonderful time Saturday night!~

Now....on to our last celebration of the weekend! After church today..which was great, and focused on the mission trip that members of our church recently took to Zambia...we headed over to our friends, the Webber family for Alaina's graduation party.
Meghan and Alaina have been friends since Alaina was 6 1/2 and Meghan was only 5 years old. We all met at the playground, they girls went to Jubilee Christian school for Meghan's kindergarten year, then we started homeschooling together the same year. Our families have been thru so much in the past 11 years...even adding sons on the same day, born at the same hospital! Here are our two girls....grown up!

Meghan....baby-stealing! Little Camren....only 4 months old!

Alaina and I
A beautiful group of young ladies at the graduation party.
My dear friend, Dayna...I was so happy and surprised to see her here today!!! She and her family will be leaving for Mozambigue, Africa in only 4 days....they will be there for at least 2 years with the ministry "Samaritan's Purse". It was so nice to visit with her and her family today! I will really miss you, Dayna!
The Whitlock family! God bless you all on your journey and your adventures in Mozambique!!!! We'll miss you and will be praying for you!

~So ends this very LONG post....hey, it was a very LONG weekend!!!! Tomorrow, the girls are working 12 -5pm, and we're all getting preparations ready for a special garden tea party luncheon with Meghan's closest friends on Tuesday.... I'm off to bed.....God bless you all! ~Sue~

Happy Sweet Sixteenth birthday, Meghan!

My baby girl is 16 today! Seems like yesterday that she was the precious newborn in these photos...my cherished, long awaited little girl! We tried so hard and long to have Meghan...to conceive a child....2 1/2 years....but a lifetime of waiting....all I had ever wanted was to be a wife and mother, and the day that Meghan was born, both came true! I was a mother at long last, and she was such a precious little 6 lb bundle!

Meghan Mary 7 weeks old

Meghan 8 months old

Now this morning...the morning of her 16th birthday....time has flown way too fast! Just as precious to us, but how grown up she is...and all she, too, wants is to be a wife and mother someday....

The "Blueberries"! That is what Meghan and Ronnie call themselves...as Sara & Anna are the "Brownies"!
The long awaited "Hopechest"! Meghan has waited so long for this! This Lane cedar chest belonged to a friend of mine from church, and it was her mother's hopechest. It is a 1930's Lane. It was 70's burnt orange when we got it, and my mother, step-dad and I tried stripping it...but the orange had sunk into the wood...so we primed it, and painted it ivory....perfect! A friend of my mom's stencilled the ferns on it, and trimmed it with 14 karat gold paint as the finishing touch.

Meghan's first reaction! Tears!

Tears, excitement and laughter...this has been a secret for many, many months!
Along with the hopechest, we of course, put some things into it! Meghan has been collecting things for her hopechest for a few years now, and storing them in mine. It is almost half filled already and I have a feeling that, like me before her, she'll fill it, empty it, and fill it again and again before she finally gets married and moves it into her new home.

~Happy Sweet Sixteenth Birthday, our precious daughter!!!! We love you so very, very much!~

Love, Mum and Dad

New Friends For the Littles

Yesterday Meghan, Gabrielle, and I went to our nanny job. This time, however, we took Anna. She had so much fun playing with the little girls that we watch, and Ronnie spent the day with 2 "guy" friends of his, doing a shooting gallery, playing action figures and Wii...they both had a lot of fun! Here is some pictures of the fun we had with the girls: face painting (done by yours truly), jeep rides, tents, and corn dogs :) FUN! Anna had alot of fun, and here are pictures to prove it! Playing in the Tent
Nicole, Anna, & Noelle

Eating Lunch: corn dogs, yogurt, and chocolate milk... yum :)

Smiley Faces in the Tent
Natalie and I

Quote for the day.....

Faith in small things has repercussions that ripple all the way out. In a huge dark room a little match can light up the place.

Joni Eareckson Tada

A "Thrifting" day in Pleasant Hills!

We went thrifting!!! Meghan, Sara and I LOVE,LOVE thrifting...it's like a treasure hunt for us, and the Lord ALWAYS provides for us thru these outings in one way or another. Today was no exception! Along with pants that are long enough for Ronnie but will fit his skinny waste, and jean skorts perfect for active little Anna....these are some of the things that the girls and I found:Sara's personal sense of style is eclectic...sort of like her! She likes what she likes and it all represents her. Check out her bubble yum t-shirt! I remember when this gum first came out!
Sara, being Sara, had to get this Hershey's chocolate t-shirt as well....the other day she snagged a Beatles t-shirt, too!

Gabrielle found this very "Audrey Hepburn" type dress....and another beautiful pale yellow eyelet dress....she was so happy as she sometimes has trouble finding clothes that fit properly since she is so petite.

Meghan found this very cute black and white dress as well...and it looks so cute on her!
I had been looking for just these 'anti-maccassars' for the tops of our recliners, because this is where the cats like to rest. At $2 each, they were a steal!
And....these very little glasses will be perfect as "kombucha" glasses or "green lemonade" glasses....just the right size for a small serving. (for those in my family that don't like huge glasses of either one of these drinks....or for our friend Sarah Calvetti, who doesn't relish them, either!)
Unfortunately, I have been dropping glasses lately and breaking them. My wonderful step-mother is the queen of yard saleing....she found these glasses for me...and made sure they are NOT glass! She also snagged this big enamaled roaster for me as well.

After our thrifting, we drove around Pleasant Hills taking pictures of all the places that Gabrielle's mother and grandparents used to live and do things. Here is Gabrielle popping up thru the sun roof to get a picture...we laughed so hard! She was like a jack-in-the-box, popping up to take pictures....and it was pouring down rain, too!
One of the places we stopped...the Arboretum....where Gabrielle's mom used to sled ride when she was little!
Sara, my family photographer, thought this was pretty cool.
When we were all done, Gabrielle insisted on treating Meghan, Sara and I to Rita's for italian ice. Sara, again, being Sara....bought her own 'blendini'...what a nice, sweet way to refresh ourselves after our day of thrifting, photos and fun!Of course, the girls had to model for us when we got home! Sara's fun new shirt!

Gabrielle and Meghan's black and white elegance....now, we will have a relaxing evening watching "Hidden Places".....goodnight!~Sue~

Stepping Heavenward....

Stepping Heavenward is the new study that our "Maiden's" group is doing. Looks like it will be a really great study...lots of scripture application, and a great work of classic literature for the girls to study as well. We had the chance to introduce Gabrielle to a lot of our special friends.

Gabrielle and Meghan Our great group of young ladies last night! We had a few additions such as Gabrielle and the William's cousin, Hannah, who were visiting....as well as the Calvetti girls, Sarah and Rachel, who are joining our study...I tried to get all the girls in the picture, but you can barely see Courtney on the end! Sorry, Courtney!


But...here is Meghan and Courtney! (we were talking about Meghan being one of Courtney's bridesmaids, and I had to snap a quick photo of these smiles! They lit up the room!

I also had forgotten to take a picture of the memory quilt that I had made Courtney for her graduation, so thought I would post this as well.

(I'm sorry Sarah....but I had to! This was such a funny picture of you and Emily fooling around and having fun...perfectly describes both of you!)

Hannah Williams and Sara....they really hit it off, discovered a lot in common and are already emailing each other! Hope we see a lot more of Hannah when she comes to Pittsburgh to visit!
And our Michaela and Bella!

~What a great time we had last night! (after driving thru a monsoon to get there!) Our studies might only be once a month, but they are pretty thought provoking, challanging at times, and bring both the girls and their mothers closer to God and to each other. We've been talking a lot about accountability...and how important it is for each of us to have accountability in our lives and our Christian walks....for us, a big part of this is our Maiden's group. Looking forward, already, to next months! ~Sue

Sisters

My friend, confidante, sympathetic listener
You have been by my side,
through it all,
when I seem small
thru far and wide.

My sister, you keep to me
The love you show is completely true
And I show it back to you.

I LOVE YOU MEGHAN!