Three's Company

As you may have guessed, we have a big announcement!  We are so excited to share that we will be adding another member to our family in April.  Emma and Ethan are very happy about their new sibling and have even put in gender requests - they both want a girl.  When I asked Emma why she wanted a girl, she said (without missing a beat), "because we already have a boy." 

Everything so far looks good, but we appreciate your prayers for a healthy and safe pregnancy.  Here is the first picture of our little peanut:

Summer of Chevron

Since Chris and I have been married, there has been one piece of furniture that we have never purchased - a coffee table.  Before kids, we thought that it cut our apartment living room in half.  After kids, we saw it as one less things for them to run into (although they still got that classic childhood experience of running full speed into a corner at some of our family's homes).  Well, we are now living in a house, and our kids are old enough and tall enough that their risk of poking an eye out has mostly passed.  I know - never say never, but, nonetheless, I started looking for a coffee table to fill in our living room a bit.  Since the price of a new coffee table is outrageous, I decided to look at garage sales for an inexpensive used one that I could refinish.  A few weeks later, we were at a friend's house for a play date and I noticed a coffee table in their garage sale pile.  She graciously gave it to me for free, and my project was born.

All of our living room furniture is black, but I wanted to do something with a little spunk.  I keep seeing all these adorable chevron patterns, so this was what we decided to do.  With the help of my amazingly talented Mom, we sanded, primed, painted, taped, and sealed our very first chevron coffee table. Here are some pictures from the beginning to the end of our project:

Before sanding

 

After sanding

 

Painting the black base (we also bought a children's table and chair to refinish)

 After taping - probably the most time consuming part!

Painting the chevron stripes

The finished product!

The finished product in our living room

I loved the way it turned out, and I'm thinking there might be some t.v. trays that need to be refinished!  What do you think?  Do you have any projects this summer that you've been working on?

Little Fishies 2012

After a busy week of VBS, we headed into two busy weeks of swimming lessons!  This year, she took lessons at the pool that I learned to swim at.  She started in Level 2 (since we took lessons in Louisville last year) and had a blast!  She did have a little bit of first day jitters (new state, new pool), but she had two wonderful teachers who were patient and kind.  By the last day, she was not only swimming the front and backstroke, she was jumping off the diving board in the deep end!  She was tested on Thursday and she passed Level 2.  

Friday was "Fun Day" and she went down the water slide with a huge smile on her face.  While Emma swam, Ethan and I watched from the baby pool.  Papa even joined us for some of the lessons and he and Ethan had a great time chasing each other in the baby pool!  Here are some photos from the last two weeks:

Best Buds!

Ethan rocking his big sister's shades

Here she comes . . .

 

 She loved the waterslide!

Amazing Wonders Aviation

It's that time again!  It is hard to believe that it has been a whole year since the last VBS, but last week Emma, Ethan, and I traveled around the globe with "Amazing Wonders Aviation."  Clad in her pilot's goggles, Emma was very excited to "travel" to the different stations for the first time as part of the Kindergarten class, while I was a co-teacher in the First/Second Grade class.  The church was covered in travel-themed decorations - from airplanes and globes to waterfalls and rainbows, and the halls were filled with the familiar sounds of children singing the always upbeat VBS songs! It is always a great joy to not only have my children participate in VBS, but for me as well to be able to serve.  I cannot tell you how much I benefited from the children's ministry program when I was a child, and it is a privilege to be able to help to continue that ministry to a new generation.

Of all the stations, it is safe to say that Emma enjoyed music the most.  She knew all the motions (better than I did, I confess) and even got to perform some of the songs and motions on Sunday with the rest of the VBS kids.

Ethan spent his week in the two-year-old class and though he was a little reticent about leaving his Momma every morning, he had a great time.  He colored, sang, listened to a Bible story, and even got to play outside with the water table.  As an aside, I am so very grateful for the nursery workers who spend their week caring for the worker's children so we can participate in VBS.  Not only did they allow me to participate as a teacher, but they did such a wonderful job planning fun and creative ideas for them to do during the week.  Ethan left his class every day excitedly telling me of all the things he got to do that day!

Major Ethan Dilley

In addition to VBS last week, my brother and his family came to town for a visit.  It was a joy to be able to see them and play with my sweet nieces.  Emma, Julia, and Ethan spent a majority of their free time playing with each other in the pool, and we are already missing them!  

Julia, Emma, and Ethan going for a swim!

After 2 days of rest from VBS, Emma began swim lessons this week!  What a busy and fun summer it has turned out to be and there is quite a bit left!

Summer Break

It has been quite a while since my last post!  I took a short "Summer Break", but now it is back to blogging!  In addition to updates on our family, I hope to finally finish some book reviews for you!  I also have some projects I have been working on over the summer, so I'm looking forward to sharing those with you too.

This summer has been busy and exciting.  Last week, we celebrated a very HOT 4th of July with some friends from church.  There was plenty of kids and babies running around, and Chris was kind enough to stay outside with them when the rest of us were inside fixing the food, watching the little babies, and, let's be honest, enjoying the air conditioning!  Since it got so hot, they spent most of their time in the kiddie pool and sprinkler.  Here are some great action shots!

Go Ethan!

 Go Emma!

It wouldn't be the 4th without Daddy in his Patriots Jersey!

Needless to say, they were tuckered out by nap time!  After they woke up, we headed to my grandparent's house for dinner.  It is such a blessing to us to be able to live near and spend lots of time with them!  Emma and Ethan love to visit because they get to watch Tom & Jerry and eat suckers (classic grandparents).  I wish I had thought to take some pictures there, but I totally forgot because we were having too much fun.

Next this summer we have VBS and swim lessons!  Before I know it, I will be writing my "Back to School" post (perish the thought).  Until then, we hope you are enjoying your summer and will update you on ours a little more often.

Birthdays, Batons, and Bouncy Castles - Oh My!

June has been an eventful month for the Dilleys!  We started the month celebrating our little man's second birthday (can you believe it?) Ethan is very into Dinosaurs lately, so we threw him a Dinosaur-themed party, complete with a Dinosaur cake!  He loved turning two and had a great time eating, opening presents, and spending time with his family.  
 

Ethan's Dinosaur Friends

 

 Blowing out the candles!

Not too long after we celebrated Ethan's birthday, Chris and I celebrated our 6-year anniversary.  It is amazing to look back at our lives six years ago and to see what the Lord has graciously done in our lives.  We kept it simple with dinner and a movie, but, honestly, we love to sit and talk, so it was the perfect date!  I feel incredibly blessed to be married to Chris and am honored to be his wife!

 Date Night!

I was also blessed to be able to participate in a special event at our church a few weeks ago.  As some of you know, my former youth pastor, Patrick McGoldrick, was recently diagnosed with ALS (see post here).  This year, as we honored the last graduating class under his ministry, our pastor surprised Patrick with a tribute to his ministry and a charge to keep running hard after Christ.  Lining the auditorium, a student from each graduating class under Patrick, from 2000 to 2012, passed a baton that read "Keep the Pace" - a reminder to keep running hard after Christ.  I was incredibly honored to be the representative for 2002.  As the baton was passed last to Patrick, we were all humbled by what Lord has done and continues to do through the ministry of Patrick and Dena.

Finally, as school wraps up this year, Emma, Ethan, and I visited my Dad's class on Field Day, and were able to do something we had never done before - jump in a bouncy castle by ourselves!  The school had rented several large bouncy castles for the students, but during lunchtime they were unoccupied and Emma and Ethan were able to jump, jump, jump!  

 Bouncing Away!

Video of all the fun!

And June isn't even over yet!

Hogwarts, Class of 2025

It seems like just yesterday I was writing about Emma's first day of preschool, and now I am writing about her graduation.  Yes, I am one of those Moms who loves all the ceremonies and celebrations - even in preschool!

The day of her graduation was an eventful one.  We began the morning at the pediatrician's office with Ethan who somehow managed to perforate his ear drum (he will be fine, but he gave us quite a scare).  Then, I took her to National Coney Island where she enjoyed, what else but a Coney Dog!  One of Emma's favorite treats is going to a restaurant and getting a hot dog, so she was very excited.


Then, we picked up Nani and headed to her last day of preschool.  We had a great time playing on the playground and cooling off with some Popsicles.  Finally, it was the moment we couldn't believe was here.  Her teacher, Mrs. Grashik, called her up and handed Emma her diploma and read from a sheet with questions they asked her about Kindergarten.  We have gotten several of these sheets this past year about various topics (How to Cook a Turkey, Holiday Questionnaire, etc) and they have all been pretty humorous.  This one was no exception!  Pay particular attention to the last two questions:

That's right, magic!  We have absolutely no idea why she has magic on the brain, but she is most excited about learning magic in Kindergarten.  Look out Harry Potter, Hogwarts has a new student!

Nonetheless, we are so proud of our Emma.  It is amazing to see how much she has learned this past year in school and we are so looking forward to seeing how much she will learn in Kindergarten.  We are also so thankful for her wonderful teachers, Mrs. Grashik and Mrs. Kehrig and all the time and energy they poured into her this year.  Their patience and love for learning made Emma love school even more!

Four years ago when I held that beautiful little baby in my arms for the first time, I could not have imagined how much joy she would bring to our lives.  What a blessing it has been to see how the Lord has grown her into such a smart and beautiful little girl and we are so thankful that the Lord has entrusted her to us.  We love you, Emma, and are so happy we are your Mom and Dad.  Look out Kindergarten, here comes Emma . . .

Emma graduating!

 

Nani and Emma

 

Mrs. Kehrig, Emma, Mom, and Mrs. Grashik