Welcome! These are snap-shots and stories of our family as we grow! ~ We have two sweet little ones and are really enjoying this phase of our lives! Here's a peek...
The Royal Wedding Prince William and Catherine Middleton occurred on Friday 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England.
The wedding was to occur at 6 a.m. ET, which was a bit early for me. When I told Doug the night before I that I was going to set my alarm, he asked me if I was serious. :-) Liam was our alarm clock that morning, waking me up around 5:45 a.m. so he could use the bathroom. Once he used the bathroom, Ava got up. We were all up to watch the royal wedding together on t.v. The news leading up to the wedding focused on the event ad nauseum, but I was still excited to see the event. I remember watching Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s wedding when I was younger, with my Aunt Freda. I remember what an amazing event it seemed, at the time.
Kate’s wedding dress was exactly as I pictured it would be. I knew her arms needed to be covered for the church portion of the ceremony. She seems very fashion forward and poised. It is nice to see a couple who seem to be so in love. I could go on, but I will leave it at that. :-)
When we go into the grocery store and Ava sees any of the “commemorative” magazine editions celebrating the wedding of William and Kate, she always picks it up and wants to buy it. We haven’t bought one yet, but who knows…
Peace, love and fairytale endings, Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
Doug and I volunteered to help this quarter in the "Clubhouse" at church, during worship service. I help with the pre-K class, Doug helps with the 2nd grade class. We get every second Sunday of the month "off", during which we can sit in the auditorium.
A little girl sneezed the first Sunday I was helping, so I assisted her with a tissue and the never-ending snot she had coming out of her nose. One week later, I am sick as a dog. :( I missed a birthday party for Caleb Craig with the kiddos and Doug because I was awfully sick.
Here's to disinfectant and hoping we stay healthy for the next 2.5 months!
Peace, love and cootie-resistance, Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
I get a kick out of telling Liam "I think Mommy needs a kiss" when he's playing intently. I'm always curious to see what he will do, or if he will manage to pull himself away from his toys momentarily. Yes, I'm THAT Mom. :)
On Tuesday, he was playing with his trains (wait... when ISN'T that happening?) and tracks. I said "Liam, I think I need a kiss." I was on the floor, about three feet away from him, while he played.
He responded: "Mommy, I'm kind of busy playing with my trains, but I think I can give you a wittle kiss." He then proceeded to pucker up (fish-lips style), plant one on me, and go back to playing. He melts my heart when he does things like this! Not to mention that this is a pretty big sentence for him.
I love that he took time out of his "busy time" to plant one on me. I learn such big lessons from these little ones! I pray that I continue to learn from them.
The other day we were heading home from church, on our way to a Taco Bell drive through. The kids asked where we were going and we told them Taco Bell. Liam, fairly quickly, looking over at Ava, says "How about the Panda Bear restaurant (Panda Express)? Ava, you want to go to the panda bear restaurant? Okay?" It cracks me up that he is such a little adult at two years of age. He is SO BIG (physically) for his age. When people see him, they think he's probably somewhere around four years old. No joke. Try two. Three more months until the big #3 comes around. Fortunately he hasn't had any public two year-old" moments that require explanation, yet. We still have a few months...
Peace, love and big two year-old boy smooches, Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
New neighbors moved in during the week we were in Pittsburgh (beginning of April).They have a 15 month old little girl named Scarlett.The couple are Matthew and Kate Celender.She is an attorney.He is a stay-at-home Dad. It was cute; when they were looking at the house they purchased, they said they didn't see any kids playing outside, but did see evidence through some crafty chalk outlines and drawings. I'm sure Ava and Liam had a hand in that! :)
So now, out of of six houses within the cul-de-sac, 5 couples have kids 7 and under:Careys, Quinns, Kate and Matthew, Rosas and Arnolds. We LOVE our cul-de-sac and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.Normally after work we all seem to eventually gather in the cul-de-sac to shoot the breeze and let the kids play.Juice boxes are shared, toys are squabbled over, then shared and we all have fun.Looking forward to another summer of fun with all the kiddos.
Peace, love and more friends, Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
1. Georgia (born and bred :) 2. Florida (Memorial Day 2006 - Destin) 3. Alabama (Memorial Day 2006 + camping at Cathedral Caverns 2009) 4. Michigan (first visit at six weeks old) 5. Kentucky (first visit at six weeks old) 6. Ohio (Jen Clanton Holaday's house on the way up to Michigan) 7. Tennessee (First visited with Anita and Donald Prince at three years of age). 8. Nevada (March 2008, visited Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jeff, Carey relatives) 9. Virginia (April 2011, on the way to Pittsburgh, PA) 10. West Virginia (April 2011, on the way to Pittsburgh, PA) 11. Pennsylvania (April 2011, on the way to Pittsburgh, PA)
1. Georgia (born and bred :) 2. Florida (Memorial Day 2009 - Destin) 3. Alabama (Memorial Day 2009 + camping at Cathedral Caverns 2009) 4. Michigan (? first visit) 5. Kentucky (? first visit) 6. Ohio (Jen Clanton Holaday's house on the way up to Michigan) 7. Tennessee (Visited with Andy and Kathy Flanigan & attended Tiffany Prince Howell's wedding) 8. Virginia (April 2011, on the way to Pittsburgh, PA) 9. West Virginia (April 2011, on the way to Pittsburgh, PA) 10. Pennsylvania (April 2011, on the way to Pittsburgh, PA)
Peace, love and road trips! Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
True:On our first date, knowing Doug was an Architecture major, I asked him if he had a favorite building.The question made sense to me?He said no one had ever asked him that question.He said Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater” house was his favorite.
Doug had been on a tour of the Fallingwater house previously, although not the “extended” tour.When Doug recently mentioned that it might be fun to visit his Aunt and Uncle in PA, he thought it might also be fun to do the Fallingwater extended tour.We had to buy tickets a few weeks in advance. tour, or 4: p.m.. it was, which meant an EXTREMELY early wake-up call for us, because the house was about 2 hours away from the Schulers’ house.We woke-up at and headed out.We had laid-out the kids’ clothes the night before the day trip.The Schulers, Careys and Mike would be able to watch them, thankfully.
Doug and I stopped for some coffee on the way there.It was nice to just get away by ourselves.On the way there, I looked again at the “coffee table” Fallingwater book.We got to the entrance, which was still closed, 15 minutes early.Once the landmark opened, we checked in and waited for our tour guide. It was a little cooler as we approached the waterfall, but wasn’t too cold.I was surprised by the large number of native rhododendron plants on the property; they’re everywhere!I would imagine it would be absolutely beautiful when these flowers are in bloom.
We had a great extended tour, with only 4-5 other people attending. We learned about the history of the property, plans, construction, use of the rooms, etc. We even got to see the boiler room in the basement (not much to see, honestly). We visited the guest house above along with rooms that have been converted into working offices today.Seeing it in a book doesn’t do it justice.It is a house / structure that you definitely have to walk through to appreciate fully.
I can easily identify now, having seen this house, one house in particular that I’ve personally walked through, that use many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s ideas. (Copycat! ;-)
I didn’t expect for the view down from the terrace to the waterfall to take my breath away. It did. I'm not scared of heights, but when I peered over the edge, the view honestly took my breath away.
Aside from that, what impressed me the most?
- The Cherokee red “corner” windows that can fully open, thereby showing they are not dependent upon each other for structure / support.
- How the floor in the living area mimics the look of water rippling, moving.
- The window box over the stairway to the basement.I would LOVE THAT garden!
- The functional use of the internal stairway, as a bookcase.
- The steps leading directly into Bear Run.
- How few times FLW visited the site during the project.
- FLW’s use of sunlight through windows, situation of house on property, especially given how limited the number of his site visits.
- The furniture was designed / created by a navy shipping furniture company.
- The full mirror in the bathroom, which makes the bathroom appear double its size.
- The emphasis on living with nature and including it in daily life.
- FLW’s emphasis on having fewer clothes to fit the existing closet size.
- FLW’s use of different architectural styles within the same building (Southwest/Santa Fe on the upper balcony of Mr. Kaufmann’s bedroom).
- Hearing that the rocks were all quarried on-site.
- That even someone as seemingly “great” as FLW had such flawed structural work that cost millions upon millions of dollars.
- How egotistical FLW was.I knew this, but it seems the more I learn about him, the more egotistical he seems.
- How incredibly dramatic his personal life was.
- How much “volume control” there is regarding the sound of the waterfall by opening / closing the windows slightly.
- How much the structure needed to be shored-up, just to minimize existing damage (not to make it entirely level – which is impossible).
- That Mr. and Mrs. Kaufmann were FIRST COUSINS!
If you ever get the chance to go take the extended tour, I would highly suggest it!It definitely was eye-opening to me.We took our time after the tour, taking pictures and going to the gift shop. One of the women working there, upon learning that Doug was an architect, mentioned how lucky we are to live so close to such a piece of art.She said people come from all over the world to see this house.Many older architects, she said, actually tear-up when they visit, knowing that FLW was so impactful on the field of architecture.
We then left, going to a local Subway to eat lunch (there honestly weren’t too many places from which to choose-given the remote location of this house) and then headed back to the Schulers’ house.It was a great day trip!
