I Entered My 30s Today!

The Party Group

(Ed, John, Emerson, Pat, Mom,

Sawyer, Megan, Jason, Ainsley,

Cooper, Matt, Beckett, Erica & Dad)

For my 30th birthday Jason surprised me with a party at a place called Jillian's in Indianapolis. Almost all of my immediate family was there...we were missing Valeri, Morgan and Brian. We missed you! Jason had planned it all out. Everyone would meet up at Jillian's, have dinner and then go bowling upstairs.

Sawyer and Mommy

The kids loved bowling. It was my kids' first time, Erica's kids has bowled before. They really did well. One of our lanes had bumpers and towards the end of the game the kids used the ball ramp to get the ball down to the pins. Emerson even bowled a strike and Ainsley was the clean-up bowler. Cooper was the power bowler and showed the girls how it was supposed to be done. Sawyer was unsure what the objective of rolling the ball down the lane was but never passed on a turn to push the ball down the ramp.

Mommy and Emerson

So far, I love my 30s. My 20s were wonderful! I was talking with a friend who wondered if I was dreading turning 30 and I said, "I accomplished so much in my 20s (graduated college with a BS and a MEd, got married, had two children, got my first real job with insurance & retired from the outside of the home working world) that I can't wait to see what happens in my 30s. Life is good and I wouldn't change anything!

Emerson, Me, Sawyer & Jason

Aunt Marguerite is 94 Years Young

Yesterday we spent some time with Aunt Marguerite at the nursing home in Muncie where she lives. It was her 94th birthday and I wanted to see her again. I have seen her a couple of times over the past year and a half but not enough. When we arrived (Erica, her kids, Dad, my kids & myself) she knew who Dad was by name and Bon and me by face. She never called us by name but did talk to us and the kids like she knew who we were. It was so good to see her and talk with her. Emerson and Sawyer warmed up to her immediately and sat next to her and interacted with her during the time we were there. Sawyer loved playing with her walker and Aunt Marguerite just played with him. I am so thankful that we took the time to go and see her and to have pictures of the kids with her.

Great-great Aunt Marguerite,

Grandpa David & kids

Sawyer Jacob

Our, Sawyer Jacob, is 17 months old. The time has flown by so quickly but each and everyone moment has been one to enjoy. He is a rambunctious, adorable, loving, & 100% pure boy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Just the other day I turned around to find Sawyer on top of the kitchen table trying to get some food that Emerson had left. He is learning to be a good listener because we are always saying Sawyer please sit down and don't climb on the table.

I love my little boy and joke that I don't know if I could handle another little boy. He truly is a Mama's Boy in every sense of the word and I love every minute that he coddles with me. He is getting so big but is still so little at the same time.

His favorite play toy is whatever Emerson is playing with at the time. They really play well together. Sawyer is learning to be a very good assistant chef and daddy, thanks to what big sis likes to play.

Party Day for the Princess

Today was Emerson's 4th birthday party and she was so excited for her friends to come (cousins Cooper, Ainsley & Beckett) that she had to wear her Cinderella dress from the moment that she finished breakfast. She really had a wonderful birthday party. Ggma & Ggpa, Grandpa David, Grandpa Ed & Grandma Pat, Honey & John, Aunt Erica, Uncle Matt & the cousins, Mom, Dad and Sawyer Jacob were all there. She received outfits to wear to her tap lessons, a couple of movies, some books on tape, 2 outfits for school and a doll.

The birthday cake was unbelievable...HUGE! I over planned a little bit and wanted to make sure that we had enough of everything and we sure had plenty of cake. But it was Tinkerbell and that was what Emerson wanted. I think next year will be making the cake.

After the food had been eaten, the cake cut, and the present opened it was time to go outside and play water balloon toss. The kids got so into it that at one point Cooper and Emerson were chasing me with water balloons. It was a lot of fun until we were down to the last water balloon and Sawyer had it. Needless to say, someone took it from Sawyer so he was crying, Emerson was crying because it was the last one and Cooper was chasing everyone with it.

Princess Emerson is 4

Our little Princess Emerson is 4 years old today. The time has flown by so quickly. At dinner the other night Jason and I were talking about how 4 years ago we were sitting in the hospital waiting to be induced. Emerson asked, "Where was I?" We answered with Heavenly Father and she was okay with that. A few minutes passed and Jason said to Emerson, "When you wake-up in the morning you will be 4. She thought for a minute and then wanted to know how she would go to bed 3 and wake-up 4. Jason told her that the birthday fairy would come when she was sleeping and sprinkle fairy dust on her that would make her older. Emerson then commenced in rapid fire questioning of both Jason and me about what this fairy looked like, how big was she, had we seen her before, when would she come, how would she get into the house, who would let her in and would any of us see her? We did our best to answer each and every question she had but I don't think we did all that well because at bedtime she was still asking more of the same type of questions. Once she was in bed Jason looked at me and said, "I should have known that I couldn't just tell Emerson that a birthday fairy would come & she'd accept it. I just thought it would be something cute to tell her." We learned our lesson..think like an inquisitive 4 year old not like an adult.

When Emerson got up she completely walked past her presents into our bedroom and when we wished her a happy birthday she walked out of the room and said, "Where are all of my friends?" Once we explained that it wasn't her party day she was ready to open the presents. We even had to light a candle and put it into her cereal so she had a candle to blow out.

Delray Beach

Jason. the kids and I spent an additional week in Florida following the Disney week. We asked Jason's parents to trade in a week for us in Delray Beach. It was heaven! Jason had never spent a lot of time on the Atlantic Coast of Florida so he was excited to get his feet in the Atlantic Ocean. Emerson loved the beach from the moment we arrived. Sawyer wasn't too impressed to say the least. He preferred the pool at the condo to the sand between his toes. By the end of the week he was covering his self from head to toe in it.

Jason enjoyed watching Emerson and Sawyer follow in his footsteps in being Shellers...liking to pick up seashells. Emerson liked it so much that we rarely were able to take a walk of any distance because she was always lagging so far behind that we constantly were stopping and waiting on her. Sawyer wanted carried whenever we took a walk and whomever got that job was then covered in sand thanks to Sawyer.

I met several really neat ladies at our condo. Jason gave me a hard time about gabbing so much. He was always saying...Megan when I looked over at you, you were talking away. What can I say...I have the gift of making friends wherever I go!

No one wanted to leave Delray Beach...I wanted to buy a condo there so we could vacation there again next year, Sawyer hated to see the pool vanish from sight, Emerson cried because she had to leave the friends that she had made, and Jason didn't want to come home to return to work. I think this was one of the best vacations!

Makeover Day

When we planned our Disney vacation we knew that Emerson would love going to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and we were right. She couldn't wait for her makeover day to come. It was even marked on her calendar so she could count the days until she went. Grandma Pat had purchased a Cinderella dress from a Disney website and had brought it to Florida to surprise Emerson with it. She was so excited that she had to wear it the night that it was given to her. She also wore it everyday up until her makeover.

Everyone went to Emerson's makeover...Grandma Connie, Grandma Pat, Grandpa Ed, Uncle Brian, Brandi (Uncle B's friend), Jason, Sawyer and myself. Emerson had chosen to be made up as a Disney Princess. She wore her new Cinderella dress and flip flops with sparkles. She completely enjoyed her pampering. Her Fairy Godmother (her stylist) put her hair into a bun with a a tiara around it, painted her fingernails and put make-up on her. She loved every minute of it and Sawyer...well, let's just say he was there!

Emerson received so many compliments on her dress as we walked around Downtown Disney that day! She looked exactly like Cinderella only smaller! She will always be our little Cinderella!!

We Made it to Disney World

What a day today has already been! It isn't even 10 a.m. on July 27th and Mom has already fallen out of our car and twisted her ankle. We had alreay decided that Mom and Pat were going to be shuttled around in wheelchairs so that they could enjoy the day and wouldn't be suffering afterwards. Mom's ankle swelled up immediately upon her falling.

Emerson was so excited once we got into the park that she could barely contain herself. The Princesses were performing on stage in front of Cinderella's castle so Uncle B grabbed her and took her up front for a front row seat. She got to meet Ariel and had a story read to her by Belle. She also got to meet Buzz Lightyear and rode Dumbo with Grandma Pat. Grandma Pat wanted to ride Dumbo with the grandkids from the moment that we began planning the vacation. Grandpa Ed wanted to go to the Tiki Room with Emerson and they both enjoyed the show. I would have to say that the Peter Pan ride was Emerson's favorite. She had everyone ride it 3 or 4 times.

Sawyer enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear ride and It's a Small World too. He was so good and finally just dropped at the end of the day in his stroller. He literally feel asleep on this tray.

I enjoyed my first trip to Disney also. It was overwhelming to watch my kids light up when they recognized a character from a book or movie. Jason too enjoyed his self and getting to see things that he hadn't since he was a kid.

Driving Through the Night

We decided to drive through the night to Florida since the kids would travel better that way. Boy were we ever WRONG! We departed our house at about 9:00 p.m. and had the kids already for bed. Emerson was asleep about an hour after we left and Sawyer dozed soon after. However, Sawyer then woke-up and became the co-pilot for Jason until 5 a.m. He slept only 1 hour from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. By then Emerson had woken up to tell Sawyer to quiet down a few times and then went back to sleep. Finally at 5 a.m. I climbed into the back and managed to get Sawyer to fall asleep while I slept next to him. When we arrived at Jason's cousins house the kids were no worse for wear. By time we arrived to the Florida border both kids were going 90 miles a minute. They did manage to stop long enough for the orange juice that is given out at the Florida Welcome center and for a picture with the Welcome to Florida sign. This was Sawyer's first trip to Florida and Emerson's third.