Nanny Shelby Part 3

We already miss this girl SO much!  I can't even begin to tell you what a blessing this girl has been for me over the past 5 weeks.  We had so much fun. We packed tons in over the past few weeks...water parks, memorials, ice cream outings,a beach trip, a carnival (homemade), sleepovers, bowling, etc.  I am so glad Shelbs was also our photographer. She got so many classic moments on camera.  The pictures are in no particular order. The only pics I need to include in a separate post are the ones from the beach.  I will cherish and remember this time forever!  Thanks Shelbs.  We love you.

My sweetie angel is 3 months today!  Love this bundle of chubbiness!

Shelby made and taught us a new game for Family Home Evening. It was a huge hit.

My Visiting Teacher and friend offered to watch the toddlers for a morning so Shelbs, Claire and I could tour some monuments. I LOVED the Iwo Jima memorial. It was so powerful and moving.  So glad we got to do this.

Then we headed to the Arlington Cemetery to see the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. Again this is one of my favorites! 

I couldn't believe how in sync the soldiers were as they marched in the changing of the guards.  It was so neat to think that they have someone guarding this tomb day and night. To me, it was symbolic of the security I feel in our nation.  I felt that if I were in need, I would be like the "unknown soldier" that people would protect and help.  I too would help out other people that I don't know.  If gave me a sense of unity and pride in our nation.

It was fun for Shelbs to come back to this place. This was an outdoor theatre behind Arlington cemetery where Shelbs sang with her high school choir 3 months ago.

Oh my, need I say anything? 

He nuts!

My two sweet girls.  Emmie just adores her baby sister. It is so precious to see their relationship grow! Claire always smiles for Em.  She usually cringes around lukie, but ya know, we are working on that!

Shelbs created a carnival for the kids one afternoon. Here they are throwing water balloons into the storage bins

This was another game in the carnival: tossing balls in the bowls

Luke changed things up a bit at the carnival and dived right in! One of a kind carnival, eh? Nakie buddies!

We did some face painting at the carnival as well...

This picture is awesome to me!  I didn't see it when it happened because Shelbs took the pic.  Emmie put panties on her bear and made a special bed for him next to Claire Bear (one of her nicknames)

Claire had a ton of bonding time with Auntie Shelbs!  She always cooed and jabbered a lot for Shelbs.  I didn't understand it because I would come over and she would stop talking!  She had a lot to say to her Aunt.  Then, one day I walked in the door and Claire was laughing way loud at Aunt Shelby!  It was the cutest thing and her first big laugh. She hasn't done it since.

Oh my, this girl is CWAZZZY.  Love it.  She always comes up the most awesome outfits (for her and for Lukie like the orange amazingness above)

Story time! Shelbs got the mom routine down!  By the 2nd week she would manage all three kids no prob. It was so awesome for me. I got such a great break.

Luke picked this hat out at the dollar store. We went there to get some toys for the beach but he ended up only wanting a cowboy hat. It was so classic. And he couldn't even pronounce it when he kept asking over and over if he could have it. He would say "I want this Kye Boy hat". So cute! It makes me laugh every time.

This pic and the next one are both from the carnival. These stuffed animals were the prizes for the games.

Isn't she a sweetie? We are thinking she looks more Marsden.  Yay!

We went to a neat splash pad.  The first time we went there we got shut down (more of Shelb's bad luck she claims). The water wasn't running because of the power outage.  But we found another great spray pad that day and it turned out great. We really wanted to come back to this one when it was open.  We made it!  The kids had a blast.

Claire was so stinkin hot though, so she hung out in her diapie. That is becoming more of a norm out here. I love her pinky up pose :)

Shelbs took both kids on an "ice cream date" where they could have one on one time with Shelbs.  As you can see, Em wasn't excited at all about this idea!

And then Shelbs surprised them and let them pick out toys at the store too! Lately Em has been into those ridiculous jewerly/makeup sets. You know the ones I'm talking about where the plastic watches and bracelets last for about 5 minutes (literally the ride home in the car), and you wonder "who honestly makes these things and gets money from them?"  But then my daughter keeps wanting them! The one she picked up at the dollar store for our beach trip, was a "bridal kit."  It had this tiny flimsy cardboard square that looked like it had been cut from a cereal box that said "marriage license"  I think Luke chewed it up on the way home that time. 

WAHHOOOO!  Bubble bath time...

I'm proud of the appropriate nature of these pictures :)

Lukie's date with Aunt Shelbs! This boy is such a sweetie

He was SO excited about his "squirter"  We have been saying lately "everybody needs a Lukie in their home"

Look at that face!  Now THAT is worth the 4 bucks for sure!!

Pizza time :)

Another day we went to this really cool waterpark.  It was pretty small but just perfect for the kiddos.

It was an overcast day so Claire stayed cool. She is such a good baby and just waited patiently in her carseat while we all swam

Another rainy day. The kids and Shelbs headed for the park to play in the puddles

Afterward they hit up some more ice cream. We are serious ice cream eaters around here.

We don't even go for the kiddy cones!.....

These cones were as big as their heads!!

The Saturday before Shelbs left, we went out to dinner for some Greek food. Shelbs had never tried out a gyro, so we took care of that first time experience. It was a success!

Then after dinner we went bowling! The kids LOVED their shoes. I think they liked stomping and dancing on the floor more than rolling the ball.

Everyone did a pose with their ball. I chose to include this pic of me and Claire instead. My "ball pose" was too embarassing and could not be documented!!

Saying goodbye to Shelby was one of the harder things I've gone through in the past chunk of my life!

The kids adore their Auntie Shelbs.  She will be VERY missed around here. She always has a home in Oakton Virginia now!

Scot and Sarah slept overnight after the blessing and drove Shelby up to NY where she could spend sometime with My bro Spence, his wife Diana and their 6 kids. My brother Scot and his wife Sarah are some of my favorite people right now. The night before they left, we played this fun game John A. gave us for Christmas: Rollick. We were literally on the floor dying because we were laughing so hard. It is similar to Gestures.  Anyway, I just love those guys. It was hard to say goodbye to family all at once.

We were definitely not tearless.  I just love my sis Shelbs so much!  She will never know how much her trip out here meant to me.  It has given me the strength and confidence to be the best mommy I can...even far away from my sweet family!  Her help came at the perfect time for me with adjusting to 3 babies.  I feel renewed and ready to take it on. Thanks Belbers!  As a side note:  We got several comments while she was here that went something like this: "Wow, you guys look exactly the same!"

Before they took off, Scot was playing "Superman" with the kids

Luke was loving all the "Big Dawg Scotty Boy" time

A few more pics of our sweet Belbers with Luke and Emmie...

We had a 'Farewell' party for Shelby with a treasure hunt and prizes. The kids had fun watching her find everything.

This is one of my favorite memories while Shelby was here.  We had a "sleepover" down in the basement.  The four of us Shelbs, me, Luke and Emmie were all laying side by side on these mattresses.  We started telling knock knock jokes and laughing and laughing at all the funny jokes the kids would tell. Then the kids would keep repeating the same jokes. It was getting late too so we were all slap happy. I honestly felt like I was a kid again at those sleepovers where you just keep each other up by laughing. I love this memory!  Love you Shellers! You rock those pink high heels girl!