Our Wish List

Hello family (and friends)!!!  After a WONDERFUL tip from my super awesome friend Mandi... I have created an Amazon wish list for everyone in our little family of 4 (yes, even Sneeberton!).  It was so easy to create and I think it will be wonderful to share with you all.  If you're stumped on what to get any of us, just click on our wish list for all kinds of ideas!  The disclaimer to the wish list is... please don't feel like you HAVE to buy us a gift... also, the ideas on the lists are just that, ideas.  For example: I really want an air popcorn popper.  I haven't really done any research as to what is the best one or anything like that, so I merely just chose one off of the list when I typed in "air popcorn popper".  That pretty much goes for everything on the list.  Although, any character other than Spot, Barney or Elmo might not get the most excited reaction from Callie :)

 

I thought I would post this now... just in case anyone is looking for something special or is going shopping and wants to hit up some of those awesome Black Friday sales... you'd better believe I will be!

 

Click here to access the Van Court Wish List's

 

Also... Callie completed her last gymnastics class last Wednesday.  She did sooo well!  I'm considering finding another gym that she could take a class through.  Daddy made it to the last class, because ever since he visited the first time, the moment we got into the gym, she would look up into the stands and ask "Da?" wondering where he was so she could preform for him.  And what a performer she was with him there!  One of the other mom's and instructors noticed!  Here's a couple of photos "Da" captured.

 

Love and kisses to all.

 

 Bitty's first favorite of the whole gym... a big Little Tikes Slide!  I've been looking to get one of these for Christmas... but brand-new... they're almost $100... eeks!  I've got my eye out for a used one on Craigslist ;)

Doing her ribbon performance!  Her picked one to match her leotard!

 

 

My baby is SOO serious... just like her Da!

But silly mommy managed to tickle one little smile out of her :)

 

Married to my Roommate

As boyfriend and girlfriend... life couldn't have been better... and being engaged to this amazing man that was totally flawless was a dream come true... and the wedding... well, we all know what a fabulous fairy tale that was (my dad still might not know the final price of the fairy tale he paid for... oops!) but no one... not one person could ever possibly prepare me for marriage.  No one could prepare me for the ups and downs, good days and bad days... the harvests... or that big move to Salina.  I distinctly remember Phillip and I having a conversation, pre wedding, about how rude we thought it was for people to say to him "oh... you're getting the ol ball and chain, are ya?"  Or just negative comments regarding marriage in general... we swore we would NEVER be those people.  Well... just as the old saying goes... never say never :)

 

I think that in our short 3 1/2 years of marriage... we've already learned so much.  Mostly... we've learned... that this IS NOT easy.  Not quite the fairy tale I had envisioned, where I have my perfectly home cooked meal waiting on my immaculately clean table as my husband walks through the door with a handful of roses exactly at 6 pm every night and he whisks me off of my feet with a big kiss and an "I've missed you so much" line.  Instead... my perfect meal is usually a crumbled up mess that was supposed to be meatloaf... that is now meat crumble... the kitchen is a mess (because I tend to be a sloppy cook) and he's just barely coming through the door at a quarter till 8, and often times, we live, merely as roommates.  It's certainly not a fairy tale... and it absolutely is hard.  But we both agree that we had great influences growing up.  Both sets of my parents clearly loved one another more than anything else, they respected one another and never once raised their voices at one another in front of me.  I can't ever remember seeing my parents "fight".  And I'm nearly certain that no one could ever get Steve upset (he's the most patient man I've ever met!).

 

We also have received professional counseling, from Heather.  It's certainly not that we have any major life issues... its really just the every day disagreements that she helps us to see from different perspectives.

 

Now... all of that said.  I have the best marriage and life partner I could ever hope for.  He loves me unconditionally and his ambition (that truly is bittersweet... bitter because it drives him to be at the office more... but sweet because we are able to reap the rewards of his hard work and celebrate with him, he often says it would all be worth nothing to him if he didn't have Callie, Sneebie and I to share it all with) is something I admire so much.  We have said over and over again that we simply couldn't do life without each other... and I think Aunt Laura Alley's quote of "marriage is a give and take, sometimes you will carry the 70% of the relationship... and other times you will be the one to carry only the 30%" has stuck with us (ok, she definitely says it more eloquently than I just quoted her as saying!).  It's so true, there were many times when I was pregnant and too sick to get off of the couch (or off of the bathroom floor) to do anything... and he stepped up to do the laundry, cleaning and chores.  Then other times (harvest) it's all he can do to make it home to shower before he collapses into bed from exhaustion to catch a couple hours of sleep before he starts the day over again.  We simply couldn't do it without each other.  And right now... we are certainly on top of one of those marriage peaks and we're so blessed to be on each others team.

 

While he may not bring home those said roses... he does do little things that lets me know he loves me and chooses me first... like at the K-State football game, when he was in charge of deciding what snacks would be in the clubhouse, and he chose the delicious sugar cookies... just for me.  Or how for the Scoular Christmas party this year... he chose to have the dinner catered from one of our favorite restaurants (because I had previously mentioned to him how poor I thought the meals had been).  Then, just last night, he drew me a bath and put a glass of my favorite sparkling wine next to the tub so I could relax after Callie went down, while he finished cleaning my mess of a kitchen.

 

I am absolutely blessed.  Our God is an amazing God... and it's easy to see why He chose Phillip for me.

 

 So I'm sorry this one is a long, mushy one... but I got to thinking, after my girls night out, and we spent time together talking about how on Earth did these men survive before they met us... about what a great guy I have.  I love my Phillip David.

  

 

 The beautiful ring Phillip designed, had personally made, and hand chose each of the diamonds for.
(I recently broke two prongs on my center diamond -- eeks!-- and it was gone for a month being repaired... when I got it back... I remembered how amazing of a piece it is!  I love it, not only because it's gorgeous, but because every time I look at it, it reminds me of the commitment I made to my husband.)

 

Engagement photos

Oh to be that skinny again...

Pure bliss... What a magical day that was!

Love him!

I still love going back and browsing through these photos!

Our baby bump photos!  Just a week before little Miss Callie made her big debut!

That was one BIG tummy!!

I'm fairly certain Phillip is saying the same thing here!

 

 

Celebrating our sweet baby girl...

 

 

And this... taken just before church when Grammie Lou and Grandfather Steve came to visit.

Playing with the Long boys

Here is the video segment of the fun that was had this weekend at Great Grandma Wilks' 75th birthday party.  Granted, this fun refers to what was fun for the 4 year old and under guests that attended the party :)

 



Gramma Wilks' 75th Birthday Bash :)

This past weekend, Phillip, Callie, Sneeberton and I drove down to Derby to spend the day with the Meyer family to celebrate Grandma Wilks' 75th birthday.  It was a great time with delicious food and fabulous people to talk with.  It always seems like we can never spend enough time with anyone in our extended family, so to spend (most) of Saturday at Gramma and Grampa Meyer's house was so fun.  Callie loves playing with their dogs, Holly, Layla and Zoe and had so much fun getting to play with her second cousins Stockton and Riggin.  Truly, other than telling me what she wants to wear (she's very fashion savvy, you see)... she isn't the most girly girl in the world... in fact, she would rather play with any ball in the world instead of playing with a doll.  Luckily for her, Uncle Koltin had about 5 different kinds of KU basketballs (yes, not only was it a ball... but it had a "jaock" -- her word for Jayhawk-- on it too!) downstairs for the kids to play with as well as a HUGE over sized bean bag chair that the kids liked having Uncle Koltin throw them into.  We had a blast and even though I had to leave early (for a girls night out with Crystal, Jeannine, Paula and Sarah)... Phillip and Callie stayed a while longer because they were just having so much fun!

 

Of course I took photos!  And a video too (I'll feature that on the next post!)  So... enough with my rambling... Here's the good stuff!

 

(don't worry... I am having doubles printed for mom... and if anyone wants a particular photo, I will be more than happy to print it for you!)

 

 

Getting to the party early... meant time to play with all of Gramma and Grampa's fun things... like the dog kennel!  Here's she's saying "What mom?  It's not a ball kennel?  But I don't want my ball to get away while I nap!"  She has so much attitude!  AND... can you believe she's wearing shorts and short sleeves in November?!  It was 75 and super humid (and windy)!  Crazy weather!

I just can never get enough photos of these two!  Just wish my little weenie was in this photo too!

The birthday girl!  With her very own cake!  Yummy!

Gramma Long with her littlest grand baby, Addley, she's 6 months old and has more hair than Callie!

Great Aunt Cheryl and Stockton

The party crew... and Daddy back there attempting to get our little one to eat something...

Playing with the balls in the basement... SOOO fun!



She already has the men trained to help her get what she wants!  Big helper Stockton lifting up little Miss Missy onto the bean bag.

And perhaps this is where the fun really was... getting a photo of 4 under 4 with their Great Grandparents!  This was the best photo of the kids... but Gramma and Grampa were so distracting by all of the noise making to get the kids attention.

Another good one of the kids

 

 

And perhaps the best photo of all.  I love the way they're both laughing... because with these little ones... it's the only way to get through it sometimes!

 

 

 

 

Phillip and I talked about it later that day about how blessed we are to have so many great people that love us!  We had a great time!  Thanks for the party everyone!



Just for Baby Alex

And this video is for my littlest reader, Baby Alex Post... it's a video of a play date.  Callie had just woken from a nap, so please excuse her mess of a hair-do... also, you get to see my sweet little baby's terrible twos as she defiantly says "no" to me... such a bug!

 

A Halloweenie Video

It's so humbling to hear people tell me that they take time out of their lives to actually read the crazy things I write on this blog... what's more humbling is to hear that there are tiny eyes that like to see video too!  So, to appease my entire audience... here is a video of my little family trick or treating.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all my readers!

Grammie Lou and Grandfather

We had some super fun visitors over the weekend!  Yep, that's right, Grammie Lou, Grandfather and Penelope came to visit!  I won't bore you with how much I generally have to say... simply because I have too many photos to share!!!

 

 

 

When Miss Missy awoke on Friday morning, she was ready to play with her Grammie and Grandfather!!  First things first, she needed to explore her Grammie's purse to see what goodies she had in there!  First her found a necklace... her just knew her was beautiful with it on.  She was dancing and smiling at herself in the mirror while adjusting it so the beads would lay just right.

 

 

 

Then her found a brush... Her obviously needed one to control that crazy hair on her head!

And then came time to play with Grandfather... a little hesitant at first... she warmed right up to him!  Finally... the stranger danger phase is getting better!!!  Hooray!!!

Callie just LOVES the Spot books... so here is Grammie Lou reading her a couple that we checked out from the library.

 

 

 A trip to the park with Grammie and Grandfather.  Little Miss Bits was too busy watching ducks, kids and brother Sneebie to smile much for the camera.  But it's still a cute photo of the three of them! (and Penelope too!)

Callie just LOVED Penelope... she was so fascinated with a dog of Penelope's size!  Callie thought dogs only came in Sneebie's miniature size!

Saturday morning... Grandfather and Phillip watching auto shows...

And quite possibly one of the cutest scenes of the whole trip.  Callie climbing up into Grandfather's lap with a book.  Wanting to snuggle... and be read to.

That crazy ol Da!!!

 

 

 

But perhaps we should put a disclaimer on Grandparent visits... they don't get to stay for free!!  Here they are busily at work installing a "tip-out" drawer for under my kitchen sink (to store sponges, dish scrubbers, etc.)...

 

But seriously... they are wonderful and didn't really have to do this... but we REALLY appreciated it!  Thank you!  It is great when they come... because we always get a few extra things done around the house that we've been wanting to do.

Supervisor Cal, directing Penelope as to where her food bowl is.

 



 

 

And then comes the worst part of the whole trip... the goodbyes :(

A good Callie squeeze... one good enough to last until Christmas... and the photo says it all, as Grammie Lou soaks up every bit of that hug.

And a sweet "kissy" from Grandfather...

What a perfect trip... How loved and blessed our Sweet Caroline is (and us too!)

My little Cindy Lou-Who... Her is growing up so fast!

 

 

 

What a fabulous trip... and I'll say it again... how blessed we are.  Thank you for making the 1000 mile trek to visit us... it means more to us than you'll ever know!

 

On a side note, Great Faith Grandparents... our Salina photo scavenger hunt went so well!!!  I plan to do a blog soon including everything we found around town!

 

And finally... an open invitation to any Grandparents that want to come stay for a weekend... you're ALWAYS welcome!  Love and "kissy's" to all!