Blueberry Bush Party!

Those are Eliana's words. Ellie and I had a "blueberry bush party" with her good friends Robertson and Simeon, and their mama, Ali. Every berry Robertson and Eliana picked ended up in their mouths, so they went home with empty buckets, but Ali and I picked a good bunch. Yum! I'm looking forward to some blueberry muffins, pancakes, smoothies...!

Saturday Fun...

Saturday wasn't the typical day of yard work because there was too much fun to be had! We went to my dad's company picnic during the day and then our friend Julia's wedding that night.

The family at the "picnic party", as Ellie says (the last one is of Eliana thoroughly enjoying her Cheetos):




At Julia's wedding with friends, Kim and Matt; and the bride and groom:

The best way to Nap...

...after a long, hard day at the beach. :)

Baby Shower!

It's that time in my life...just about done with any foreseeable bridal showers, and loaded with baby showers! I love it! This past Saturday I helped give a baby shower with my friends Ali and Melissa for our friend Suzanne. Ali and I were friends in high school, as were Melissa and Suzanne. The four of us met the first day of freshmen orientation at Mary Washington College (I don't like calling it University of...), and we have been friends ever since. Marie, another friend from MWC, was so sweet to make the long drive to come to the shower.


Melissa had a fun idea to do a 'onesie' theme. She handmade some very cute onesie invitations, Ali made a really great onesie cake, and we asked everyone to bring a onesie for the baby so we could have a 'greatest onesie' contest (and Suzanne could get a bunch of unique onesies for Lily!). Suzanne's baby, Lily Ruth, is due October 8th. We can't wait to meet Lily! One really cool thing about her name- 'Suzanne' means 'Lily'!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.perky/2008_07_18SuzanneSBabyShower

Overheard...

Stu: "Come here, Princess"
Eliana: "I'm not a princess, I'm just Eliana"

Road Trip

My mom, Eliana and I spent the week of July 4th in New Jersey with my mom's parents and two of her sisters and their families. We had a really nice time. Eliana was very excited to see G.G. and Papa, got especially attached to my Aunt Mary ("Oma, I love your sister Mary...where's Mary?"), and had a really great time playing with my cousin's kids, Clara and David. We missed fireworks last year, so this year was her first real experience with the "bright lights and boom boom that hurt [her] little ears"!

Check out the picasa album for more pictures. Remember, if you have a google account and download the free picasa software from google, you can also download any of my pictures into your account. It's pretty cool. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.perky/July08NJTrip

We have pictures of me and my brothers, about Ellie's age now, posing at these same trees.

Aunt Mary took us to the Bergen County Zoo. We had a fun little train ride around the park and saw some pretty neat animals.

Finally, a Beach Day!

It took me until June 25th to get to the beach this year. And I haven't yet been again. What a shame. Some beach bum I am! I guess I don't deserve that title anymore. I do still love to go to the beach, but it's awfully nice having a pool at home, and so much less effort is required to get to the water! I do feel blessed to live so close to the ocean, though.


My mom, Eliana, and I had a beautiful day. Ellie wasn't too sure about the waves, but she loved the water once we were past them! When I laid on my towel to read a book, Eliana wanted a book too. It was so cute. My little mimic.