Farewell Dibello's

Today was the day of packing into the truck, and getting ready to drive back to Missouri - somewhere on the Lakes of the Ozarks... It doesn't seem like it's been 7 years since I met you guys... it's just been three kids for you and for us... a few different houses... a few different jobs...annual trips to Atlanta to see the Braves ( Kasi and I taking turns going while pregnant ) and a whirlwind trip to Europe going where ever the mood took us. I know we wont be two hours apart anymore but there has to be an airport near you or a major league ballpark for us to meet at for a weekend. Take care of yourselves and we will see you soon. Lots of love and luck to all the Dibello clan!

( I must say that these are old pictures -- we all are a lot thinner but have more gray hair! )

Watch out Emma

Now that Hope is 3 years old, she is ready to take over, even in her sleep. It's great getting these shots and no squirming or complaining about smiling... just click and save for later..............

July 21st - Happy Birthday Hope!!

Hope is 3 years old! We have been testing her making sure she is getting the right number of fingers up. What could be better than cake and ice cream for breakfast on your birthday??? We went to Roanoke for grandma Rachel's family reunion and since we were going to leave afterwards we had cake and ice cream with Meemaw and Granddaddy and grandma Rachel. Hope love the flip flops she got because they were just like sissy Rachel's... and the ultimate experience for a kid, her meemaw and g-daddy took her shopping, just HER... no mom or dad to tag along, she came back with a Bratz doll, a Belle beauty head and a tee shirt with a cool peacock on it. Not too shabby! Hope also got birthday cards with some moola to spend next weekend at the Knoxville Zoo from her wonderful CT Grammy, Grandma Rachel, Grandma Mary and Ms. Theresa and family!!!

The renuion was, for the first time in my seven year experience, not a sweltering middle of July event! it was a mere 80 degree's and sunny. We saw a lot of people who we recognize and have no idea their names, ate food, played at the park with the girls and looked at some old pictures. One of Cheryl's cousin's had some photo albums with David about 8 - 10 years old... lots of snickers from the girls, got to love those late 70's early 80's fashions... triple stripped tube socks to the knees should say it all. And Cheryl was a hot mama in her shorty gym shorts with the traditional white pipping around the edge, again another fashion icon of the time.

All survived the trip and ended the day with yet another piece of birthday cake and a candle.

Happy 3rd Birthday Hopie

Creeper Trail / Puzzle Finale

Last night dad took the girls to the Creeper Trail to run off some energy, I have a lingering cold that the rugrats passed on to me from bible school last week and stayed home to lay low. Emma and Hope are in front of one of the many horse barns that run along the trail, further down and on the other side of the trail is open pasture land that holds I'd guess more than few hundred horses - they sure had a lot of foals this year. While the rest of the familly was getting out, I sat on the back porch and finished the 1000 piece puzzle, sadly sans Rachel, so I did promise I would take a picture so she could see that " NO REALLY - we weren't missing any pieces !!! " I will pick up another one for the next weekend you are here, I really had fun doing it with you and annoying you by singing trendy songs that got stuck in your head... it's part of the parent code, we DO get to annoy our children on occasion, much to our delight! But I really just love hanging out with you, you sure are growing up to be some young lady!

Sunday 15th

We got a call last night from another member of our church, and they were asking if we would do the reading at church today. In our church, our Pastor Robert has someone else read the scripture that goes with his sermon on Sunday, so we agreed to take over and Rachel volunteered. When she called Robert she found that it was Luke 8:26 - 39, oh about 3 paragraphs.... but she is soooo good, got right up and read clear and loud no problemo. I can only fathom what I would of done at 11 years old in front of the congregation... I still get jitters when I have to do it now.
After church we had lunch and Rachel and I headed to the theater to catch Harry Potter, to which we ended up sorely disappointed as the film broke... and our choice was refund or Rataoullie. So we headed to see Remy again, funny but NOT HP!
Dad had the girls while I took Rachel back to Blacksburg, he is in the church league and they had their playoff game at 5... they won their game and now will have the championship game on this Sunday. It will SSPC against Suburban Christian Church whose coach just so happens to be our neighbor Bill across the street. Yikes, what are the odd's of that? small town life.

Saturday 14th

Had a big weekend! Emma and Hope had a party at Munchkin Park, their Sunday school class met to play together at the park, have lunch then end with ice cream sundaes.... it was a great Saturday morning. I checked in with Daddio and Rachel to see what they were doing and Rachel said they were at the mall about to hit the arcade... I think mom got the short straw there. We got home and got the girls down for a nap and then headed out to see our friend ( and Emma's prek teacher ) Delana get married. She and Kayle got married at Cumming Cabin which was the original building for our church, Sinking Spring Presbyterian. They both dressed in Civil War time dress. Then we headed back to St. Thomas Espicopal... which is next door to our church for some cake. I stayed to help clean up and dad took the girls home to change then play at the theater jumping place (jumpy place - large blown up jungle gyms that the kids get to run and jump over - covered with netting - parents aren't allowed - kids' and parent dream, cheap easy fun for kids) we met at home where Rachel has helped me put together a 1000 piece puzzle... I did all the sand ( yes, sand pieces ) and Rachel did the amuzement park scene... it's so cool that she is getting older and we do more things together - I had a great evening teasing her and putting annoying songs in her head, and I got great labor in the puzzle. meanwhile, daddio had the two rugrats upstairs making pizza and getting flour and cornmeal all over the kitchen... i think it was a satisfying evening had by all.

Vacation Bible School - Friday

We ended VBS last friday... we have a program for the parents and the kids get to stand up and sing or talk about what they learned during the week. I ended up teaching the pre-k class and since Hope knew I had Emma she joined the big kids for the rest of the week. Dad came to the show and watched the girls sing. I really need to thank, Janet our director for getting the CD's of all the music we learned for each kids family... can't tell you HOW MANY times we have listened to Lift Off! I know,it's great for the girls but it sure isn't Clapton!

This post is rated PG-13, due to some mature themes, I would suggest skipping ahead to the cute pictures, which are plentiful. Well, not much I can say about these pictures or your decision to keep reading this post. Speaks for themselves, I believe. The evening started out innocently enough, ice cream on the porch, watching the much needed rain fall. Minutes later it devolved into this, strangely without provocation from their mother or me. I cannot prove but suspect they secretly watched our 28 Days Later DVD and felt they are uniquely suited for a life of zombie-dom. Hope is tough, ages of falling over air and other non-existent obstacles, she totally would be able to roll with the punches and absorb whatever injuries a life of terrorizing the living would bring. Both, also, are obviously oblivious to the stigma of being, frankly, pigs. Some zombies would get freaked out over the fresh kill aftermath and the effect it would have on their clothing, but not these two. Heck, I can safely say, they would revel in it.

Vacation Bible School
it's VBS time for the Shockley's....... Emma is in her pre-k class and Hope gets to participate this year in all the activities. Mom is already tired and was a little distressed to see that the calendar says only Tuesday! Volunteering at your home church is something to do with a joyful heart and a smile ... and perhaps a cold iced beverage at the end of the day to enable mom to do it all again tomorrow. Everyday they are posting pictures on the church website http://www.sinkingspring.org/scrap.htm
feel free to check it out. Monday we all wore Yellow and as far as I can tell it's only myself that made it on the scrapebook page, a few are on there for Tues/Purple and you can see Emma in her purple/white stripped dress but her hat is covering her face. I'll keep all grandparents updated on the kiddo's. Everyone say a prayer around 9 am this week for mom.

Well is was quite a hot weekend so after Dad helped do lots of manual labor at church and mom and the girls hit some yard sales... we packed a bucket of chicken and headed to Bear Tree Lake in Damascus, VA. We heard about it from our neighbors who have only been around here a little while - they go everywhere and explore all over and then tell us where to go - they are retired and free to move around - where we work still and have 3 children to transport. It's always good for a laugh... well, you take 'the road to Damascus'.... sorry, I've got a lot of bible study under my belt now. Well the drive was beautiful, the lake was in the national forest, cold and rocky but no crowd which was nice. Ice cream on the ride home and a nap for Hopie.... what else is needed.

Beautiful Princess ???

Since the said frog has been dually named -- Rosemary/Ariel -- we must assume that it is a girl frog and will become a beautiful princess upon getting a kiss... but seeing as big daddy is reluctant, unlike his girls, to kiss the frog we will never know. Thanks to CT Grammy for the tip on making the frog a house so it will continue to hang at the Shockley house. Unfortunately for the frog the girls found her and still are not quite adept as holding her, therefore she suffered several drops from about 4 feet last night. It's quite possible she packed her bags and headed next door to the retiree's house, poor Rosiel.

July 4th Fireworks

The first year we were in Abingdon Dad took Emma to see the fireworks in town. Unable to get to the Coomes Center itself he found a great spot to watch the works at the parking lot of the movie theater, so last night we packed up chairs, popcorn and drinks and headed out. It was quite a long show - budget must of increased this year but dad got some good shots of the fireballs........! Happy Independence day everyone.

Happy Birthday Lando....and Country...

Well, I'll give you a hint, cause I'll be darned if I can tell them apart. The first picture is my new nephew, Lando, new to this world yesterday along with a photo of his namesake.

The similarilties don't end with the physical likeness, oh no, there are many more:

1. Calrissian is Baron Administrator of the floating cloud city and tibanna gas mine on the gas giant planet of Bespin. If he is anything like his Daddy, Lando will form his own gassy planet in Rock Hill, S.C.
2. Calrissian was conned into hunting down the valuable Mindharp of Shara in the Rafa system. When he arrived, he found it totally covered in sand and plastic pyramids, and inhabited by a dull and slow-witted society. Landon will, similarly, find he has been dumped into a slow-witted society.
3. During the Corellian crisis, Calrissian went on a galaxy-wide hunt for a rich wife. Well, I guess that is the similarities end, although Jenny is rich in other areas.

So, good job Brian and Jenny! Good looking kid to enter your stable of other good looking kids. Get that 'stash growing, Lando.

Retro Pictures

In looking for our oldest digital pictures, I found first a set of Rachel and Emma playing in the leaves and remembered a more recent set of Emma and Hope in the leaves and felt this would be a good place to start introducing our older pictures of the girls. Poor Hope doesn't understand when we go through the old boxes with pictures of Rachel as a baby and a little girl and Emma as a baby, she asks where are her pictures??? the reply of 'on the computer' just doesn't cut it. So enjoy the first look back that I will try and slide in between the here and now postings. I think we got the camera right around Emma's first Christmas/birthday so that would be the first part of 2003. I can't wait to see more of how the little bits of my heart have grown up. I so love my girls, what a lucky Cake-momma I am.

Hokie Grandad

Here is a picture for Grandaddy Dave! We thought about you when we were getting Rachel from VT last week, and saw the Hokie bird in the Squire's student center, been a few years since you went to school here eh?

June 30 Backyard Bash

We left Roanoke after breakfast with the whole family and made it back home. Saturday night was going to be a party for our friend Delana who is getting married in 2 weeks. All we have to mention is that we are going to Ms. Holt's house and everyone snaps in line. Gypsy Holt is the director of our church preschool, my boss, was Emma's prek teacher, grandmother of Jeni, Emma's best buddy and an awesome lady. It had been raining all day ( first rain in WEEKS ) and I pictured her outside pointing to the heaven's asking for a break for the cookout and sure enough 30 minutes to dinner time Fred was able to put up the tarp and wipe off the chairs. Kids had fun running endlessly - eating junk - getting dirty in the mud - and celebrating Ms. Delana and Kayle.

June 29 - VA TECH Pickup

After spending two weeks as a college student learning about lots of math and science we were able to get Rachel and rescue her from dorm life dynamics... cafeteria food, roomate issues and dealing with camp couselors who woke up the kiddo's on their last day at 4am with a bull horn asking "what did you learn...? nothing replied the sleep starved girls in her dorm... well then you must need another week of camp, we already contacted your parents so they will come get you next Friday." Just kidding they laughed and left the girls with their mouths gaping.

After I think 3 trips to her room, Dad had Rachel's stuff packed in the car ready to visit Meemaw, G-daddy and the great grandma's..... -- gave dad and I the horror's thinking about when she really goes off to school, like middle school isn't shock enough this year. We had a good time playing with the grandparents, going out to eat, and heading over to the mall to let the kids play on "jumpy thingies..." which was fun till the two little one's cracked heads, no Emma, we can't put a band aid on your tongue.