Creative Arts Camp @ Old Mill

Tomorrow is our last night at Old Mill Bible Camp. Matt and I got to be a part of a very special event this year. BACC , Old Mill and CFC (our home church) teamed up to put on a Creative Arts Camp. It began on Monday night with each of the kids choosing a team... Drumming, Step, Dance, Drama, Basketball and Art. They spent the week designing their costumes and working on routines that they came up with. Tomorrow night they will perform their routines for the other campers and counselors. We are SO EXCITED to see what they will do! It has been awesome to see these kid's get excited about something and feel that their contribution to a team is important. I cannot wait till tomorrow night!

that brand new role of DAD

a father's day post...

you may or may not know the full story of the "o'malley clan".
the long and short of it is that i fell for matt immediately...and in true matt o'malley style, my wonderful husband took a little while to come around.

basically i decided this was it, he was the one i wanted and no one was going to tell me otherwise...i dug my feet in and, well, the rest is history. although i may not advize other young women (and my daughter) to do it the same way... i have never regretted anything.
i saw the way this man prayed, the way he worshipped the Lord, the way his friends and others respected him and i said "that is the kind of man that i want to lead my family"
and now he is....
matt jumped into the role of daddy with two feet.

every time i watch aubrey and matt together i realize how lucky i am to be married to this man. she has a smile for him that she has for no one else. she lights up when i say that "daddy's home".... and she has rewarded all matt's hard work with a hearty "da-da-da-da" as her first mumblings.

MATT, you are an amazing man.
HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

a day in the life

when your six months old there's not a whole lot to get upset about... hungry, tired, unclean, or frustrated. frustration usually arises when things just aren't working like we imagined. most of the time it involves somehow getting something in you're mouth... a toy, the pacifier, PAPER, or in this case your toe. with a little practice aubrey seems to be getting the toe thing down.

4 years.

sounds like a long time... doesn't it?
it feel like it was yesterday that I met melissa, and that was more that 4 years ago. now at the risk of sounding cliche I will say without a doubt that I love my wife more today than the day that I married her... she is so amazing to me, and I am so proud to have her. so here are some "memory lane" photo's of my sweetheart... she still seems so aloof... doesnt she?

try not to blink...

tomorrow, aubrey will be six months old. cannot believe that our little girl is getting so big. every morning i pick her up out of her crib she seems a little heavier, a little longer, a little more vocal, a little more coordinated. i find myself looking at her and wondering "when did she start doing that." just wanted to take a trip down memory lane (click for larger view).....enjoy

december 8th, 2006

and now...

NOT UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

please excuse our mess while we remodel.
NEVERMIND
maybe we will flex our creative muscles some other time...
to much to do, can't stay up till all hours to mess with html crap.
can however stay up till all hours to rewatch lost and find more "clues".

jacuzzi?

fun times.

this is my favorite picture from the mountains this past weekend.

we took aubrey to the mountains for the first time! it was so much fun to spend time together as a family relaxing and porchin' (verb: the act of sitting on the porch). we went to eaglesmere and walked around town a little (it's a very small town). we had icecream at the sweet shoppe & even let aubrey try a taste (of course she liked it, it's icecream for goodness sakes!).

on monday we went hiking at rickett's glenn...

it's a beach thing...

excited for the future.

as my little girls feet touched the sand for the first time that is how i felt. part of me says " i can't wait until we can walk together and play on the beach... me and my little girl. the truth of the matter is... is that this is all going way too fast. i remember my wedding day... standing next to phil as our guest were being seated..."out of the woods" by Nickel Creek was playing and the sun was beginning to go down... the air was beginning to get a bit of a chill (just like the weather that we have been having lately) ...and in that twilight with amazing music I was in another world. I knew then that time would go too fast... that this moment would soon end. Phil, who has stood with many men and shared these sort of times with them put his arm on my shoulder and said "suck it all in... take it in... remember this." that magical moment and especially the short time that followed is embedded in my memory forever... I can still see the glow of my brides gown when she first came into view.
my point is that there are now more and more moments in my life that i need to hear a voice beside me saying "suck it all in... take it in..." so this is me and my little girl on the beach.

because they're "lost"

ron and kathleen were gracious enough to lend us the first season of "LOST"... well either they were gracious or they somehow got the idea that melissa and i were getting entirely too much sleep for parents of a five month old. I guess that sleeping must be bad so... enter "Lost" on DVD... so now instead of changing diapers, feeding and burping at 2 am in the morning we just hear the phrase uttered "ok we'll just watch one more." it's a bit addicting. thankfully we are almost done with the first season and the second is not out yet so we will finally go back to normal sleep. it's awesome.
4 8 15 16 23 42

my downfall

i am enlisting the help of my friends....
i have discovered my downfall and it comes in a white paper cup.
S T A R B U C K S !
today is the beginning of the end.
for one month i am vowing not to purchase one cup of this guilty pleasure for myself
...(that is not to say you cannot get one for me).
every time that i think about going (as in the actual act of "the starbucks drive-by"),
every time i go in with a friend and don't purchase,
every time i stare longingly at that beautiful green and white sign
....i will place $3.50 in my savings account.
i will keep a running tally for all to see and at the end of this month we will see what i've saved.
the reason i am telling you all this...besides the pity coffee I am hoping you buy me...
accountability.

I heart NY.

photos courtesy of Gentry Lusby

Happy Birthday to Me. Happy Birthday to Me.
Happy Birthday to ME-ee. Happy Birthday to Me.

Anyway... This past Sunday Matt took me to NYC for my 27th birthday. We had an awesome time hanging out with Carla, Greg and Gentry in the city that doesn't sleep. (And neither do 5 month old babies when you drag them around on the subway and the streets of New York for an entire day.) We went to an amazing restaurant for lunch...called French Roast. We visited Ground Zero....spent some time in Central Park and ended up in Time Square at the end of the day.

Matt, and both our families gave me this amazing kid carrier backpack from VAUDE, Aubrey loves it. We got to use it on Saturday when we went climbing at Mt. Gretna, with Kathleen, Ron and the DeVries Family and used it in the city on Sunday too. What an amazing weekend!

she's cute and she eats stuff

i always thought the photo of the kid with the food all over their face was so gross. somehow this is different... perhaps it has to be spaghetti to be disgusting. we shall see i guess. right now it's just bananas, next week we will go to rice cereal. ah the joys of solid foods. early on i told melissa that i would change all the diapers until aubrey started eating solid foods. so i guess i'm done with diapers right?

Gone Fishing

Well, we may not have a dog...but we have FISH and they are just as fun. Sort of. Aubrey likes to sit outside and watch them. Our fish actually are pretty smart...they come right up to the side when we come out. Only because they know they are going to get fed. Smart fish.

On a serious note....

PHILADELPHIA

MAY 7th 2006

NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY

Hey guys...Most runs are just for fun, a chance to get outside, shake off the day.

This run is for a cause that I believe in.

My friend Denise was diagnosed with MS in high school.

(You can check out her story at: http://www.nationalmssociety.org//PAE/personal/default.asp?pa=45612567&pd=PAE0EWLK20060507ARR)

She asked if Matt and I would like to join there team this year to raise support for the National MS Society. We are both running the 10K.We are joining in the fight against this devastating disease. On May 7th I will be participating in the MS Run in Philadelphia. We set a goal of raising $200 to support the National MS Society. I am asking for your help in making my goal.

Please click on the "To Sponsor Me" link below and sponsor me online today. Every dollar means that we are a step closer to a cure.

If you don't want to sponsor online you can make a check out to "National Multiple Sclerosis Society or NMSS" and get the check to me before May 7th.

Thanks for your help.

Love, Missy (& Matt)

To sponsor me: https://www.nationalmssociety.org//PAE/home/login.asp?j=1&m=e&wtr=1961749&pt=PAEWFLIF01&d=PAE0EWLK20060507ARR

opera style...

"the pants are on my head... not on the baby instead" and the daddy comes in in the background real low and full of bass "pants, pants, pants, pants...." it's like a symphony of overlaying vocals. "pants are on my head and they are really quite the way they should be..." and the mommy continues "pants are on my head... not on the baby instead" some day people will pay to see us perform. aubrey gets a free show.

pictures from an early easter

spent palm sunday with my family....
easter egg hunts with little girls are fun.
i decided i am going to make aubrey an easter basket
...but put in candy i like, since she can't eat it anyway.
They're all getting so big!

Kelsey started walking.

Ava will be one in May.

Aubrey loves spending time with her cousins.

chhheeeeeze fries!

alright! a blog that is not about our beautiful baby.

did you ever have one of those cravings...the one's you CANNOT ignore. i was sitting at carla and greg's house today and came across this picture of carla on her honeymoon (to the cayman islands [the jerk...i only got to go on a road trip]). her plate of cheese fries looked so good that I HAD to go and get some. i dragged poor carla to outback and we had a grand ole' time indulging my desire for the forbidden food. for all of you who think that we are glutton's...be comforted, we only ate the fries with the cheese on them. ;o)

mom....or dad?

now it is time for the ever so famous "who does she look like" poll. unfortunately we are not techno savvy and do not have a bar graph for you or anything... but you can feel free to comment and tell us who you think has the dominant genes.

and so i say "hey man nice shot"

What an adorable shot of Matt and Aubrey. Courtesy of Chris LaGarde. Thanks Man!

uncle dan!

it's always nice to have family visit... what we finally realized tonight; which we should have always known, is that you don't really need a reason to spend time with those that really matter to you. sure it's fun to make up special things to do... parties and what not, but when it really comes down to it... true family can sit around and do nothing, and have a great time doing....well.. nothing. we love you uncle dan!

top of the mornin' to ya!

melissa wanted to make sure that i had a picture of her and aubrey on st. patrick's day wearing their green. i took some color pictures too... but this one was just so good. so your gonna have to just take my word for it.... they're wearing green.

these are the days...

there are certain moments in life that just grab you by the heartstrings and threaten not to ever let you go... it's the stuff that makes a good movie great, or a rock and roll song a hit. it can't really be explained with words but there are those images, those songs, that scene from a movie that just make you think... this is it. that... right there... is what life should be. why can't life always be "that" way. i praise God for letting me in on the secret.

aubrey sings for bmac

last friday we went to a birthday party for brian mcintire. aubrey had lots of fun as you can see. follow the link for a VIDEO!

Dedication

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way they should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Last Sunday (March 5th) we dedicated Aubrey at the Bridge. Matt spoke a little bit about Proverbs 22:6 and how we were (with the Lords help) going to try and start our baby girl on the right path. The dedication service was more of a symbol than some sort of surreal experience.

Teaching your child about God is an every day thing. She's learning from us each time we pray, each time we worship...and each time we handle every day occurrences. That is a lot of pressure. I want my baby girl to live for Christ. Hopefully she sees me do the same.