out there

When my sister was here last week, she convinced me that I was at the "perfect" stage of my pregnancy for a few belly shots. I've never done any sort of belly photos before and honestly, it's always been a little bit of a regret. So after a long day of school, discipleship, ballet, and a school meeting, Sarah managed to capture a few shots at my parents before I raced home and shuffled kids into bed. So here's my belly, in all it's 34 week glory. Shots by my fabulous sister; editing by blueberrylunch.

She called this one the Emily look, and J agreed that it's a common face for me. Who knew?

Love all those sweet hands on my belly. The overwhelming consensus from the kids is that a little brother will be joining them soon. We'll find out if they're right before too long :)

And this one seriously just makes me laugh. out loud. a lot. I love it that my girls are in pajamas giggling away and my belly is OUT THERE. I mean seriously, it's almost comical how far that thing sticks out. This pregnancy already outranks my others in terms of the number of times if I've been asked if I'm sure it's not twins. Have you ever seen someone pregnant with twins???? I am big, but it does not look like there are two babies in there!

T minus five weeks and counting. We love you, baby, and we can't wait for you to be out here with us soon!

Nesting

I kind of feel like I'm at maximum capacity these days. And then I think about the reality of life with a newborn and I just laugh a little. It's only going to get busier; that is for sure! We've had some pretty full days lately with school and activities and visits with family sprinkled in over the last two weeks. I must confess though that the main reason this little blog has been so neglected is because of my nesting instincts.

Projects completed include:
Cleaning out kid's closets and drawers to pack up summer stuff and get out fall/winter stuff.
Figuring out what we still need to keep kid's clothed this winter.
Purchasing needed items.
Cleaning out my drawers and maternity items.
Buying some newborn diapers.
Purging in general...the goodwill pile in the basement is growing daily.

I also decided that Sadie needed some new bedding for her crib so the baby could have the baby stuff. I wanted a patchworky/mismatchy sort of vibe.



And then, I couldn't resist updating Ella's bedding as well. I pretty much just cleaned out my fabric stash and used bits and pieces of my favorite fabrics that have been collecting for a few years now.

I learned that it's really not that difficult to make a quilt. Making a quilt look really good is certainly another story! I will say I am pleased with how it turned out, but I learned a lot for next time.

The new baby got some gender unspecific bedding for the moses basket and Sadie was happy to check it out for me.

What do you mean I won't be the baby any more?



Still on the list:
Lots of sewing projects to be completed.
Halloween costumes [requests so far include a draco lizard, a ballerina, a kangaroo, a cheetah, and the list is ever changing].
Getting a bed set up for the new baby.
Rearranging the boys room [this is where the crib and baby will go for a while even if it's a girl because it's the only space we have for another crib :)]
Get out newborn clothes and start washing.
Meal planning, prep, and freezing.
Cleaning in general.

I have lots of cute pictures from life of late, so hopefully I'll be back to update soon!

Fashion Forward

I've been going through the kid's clothing this week and attempting to figure out just what they will need in order to stay clothed through the winter. Sadie really enjoyed the process and found creative ways to accessorize!

Labor Day Festivities

My husband knows that his birthday is a total score. A September 4 celebration pretty much guarantees that he gets a three day weekend for his birthday most years. It feels to me like we've been going like gangbusters around here, so we were really excited for a low key weekend of celebrating and relaxing.

I loved the birthday sign the kids came up with. Lesson learned: if you want specific information to go on the birthday poster, don't set out the poster and the markers and then go to put the baby down for a nap. You'll probably come back and find a giant copy of the ABCs.



J requested some sort of outdoor family activity for Sunday afternoon so I planned a picnic dinner at a park on the river. The rain was spotty, but we managed to have a lot of play time and eat dinner before things got bad enough that we had to leave.

The kids were just happy to have an excuse to use their umbrellas...







We took a short walk down to the river, and immediately realized this was going to be big fun.





They were in the water in no time flat, even though it was freezing!!



Bo was the first to go in the deeper waters, but the others quickly followed suit.





Even Sadie was happy to dip her toes in the water.







We headed back up for dinner after a lot of wading.



Not everyone was happy about it.





Then, we got to celebrate with cake and ice cream when we got home!


Monday the festivities continued and I was able to surprise J with a date while my parents kept the kids for the afternoon. It doesn't seem like we ever really get the chance to get out during the middle of the day so it was a special treat!

It's hard for me to believe that this is the 11th birthday I've celebrated with J. I still remember trying to bake him a chocolate cake in the dorm oven that hardly worked. The outside was overcooked and the inside was raw but we had fun laughing and talking at the park and eating the one edible part around the middle of the cake. We've certainly come a long way since then!

Happy Birthday!

Happy, happy, happy day! Brooks and Reese turn TWO today?? I'm not sure how it's even possible that they are growing up so fast!



Hope it's a special day, and we can't wait to see you munchkins soon!