Let's Review...

What a busy week last week! Or so it seemed.

Monday was Emma's 5th birthday.

On Sunday after church we went out to eat at Red Robin with some friends from church. She enjoyed that birthday lunch so much! It was all I heard about the next day - she really felt grown up that people went out to eat for HER. On Monday we met with Rhonda, Jo, and Chris to go to the zoo for Spooktacular. Emma dressed as Ariel and Owen as Spiderman. Our zoo doesn't do anything particularly 'spooky' for their event, it is more oriented to children's books and characters. As you walk through the zoo the different areas follow different books and are decorated to match with handpainted cut outs of the characters. The kids like having their pictures taken with characters like 'thing 1' and 'thing 2' from The Cat in the Hat. Ever so often there are stations that pass out a piece or two of candy. I enjoy this event because the kids enjoy it so much and we don't have a ton of candy sitting around the house for me to eat! I suppose our kids are kind of funny... they do eat candy, but they would rather have some 'real' food.

Tuesday was mine and Dave's 8th wedding anniversary.

All of you married folk know... not much celebrating on our day following the birthday of a little one! Dave brought home chinese food and a new remote for the Wii for my present. How romantic! : ) However, we do enjoy playing the games together so we will enjoy it.

I am ever thankful for my dear husband. He continues to be the strong, wonderful man I married - I know that God chose him for me and has blessed our marriage. I am so thankful everyday as he faithfully trods off to work and I am able to to stay home. He works extra hard to make it possible for me to raise the kids at home instead of their being placed in daycare.

I do love and appreciate my husband SO much.

Wednesday the kids and I went to Branson with friends to take Rhonda to the airport.

After seeing her off we went to the outlet malls for a quick run through! I was able to get some things I was in need of for Emma and for Elliot. Elliot has grown SO much he is wearing 3 - 6 month clothes already (at 6 weeks). All of the 3 - 6 month items I have from Owen are springtime outfits, so winter items were needed. The other thing I needed was a winter coat for Emma, however this I did not find. I did buy some adorable things at some great prices though!

Following our shopping we made a MOST IMPORTANT stop... at Dunkin' Donuts.

It is the only one in our area and we don't make it there that often, so this was a REAL treat. I drink DD coffee every morning, I have become accustomed to it and nothing else will do - I love it! And of course their donuts aren't too shabby either. It was such a treat!

Thursday...

Thursday I must have been inspired by Bekki - I called a consignment store that I love to shop at and found they were accepting items and their specificatons for consigning. I went through Emma's closet and some of the more recent sizes still in tubs and got out 67 items to take in. The shop took almost everything - some things were fall items but were short sleeved and as it is November she marked them that she would accept them in the spring, so it is basically ALL gone! I am SO excited! I had saved all of Emma's clothes, but after having Elliot it is obvious that it would be 6 to 7 years before I would use Emma's things, so I made the choice to take out the items I LOVE and consign or give away the rest. So, Thursday was a day of organizing, pressing, hanging up... and parting with... a lot of clothes.

Friday I took a trip to the Dr's office and dropped off my consignment. Later in the day a friend and I made a trip to town to get some last minute things for her 'halloween' party the next day. (She had a sort of alternative halloween party in leiu of trick or treating... plus we live in the country - I only have 5 neighbors within a 2 mile radius!)

Saturday was the party!

I spent the majority of the morning fighting toulle to make Emma a tutu. The actual sewing / assembly of the tutu was not difficult at all... keeping 6 layers of slippery toulle straight and then folded was next to impossible! I finally had a revelation and thought... stapler! So, I folded it the best I could and stapled the layers together. After sewing the casing for the elastic I just loosened and pulled out the staples. Worked perfect!

So, Emma was Angelina Ballerina (a mouse ballerina from books, TV) with ears, tail, and tutu and Owen was once again Spiderman.

We played games and had a great time. One of the cutest moments of the evening was when there was an 'altrication' between Owen and another 2 yr old, Maddox. Apparently Maddox pushed Owen and so his dad made him apologize to Owen... Maddox turns around and says 'I Sorry Spiderman'. Too funny!

Well... it was a busy week now that I document it... no wonder my house still looks like a tornado made it's way through it!

I will update this post with some halloween pics when I get them from friends.

It's been a while...

I know, it's been since June that I have visited my own blog.

But I guess I can say I have been busy:

Vacation,

Gardening,

Preserving,

being Pregnant and having a new baby...

So, hopefully I will be better. My new goal is not daily blogging, but perhaps weekly - sort of a week in review perhaps.

So to start out I wanted to Introduce Elliot...

These are a few of the pictures I took for Elliot's announcement.

Sweet Rest

Our family is so tired!

We have had sort of up and down, mixed up nights of sleep the last few nights and so this morning the kids and I slept in. Emma was the last one up... no big surprise there! I was so good to feel *mostly* rested... Momma could use a few more winks, as usual.

Garden Update

What a thrill a garden can be...

I so enjoy going to the garden each morning and seeing all the new growth and the amazing transformation of plant to blossom to produce... to the table!

One of the most thrilling things for me - the formation of tomatoes! Our family loves tomatoes; the kids can pick a bush bare of ripe tomatoes in no time flat! I can't wait for these to grow and ripen - and I will enjoy everday of looking and anticipating that first bite!

A Loving Reminder

Well, Yesterday we had one of those days... I just couldn't seem to get everyone going in the same direction long enough to make headway.

And Yet today, I was given a reminder that they really do care!

Emma and Owen made this on their own, Emma even remembered how to spell Mom all by herself.

Hello Little Man

Well, yesterday was a great day!

side profile of the baby - head at right, legs at left

Emma and I went to my ultrasound / dr's appointment and we saw the baby via ultrasound. After a little prodding we found that we will be adding another little boy to our crew! He is growing perfectly - his weight matching perfectly with expected growth for his due date (late September). He is quite active and all indications are that he is perfectly healthy. We even got to count his little fingers and toes!

a foot... 5 toes!

Mom here is still stumped for a name... we'll see what we can come up with.

a front view of the face - eyes, nose, mouth

Thank God for a healthy growing boy.

Peace, Be Still

What a raucous few days...

at the end of the storm

I awoke to a massive storm on Friday, not quite realizing what it was going to mean for the days ahead. We endured an essential 'land hurricane' with high winds and rain. As we drive through our little town there is no one untouched. The fence rows are lined with tin from barns, yards are littered with shingles and debris, and the roads were covered with trees blown down with earth and massive rootballs still intact (thankfully these are mostly removed now). We spent about 40 minutes huddled in the kids bedroom as it was the furthest spot from the direction of the storm. The winds howled, the house shook and creaked, and we prayed. We prayed and sang and as we did our worries subsided and soon the storm did as well. Emma and Owen weathered the storm with little fear and a willing attitude.

our house / roof following the storm

our mangled barn roof

I am thankful most of all for our safety, but I think the next closest thing I am thankful for is the care and peace given by our Heavenly Father. We have talked with so many people who have commented "I never want to see that again" or "I didn't know what to do - we didn't know what was going to happen"- which are both true statements - but they were made with an air of absolute fear. I thank God for the knowledge I have that He is in control - "Indeed, the Lord's hand is not too short to save, and His ear is not too deaf to hear." (Is. 59:1). God heard and answered the prayers of this mother, alone at home with her two young children during a massive and unforgiving storm.

We have endured damage, though minimal in comparison to some of our neighbors. We were without power, but thankfully we have a generator capable of running our entire house. The storm has come and gone, the damage has been done, but we have never had a moment without the peace and care of our Lord. To Him be all praise and glory.

a peaceful sky just 2 hours after the storm