Busy weekend

I keep thinking that I can't wait for summer vacation so our schedule can slow down - and then I look a the calendar and see that it's already filling up with swimming lessons, piano lessons, summer reading programs and a BABY!

One thing that we will be taking a break from this summer is soccer.  Joseph had his last game of the Upwards season on Saturday morning.  Jacob & Daddy took part in the spirit tunnel while Mama grabbed a couple of pictures.

 We ended up with a tied game.  Joseph really loved learning to play soccer this spring and is already talking about next year.  Jacob took the field during half-time and scored a few of his own goals.  I'm looking at kiddie leagues for him in the fall. 

 One of the other moms brought blue Angry Bird cupcakes for after the game.  I like to call this picture "Bring Me Another Smurf!!!"

 Following soccer we went home for quick showers and then my sweet friend Jenny came over to take family/maternity pictures.  She is crazy talented and I am excited to see the finished pics.

One of Joseph's school friends had a "end of the year" party at a nearby park in the afternoon and Joseph enjoyed playing on the playground, eating popcicles and decorating a t-shirt.

 Then in the evening Mama & Daddy were invited to a surprise 40th birthday party.  Alicia threw a beer themed party for Mike and she did an amazing job.  I don't think she overlooked a single detail and the results were incredible.  She even made this cake in the shape of a beer glass - foam and all.  

 In the meantime Mike & Alicia's boys were at our house for a sleepover.  They were all still awake when we got home and when mama checked on them at 11:30 she finally found this. . . . 

Despite the late bedtime they were all up at 6 am which is the normal wake up time for our boys.  

Sunday was truly a day of rest around here as mama and the boys all took 3 hour naps.  And Daddy gave Mama a break later in the evening by taking Joseph to his soccer awards program.

Two more weeks of school for Joseph and then we'll see how busy our summer gets!!!

The nursery is finished!

Thanks to our good friend Mike and Daddy - the couch was moved upstairs this week.  I also finished painting the picture frame (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is super fun) and got the pictures hung.  And voila! The nursery is finished!!!!

Here is the view from the door.

 This is the very heavy couch which is responsible for a couple dents in walls along the stairs and will most likely need to be sold with the house.

 Because of Daddy's job we are following AAP recommendations and foregoing a bumper in the crib.

 Along with the couch, we received this glider from Nanny when she downsized.  I recovered it in a pieced quilt top to go with the vintage look of the room.

 The small rocker and table are also from Nanny.  The dresser was used for both of the boys but I replaced the brown nobs with fun coral glass nobs. We also used bigger coral glass nobs as tie backs for the curtains.

 This picture and frame was purchased at a neighbor's estate sale when Mama was a wee girl and hung in her room growing up.  This frame was the chalk paint recipient.

 These pictures also hung in Mama's little girl room and were made by her Aunt Margaret.

 This is Isaac Bear.  He was made by Grandma Ellen out of the bedspread given to Mama's great-grandparents as a 50th wedding anniversary gift.

 Since baby girl will have no sisters to play with we are very glad that she has several girl cousins!  These flowers are from her cousin Ava who is excited to have someone with whom to play dolls and dress-up.

 The bookcase contains additional pieces of family history.  The small dresser was a gift to 2-year-old Grandma from her dad when he returned from a trip. The Raggedy Ann & Andy plate/cup and the blocks and rattle were all Mama's.  And the clock on top was a wedding present from Mama's great-aunt Dora.  Some of the books on the shelves include the Little House series and a published collection of great-aunt Dora's journal entries.

A belly shot

I am trying to do a little better with taking belly shots.  Here we are at 27 weeks.  I feel like I've gotten a lot bigger since then so I'll try to take some more soon.

Strawberries!

As I mentioned in a previous post - I went strawberry picking on Monday.  The berries were plentiful and I had two buckets filled up in no time.  

 Yesterday I tackled the cleaning, capping and processing.

 Here is part of the bounty - 2 batches of jam and 2 quarts of puree for future recipes.  All going in the freezer. I made an additional batch of jam today. We also have a big bowl of berries ready for shortcake and a bowl of berries for snacks in the fridge.

 I made a batch of strawberry muffins using this recipe.  Most of these went in the freezer as well.

I can't wait until the blueberries and blackberries are ready!

Another "First"

Yesterday afternoon after walking home from school Joseph and I were on the couch discussing his day.  Suddenly I grabbed his face and told him to smile at me.  And sure enough a bottom tooth was missing!  He had not even realized it was gone.  I think it probably was swallowed along with lunch.  He was so excited about finally losing a tooth and he's been wiggling the other one non-stop.  He was a bit worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't leave him any money since he didn't have a tooth to put under his pillow. However, he wrote her a very nice letter explaining the situation and she decided to leave him some money anyway.  (By the way - we used to get 25 cents for a tooth.  Maybe a dollar if we were lucky.  These kids get like $5 dollars now.  I don't know what parent tooth fairy started this but that's pretty steep!)

Change of Plans

I have two big sewing projects I am working on.  Daddy was leaving early Saturday morning for a business trip so I was going to try to finish one up over the weekend and then tackle the other one this week.  But my sewing machine decided it was tired and crapped out on Friday.  So sad.

In retrospect I think it's the best thing that could have happened. Because this is how our time has looked since daddy left.

Saturday
6 am - drop daddy off at the airport
6:30 am - surprise stop at Krispy Kreme with the boys where we enjoyed Hot Fresh Now original glazed and bought a box to take home
8 am - mama makes some scrambled eggs for breakfast
8:30 am - Joseph complains of an ear ache
8:45 am - mama calls the After Hours Clinic at AR Childrens and gets a 9:15 am appointment
9:15 am - AR Childrens
9:30 am - leaving AR Childrens with an ear infection diagnosis
9:45 am - run back by the house to grab the sewing machine
10 am - Pigtails & Crewcuts to get the boys' mops cleaned up
11 am - Target to fill Joseph's prescription and get a movie for the weekend
11:30 am - drop off sewing machine at friend's home for repair
12 pm - lunch
12:30 pm - naps for everyone!!!
Evening - pizza and movie

Sunday
6 am - the boys are up and at 'em
Decided to keep ear infection at home instead of exposing to church germs
10 am - boys were so stir crazy, mama decided a trip to Sam's was in order
11:30 am - lunch
12 pm - naps for everyone!
3 pm - showers/baths for the boys
5 pm - the boys went to play with their friends Henry & George while mama and her friend Alicia went to a preview party at the new Chuy's opening just down the street
7 pm - home and bedtime

Monday
6 am - up once again
7:30 am - take Joseph to school
8 am - take Jacob to school
mama kills time at Target (dangerous) and realizes that the A/C in the car has crapped out again
9:15 am - dr. appointment for mama
10:30 am - head to Cabot with girlfriends to pick strawberries
12:50 pm - home to grab car and drive to dealership in Benton
1:10 pm - halfway to Benton and realize that I don't have a garage door opener with me and won't be able to get in the house when I get home with the loaner car
1:30 pm - back home, grab opener, drive back to Benton
2 pm - Back in Benton and finally at dealership after driving past it 3 times on the interstate and various access roads (I really don't like driving to Benton)
2:35 - back home with loaner car - heat up meatball hoagie from fridge for lunch
2:40 - walk to school to get Joseph
3 pm - back home with Joseph where we tackle homework, line up the misc. that needs to be sent back to school the next day - and Joseph gets a shower because he came home filthy!
4 pm - head to AR Children's to pick up Joseph's claritin prescription refill and then head over to Jacob's school
5 pm - back in West Little Rock where mama couldn't bear the thought of having to make dinner after crazy day and drove through McDonald's.  I am ashamed to admit it.  But it happened. Big "healthy food" fail.
7 pm - get boys ready for bed and tucked in
7:30 pm - take one look at all the strawberries picked that morning and crash on the couch

Tuesday
5:30 am - yep - boys are up - breakfast, get boys dressed, get mama ready for the day, print out grocery list and gather coupons and grocery bags
7:30 am - take Joseph to school
7:45 am - mama & Jacob tackle Kroger
8:30 am - home - put groceries away
9 am - mama tackles the strawberries
10:15 am - and here we are.  Two batches of strawberry jam are done and I have a ton more strawberries to deal with.

When I would have gotten the sewing done?  I have no idea.  And I'm so thankful that I didn't have the stress of those projects hanging over me when all these other things came up. I'm also super thankful that one of the things we get to do this afternoon is pick Daddy up from the airport!

Nursery

For some reason I've been hesitant to show this work-in-progress.  I really want to post all the pictures when it's 100% complete.  This isn't too far off! Just a couple more projects to go.  But I decided to give you a little sneak peak.  Think - vintage/colorful on a coral/pink/muslin backdrop.  

A "real" Spring

Arkansas seems to be having a "real" Spring season this year.  And by that I mean - it didn't go from freezing to blazing hot over night.  We are still having a mix of cool mornings and evenings with days ranging from 60s to 80s.  And lots of spring showers.  I know the crazy heat of summer will be here soon enough so we are going to enjoy the afternoons when we can actually eat an ice cream sandwich outside without it melting too quickly.

Final piece of the boys' room

This past Saturday was rainy and Joseph's soccer game was canceled.  It became the perfect day to finally tackle the dresser sitting in the garage.  I painted it to match the side tables already in their room.

The boys were very excited to move their clothes from the guest room and nursery into their new dresser.  Mama is glad to have those other two dressers cleaned out as well.  Now we have an empty dresser to fill with baby girl clothes! :)