A Shower of Blessings

Last night was my Sunday School shower and we had such a great time!  There were so many sweet girls from Sunday School there to shower our sweet unknown baby#2 with love and gifts!  I know it's harder to pick out "neutral" gifts, but it was so neat to get so many wonderful, useful gifts.

We met at a local restaurant and ate and talked and then opened gifts!

A table full of sweet friends!

I could not believe how many presents there were to open!  Thank you everyone!

And, of course, Robin made her yummy (and beautiful) sugar cookies.  They were so cute!  They matched the colors of our nursery exactly.  I always feel bad eating her cookies because they look like works of art!

This present was from a hopeful Grams...pink for a girl!  She also got a matching boy outfit as well!

I am in love with this beautiful blanket from our friend and neighbor, Julie!  It is SO soft and just luxurious.  I may not ever let a baby touch it!  I want to use it for myself.

Pardon how crazy I look in this next picture, but I had to post it because it is so special.  My grandmother MADE this precious dress, in case it's a girl!  She hand-made all the lace and you should see all the intricate details.  It is so special and even if we don't get to use it, we will set it aside for a girl in the future or a grandbaby!

Grandmother also sent this cute burp cloth.  Even all those Hog fans had to laugh!

And, it was so special to have mom up here for the shower!  She was so glad to be able to come up and be a part of everything.  We missed Grams, too, but she will be back soon for another visit!

Thank you girls!  We appreciate it so much and it means so much to us to have made such special friends up here!  We appreciate all the lovely gifts!  Now we've just got to get the nursery done and sort through all of our gifts!

Verse O' the Day:

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 40:1

Come Sail Away With Me...In A New Room!

Because we are using John Michael's nursery set up for the new baby, it was time for our little guy to get a new "big boy" room!  Jordan rallied hard for football/sports, but moms, you know what I'm saying here....he will want that ole stuff for all of his little boyhood.  Right now is the only time I can still make him a cute little boy room with NO signs of a ball anywhere!  He will probably have a sports themed room next!

We decided on a nautical theme and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I LOVE the navy blue that we picked out for under the chair rail and it didn't cost all that much for all the little accessories for the room!  The only thing I'm lacking is a cute sailboat comforter and a bedskirt!  I'll find some eventually!

"Let me take you on a tour of my new room!  Sorry some of the pictures are blurry....I'm on the move!

This is where we listen to music and where I go through tons of books everyday looking for just the right one for Mama to read to me!

This is my dresser with a few cute boat accessories...moving on now!

Mama got these nautical themed hooks at Hobby Lobby for half off!  She was very happy about that.  Also, this is the second clock that we got for my room because I broke the first one playing with it!  Mama thought it looked like a port hole!

Look at this pillow that my great-grandmother made just for ME! 

She sewed it all together and then had my very own initials put on one side and an anchor on the other!

Mama said she likes the simple window treatment and I like the little sandpiper up on the top shelf...I sometimes think he's a duck!

This is just where I play and pull out all 245 toys that are in the stacking bins!  Good times.

I let Mama know real quick that I wasn't going to pose beside my monogrammed pillow.  I have places to go!

These are my new red initals above my changing table.  Apparently we are still looking for some type of "cute" decorative piece to put above the table.  I'm sure I'll only try to knock it off everytime they change me!

OK, that was fun!  Now I'm just going to hang out with my dog on the floor!  Thanks for checking out my new big boy room!

Good Friday!

Ah yes, my friend, it's a good Friday when this lands on your doorstep!

Oh, it's a thing of beauty and it made me so giddy!  I savored each page and drooled over the tablescapes and recipes.

THEN reality set it.  I will have an 18 month old and a newborn, so I probably won't have time (nor will I care) to go into big decorating or baking.  Hmmm...there's always next year.  Maybe I can dream about the beautiful wreathes and evergreen swags in between feedings.

Verse O' the Day:

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

 

Balloon Boy and Other Things from Last Thursday

Last Thursday wasn't only the crazy day of the Saga of the Balloon Boy (which, I still don't have words for that whole mess), but it was my turn to host playgroup!  My friend, Jessica, helped me out with the food and I am so thankful to her!  I really needed to host sometime in October because I knew after that would be too close to our due date.  I know I won't host again for quite some time, as I get used to the routine of having two little ones!

We had a house full of little kids and mamas and I think everyone had a great time.  Our weather had been dark, grey, rainy, and cold for about two weeks straight, so I decided to do warm soups, hot apple cider, and praline apple bread!  All the food fit right in with my theme of fall!

JM was ready for everyone to come play!

Some of the cuties eating lunch

Jessica and Braxton

These two little guys crack me up!  They are so round and just so precious!

JM actually eating a "real" lunch!  He's been refusing to eat much of anything lately.

Emily wanted her picture taken too!

It looks like Sarah Kate had a good time too!

Kinley and Sarah Kate playing with the swing

For the older kids I made a fall popcorn mix and put it in little baggies for them to take home!  It was really good.  I'll post the recipe below.  It was sweet and salty and yummy.

Harvest Snack Mix

*I changed several things around in it.  I put Peanut M&Ms and things like that in it instead of Bridge Mix and I didn't put sunflower seeds!  The recipe came from tasteofhome.com. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups pretzel sticks


• 1 cup mixed nuts


• 1/2 cup sunflower kernels


• 6 tablespoons butter, melted


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves


• 8 cups popped popcorn


• 1 cup candy corn


• 1 cup chocolate bridge mix

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the pretzels, nuts and sunflower kernels. Combine the butter, cinnamon and cloves. Drizzle a third of butter mixture over pretzel mixture; toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 300° for 15 minutes.


• Place popcorn in a large bowl; drizzle with remaining butter mixture and toss to coat. Stir into pretzel mixture. Bake 15 minutes longer or until heated through. Cool; transfer to a large bowl. Add candy corn and bridge mix; toss to combine. Yield: 3 quarts.

Pumpkin Patch Re-Do

A few weeks ago we headed to the pumpkin patch and it did not go well!  JM got sick after we got home and he refused to let me put him down while we were there!

Well, we tried again while Grams was here and had better results!  At first, John Michael was not that happy and I honestly was beginning to wonder if he was afraid of pumpkins!

He was just really unsure of us taking his picture in front of all of these pumpkins.

THEN we found the holy grail:  A wagon!  He perked right on up and wanted in!  He picked out his own little pumpkin and a few teeny-tiny ones too.  That wagon was a life-saver!

We found a big googley-eyed pumpkin that caught his attention...

And we found some more pumpkins and bought some mums!

Look, there's a smile finally!

I like pumpkins!!!

Now I'm ready to go home!

Look how big that crazy pumpkin is next to John Michael!

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Just for fun I dug out our pictures from last year's pumpkin patch!  Look how different John Michael looks.  He was so round and chunky and had no hair!  It is amazing how much they can change within one year's time.  I know it's going to be so fun to compare pictures from one year to the next!

Neely and John Michael at the pumpkin patch.  They look so small!

 

Here's John Michael with his own tiny pumpkin!

Verse O' the Day:

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

 

Vacuum Boy!

We have been busy around here!  My in-laws were in town and we got a lot of things done.  They started painting the nursery and cleaned our carpets.  We are so thankful to have family come help us since I've suddenly become totally exhausted.  We're next looking forward to Uncle Judd and Meme's visit in a few weeks!

The third trimester has hit me hard and a lot of the first trimester symptoms, like not being hungry and being nauseous have come back. Ugh.  It's OK though, it's not much longer and it's all worth it for a healthy baby!

Anyway,  I love the vacuum steamer that my in-laws brought.  I'm so happy that they left it here for a while.  I've got big plans for my couches!

If you read my blog you know that John Michael loves things with wheels and he loves cars and trucks.  This child was in heaven when he saw the steam cleaner sitting out in the garage....

He fell in love with the cleaning attachments and he basically just loved it.

He loved it so much that he walked right along beside the steam cleaner the whole time Jane cleaned the den.  I guess he thought it was really interesting and it made him pretty darn happy!  We even let him push it a little bit!

Grams left him alone with it for just a minute and when she came back he had crawled into the vacuum and was sitting in the spot where the water collection tank goes!  He probably would have sat in there all day.  It was his own personal race car!

Also, we went to Sam's one afternoon and we let John Michael eat his lunch sitting in his own seat at the table.  Usually, we sit him in our lap to eat at Sam's, but that day he was a big boy in his own seat!  Well, for dinner that night when we called him to come eat he ran right up to a kitchen chair and crawled in...ready to eat.  I think he has decided he is through with the high chair!

Here he is deciding to eat at a regular kitchen chair!  And yes, that's Jack right in between his legs trying to get at whatever food he can find.  It's a whole new experience for Jack, too, because now he has more access to food.  I think we may have to start putting Jack in his crate while we eat!

So, now, we have a brand new big boy seat at our kitchen table.  It looks so weird to see our little baby sitting between us at dinner in a real chair.  Time is just marching on...

Apparently I have no disc space left to upload new pictures on the computer.  As soon as Jordan transfers some pictures to our other hard drive I can upload more pictures and finally start posting more regularly!

We have a super busy week, and as long as I can make it to Saturday I'll be doing great!

Verse O' the Day:

Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.

Jeremiah 32:17