Baby Shower at 36 weeks

A few nights ago, there was a baby shower thrown in my honor.  I'm so grateful for all the thoughtful planning and effort that went into it.  Here I am with my hostess.

Yes, that's right, the little missy threw a baby shower for me.  She started talking about having a baby shower early in the afternoon and spent several hours making all the preparations.  So after dinner, we let the little party planner have our attention.

We had games.  This one was an original--we all had to toss paper wads into the baby doll bed that she taped to the chair.  And she graciously let us all try again if we missed.

Then it was time for animal alphabet bingo.

There were decorations on the walls--prepared by our wonderful hostess, of course.

Then we had some snacks.

There were even party favors.

We were all to take one of these quote strips that she got off some coloring sheets.

Me with one of the guests.

It really was fun and funny to see all the thought and preparation that our little girl put into the evening.  The only thing lacking was some presents. :-)  But I have no complaints about how my first baby shower with this little one went.  So sweet and with people I love.

Then while we had the camera out, we did a belly profile pic.  I'm into the 36th week now (out of a total 40 weeks).  That means the last month has begun with possibly the final baby.  In fact, tomorrow I'll start week 37.  A little nerving really.  The little man was born on week 38 day 6!  I don't think this one will come that early since my doctor already bumped up my due date by 8 days.  But still, we're almost into the "any time now" phase and I'm not really feeling that ready.  But I guess that's normal, right?  There's plenty of women that aren't "ready" before 40 weeks.  Of course, if you go overdue, I can understand feeling "very ready".  But right now all I can think of is all the things that I'd like to get done before this new baby arrives.  Truthfully, some border on "need to get done".  So naturally that gives me a stronger feeling of not being quite ready.  But I'm reminding myself, that what needs to get done will find a way to get done.  And anything else won't really matter.

baby #3 at 36 weeks

And why not a few comparison shots--just for fun!

baby #2 (the little man) at the end of 37 weeks

And baby #1 (the little missy) at 36 weeks.

(I guess I'm not too crazy for not feeling quite as big as I did with #2.  Although, I'm plenty big.)

So on tomorrow's agenda: doctor's appointment, fold laundry, clean out a closet, clean a bathroom and hopefully make some cookie dough to stash in the freezer.  Can anyone say nesting?

Scenes from a Summer Day

Today turned into a nice day in Juneau.  I always appreciate days like this that seem a bit uncertain at first, but turn into gems by days end.  And really as long as it's not raining, the day deserves to be appreciated.  It didn't get too hot today, but I still wore capris!  So I thought I'd share some pictures of what a beautiful summer looks like around here.  Not all these images were represented today, but some were. 

the backyard pool

clothes drying on the line

shoes and toys scattered on the back step

hands that have been exploring

side walk chalk on a backyard rock

remnants of "house" playing in the play tent

keeping cool in the shade

the refreshing sprinkler

What do summer days look like around your house?

For the Dad's

I saw this link on facebook the other day and it gave me good laugh.  Hope it starts off your Monday right.  And a belated Father's Day to all the dad's out there. :-)

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Bird Houses

It's actually been several weeks now since we did this project together--my, my, how time flies.  And if you live in Juneau, you'll know we didn't do this recently since the last couple of days have made me feel like we ought to be building an ark!  Ok, just kidding!  But we have gotten A LOT of rain in the past few days.

Anyway, a while back I picked up two little wooden birdhouses at JoAnn's.  They were a whopping $1 each!  I figured the kids would enjoy painting them on a nice day outside and I was very right.

So we started with plain wooden birdhouses, acrylic paint, foam brushes, a painting shirt, and during the little man's nap. :-)

This little artist was very into it and was able to do it fairly independently.

Then after nap time was over, I released the hound into the painting project.  I thankfully had a stroke of brilliance come over me just before the little man started on his bird house.  I remembered that we had some Crayola washable paints tucked away in the closet.  So I got those out for him and I'm really glad I did.  Put me a lot more at ease.

making sure he gets every nook and cranny

I also made him a quick little table to work at that was closer to the house than where his sister had worked.  Two cinder blocks next to the house and scrap piece of plywood were just what we needed.

The finished products

Showing off his work.

And just in case you ever wondered why I sometimes refer to my children as "yahoos", here's the photo proof.

Maybe it was the paint fumes?  I don't know. :-)

So if your weather permits or you've got a good covered spot, and you can get your hands on some little wooden somethings for $1, I would recommend you hand over some paint and brushes to your little yahoos.  I'm sure they'll love it.

Introductions

We've had a couple of nice days recently--and quite frankly I hope the trend continues!  But when the weather is nice, we are more inclined to let the little chickies out and roam the backyard a bit in the fresh air and sunshine.  The other day was the first time that the big girls laid eyes on the the little chickies, and the reaction was interesting. 

Two of the "big girls" didn't seem to care too much.  But the two in the photo above looked quite interested.  Especially Elvira, the one in the photo below.  I was thinking maybe this was a sign of her motherly instincts.  But Shawn said he actually saw her peck at one of the chickies.  Hmm, oh well, so much for the motherly instinct idea.

The chickies were about 3 weeks old in these pictures and you can see that they have started to loose their downy look and are growing their feathers.  I think they actually have a certain awkward teenage look. 

A few more weeks in the shop under the warming light for these little girls and then they'll be ready to permanently move in with the big girls.  Until then, we'll keep giving them outings like this and then watch them crash into a heap of sleepy feathers after they get put back in their usual accommodations.  They are newborns after all. :-)

Handprint Coasters

It's been a little while now, but I wanted to share a crafty post about how the kids in my daughter's preschool class said thank you to their teachers at the end of the year.  I had a lot of fun doing this project with them and the results turned out quite well.  Plus the teachers loved them.  (Win-win-win!)

The main teacher in the class was moving to Michigan with her family when school finished, so I had "small" and "easy to pack" going through my brain as I was thinking of ways to say thank you.  And I think these coasters fit both of those criteria.

My inspiration started when I saw this post on another blog about making tile coasters using rubber stamps to create the images.  I combined that idea with a refrigerator magnet craft from way back that I remember my sister-in-law making with her kids for our mother-in-law.  The combination of those ideas turned out like this.

I got the tiles at Home Depot--9 for about $5.  Then with my own stash of acrylic paints, I let each kid choose an insect to "stamp" using their fingertips.  I had to keep a good record of who made what insect on which tile, and have a supply of baby wipes for quick clean up.
After the paint dried, I took a fine point sharpie and added the legs, face, and other details plus the kid's names to the tiles.
Then I used some clear sealant spray (also from Home Depot) to give a protective finish to the tile.
When the sealant had dried, I put squares of adhesive backed felt on the bottom of each tile.  That way the tiles wouldn't scratch any surfaces when they were used as coasters.
Here's a set of four.  17 kids meant 4 bugs on a tile and one with 5 bugs. 

Then I bundled up each set.  We made two sets of these; one for the teacher and one for the assistant teacher.

Here's one of the teachers opening up her package with some of the students after their graduation.  They seemed to really like the coasters.  And the kids loved pointing out the insects they made.

While I was having the kids stamp their fingers, one of the other mom's was taking pictures and interviewing the kids for a fill-in-the-blank thank you note.  It just happened to be the mom of the two cute bookends in this picture with our little girly.  (Yea, I know.  How do you tell those two apart?  Thankfully they had different hair lengths!)

This other mom told me that she wasn't a scrapbooker, but I think she just hasn't yet accepted her inner scrapbooker self, because the book of pictures and thank you notes she created was amazing.  When we started these projects, we shared ideas of how something like this could look and my idea was MUCH simpler.  She did a great job and the books looked so nice.  Definitely another nice memory for the teachers.  It was also fun to do these thank you gifts with her.  We had quite the assembly line going for the kids to work through during their center time.

When we told the kids what we were making, I explained it as a "super secret special surprise for their teachers".  And every time the boy in the white shirt in the photo above saw me after that, he would announce in a big voice that he hadn't told his teachers about the surprise.  Way to keep it on the down low kid! :)  It did make me laugh though.  Preschoolers can be so funny--not to mention unpredictable!

VBS 2010

The biggest source of our "busy"ness over the past week, was Vacation Bible School.  For the past three years now, I've coordinated the weeks worth of events for our church in Juneau.  And as strange as it may sound, I really enjoy it.  Of course, I always have a few moments during the preparation where I'm pulling my hair out and thinking ,"why do I do this?"  But then as I breath deeply and make a few phone calls or check a few more things off my list, I always get back to enjoying it.  Which is why I eagerly agree to organize each year, even with a baby on the way this year.

Our theme this year was The Armor of God and we had our sessions over three weeknights.  We also had some pretty high attendance numbers: 46 for Monday, 52 for Tuesday, and 51 for Wednesday.  On our last evening we had a fried chicken dinner before our regular VBS activities.  There were all sorts of songs sung, crafts made, cookies eaten, and games played.  Overall it was a great success!

Here are some pictures of the week.  Many of you will probably recognize at least a few the kids in these pictures.