Pumpkin Patch

Caitlin and Emma, our oldest nieces, were here for a few days last weekend just for fun. They had been in town for a funeral, then stayed for the weekend to keep "Aunt E." company.

Saturday morning we got up headed to a nearby pumpkin patch full of fun things to do! There was a petting zoo, corn maze, hay rides, pay equipment, including HUGE slides, and even a scary looking orange princess.

Weekend Update and first house guests

This weekend the Fishing River Association was held at our church, hosted by another church in the association. We had a wonderful time seeing friends we hadn't seen in a year or more. It was great to catch up with friends and to share our pregnancy news with many of them. The meeting was held Thursday night through Sunday early afternoon.

On Thursday night we had the pleasure of having our first overnight guests in our home, Thomas and Elaine Bond. It was so great to have them in our home and be able to visit with them for the two nights they stayed. We hated to see them go, but hope to see them again soon!

Saturday was a sad day for George and I. We attended the morning service, ate lunch, but then it was time for George to leave again. We had 4 short days together after his 17 day trip. This time, he is to be gone 21 days in Houston. October 17th he is suppose to be home for 5 days, then away again, for another 21, do the math...we are getting close to Thanksgiving at that point. Today he called with the news, that he may have one more deployment after that, which puts us to the beginning of December. For now, it is quite overwhelming to think of all that time away, so I am just taking one trip at a time. Please continue to pray for him as he will be working very hard and long hours while he is away.

Today was the conclusion of the meeting and I took kid duty while Ben and Julie helped carry things to cars and clean up the fellowship and sanctuary area. Hannah and Abby are both at such fun ages. We played inside for awhile, but the weather was so nice we headed outside to play. Both girls love playing in the rocks and grass. It was a perfect day to get out the camera. Hannah is finally smiling for the camera instead of grabbing for it, but sometimes her smiles are a bit forced. Abby laughs so much these days. It make me giggle just thinking about it. She is so curious and expressive, and very photogenic.

Overall, the weekend was filled with wonderful fellowship, and fun!

The Bonds heading out on Saturday

Who knew a box of Eclipse mints could be so entertaining!

Brittney and Whitney, two of Hannah's favorite people at church.

Abby is figuring out how to uses a straw, unfortunately all the water doesn't usually get swallowed, as seen by the puddle around her.

Curtains for the guest room

I've become fascinated and very entertained by making curtains, or maybe I should say, window mistreatments. For those of you unfamiliar with window mistreatments, you can read more about them on this blog, look on the side bar for more posts labeled "window mistreatments. Of course she is much more talented than I. None the less, with a new house, we have lots of bare windows, and treating them is quite pricey.

This is my attempt in the guest room of dressing up the windows. It involved nothing more than two fabric patterns, some trim, hot glue, safety pins, and a little fabric glue. They aren't exactly perfect, maybe a little bit too wide...but for now they are up, and will stay up, even with their little imperfections.

Project for the Guest Room

On our honeymoon I had purchased a poster that I loved. It looked kind of antique/vintage, and I loved the flowers and coloring of the poster. Well, of course our honeymoon was about a year and half ago, and the poster has stayed rolled up in the closet...until now.

I started thinking about different things I could do with it. I knew I didn't want it just in a basic poster frame or stuck randomly I the wall. I was looking for a little more of a statement than that.

Here is a photo journal of what I did...

The poster...but then I cut apart the flowers.

5x7 canvas tiles from a craft store.

Matched each flower to a complementary piece of scrap book paper.
Glued the scrap book paper onto the canvas, then roughly centered the flower picture.
Arranged all 12 tiles in an eye-pleasing design. Then affixed small ribbon loops to the top.
And lastly, nicely asked husband to measure, level, and hang them on the wall. The larger space in the middle was an accident, but as I told George, I think it was a good accident. Eventually, there might be some extra decoration between the columns of pictures, some small saucer-type plates maybe?

I am very excited with how it turned out. Not too bad for a $3 poster. Plus it kept me entertained for a few days until George got home.

IT'S A ........

Baby York is staring right at the camera.

Five toes on that foot!

Baby York with an arm and hand up by it's head.

...STUBBORN child. Yesterday we had our sonogram. We are now passed 22 weeks in the pregnancy. We had hoped it would be very clear whether our lives would be filled with pink or blue the next few months. Baby York had other ideas; putting it's legs over it's head, and refusing to reveal what we needed to see to make the determination. For over 30 minutes we poked and prodded trying to get the baby to wake up. At one point, briefly, the technician thought she saw "three lines" which indicates a girl. She gave us 75-80% chances of a girl, because with what she saw, and that boys are usually more apparent by this stage in pregnancy. So for now...we are saying we will have a beautiful daughter come January/February, but we are holding off on painting or purchasing anything. We laugh saying, we either have a very modest daughter, or a very sneaky son. Next month, on October 20th, they will do another quick ultrasound to see if she is in a better position we can have a little more confirmation.

The good news is, developmentally speaking, she looks very healthy and strong, weighing in at just over a pound. Her spine, brain, and heart looks great and we are very thankful that everything appears to be on target. We are confident that our parents may find it that justice may be served by us having our own stubborn child. Most know that Baby York will come by it honestly.