This morning

Aaron brought up the laundry with a helper:

and from my lovely spot on the couch, this is what I can see right now:






It might look like messes but I love lazy mornings with my family. I love watching Aaron and Addy play in their own little world. I love being bundled up in a blanket while Addy brings me little things to hold onto. I love hearing Aaron and Addy in her bedroom telling stories to each other. and I love coffee! :)

23!!

I celebrated my 23rd birthday yesterday and it was such a nice day. First we had muffins, (the best in town that I have talked about before).
We came home and opened gifts and this is one of them!!!

It even makes jam! I cannot wait to use it!!
Then Aaron started his first day of school! I cannot believe it is school time already but he's back making the 2.5 hour drive twice a week. Luckily this is his last semester of commuting and he'll get to just work on his thesis next semester. He's such a busy boy! While he was gone, Addy and I actually went to the mall to find some maternity jeans. I've made it all summer without any and it's going to get cold here pretty soon so I actually bought retail. This was hard for me. Seriously, to go spend a chunk of money on myself these days is not what I'm used to.
When Aaron got back, my mom came over with these:

I love flowers on birthdays.
We then packed up and all headed to the bowling alley! This was Addy's first time bowling and I'm surprised she didn't loose her voice, she was screaming so much. She loved it! It was adorable to watch her push the ball down the ramp and she got a 90 her first time. I think she beat me!!


Happy birthday to me!! and fall is coming! I just wanted that said. Little pumpkins are making their way from the basement already!!!

Away from home

Today we went to an orchard out of town. Although we didn't do any apple picking this time, we still had a blast!
On the way there, we saw (at least) 50 of these windmills... They are crazy huge and are almost scary to look at. I'm pretty sure that is a house next to the closest one.

At the orchard, there was goat feeding:

And lots of hand holding:




There was jam! (Why do I get this excited and have to share with pictures??) I bought some pumpkin butter!

Bus driving:

Teeter-tottering:

Lots of kissing:

And flower picking:

All the ingredients for a great day!

In other news, Congratulations Becky!!!! My cousin just found out she is cooking up a little person due April 2010!! God bless!!! (and while we were saying prayers tonight, Addysen prayed for her Hootie [scary owl thing I made her a few months back] and her bears... little sweetie!)

Congratulations Andrea!

So one of my two followers, Andrea, on here had her baby this morning! Happy Birthday to her little boy Brennan! He's so beautiful!! God Bless her and her family! and congratulations again!!

I'm SINGING in the rain!!!

We love when it rains because Addysen gets to wear her rain boots.

And I get to wear mine:

And the neighbors, (that we actually love), brings us tomatoes!

Happy Monday

I think...

We need to have more of these nights...


...followed up with one of these:


Other news: I made dishcloths!

Addy's Art Space

Addysen's has a new space. As I am getting tired of going down to the basement (where my little art studio is set up), to let Addy 'make' things, I had a revelation:


Why not bring it up to her!
So that's what we did. I brought up her easel (which was mine growing up), and cleared off half a shelf in our antique mini-hutch thing. And it works good for us! I just leave paper up and crayons out for when she wants to walk by and doodle just a little bit. On the shelf are finger paints, acrylic paints, homemade coloring books along with other kinds of paper, markers, and paintbrushes. She loves having her own shelf that is so accessible to her. (Oh and that is a plant stool we are using for her 'table'!)

Feeling Blessed

God is so, so good to us. I mean really, too good. Lately it seems that He's really been present and I just wanted to share some little things I am thankful for right now.

Our trip was amazing and I am so thankful we had the opportunity to go on it. There was really no family fights and we all had a really great time. Addy is still talking about going to see the rocks and horses!

This pregnancy is going by so good. I could complain about my fat, sausage hands or the fact that I had to have my sister tie my shoes for me! but really, this baby is growing strong and healthy and I am as well.

I have an amazing husband. I love him so much and he is too good to me. He works 12 hour shifts then comes home and plays with Addy so I can knit and put my feet up.

My daughter continues to astound me each and every day. I know that I will have enough love to go around when this new baby comes but I cannot fathom how I will be able to give twice as many kisses and squeezes. I think I drown her in them already. Last night she would not go to bed, and she wasn't fussy or anything, just really awake. So, I brought her in bed with us and she ended up waking Aaron up because she kept giving me so many kisses and she kept saying, "I love you so much mama," over and over again. I really did feel bad for Aaron in that he had to wake up in a few hours but I did not want it to end at all!

So, thank you God, for all of the beautiful people and adventures I am blessed with and the ability to share it with the few people who are interested in what I have to say on here. I pray that God blesses you all in what you are doing, what is ahead of you, and everything/one that is in your life.

out of towning

More making...

So, it feels like the making around here has slowed down but when I went to take pictures of all my little projects this week, I was surprised at how much HAS been made! I will start off with these... no I did not make them but back in May or even April I did take the time to plant them.

I love sunflowers! I would say they are the best thing about the middle of summer. I only cut two because the rest have yet to bloom. I am super excited to see them when they do because I planted a bunch of red and orange ones this year, something I haven't done before. I also harvest the big mammoth sunflowers in the fall and get a couple jars full of seeds that I roast... yum, yum!
Next in line is this little lovie:

We are going to Wisconsin tomorrow and earlier this week I decided that I needed a new bag to take with on this trip. The pattern is from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing book, which I love so much. That book has really helped me get back into sewing and I've made quite a lot of gifts from the patterns in it. The fabric is from Hobby Lobby and is left over from coasters made as a wedding gift a few weeks ago.
I made my first Mei tai this week also. I didn't really use a pattern, just looked on a bunch of different websites at theirs and kind of made my own. It does work! Addy is just not to fond of it yet. It actually felt good to carry her in because it put some weight on my back for a change. The front fabric is also from Hobby Lobby and the back is from a thrift store around here for $.50!

The top half and beginning of the top straps are padded and it is super comfy! I have another MT in a smaller size cut out to make for the baby.
This next little project is turning out way different than expected! first of all, there is a new local yarn shop that I stumbled upon in the last month. I've been saving my money to splurge on some really nice yarn and found some really pretty stuff last week. So, I bought 3 skeins of hand spun yarn and spent way too much money on the stuff, (well, probably not way too much but I'm a cheapo and am used to walmart pricing), and decided to make something for the baby with it. This is the pattern I decided on, but the hand spun is a LOT thicker, so my gauge ended up being totally off. Let's just say that it fits Addysen perfectly, not a newborn, and that I have had to buy 2 more skeins just to make it long enough.

I've got about two more inches to put on the bottom and buttons to add and it will be finished. At least it will fit someone!
Speaking of gauge: this needs to be reworked soon.

It is the Hurricane Hat that I made for our three year old niece with a birthday coming up. Yeah, that hat is on MY head! So, no way is it going to fit a soon to be four year old!
My mom brought over a huge zucchini a couple of days ago, so it ended up as bread and muffins for the trip:

It's been so hard not to eat them!
and for your viewing pleasure, this was taken about an hour ago:

Getting bigger!
Well, we are off to camp tomorrow for a couple of days with the family! (not really camp, a preggers like me, yeah right, it's more of a resort), but fun and needed nonetheless. God Bless!