Back again! We've traveled nearly 2,000 miles since my last post. :) We were blessed with a little over a week of family vacation in Michigan, book ended by the week of preparation and the week of catch-up. :) Enjoy! :)
Day 146. I'll admit that haircuts are one of those things I try very hard to schedule at times when Daddy is home to watch the munchkins. However, when my hairdresser's full schedule meant bringing my crew or skipping the haircut before vacation, I opted to bring my crew. :) It ended up being just fine. :) My crew was thrilled with the complimentary lollipops and Winnie the Pooh on a screen bigger than our laptop, and Mommy got her best. haircut. ever. Happy day!
Day 147. My friend Ashley and I are due just two weeks apart, and our friends at church hosted a baby shower for us. What a special blessing! ♥ The Lord provided abundantly for our little Sweet Pea, including more than enough to purchase a car seat (one of the many things we passed on a couple years ago.) :)
Day 148. And speaking of Sweet Pea, here's a picture of her with Mommy at 30 weeks. :)
Day 149. Our garden at the end of May ... Yep. We have sprouts when others in our area who were diligent to plant more than a bit earlier than us already have produce. That's okay. Produce this week or next would have been problematic given our plans to up and leave the state. :) But notice that leaf mulch ... in combination with the newspaper/cardboard underneath it, it has proved an EXCEPTIONAL weed barrier! That combined with soaker hose and drip irrigation on a schedule have made for a very low-maintenance garden this summer.
What I didn't take a picture of this day were the filled suitcases ... loaded in the van, ready for an early morning launch. :)
Day 150. I realize that some families would have been a couple hours down the road by this point, but given our family's personal track record, being out the driveway by 7:00 AM was akin to a miracle. Woo-hoo! :)
Bright-eyes and bushy tailed ...
With a mid-afternoon siesta :)
The Lord blessed with an amazingly smooth trip, and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to an excellent audio edition of The Hobbit as we journeyed north. (Thanks, Jay and Joyanna!!)
Day 151. Glad to be Grandma and Grandpa! :)
Day 152. Sunday afternoon family pictures ...
Day 153. Things shifted a good bit on Monday. Uncle Pat had been struggling with liver disease for a long time, and we all greatly rejoiced when he was approved for a liver transplant and received a match within just a few days. The surgery took place late Sunday night. But although our heads knew the surgery was high-risk, our hearts really weren't quite ready for the news early Monday morning that Uncle Pat's heart hadn't made it through surgery. We are so thankful to know he is rejoicing now in Heaven in the presence of his Savior, but we miss him greatly.
Most of Monday was spent quietly, trying to help where we could. Preparing and cleaning up lunch for Aunt Judy and those helping her make plans was one of those practical things my sister-in-law Janie and I were able to do.
Day 154. With visitation and a memorial service planned for Friday and Saturday, we decided to keep plans we had already made to visit with friends earlier in the week. So glad to be able spend time with Mike & Melanie, Bryan & Janie, and our crews ... the littlest ones hung out with the Mommies while the bigger ones went biking with the Daddies. :)
After that we drove about an hour to visit with our friends Dan & Debbie and their munchkins who have transplanted to Michigan. :) So thankful for fellowship with good friends!
Day 155. Matthew particularly enjoyed Grandma's flower planter. He loves bright colors ... he will randomly walk up to ladies at church and excitedly tell them, "Your shoes (or dress or coat...) are SO BEAUTIFUL!!!" These articles of clothing are most often red, but any combination of BRIGHT colors catches his attention. The pretty flowers in Grandma's planter were a definite object of his delight.
In other news, Mommy decided to take up crochet. A good friend crocheted a beautiful baby blanket for Sweet Pea. It was amazing! But what was more amazing was when she told me that she had just started crocheting at Christmas!! That's just FIVE months! Not five years. Nor fifteen years. Just five months. So she inspired me to try my hand at it. I'm often quite tired by the evening, so it's nice to have something to keep my hands busy when I'm needing to rest. The variegated yarn in the top right corner became a dishcloth and the six skeins of lilac yarn are being turned into another baby blanket. :) I'm so glad for YouTube! And for the wonderful people who have taken the time to create videos about how to crochet and do various stitches. :)
Day 156. Thursday was a fun day! :) Our vacation dates were originally planned around a special outing Dad planned with Chris and Bryan and another friend ...
Yes. They got to drive Sprint Cup cars at Michigan International Speedway. (And for those not up on racing terms, they got to drive really fast in the real cars raced in the NASCAR races!) :) Needless to say, they had a lot of fun. :)
However, while the Daddies and Grandpa were playing, so were the Mommies, Grandma, and cousins. :) Our variety of fun was just a little more low key ... but we had the camera ... ;)
Aunt Janie and Aunt Jenny ... or Mommy. Depending on your clan. ;)
Ethan (10 months) ...
Hannah (9), Matthew (4), and Kathryn (almost 3) ...
We went to Crossroads Village and thoroughly enjoyed our ride on the Huckleberry Railroad. :)
The conductors were all super friendly! (Thanks for taking pictures, Grandma!)
After our ride, the big kids were even able to climb up into the very top of the caboose!
And then we explored Crossroads Village, set up as an outdoor living history museum. We visited the dentist , ...
These two were Aunt Jenny's best buds ... while Aunt Janie pushed Ethan in the stroller, these two kept sweet hold on Aunt Jenny/Mommy's hand and walked throughout the entire town without a bit of a fuss. That's a lot of walking for little legs! And even though most everything was geared for a bit older children, they seemed to enjoy it as well, and patiently waited their turns for Aunt Jenny to pick them up so they could see over counters and ledges designed for those with longer legs. ;)
While the little ones enjoyed the carousel with Aunt Janie ... and Grandma happily watched a (finally!!!) sleeping Ethan in the stroller. :) (Not that Ethan was a bit fussy ... he just skipped most of his nap.)
Then we all headed home to share the adventures of the day with the other half of our families. :) After our crew was tucked into bed, G&G took babysitting duty so that we could enjoy some adult fellowship with Bryan & Janie at their place (where their crew was happily snoozing!) :)
Day 157. Due to the visitation times for Uncle Pat, the cousins enjoyed a special day together with tag-team babysitters in the form of Aunt Jenny, Uncle Chris, Aunt Janie, and some girls from church.
Bubbles are always fun ... and yes, you may thank me for NOT posting the 70+ pictures I took! :D But aren't they cuties?!?!? (And if you're wondering, Ethan stayed with Aunt Janie throughout the day.)
Peter managed to consistently blow REALLY big bubbles!
Once the bubbles were used up, fun commenced with the sidewalk chalk ...
Day 158. The Memorial Service for Uncle Pat ...
And some special time visiting with Aunt Judy ...
Day 159. Then it was back on the road again. A few days later than our original plans, but we were so thankful to be able to be there with our family.
The end of The Hobbit and the beginning of The Lord of the Rings once again made the miles go by as quickly as possible. Mommy crocheted so as not to think about aching back and legs ... :)
Day 160. Toby stayed with dear friends while we were away and did really well with them, but this picture makes me laugh, because she was so obviously ecstatic to be back with her boy. :) Monday was mostly just the standard unpacking and laundry and grocery shopping anybody has to do after vacation. Chris was able to take a couple extra days off work which was wonderful!!!
Day 161. With a restocked fridge, I was able to make my smoothie again for breakfast. Ahhh. Many thanks to my sister-in-law who blessed me with a couple smoothie fixes during the week in Michigan. Amazing how much I missed them. :)
And while looking for something completely different during a quick stop at Miracle Mart, I stumbled across this fantastic little find! A second computer desk for our school room! At $34, we couldn't have asked for a better deal! :)
And with a few days at home, Daddy found time to hang our RED screen door back on our porch!! :)
Nearly done with all the little details that are part of "finishing" such a project.
Day 162. We launched into summer school on Wednesday. Doing about three days of (light) school during June and July will allow us to take off a month or so after Sweet Pea's arrival and still finish at a reasonable time next spring. Honestly, having a schedule again is a very good thing.
Day 163. We bought bookshelves for the den. Mommy and Peter assembled the first one Thursday evening. Late Thursday evening. While Daddy prepped the trim for the wall behind the shelves. While I am capable of it, furniture building is not my forte. Attempting it post-8pm was a better idea in theory than in practice. In retrospect, I think my hubby might have seen some flaws in the theory as well. Ah well. One shelf was built. 'Nuff said.
Day 164. This little guy is a HOOT! He LOVES wearing Hannah's purple headband with the pink flower. He makes me laugh. :)
And double-rainbows make us rejoice! :)
Day 165. It is amazing how much easier it is to build a shelf when
- You've done it before.
- It's 10am instead of 9pm.
Same results. Totally different experience. Note to self: such projects will be here tomorrow. There truly are times when it is better to do it tomorrow. And being 33+ weeks pregnant is one of those times. :) Maybe I'll learn. Some day. ;)
Day 166. Happy Fathers' Day!! We love you, Daddy! :)
And now we continue on with our summer activities of schooling, swimming, park hopping, cookie baking, nesting, piano playing, Lego building, crocheting, etc. :) With Mommy and Sweet Pea at 34 weeks, we're getting really excited to meet our newest addition! :)
