happy friday!

It is 101 outside right now but they say it feels like 108!  Way too hat for this pregnant mama!  I am so thankful for our friends around the corner who let us come cool off in their pool for an hour this afternoon!  I am off to take a nap, but thought I would pop in and say "Happy Friday"!  Hope you all are keeping cool today!

black bean and corn salad

Made this recipe and took it to a friends house the other night- it was a BIG hit- the teens were scrapping the bowl clean before they even to to the burgers and hot dogs!  I will definitely be making this again!

working my to do list

The 4 big kids have been attending VBS in the mornings this week and I have been crossing things off my to do list faster than I can write them!  Adelaide has been the perfect companion for all our morning activities:  baking, shopping for some new clothes for her dad, finally closing that bank account I have not used in years, a quick trip the grocery store, rearranging furniture etc.

We've also painted some furniture...

completed all but 2 sections of our yearly testing!

And I've even found a few spare moments to work on some sewing projects!  I cut out the exterior fabric for this diaper bag and am just waiting for my order from Fabric.com (lining fabric, interfacing, notions etc.) to come so that I can finish it up.  I've also sketched out most if my squares for the Happy Go Lucky embriodery sampler and have started stitching a few.  This is a project that will probably take some time for me to complete, but that is okay- I like to have projects like this to work on when I'm watching TV or on a long car ride etc.

In other news, I bought my first maternity top today.  I know, totally crazy to be buying maternity clothes when I have less then 5 weeks to go, but this seems to be the way I roll.  I wear my regular shirts until I really can't go out in public in them any more without my belly hanging peaking out the bottom.  With Adelaide I think I was 38+ weeks when I finally caved and got 1 shirt that fit me.  This time I will be living in luxury the next few weeks with not only 1 top that fits me, but two dresses too!

weekending

The hubby got a new grill for Father's Day, but last week he was so busy that he did not have time to put it together until Saturday.

He and the boys spent the morning putting it together on Saturday...

And we are finally ready for some summer grilling! (we threw our old charcoal grill away at the end of last summer as it was literally falling apart).

I bought Adelaide this swimmy vest while we were out on Friday and she has been wearing it every waking moment ever since we got home from the store!  All she talked about all day Saturday was going to the "cool(pool)" and wearing her "swimmy in the wa(water)" She was so tickled when she got in the pool and was paddling herself around (as she giggled and squealed) in no time at all!

My little water bug got to try our her swimmy again on Sunday when some friends from church invited us over for an afternoon swim in their pool (and I finally joined instagram!)

We picked up two more friends from church and spent 3 hours splashing away.

A perfect end to a great weekend :)

our family's initials

I have had these letter for at least a year, knowing I wanted to decorate them and hang them, but not knowing exactly how I wanted to do it.  And then one day last week it just came to me.  I used twine, ribbon, scrapbook paper, pages from a book, maps and paint for the letters, and embellished with buttons, felt and crocheted flowers, butterflies and birds.   We had an old crib (that does not meet today's safety standards) in the attic, so I pulled out the mattress support, attached the letters with fishing wire and hot glue, and hung it on the wall in our living room.  I would show you a picture of the whole wall so you could get a better idea of how it works in the room, except the room is such a mess I can't bring myself to post a picture online!  I may or may not add more embellishments to it over time, but for now I am happy with how it turned out.

online stitchalong class

I never do this kind of thing, but I decided last night to join Amy Powers' Happy Go Lucky Stitchalong class at Big Picture Classes... Like I needed something else to do, lol!  Anyway, I am planning to make a stop at Michael's to restock my embroidery thread (seems mine has been quickly disappearing- every time I turn around my thread box is in Regan's room!) while we are out shopping today and can't wait to get stitching on this project. I've already got a list of "things that make me happy" running on the back of my grocery list...

mushrooms
strawberries
birds
buttons
flowers
sewing
family
cup of tea
bunting
rainbows
home
chickens
butterflies....

And the list goes on :)

nesting?

I have a long list of things I need or want to get done in the next few days and weeks before the baby comes, but I seem to be pretty poor at prioritizing them.  I often find myself sitting at the craft table and working on a project instead of attending to the more urgent needs like making a grocery list for our shopping day tomorrow, washing and folding clothes, doing our end of year testing with the kids or making room for another crib and the pile of baby clothes I sorted and washed a few weeks ago (wow, that was a long sentence!).  I think this is what nesting with ADD looks like- I've got the list of things to do and the drive to get them done, I just go about it in a totally scatterer brained and unorganized way!

Anyway, here is one of my random projects I've been working on. 

They are number tags for the nursery at church.  The bracelet with a number on it goes with the parents and another matching number gets clipped onto the child's diaper bag.

Now I am off to make that grocery list, hopefully I can stay focused and get it done!  Wish me luck!

sneak peek

This is just a little sneak peek at what I have been working on this week. 

I am really excited to see the finished product- crossing my fingers that it is all going to work out as well as I hope :)  I'll be back with more pictures as soon as I finish!  Right now I think I am going to go take a quick nap- we spent 3 hours at the pool with friends this morning and now everyone is playing quietly in their rooms for a bit... perfect time to grab a few winks :)

34 weeks

So, this is me at 34 weeks, 2 days.  Surprisingly I am feeling better now than I did 2 weeks ago!  Of course I have learned after 5 other pregnancies not to expect to be too comfortable or get too much sleep at this point.  It is actually pretty crazy to think that in just a few short weeks there will be a new little person in our home!  I can't wait to meet this little girl!

living room update

Our living room got a little update last night.  After being rescued from someone else's trash and abused for another 10+ years in our home we finally got rid of those two blue chairs...

and replaced them with  this!  Our good friends are moving across town and purging all the extras in their house and we were lucky enough to inherit this extra large sleeper chair.

Look at those two cuties sneaking into my pictures :) (and ignore that half finished paint job in that corner!)

I also picked up this cute little bird house on clearance at Target last week.  Our Target is a smaller one and I don't always find a lot of great deals there (at least not as many as it seems other people find!) so I especially love it when I find something fabulous like this on clearance :)  It's kinda hard to take pictures of a cage and have then turn out great, so you just have to take my word for it that this is super cute.

Next I'd like to find a couple fun lamps for those tables on either side of the "new" chair and replace the curtains.  I am also hoping to start a new project for the living room this afternoon that I will share with you if it all works out the way I am hoping :)

girls morning out

Yesterday Regan and I met one of the ladies from church at the Mall for a little bit of shopping.  Regan was in desperate need of some new church clothes and our friend Susie was more than happy to come alone as our fashion consultant.  We had such a good time (which never happens when Regan and I shop together) I don't think I will ever take her shopping with out Susie again! 

After we were done shopping we headed to the food court to grab some lunch.  What a surprise to find one of the local gymnastics places had a whole set up in the food court with bars, beams, mats etc.  Regan has only been begging me every day for over a year to take gymnastics, so she was thrilled when she got to go play on all the equipment!  We were there for over an hour and I could hardly get her to sit down for a few minutes to eat her lunch!

Of course I did not remember to take any pictures while we were out, but I did snap a few this morning before church.  Even though the shopping trip was for Regan, we came home with a couple things for Addie and Tallulah too, and they were all more than glad to model their new outfits for me this morning :) (Please ignore the breakfast mess behind them!)

right now

This never happens.  My baby girl, asleep in my arms....

but today has been a long day.  What I had thought was going to be a laid back day of playing at a friends pool in the morning and naps and laundry in the afternoon changed into an early morning visit with a friend who probably has only days, maybe weeks, to live... (cancer sucks), a 6 hour play date with friends and an emergency visit to the orthodontist when Micah got knocked in the face with a toy sword.  We are home now, and it seems like everyone is on the verge of meltdown, and in Addie's case, her meltdown ended here.  I am holding onto these moments, because in a few short weeks Addie will have to share these arms with another baby girl :)

in the mail

Micah brought in the mail today and it was like a baby shower in the mail! There were packages from my sister and my mother in law, filled with super cute baby clothes, a pretty new crib sheet and lotion! Thanks Grandma and Aunt Sherri!

I also got my fabric swatches from Spoonflower.  Pretty exciting to see my own designs printed on fabric!  Now to decide what I want to do with these and order some yardage!

sewing for baby

I did get to sew a little something for  the baby yesterday afternoon.  This little number was super easy to make.  I used this pattern from Sew Much Ado.  From picking out the fabric to taking these picture I think it took less than 45 minutes to complete.

Here is a close up of the super cute fabric I pulled from my stash... I have a thing for fabric with birds on it and have quite a collection that I really need dig into.  You may be seeing more little birdies soon :)

today i am...

defrosting my fridge, which every few months decided to freeze up and start leaking, until I unplug it for a day or two.

dreaming about buying a new fridge someday.

sorting through the 100 pictures that Regan took of a drawstring bag she made... she wants to write a sewing book :)

sorting and folding a clean basket of baby clothes, all so teeny tiny!

thinking about sewing something new for the baby

making my grocery list for shopping day tomorrow

science experiment at the north pole

Last year, before our coast guard neighbor went "out to sea" she stopped by our house with a stack of large styrofoam cups and instructions to color them with permanent markers and give them back to her before she left.  She was headed to Seattle and eventually on to the North Pole on one of the U.S.'s few remaining ice-breakers.  This week we got our cups back after their long trip, not only to the North Pole, but also to the bottom of the ocean! 

They are now less than half their original size and some of them did not just shrink, but got a bit funky too :)

I am not sure what it is that makes them shrink like this, but it is pretty cool!

this must be some sort of record...

I actually finished this quilt in just over a month!  All of my others seem to have taken closer to a year!  Anyway, it is all quilted and bound and just needs to be thrown in the wash before it is ready for the baby :)

And because I couldn't resist these foxes last time I was at Ikea (I know it's a wolf in the story, but those could be foxes on the fabric, couldn't they?) the baby has her first stuffed animals too... and the Little Red doll I stitched up last month :)

lego love

There is a whole lot of Lego love in our house these days... mostly by the boys, but Addie gets in on the Lego play too.  Her favorite Legos?

Why a big stack of heads, of course!  You always know Addie has been there when you see a stack like this laying around :)

little red riding hood quilt

I finished piecing together the top of my quilt over the weekend.  I thought it would be a great idea to take it outside to photograph, it was such a beautiful afternoon, but it was a bit too breezy and this was the best I could do to capture it between gusts :)

So, here are some dimly lit pictures taken inside (of my poorly ironed quilt top).

That bottom right center square is my backing fabric and I plan to embroider the baby's first initial on it.

I am thinking about sending it out to have it quilted, but chances are my budget will have me doing myself, despite how much I  don't want to!

I've been playing on Spoonflower this weekend. Uploaded a couple of my sketches and thought I would share them with you.  First off my mushroom sketch- straight out of my journal and onto Spoonflower.

This one I played with the colors a bit on the Spoonflower site. I am interested to see how it prints up.

I think this could be addicting :)

weekending

This morning I woke up knowing it was the perfect day for a family outing to the local donut shop- O'doodle Doo's. (If you live in the area and have never been, you should definitely check it out- their donuts are sooo good!)

Someone brought a box of O'doodles donuts to the last day of CC and I have been thinking about them ever since waiting for the perfect day to take the family for a special treat.

The donuts did not disappoint.  Just look at that face :)

After we'd filled up on Donuts we headed to Lowes to pick up a few things and spotted two trailers full of Horses in the Cracker Barrel parking lot.  Addie is in love with horsies (and dogies) these days, so we had to drive by to get a closer look.

I am thinking this afternoon might be calling for a nice little nap and some fun in the hose with our new spray nozzle (it's the little things in life :) Wishing you a sunny and happy weekend!