confessions

Before Lily was born, Joel and I gave every.single.second to watching/playing with/talking to Oliver.  He loved it, we loved it.  So, when I was pregnant with Lily, I started worrying about how unfortunate it was that she wouldn't get that one-on-one time with us.  

I talked with a mom at church about this, soon after Lily was born, about how badly I felt that she wasn't getting ALL the attention that Oliver got--and the mom assured me--"It can be a really good thing!  They learn from their siblings!"  I hadn't thought of that before!  And you know what?  It's proved to be totally true.  

Lily is really fortunate.  She's learned early how to stand up for herself, how to say "no!", and has developed some 'street smarts' a little sooner than Oliver did...   But she also has a wonderful playmate around almost all the time, has a peer to talk to and share a room with, and has learned firsthand how fun school and AWANA (our children's Wednesday church program) really are.  She is READY to go to both!  (But needs to wait another year...)  Instead of having a smaller vocabulary--she talks as much as HE does! 

Seeing all of this, I am thrilled to add a third child to our family.  I love that, although more people can also equal  "more conflict"--it also equals more peers, more laughter, more opportunities to grow, more silliness, and more FUN!   I can't wait to see how Lily and Oliver take to their new little brother.  From their interactions with other little babies recently, I know they'll be super helpers.  And what a good thing it is for all of us to learn how to love, to live with and to care for other people--NOT just ourselves!

BRING ON THE BABY!  :-)

Fall FUN!

 We've had such BEAUTIFUL weather this fall!  It's been perfect for mowing...

 

 

 

...and visiting the pumpkin patch!

This pumpkin patch we found is so amazingly wonderful!  

Free admission, plenty of pumpkins, hayrack rides, toys, a corn bin, a toy/climbing area, swings, and a GIANT slide!  And the pumpkins are CHEAP!!!

The kids absolutely LOVED it.

the tree is done.

Finally!  The tree is finished!  The baby room is ready for the little guy...except one more minor detail which is certainly not a necessary thing for him to survive!  But here's the finished tree picture:

I love how it turned out...however, if you'd come visit and look up close, you'd see that it could've maybe used 3 coats of paint in some spots.  But I was sick and tired of all that detail work...so I called it good!  

And I'm super-excited about when Lily moves back into this room--then I can add cute felt birds or little pink 3-D blossoms to the tree.  But I think for a boy, I'll keep it plain and simple.  (Maybe in the next couple weeks I'll even get a full nursery shot posted...)

A Pumpkin Craft

I had seen this in a magazine and it looked SO cute...so we tried it at home.  All you need is orange paint, canning jars (one for each person) and some tape!

First, you stick masking tape on the jar in the shapes you need: triangles, mouth, nose, etc.

Then, paint over the whole thing with orange paint.

Once it's all dry, pull the tape off and you're DONE!

Stick a little candle inside and light it--and instant jack-0'-lantern!
(My night pictures didn't turn out so well...I'll spare your eyes.)

September House Progress

Things have once again been BUSY around here!  With the picture perfect fall weather, comes lots of opportunities to finish up projects that we hadn't done yet. 

First, the bathroom.  Our main floor bathroom is ALMOST finished--we're still looking for the right black tile, and have a few more hardware things to add.  Trim will hopefully come this fall/winter...and then we're DONE!

Second, the yard.  Grass is growing (thanks to perfect temperatures!) and it's so fun to have a green yard again.  Joel yells "GROW!" at it each time he sees it, so I'm sure that's why it's doing so well.

Third, our roof.  We are having our roof reshingled as I write...and it looks super!  Now, to lighten the color of our siding....I'm afraid that project will come NEXT year.

Fourth, our kitchen cupboards are FINISHED!  I have three more to hang though...so my picture isn't a complete 'after' yet...

Fifth, on a rainy cool weekend, we made a trip to Wichita and picked up LOTS of new lighting and hardware for the house...so all the ugly lights have been replaced.  Now....what to do about that dining room light????


Finally, I started drawing the tree in the nursery and just got started painting it...so that FINISHED picture will come later, too.  

(turns out...this will be a longer project than I anticipated!  This is all I got done for day 1...and it's going to need at least one more coat!)