Blessings

So, it all started with wanting a bookshelf.

Hunter is at the age where he LOVES being read to, and gets so excited if I say the word "library." He loves books, and that's obviously something I want to dote on! He has had two boxes of books that I've had nowhere to put to be available for him. So, a few weeks before we went home to MI, I asked my dad if he'd build a bookshelf for him. Being a grandpa, he couldn't say no. ;) And he is very good at carpentry. He built Hunter a really nice toy box a couple years ago too. Anyway, we brought back the Popey-made bookshelf for Hunter. I painted it the same blue that his nightstand and toy box were painted. Here he is with his new bookshelf, showing where the books will go.

After we got his books on his shelf, it made me want to get all of our books on one. We originally bought a bookshelf 3 moves ago when we were in IL. It was just a cheapo one from Target, and showed that after 3 moves. It actually never made it to our current residence because in the last place, it would sway back and forth if you sent a light breeze its way. It finally found its new home in the trash before we moved.

Anyway, we were in need of another bookshelf. Craigslist has become my best friend lately, so I started looking on there. I found a tall bookshelf that a lady was only asking $10 for. So, we went to look at it. She said she was relocating to CA and was selling everything before moving. Greg noticed a dresser sitting in the middle of her dining room so he asked if that was for sale too. She was asking $50 for the dresser. We offered her $50 for both of them and she accepted. Here's a picture of both of them...

They're nothing spectacular, but definitely sturdy and a good deal for $50! We have both been sharing a dresser since we got married, and the rest of our stuff gets piled on shelves in the closet. It wasn't the best method so we were definitely thankful we stumbled upon the dresser!

So, THEN we were talking to our neighbors across the street about how we just got a dresser for our room, and now we need to start looking for Hunter. I have had a trundle drawer that went under his crib that I've had sitting on the floor in his closet, and I put his folded clothes in it. That's been his "dresser." Anyway, our neighbors said they had an old green one we could sand down and paint blue that they offered us. They just needed to clean it out.

Then today, they called us over and said they got an amazing deal on a really nice armoire ($25!) at the local thrift store. So they had TWO stained dressers they didn't need anymore and they said we could have one for Hunter and one for the new baby! I couldn't believe it! I just feel so blessed that the Lord is providing us with things that we definitely need, but haven't even asked for. It may be pregnancy hormones, but I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about how thankful I am that they gifted us two dressers! Hunter was very excited to get his own dresser, and Greg was excited to throw the trundle drawer (that was falling apart) in the trash! :) Here's a pic of one of them:

They currently have flower knobs, which will just not do for a boy's room, so I am going to try to look for some fun knobs to put on Hunter's dresser. Then, once we find out if we have a little boy or a little girl on the way, I'll do the same for that one. :)

So that's it for now. Isn't God awesome??

18 Weeks

Phew! I was feeling kind of small all day yesterday until Greg took the pictures and I saw them! SHEESH, I am getting rather large! Don't have much more to say another than that this week, lol. Here's the pics...

Picture Frames

So, I've never been one for do-it-yourself projects, but now that I've been a housewife for 5 years, I am just starting to get the desire to venture into that.

Since I'm new to it, I am starting with small stuff! (It will be a while before I can compete with you Keri!) ;)

So, back in AZ when we had friends visiting, we had "Old Time" photos taken. We have 3 8x10's that I wanted to hang. We did buy one picture frame at the studio that was the perfect look, but since I wanted all three pictures hanging on the same wall, I had to recreate that first (way-overpriced) frame. Here is a picture of that frame:

Here's a tip. Walmart is THE best place for picture frames, hands down. Even my mom, who doesn't go to Walmart for anything, goes there for picture frames. They really do have a good selection at a great price. (No, I'm not getting paid for this advertisement.) ;)

Here's the frame (I got two of them, actually) I picked up from there for $3.

I obviously couldn't have that nice finish on it, so I took the frames into the garage, grabbed a big wrench and started beating on the wood. Just be careful if you do this, because I caught the edge of the wood on one of them and split it. OOPS! After that, I just took sandpaper and sanded until I liked the way it looked. I was going to do a baking soda/water mixture (one part each) and put it on the wood, then leave it out in the sun. This weathers the wood too, but I was happy with how the sandpaper did, so I left it like that.

I know it's super simple, but I'm pretty proud of myself and it only cost $6 for both of them, when I think we paid $20 for the original one! Here's the finished product, up close.
And here is my newly decorated wall! :)

16 and 17 Weeks

It has been a crazy week so I had to post both of these in one post. We went home to Michigan last week to visit family and friends so there wasn't much time for blogging!

Here are my 16 week pics. Sorry for the terrible lighting. I look like a racoon! However, thanks to my sister-in-law, I have a new array of adorable maternity clothes, this outfit included. Thanks, Ruth!

I am 17 weeks today and feeling great! My appetite is HUGE! I gained 5 lbs while I was in MI but I hadn't gained anything before that so it puts me right on schedule. Those darn Coney Hani's are to blame though! Here's my 17 week pics. (Also notice my mom and I finally hung things on the wall while she was here. I'm finally making this house a home...)

Baby is getting bigger and bigger, about the size of a sweet potato at 5.5 inches long! I am starting to feel the baby more and more, and it's gone from light flutters to occasional punches that I KNOW is baby! It's so exciting. There's been LOTS of activity going on in there today and I LOVE it!

I (FINALLY!) scheduled our anatomy ultrasound yesterday! It's on September 15th. I'm sad it still seems so far away, but glad it's finally scheduled, at least! We can't wait to find out if Hunter is getting a little brother or sister. Greg thinks it's a girl, but wants a boy. I want a girl. With Hunter I remember being so sure that it was a boy, and I would have been shocked if they told me otherwise at the ultrasound. I wasn't basing it on anything but my intuition. I haven't really felt strongly one way or the other with this one until this past week. Again, I feel like this is another boy. Everyday that feeling gets stronger and stronger. I even dreamt last night that we had a boy. I do want a girl, but I will be happy with a boy too. Besides, Greg said we're done having kids after we have two girls, so if this is another boy, that guarantees me at least 4 children! ;)

New Bern

So as I mentioned in my last post (if you read the whole thing, I know it was lengthy!) we went to New Bern last weekend to visit with friends. As expected, the visit went wonderful and it was soo good to see everyone! (The only problem is that it, once again, reminded me of how much I miss everyone!)

The main reason we chose last weekend to go was because Ms. Kenley Ronk was celebrating her first birthday. Also, two of my friends are pregnant (I think I've mentioned that before) and this was going to be the only time we would be in the same place at the same time during our pregnancies! We, of course, got pictures. :)

From the left, me (due Jan 25th,) Jenny (due Jan 23rd,) and Keri (due Jan 21st!)

So, Saturday morning started with a breakfast trip to Baker's Square. This is THE best place ever to get breakfast, and it's been over 2 years since Greg and I have been able to enjoy it, so it was a must going there. It was delicious, as expected, and I haven't been that full at all this pregnancy because I still have to be careful with what and how much I eat.

After breakfast was the birthday party. Keri did a crayon theme, and she did it so well!

I was on camera duty during the party for Keri so most of my pictures are stolen from Jenny's blog. I hope you don't mind! ;)

This next picture is the adorable crayon/rainbow cake that was delicious too!

Here is mom and birthday girl.

Keri had butcher paper over all the table clothes so the kids (and adults) were free to color on the tables!

Here's Greg and Hunter joining in on the fun.

Brian (Kenley's daddy) made an awesome video montage of Kenley's first year that made me cry like a blubbering idiot. It just made me think of how big MY boy is, and he's almost 2 years older than Kenley! I love the stage that he's in, but he doesn't have very much baby left in him. It makes me that much for thankful for this little precious life inside of me

Sunday morning, we went to church and saw wonderful old friends that asked us (as always!) when we're moving back! After church, we went with a big group to eat lunch.

Here's a pic of me and Ms. Kenley.

After lunch, we didn't miss the opportunity to get one more belly pic!

Our visit was wonderful and it was so good to see everyone. Thank you again, Gary and Melissa, for housing us!

We hope to see everyone again very soon. Love you all!

Homeschooling

I think I'm going to home school.

That's right - I'm a crazy lady! ;)

I don't even know really where to begin this post. In the past, when I thought about Greg and I having school-aged children, I always imagined I would be a stay-at-home-mom that was very involved in their school activities. It excited me to think about volunteering for field trips, and things like that. It also excited me to think about sending them off to school, and having the day to myself for a run to the gym, grocery store, dry cleaners, etc. Never ONCE did I ever think about homeschooling.

I think my first personal encounter with homeschooling was with my sister. She desires to home school her 4 children, and did so with her first in first grade. When she first told me she wanted to (this was a couple years ago) I thought she was absolutely absurd. I didn't condemn her for it. I didn't disagree with any aspect of homeschooling, but I do believe my response was something along the lines of, "I could never do that," and that was the end of my thoughts on it.

As Hunter has gotten older, Greg and I have talked a lot about when he goes to school and where we'll be geographically. How, when we finally decide to buy a house one day, we'll definitely need to talk about what the school district is like. Over time, those conversations evolved into looking into Christian schools, because of how liberal public school has become. Both Greg and I went through public schools K-12 grade, but it's not the same as it was even 10 years ago. There are so many things that public school is accepting to be politically correct that we are not ok with and don't want to subject our children to the idea that those things are ok. So, fairly recently, we came to an agreement that private school would be our choice for our children. Homeschooling had come up a time or two in these conversations throughout the years, but Greg never even entertained the idea of it. I think that had a lot to do with my stance on it too. If Greg didn't want me to home school, then why even consider the possibility? He doesn't want our children to be without friends and social skills. I think that was his main concern, and I don't disagree with him. I had that same concern.

As I've blogged about it in the past, I have "school" with Hunter and we do different preschool activities. He absolutely LOVES it, and he's so intelligent that I feel it would be a waste to not be teaching him things he'd learn when he enters preschool, when he is fully capable (and willing!) to learn them now.

Then, this weekend happened. We visited our friends in New Bern again. God was working from the beginning of planning our trip there, because I had called our Pastor from New Bern to see if we could stay with them for the weekend, but they had a crazy weekend planned so they couldn't have us (understandably.) Thankfully, the music pastor and his wife, Gary and Melissa, were willing to take us in. :) Throughout the weekend, we had lots of time to just visit with them at their house. Melissa home schools their three girls. She has a specific room in their house that is strictly the classroom. And it looks like just that when you walk in! She has been homeschooling her children from the beginning and they all love it.

We were able to talk a lot about homeschooling over the weekend. They both shared with us their personal reasons for doing it, and all the resources and activities that are out there for others that choose to home school. I don't know that Greg or I realized how much there really is, and how many fellow homeschoolers there are! Melissa and the girls have went on many field trips in groups with other local homeschoolers, and groups like this are all over the country! We shared with them our desire to send Hunter to private school, and that was that.

After we left, I couldn't help but think about hypothetically homeschooling our children. I didn't want to entertain the idea too much though, since I knew Greg would never agree to it.

Then Monday night, he came home from work, and homeschooling came up again...much to my surprise, he said he'd been thinking about it and would be ok with it if I wanted to home school. He said he would want me to be active in a homeschooling group so we are still doing activities with other children regularly, which I totally agree to. He doesn't want me to do it past 5th or 6th grade though. But that still gives me the next 8 years to home school Hunter.

Since Monday night, I have been doing lots of praying and as much research online as I can. I went to the library last night and checked out 6 books on homeschooling. I got a weird look from the lady checking them out for me. Greg said I should have told her I want to home school myself, since strangers still think I'm a teenager, haha. I know that look was the first of many, I'm sure. But that's ok.

I can't put a particular book down. It's called The ABC's of Homeschooling by Vicki Caruana. It's a Christian book designed to aid in the decision of whether homeschooling is right for you or not. She is constantly reminding throughout the book that if the Holy Spirit is calling you to home school, then you should. If not, that's ok. But just as Paul talks about in Romans 12 with personal convictions. If one is convicted to home school, then it's a sin not to. I have been researching and praying a LOT this week, and I do believe that He wants it for our children. And I'm so excited about it.

I know there are things I'll be giving up, like meeting friends for lunch, and running errands by myself. But I actually made a pro's and con's list to homeschooling. The pro's list was very long consisting of things like: having the ability to move ahead or spend more time on certain subjects as each child needs it according to their learning ability, being able to use the Bible throughout lessons in our curriculum, my knowledge and intelligence will be tested and be improved also. (I'm not proud when I have to ask Greg a geography or history question that I really should already know the answer to myself.) The list goes on. I had 2 things listed under Con's, and they were both selfish reasons. I think that's my answer right there. Homeschooling our children isn't about me. It's about them. It's about instilling the right, Biblical values in them that we as parents are responsible for doing. With our children home with me, we won't have to worry about what ideas someone may be putting in their head. I will also be fully capable of their intellectual abilities and will be able to challenge them accordingly.

So, as it stands, I will home school our children through 5th grade. And I know full well that if the Lord desires for us to go further with it, He will make that clear to both Greg and I. In the mean time, I will continue with prayer and research. I am super excited about this though. And I'm so thankful that the Lord changed this in our hearts when we weren't even looking for a change.

Momma's Monkey!

I never know what I'll see when I hear my two year old boy say, "Mom, look!"

Creepy Creatures

So the new house that we're in is located just 2 houses down from the woods. Greg loves the quiet. I don't mind that, but I hate everything that comes with it! Bella has had 2 ticks already, and Greg caught one on himself before it had bit him. I actually have to check him for ticks after he cuts the grass! However, Hunter is getting to see all kinds of creatures first hand (the non-invasive kind!)

This first picture is Hunter holding a frog. He was so funny because he was a big boy and held him, but as soon as the frog made the littlest move, it scared Hunter and he threw it!

This next picture is Hunter holding a little praying mantis! I will hold a frog, but momma draws the line at praying mantises!

This one is my favorite. Sometimes when we come home, there are these lizards on the front of our house by our front door. I cannot believe the gorgeous colors they have! The tail is wrapped around Greg's hand so you can't see all of it, but the tip was a gorgeous purple color! So pretty!

This next picture is our latest discovery. Greg was mowing the lawn last night and called us outside because he found a garter snake! I actually have it on video but I've tried on 3 separate occasions to upload it on here and for some reason blogger won't cooperate. (Has anyone else been having this problem?) Anyway, here is Hunter petting it, and he did hold it for a little while too. Such a boy!

15 Weeks

Well, we are already 15 weeks along! I'm starting to get a real appetite back, which will probably catch up with me on the scale! However, I'm thankful that I'm not really craving junk food like crazy. I'll want ice cream sometimes after dinner and stuff, but it's not ridiculous where I want to eat the whole tub all the time. And when I'm looking for something substantial, packaged foods like crackers and stuff sounds so gross to me! I can't get enough fruit right now! I want to make a huge fruit salad and just live off of that. YUM! Anyway, here are the latest pics!

Drawing Faces!

Hunter and I went over the basics of drawing faces last night.

Then this morning I asked him to draw one and this is what he did ALL BY HIMSELF!

I'm so proud!

Pregnancy Comparison

Whew! There's definitely lots of differences! I have a bigger belly with this one, and I'm smaller everywhere else. I can't complain about that though!

I am starting to feel great, and am getting big enough I think that people know I'm pregnant! So exciting!