featured on Ohdeedoh!

Emory's first birthday party was featured on Ohdeedoh!

even though she now looks more like this




than this





it was exciting :O)
check it out HERE

also, happy opening day!

no sew, sicko, potty go, expo...

well, Leland ended up running a slight fever and being miserable & listless all of monday afternoon/evening so no quilting progress was made- nothing to share :O)
it was never over 101.5 and other than being totally out of it his only complaint was that he hurt everywhere.... Joel thinks he's just growing. I don't know what to think but he's been totally fine yesterday & today, other than a little bit tired and crabby.
glad it didn't warrant a Dr appointment/copay though...

... we did have a Dr's appointment for me & baby bubby in Mt. Vernon yesterday. The whole family went and we got to see Dr Covlin and then meet our friends Beth & Keith (and their little fella Jackson) for dinner afterwards. it was so nice to catch up! Another funny way God provided was a random kid's eat free coupon for the restaurant we ate at that i received by email the day of, only valid on the 29th, and the fact that the waitress let us use it for both kids!

MIss Emory was dry the whole way there, didn't have any accidents the whole time, dry the whole way back (even though she slept) and so i have officially dubbed her successfully potty-trained! 2 weeks shy of 22 months, not too shabby. i was just hoping that she'd be far enough into it that we won't have 2 kids in diapers at once and mission accomplished. i doubt that she will slide back when brother gets here because now she HATES to have anything icky on her. here's hoping :O)

The appointment went well! Everything still looks great and i'm measuring 31 cm. getting excited to meet this guy!

This past weekend i went to the Greater St. Louis Home Educators Expo with some lovely ladies- Alisha, Jenni & Lynelle.
It was so much fun to go to the seminars and get to look at and hold the different curriculum in hand instead of looking at it online or in a catalogue. So nice to have the common goal/support of friends too.
The experience was a great one and has just made me more excited for this coming school year!

On Saturday Joel and I are going on probably our second fancy date ever.... to the symphony for Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Rings. They are playing the score live while we view the film! i don't know if he knows that we are watching as well as listening, so i think he will be very excited that its both. I'm so glad that we got the tickets a while ago because we are on super budget crunch now in preparation for all the financial/life changes that are coming up this year. It will be wonderful to have an adult night that is full of enriching entertainment and time for great conversation. i can hardly wait!

I bought this book, Honey for the Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt, at the Expo and love it already!

i would definitely recommend it as a great parent resource. the first few chapters have just reinforced for me how important reading to our kids is and have got me excited about reading poetry to them. Jenni! If you are reading this you need to get this book for the poetry chapter - you won't regret it :O)

Please be praying for our friends @ Cornerstone as they travel to the Philipines for a ten day mission trip and their families here in the states while they are gone!

We are also excited about an event called The Give that Atrium Church will be hosting the saturday before Easter. More about that soon!

hope your families are healthy and you are having a great week!
excited to see my sister and her family as they come in for a break from touring this weekend!!

elise

awesome giveaway!

friends, check this out:

Francine Rivers Giveaway!

you could win the WHOLE library of her work!
i would be so so so so so so so thrilled to win.
i was just looking at her two newest books at Border's and wishing i could buy them.
take a look and enter.....

maybe we'll have a more personal blog post later this evening- i'm working on a quilt (that should already be done!) and hopefully i'll have enough done to share the progress with you :O)

have a deliciously deliberate monday....



source

crawling to my phone...

(weheartit)

yup. literally. it's a sure sign that you've done a little too much when you have to crawl 4 feet to get something because your hips won't cooperate enough to walk.
(don't worry it's not the pain i had been struggling with, it's just hip joint/sciatic nonsense from doing too much)
but!
curtains are (mostly) done, living room and entry are (mostly) painted, house is (mostly) clean, and the party was (mostly) ready by the time people arrived.

wait, did i mention we were having a small get-together for Leland's birthday? and that we had set that day as a deadline to have certain projects done? well there you go- that's what was happening.
So last night joel stayed up all night painting and i stayed up until 3:45 sewing/prepping, woke up at 7 to meet my mother in law at a baby resale event, came back and ran around like a chicken with my head cut off until bout 3pm.
hosted the party (pretty poorly) and then collapsed onto the couch.
my phone rang across the room so i tried to get up to get it, and no matter how i tried, i couldn't get in an upright, straight, walking position! so crawling slowly it was :O)



my mother has been an amazing help all week! she came up tuesday so that we wouldn't miss our produce pick up, she came up thursday and stayed with (4) (crazy) kids so i could go get my glucose test, and then she came friday to help me figure out how to approach the giant curtain panels and get the house caught up. Then *today* she came a bit before the party and helped with anything and everything, washed all the party dishes and left me with a (mostly) clean house, so that i would rest. love love love her.

Dr's appointment went well! I've officially only gained ten pounds (!!!!!!!!) which is waaaay different than my other two pregnancies, no problems with my test, but i do have low iron. which i really felt the effects of earlier this week as i was so tired and had noooo motivation to get moving. thus marks the transition to appointments every 2 weeks!
i got to have lunch with my sweet friend Maria after the appointment- tried to shove lots of conversation into 20 minutes:O)

some pics from today and then i'm going to sleep!



paint on the walls, granny smith apple!





Leland's AMAZING pirate ship from Nana & Papa



from scratch, soaked flour blueberry muffins- i was nervous but they turned out pretty yummy!



leland's fake smile- and yes- i let him have little spiderman cupcake decor. i figured since i was feeding him something healthy i'd let everyone win :O)

we had a lovely (albeit tiring) time! so glad that the McGrews, Miss Neely, The Dickerson's and both sets of grandparents were able to make it :O)

if you are wondering where the alleged curtains that i sewed all night are, we had a problem with the curtain wire anchors pulling out of the wall. Poor joely worked so hard and used the right tools/screws etc, and they still weren't strong enough. so, i had to take them down before i could get a picture, but they will be back up soon :O)

maternity pictures!

our sweet friend Jessica who took our family pictures this past November is going to be doing some maternity/newborn pictures for us soon!
i have been thinking about looking online for some examples of what i'd like and OH MAN is it hysterical. mostly i'm finding examples of what i don't want, and with out trying to be mean some of these are sooooooo funny! i apologize if i post a picture of anyone you know or are related to-- i think pregnancy is a beautiful wonderful thing, but well, i think the pictures pretty well explain themselves. enjoy:

#1- the sensual in sheets


#2- the sensitive father


(can't you just see this with Joel's lumberjack beard caressing my stretch marked belly? eeeeeeew!)

#3- the i can't button my pants


#4- the cheesy side of the moon


#5- the preggo peep-show



now for some a bit more my taste:








do you have any wonderful ideas to share??

stats, japan & Leland (wow that sounds gripping!)

this weekend i found a super cool button on my blog dashboard entitled stats.
this means that even though no one commented on my last post (nbd) i know that 58 people read it. That is pretty cool.
i know personally, i often read through the blogs on my blog roll quickly and only inject comments some of the time. I wonder if its a sign that i should be more exciting or engaging? i guess this blog is essentially for me, but i really enjoy getting to talk to people over the age of 4 via blog land:O) regardless, it's a fun little button.
i hope *some body* tried the plum galette!! did i mention how easy easy easy it was? and how delectable it was?! okay, i'll give it a rest :O)

for all my motivation and discipline last week i'm so tired and out of it this morning!
i will blame the time change, having to be up early, and the SNOW. yup, more snow. in March!
saturday we rode our bikes to the park to play and today there is slush and snow. oh well!
As much as i wasn't thrilled to see more of the white stuff when i woke up, last night Joel and i were watching footage from Japan and i just can't get over the devastation there. I don't know if i've ever been more glad to live in boring old IL. Tornados, 'blizzards'- fine with me. complete and utter chaos of buildings falling and then being swept away by the water like leaves in the ditch- thousands dead... it's mind blowing and chilling. During lunch we'll be praying for all those in danger, dismay and disaster mode. Fasting isn't really recommended during pregnancy but i really want to spend the lunch hour lifting Japan up to God in that same manner of intensity so we'll eat small and simple and then get to it.
Feel free to join us!
if you would like to donate to help with the devastation, some of our friends HERE are currently involved with church planting in Japan. Click the link for more info.

tomorrow is Leland's 4th birthday. i thought i would share some pictures of him from the past years and some things about him right now. (edit* after going through pictures there are a million. i'm sorry. i just really like him!) with out further ado, Leland Hunter:

















































Leland has recently "perfected" spelling and writing his first name. (that lowercase E is really hard!) We are working on reading and he is recognizing letters very well. He would like to go fishing or work outside every single day. He loves riding his bike and helping me cook. His favorite snack is peanut butter, honey & bananas in secret (pita) bread. He and daddy are reading The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe before bed and every morning he tells me about what they read last night. He is always talking about his buddy Jax who is in Germany, his sweetie Brooklynn who is in Iowa and his new friend Herrison who is "really strong". He loves hanging out with his almost sisters Lucy and Jane. He takes care of Emory and annoys her too. He can't wait to work on his tree fort with daddy this summer and start "big boy" school work in the fall. oh, and play kung fu and spiderman with his baby brother in June.
thanks for bearing with the tons of pictures- this past year had too much fun stuff to choose from :O)

busy bee

(photo from we heart it)

i've been doing so much around the house the past 2 days that sitting around for a little while this morning seems really weird. For all of you motivated and disciplined folks that are used to being organized, marking everything off your list and making every second of the day productive, you probably wouldn't be too impressed with my progress- but let me tell you- for this formerly unmotivated and lacking house keeper its monumental.

I feel like my head is clearer, my energy greater and my ability to just DO things improved, tenfold.
i actually crossed everything off my list yesterday. i've done literally ten loads of laundry in 1 and 1/2 days. (how is that possible you ask? cloth diapers, little girl panties, bedding from transitioning to no pull up for leland at night, etc etc. i'm not even close to being caught up.) the dishwasher runs almost constantly because i'm cooking almost constantly.
I did school with Leland, Bible time with Emory while daddy and Leland read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, even swept and mopped the kitchen! (which i would have never been able to do 2 months ago... now i'm almost 28 weeks preggers and no big deal. ha!)
if you came over my house would definitely NOT look clean, but if i can keep up this pace for about 2 weeks we will be caught up, cleaned out, organized and ready for company :O) oh yes.

so this morning i've done absolutely nothing besides play with Emory and check out blog world and about 2 hours.... and it feels weird! last night we had such a good dinner that i was in a food daze and didn't clean anything up. Joel read to leland and then passed out on the couch for 3 hours while i watched Bright Star- beautiful and sad- until i dragged him to bed. So i really need to clean up the dishes from dinner. stat.

one of the most beautiful & peaceful scenes in Bright Star

we had steak (medium rare with red wine sauce), baked sweet potatoes (with pasture butter), sauteed mushrooms, sprouted bread, plum galette and an Argentinean Malbec (that i only sampled and used in the sauce).
food coma. that's the only way to describe it. i'm not an experienced or well trained cook so it had nothing to do with me, but it the flavors were all aaaaaamzing. God is good- He sure knows how to make some food.

i cannot express how badly you need to try the plum galette yourself. please please please go make it. i'm drooling just thinking about it! mine was small since i only had 3 plums and made less dough, but i would have ate the whole thing in one sitting regardless.



here's the recipe over at Honest Fare and the small changes i made were to use only 1/2 cup flour (whole wheat, soaked), add 1/4 cup almonds to the dough (previously soaked & baked) and a pinch of stevia powder instead of any sugar. i *did sprinkle like 1/8 tsp sugar on the top before i baked it.
no mine did not look as pretty as the one on Honest Fare- but since i inhaled it, it didn't matter much :O)

time for a bike ride with my 3 favorite people! and little brother who finally has a name!
enjoy the beautiful day!!