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!!

a lovely few days...

thanks for the cookies & wallpaper feedback!

i'm feeling so full right now that typing the word cookies doesn't even make me want some- which is saying something! :O)
last night we had Alaskan King crab, broccoli with butter and huge spinach salads. YUM.
this morning we had french toast with pure/raw maple syrup, blueberries & bananas. double YUM.

i thought i would share a couple products that we *are buying since we are basically cooking from scratch these days.

you already know about our Oberweis milk so let me share about our bread products!

here is some information on why our modern grain/wheat choices aren't nourishing and some tried and true old school alternatives.
not going to lie, it will hurt your brain a little bit trying understand it all, but it really makes total sense.

So!

we are currently getting sprouted bread by Ezekiel 4:9. We also use their sprouted tortillas, and pita pockets. We gave the english muffins a spin but joel said they didn't taste like english muffins so the kids and i have been eating them up.
At dinner last night Joel commented twice on how good the bread was- which is a miracle for Mr. White bread.
its definitely tastier and doesn't have the same "clogging" effect that other bread does.

Lately, i'm sure it comes as no surprise, i have been longing for country life.
A little house with some land, some chickens, a cow, a garden. Wide spaces for the kids to run, wild flowers and simplicity. Since that isn't any where in my near future (as far as i can tell) i've been listening to Thad Cockrell (and others) dreaming about the country breeze that you can almost feel & smell just listening to his music. please please go check out his music if you haven't before!

cookies

Hi friends!
how is your Monday going?
lately my blog has been giving me some 'cookie' problems.
when i'm commenting, etc it alerts me to a cookie problem.
which leads me to wonder, is my blog showing up in your Dashboard blog roll? Or are you seeing my facebook links/just coming over to check things out on occasion??
just wondered!
i have no idea how to FIX my cookie problem so i may be calling on hubby to check it out.

speaking of Hubby it a seems we may have agreed on a name for little brother.
(!!!!!)
i don't think we are doing a reveal just yet on the interwebs, but if you text/message me enquiring, i probably won't be able to resist telling you. Ha! It's still not for sure, we are meet your baby and then totally decide kind of people, but i have a feeling it will stick :O)

90 or so days before we meet this little guy- getting a little more real everyday!


Curtain fabric came and it's pretty great! Now i just have to get the gumption to actually cut the material and get going on them :O)
we will hopefully have the entry way, living room and part of the dining room painted, curtains and new light fixture up before Leland's birthday party.... yeah. we'll see.
that's less than two weeks!
So if anyone in this area is a GREAT painter or LOVES to pull off wall paper- come on over!! :O)

that's my boring, no picture monday update for ya.

love.

special deliveries & smart moves

Today is our milk delivery! Thursdays are always exciting because of it:O)
i love all the empty bottles in the crate waiting to be picked up. simple and old school.



also to be delivered today is the fabric for our curtains!
i've never done curtains before and i don't think it would be that daunting if they weren't HUGE panels for our giant front window and sliding back doors. i can't wait to show you! i got everything on sale so instead of being 300 or 400 dollars for all the material it was under 200. still makes me want to puke, but we need something over our windows and there is no way i could do better than that for 30 yards of fabric (that's including the blackout lining as well).
i reeeeeally hope the colors are just what i wanted when it gets here- hard to tell online sometimes.


Over at no big deal Once Upon a Thread is in full swing. So much fun already!
One of Leland's favorite books is Harold and the Purple Crayon- and that was the first book/project that Katy did! Unbelievably cute and more literal than i had imagined the month to be.

go check out some more....

also- the smartest thing i've done all week was...

reading with Leland how to make super fast paper airplanes in the Dangerous Book for Boys!
We made them yesterday and he has been playing with them nonstop since. Last night Joel and Leland were looking at the chapter on tree forts and getting pretty excited for a spring project. I'll keep you updated on that :O)

the second smartest thing was....


making an ENORMOUS apple pie.
yum yum yum yum yum.
we just finished it off today. 9 granny smith apples in that bad boy!

Poor miss Emory (and Leland too actually) woke up really early this morning. i don't know why, but we are all totally exhausted even though we went to bed fairly early. Pretty baby actually fell asleep in her highchair... which has *maybe happen once before. love her :O)