Memorial Day 2011

Remembering those who have sacrificed their lives for our country and praying for those who have served or are currently serving (including our Matt the Marine).

Makeshift Water Table

The weather has been beautiful around here for the last couple of days, so yesterday we enjoyed lots of time outside. It was finally warm enough and sunny enough to break out the water bin this year. Since Seth received a wagon on his first birthday, we have learned how easy and fun the wagon is for housing Seth's tub of outdoor toys. We use a Rubbermaid container to house all of them and it fits snugly in the wagon. The tub can instantly become mobile which can be very handy. We drag it all over the yard and it makes the bin super easy to fill with water when we want to turn it into a makeshift water table. I have a feeling on hots days this summer the sprinkler and this tub (filled with water) will provide lots of fun. All of the items in the bin have come from the dollar aisle/dollar store or they are random recyclables. We lucked up last year and found a very cool water funnel in the Target dollar aisle.
We also use old shampoo bottles, plastic spoons and shovels, and some toys that were in a summer beach kit. (We usually keep some toy trucks, a plastic colander, an old ice cream bucket, and some sidewalk chalk in the wagon when it's not being used as a water table.)
Or course, the wagon can always be used for it's main purpose at any time as well (which Seth thought was super cool).

Yay for some cool, frugal fun!

Growing Strawberries

One of my favorite children's books is called The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. It's all about how a little mouse is trying to keep a strawberry away from the big hungry bear. That's kind of how I feel about the strawberry plant that I am trying to grow this year, except instead of protecting my strawberries from a bear, I am trying to keep them away from the pesky squirrels.
As much fun as having a garden was last year, I felt I needed to pass on the opportunity this year mainly due to me being as big as a whale during the sweltering summer months. But just because I don't have a garden in the backyard, doesn't mean that I won't have some backyard bounty to share. Instead of the typical flowers adorning my deck, I have lots of herbs, a blueberry bush, a tomato plant in a Topsy Turvy, and a hanging strawberry plant.
The strawberries have been plentiful, but I have only managed to taste one not so ripe strawberry so far, because the squirrels snatch them up so quickly. Hopefully before strawberry growing season is over and using some squirrel scaring tactics, I can come out successful just like the sweet little mouse in the story that I adore.

Silas' Baby Blanket

For some odd reason, I feel the urge to sew when I am pregnant and I don't want to just sew something, I want to sew a blanket for our new baby. I first learned how to sew when I wanted to make Seth his baby blanket. It was really my first project and his fleece rag quilt turned out great. It is a little bulky for everyday use, but it is great to lay out on the floor for lots and lots of playtime. I have sewn many things since that first venture in sewing just two years ago.
I always keep my eyes open for new things to try and that was definitely the case when Dana from MADE, a very popular blog, posted about her daughter's faux chenille blanket. A little while later she posted a tutorial on how to make it because apparently I wasn't the only one who was a huge fan. About that same time we found out that we were pregnant with Silas and I knew instantly the blanket I wanted to make for him. Two weeks ago I started on it.
You need about 5 layers of fabric for the project. I actually had the four colors for the back from a different project but I just couldn't find the perfect fabric for the front. One day while shopping at Hobby Lobby, I saw it lying in the basket of fabrics that are to be restocked. I grabbed it up and couldn't have been happier with my choice. The front fabric, which is the only layer that is not cut once sewn, is a robot print. It is full of lots of color and will be perfect to carry around while Silas is just a wee little one.
The four back layers are solid green, red, yellow, and blue. After you sew lines 1/2 an inch apart on a diagonal on the entire blanket you cut into these four layers. Then once you wash it they become the faux chenille. It's like it's magic. Bryan saw me cutting on this blanket for about a week and a half and wasn't too impressed, but when he came home to the finished product yesterday he was amazed at how the cut side transformed into this really cool, rippled, soft effect.
I used a black, satin blanket binding to finish the blanket. I have to say going around the curved corners with the binding was probably the hardest part, but I think it was worth it.

I think Seth likes his baby brother's blanket, too.

Pepaw

One week ago today my Pepaw, John Henry Richerson, went to be with Jesus. We celebrated his life on Saturday in a very nice service. Finally today I felt strong enough to not let the pregnancy hormones overtake me while writing this short post. I will miss him greatly. I will miss hearing him say "how sweet it is" and watch him sing beautiful songs. But I am thankful that I will one day see him again and until then he is "singing in Gloryland" with our Savior.

Silas: 25 Weeks

Today marks 25 weeks in this second pregnancy. I went in on Tuesday for my regular monthly check-up and for my glucose test. Dr. D did his first belly measurement, my anemia levels looked good, and then the moment I was dreading came. Since I had gestational diabetes last time around, there was a strong chance that I would have it this time too. I was supposed to get a 140 or less on the blood test. I ended up getting a 144. Slightly over, but since I did so well maintaining my diet and blood sugar levels last time, Dr. D said I could just watch what I eat and skip the 5 times a day blood testing. I just about jumped up to hug him. If Silas starts measuring big though, I will have to start doing the finger pricking.

I have been feeling Silas move a lot more. Now it's easy to feel kicks and movements from the outside, too. Bryan even felt him move for the first time almost a couple of weeks ago. Because we didn't get a great profile picture at 21 weeks, we went back a couple weeks later for another ultrasound. We got that sweet little profile picture which looks very similar to Seth's by the way. But, we also got this cute image. Silas is already picking up traits from my side of the family. Below he has his arms above his head, a position that both Seth and myself are commonly found doing while sleeping.
Mark your calendars, because Silas' birthday will be August 8th unless he decides to surprise us before then. The C-section is scheduled and we are just giddy about his arrival.

A Weekend at Nana and Pop's

This past weekend Seth enjoyed his first weekend away at the grandparents' house. Bryan and I had been away from Seth for a day or two at a time in the past, but we had never been at home without him there. On Saturday we were able to get some work done around the house and I was able to do quite a bit of sewing for Silas. Then we were able to have a nice dinner out and coffee at our favorite local coffee house. All the while, Seth was having the time of his life with Nana, Pop, and Uncle Michael. He even got to see his Granna, Papa, and Aunt Amy on his trip. I am not sure Seth missed us a bit with all the fun that he was having, but we sure missed our boy. Here are a few pictures that Uncle Michael took while they were having fun at the park.

Trees, Grass, Worms, and More

Arbor Day was this past Friday. I didn't actually realize that until I noticed an event in the SOKY Happenings that was taking place at one of the local parks. Several booths were going to be set up for kids to learn about trees and various nature related things. So we set out to see what we could learn. Once we arrived, I very quickly realized this event was for kids on field trips (since we were the only ones there that were there not on a field trip), but we still got to enjoy a few things.

Seth got to see a tarantula and a scorpion,
even though I am not really sure how that
related to Arbor Day, but it was still fascinating.

We made a pine cone bird feeder at one booth.

Because there were so many kids
around the craft tables,
we asked if we could take the butterfly clothespin craft home.
We colored it later on the front porch.

We did receive a free red bud tree, too!

Later that afternoon Seth watched as daddy planted new grass.
Bryan is in the process of growing Zoysia grass in our yard
and planted 800 plugs in our front yard.

While Seth didn't really find the planting of the plugs terribly interesting,

he did get a kick out of the mist from the water hose.

He kept begging for more and more. It was so cute!

Then just as we were putting things away from our day outside,
Seth discovered the joy of worms. He checked with daddy to make sure they were indeed as cool as he thought they were...

and yes, yes they were.