Good Friday 2011

We have been learning about the resurrection and reading different Easter books during our family story time before bed all week long (more on all that soon). With today being Good Friday, we decided to do a few things to remember the ultimate sacrifice that our Jesus made for all of us. First we made a Potato Tomb Landscape, an idea I got from a blog called Impress Your Kids.

Seth filled our dish with dirt.

Then we cut into a potato to make an opening in our "tomb."

We added rocks, twigs to make a cross, and some greenery for some trees. Seth was not interested in taking a picture with me or the tomb, but that's what happens with a 19 month old.

Here is our Potato Tomb Landscape:

Then after naptime, we did some watercolor painting. I drew three crosses on a hill with a sharpie marker and let him have at it. He did pretty good with his first time using watercolor paints.

Tonight we went to an Agape Dinner and Good Friday Service at church. It was nice end to a very special day.

Seth's Big Boy Bedroom

Seth's new bedroom is finally complete! I have to say I think it is my most favorite room in the whole house. Here's the new big boy bedroom:

The headboard was found by my mom at a Consignment store for $10.00. The bedding and planet mobile (which is no longer available) came from Pottery Barn Kids. The bedding in my opinion was pricey, but hopefully since it is high quality and not babyish it will last for a long time. The light blue sheets, navy bedskirt, and navy curtains came from Target.

Here's what the bed usually looks like, but it's so nice to be able to easily hide the bed rails.

On one side of the bedroom, Seth has a new craft area. The table came from Essex and was actually a console table that we cut down. After some bargaining we were able to get the table half off for only $34.99. I love that it is not a typical children's craft table.

We can raise the leaves and it becomes longer for more work space.
The chairs came from IKEA for $12.99 a piece.
Above the table is a bulletin board that I had in every one of my classrooms. I always painted the cork every year and added a different ribbon to the edge. It is such an easy way to add a pop of color to a space. We have been putting all of our crafts from Toddler Time at the library on it with gigantic sized thumb tacks that I found at the dollar store.
Right below the bulletin board (and high enough that Seth cannot easily reach these) are four metal buckets full of all WASHABLE art supplies. The buckets came from the Target dollar bin and they are hung using Command hooks. The buckets hold washable watercolors, paintbrushes, crayons, preschool scissors, and washable glue.
Sitting on the craft table is a craft paper roll and holder from IKEA. The foam puzzle originally came from Pottery Barn Kids but I bought it still in the unopened package for a dollar at a local consignment sale.

On the smallest wall in the room is the bookshelf from the nursery. It holds the fish tank, a lamp, clock, and picture of Seth's 3-D ultrasound. Above the bookshelf is one of my favorite pieces in the room. It is an alphabet poster that I found on Etsy. I am in love with it!

Next to the closet door is the magnetic dry erase board that used to be hanging in the nursery. We hung it low so that it could be even more functional. If you know me at all, you know that all I love for decor to be functional. Next to the magnetic board is a basket that holds some blocks and a few small toys.
Above one of the doorways, I sat some chipboard letters that spelled out Seth's name. I modge podged them with coordinating paper for fun and instantly Seth loved pointing to his name.

So here's a look at the entire room
(standing from the doorway leading to the living room)

(standing from the doorway leading to the hallway)(standing by the closet door)
It's been super fun to decorate Seth's new room.
I hope he enjoys his big boy bedroom for many years to come!

WKU Baseball

Last night we went to our first baseball game of the season. We weren't there to support the Hot Rods though. We were there routing for the WKU Hilltoppers! It happened to be one of the few games that the local university team plays at the minor league baseball stadium. So sporting our red we enjoyed a wonderful and absolutely beautiful evening at the ballpark. This year, Seth was intrigued by all the sporadic music and people clapping. He would dance and clap, only he would be about 5 seconds later than everyone else.
When he wasn't being passed around to all of our new friends in our fellowship group who were sitting all around us, he was snacking on vanilla wafers or fruit snacks or some other food.

He especially loved admiring his new friend Eliza. They kept giggling at each other and giving each other hugs and kisses. It was just too sweet!

Seth stayed awake during the entire game. Toward the end when it was way past his bedtime, he started to zone out a bit, but as soon as things started getting exciting in the 7th and 8th innings he would perk up to show his support. WKU ended up winning against the University of Kentucky with a score of 11 to 8. Go Hilltoppers!

Ducks and a Milkshake

Today we spontaneously decided to go feed the ducks at one of the local parks. We gathered some old bread and loaded up. Of course on the way we stopped to get a half-priced milkshake from Steak 'n Shake that we could also enjoy.

We tore our bread into lots of pieces once we arrived at the park.

We fed lots of ducks, geese, and birds.

We sipped on our milkshake as we observed the birds...

and sipped and sipped and sipped. Yum!

Sweet memories.

Soaking Up Life

How has so much time slipped away? It feels like just yesterday that we revealed "little's" gender, but it's been over two weeks! We have been soaking up all of life's wonderful moments, enjoying sporadic beautiful weather, and spending time with people we love. We have been grilling out, swinging in the backyard, playing at the park with friends, and getting rid of more stuff.
Since finding out that "little," who will now be known as Silas, is a boy, I have been going through clothes and baby stuff. I know I have plenty of time, but it's just so exciting to get everything ready for another baby. Since Seth's room is almost complete, I have been going back and forth about changing a few things in the nursery (mainly the curtains). A change would be nice, because I absolutely adore changing things, but it wouldn't be necessary, so we'll see.
In the last week or so I found some adorable robot fabric that is now ready to be sewn into a blanket for Silas. If you have been around for a while, you might remember that a blanket was one of the first things I wanted to make when I found out that we were having Seth. The urge has hit me again, and I can't wait to get started on it.
Then this past weekend my mom came up to BG and then we headed north to the IKEA that is just outside of Cincinnati. We were on a quest for some craft table chairs for Seth's new room (the finishing touch). We found them and lots of other things while we enjoyed the day together. Seth sure did love seeing his Nana, too! So while the blogging has been at a standstill for the last two weeks, we have been having a blast.

Revealing "Little's" Gender

Today was the big day! We found out Little's gender. Not that it really mattered one way or the other, but we were anxious to find out so that we could know how to plan in the coming months. I had been thinking during the whole pregnancy that Little was a girl because I have felt so different this time around. Turns out my motherly intuition was completely wrong and more than likely thrown off by some of the MS symptoms, because we are having a BOY!
We learned that Little is measuring about 20 weeks and 1 day putting a new due date around Aug. 23. Not that it really matters too much either since the delivery will be scheduled about 10 days before that, but everybody always asks about a due date. We weren't able to get one of those cute profile pics today so we will have to go back in a couple of weeks to try to get one. So until then we are left with a somewhat freaky, but I still think cute, picture of a face skeleton.
Before we could reveal the news to everyone we had to have a small REVEAL party at our fellowship group tonight. Our friend Julie mentioned having a Reveal party a couple of weeks ago and so we baked a cake to reveal the gender just for her.

Since Bryan and I already knew the gender (because it wasn't like a typical reveal party where the parents find out too), we let her do the honors of cutting into the cake.

She was so excited and that made us even more excited!

We are so blessed and can't wait for our "little" baby BOY to make his debut!

Operation: Big Boy Bed

One week ago today we started "Operation: Big Boy Bed." I can't deny the first few days were rough. Seth's new bed is twin sized with Regalo Hide Away Double Sided Bed Rails on it because it could not be pushed up against the wall on one side due to an air vent in the way. His bed is also in a new room with a new look. While it's not quite done because we are waiting on a few items from Etsy and IKEA, it was ready enough to transition Seth over to sleeping in his new bed. That would give us close to five months of getting settled into sleeping in a new room in a new bed before "little" arrives where we will all have to make many new adjustments to our routine.
When Seth was four months old, we decided we would establish a bedtime routine. That was easy compared to transitioning to a big boy bed because with a crib, kids are confined. Our biggest issue this past week has been Seth getting out of his bed over and over again. He was even waking up in the middle of the night which he usually doesn't do. Oddly enough nap time had not been much of a struggle. So we just kept wondering why bedtime was so difficult. It wasn't until a couple of days ago that we realized our mistake. We had changed too much. We were still taking a bath, putting on pajamas, and reading on the new bed each night, but one key component was missing. The rocking/cuddle time had been eliminated because the rocker is still in the nursery. I only rocked Seth for a few minutes anyway and he was usually still awake when I laid him in bed so I didn't think it was too important in the whole bedtime process, but I guess he needed that winding down time. Two nights ago we added that couple of minutes of rocking back into the routine and Seth has been going to sleep just fine and he is back to sleeping through the night again. I am hoping that the trend will continue and just in case it doesn't, I sure am thankful that we have several months to work on learning how to sleep.