Pregnancy Pics

Photos taken by my sister, Gina.  She did a fabulous job in my opinion!  Thanks, sis!  Love you :-)  I will treasure these forever!

Just Mommy & Seth

 Daddy, Mommy & Seth

The Whole Family!!!

There is one more picture to come that I think is going to be my favorite...so stay tuned :-)

We're Still Here!!!

I realize that I haven't posted anything in quite some time, but it's because our past few weeks have been CRAZY!!!!  I'm going to try to sum up what's been going on around here without making the post too terribly long...

We went to the beloved Jasmine Moran Museum with our playgroup friends.  Here are some highlights:

Automotive room

Zora at the grocery store

Lily the cashier

Bubble room

Giant LITE BRITE

Lily and the skeleton riding bikes

Dinosaur bone excavation

Then our Nana came to visit!  She came into town to help us move AGAIN!  So now we've moved twice since March and we should be moving again in September.  Crazy, I know, but such is life for now :-)  I'm so grateful that my mom came in to help.  She not only helped us move, but she also helped me clean the rent house we are living in for now.  There were several friends and family who helped through that process so THANK YOU to all of you!  We couldn't have done it without you!

While Nana was here we had planned on taking some time for fun.  We got to have a little bit of fun, but most of her time here was spent helping me move or dealing with unexpected family circumstances.  She had two cousins pass away while she was here, so that meant two funerals to attend :-(  We also had an ICU visit with my brother who got overheated and almost went into a diabetic coma.  Despite all of the drama we had a good time with Nana and we were very sad when it was time for her to leave.  We can't wait until she comes back on August 1st to welcome little Seth into the family :-)

Here is a pic of some fun Nana time in Aunt Gina's pool!

Lily with Nana and cousin Alli

We also took a field trip recently to the fire station with our playgroup friends.  The firemen were so kind and patient with all of the children.  They allowed the kids to climb all over the firetrucks and take turns spraying the water hose.  Near the end of our visit they demonstrated just how high and far the truck can spray the water!  Here are some highlights from that trip:

Since the arrival of Seth is very near, I signed the girls up to take a "Sibling Class" to prepare them.  Although the information suggested ages 4-8, it was geared for much younger children.  In fact, my girls were the oldest kids in the class.  Despite that, the girls received some helpful information.  They were taught what to do and what not to do when "baby" arrives.  They also got to practice the proper way to hold a baby.  At the end of the class they got a tour of the hospital where we will be and they got to see some newborn babies in the nursery.

Father's Day was another big event that we can't forget about!  On Saturday afternoon we met my dad for some yummy burgers and a nice cold ice cream treat!  The girls had a great time getting messy with Jake :-)

On Sunday we treated Joel's dad to lunch and then the girls had a nice relaxing afternoon with their Daddy. Here's Lily with Daddy in his new shirt. (Big Papa is Joel's nickname.  Thanks, Daniel, for the shirt!)

Another exciting activity that consumed quite a bit of our time in June was swimming lessons.  The girls look forward to this every year.  I am amazed at the progress they both made in just two weeks!  Zora is becoming quite the swimmer!  This year her class focused on learning techniques and developing lung capacity and endurance.  Her teacher made them swim laps for the entire 45 minutes...she was exhausted at the end of each session! Here's a video of Zora doing the back-stroke across the pool:

Lily did great in lessons as well.  Even though she was swimming pretty well at the end of last summer, she reverted back to "dog-paddling" this summer.  But thanks to her teacher, she re-learned some techniques including free-style, underwater swim, back-stroke, etc.  Now when we go to the pool she swims like a little pro! Here's a video of Lily jumping off the high dive and then swimming to the side all by herself :-)

This past week, of course, we celebrated 4th of July!  We had a great time with a group of friends on Saturday evening. We met for an afternoon of friendship, food and fun in the water and sun!  Later that night all the men shot off fireworks for the moms and kids.  It was a great show!  I forgot my good camera that day, but I did get a funny pic with my phone.  This is the car that they chose to drive to get the fireworks.  Obviously the box they bought would not fit, so they just brought it home on the back of the car.  Can we say, "You might be a redneck.....?"

On the evening of July 4th we stuck to our annual tradition of watching the show at Riverparks.  We viewed the show from our church parking lot and had a good time visiting with friends from the church while we watched :-)

And, of course, I can't have a post without mentioning the progress on the house and Baby Seth!

The house is coming along nicely!  We have shingles on the roof and all the windows are in!  Our doors should be in on Tuesday, so it will be completely "in the dry".  All of our wiring is complete and the plumber will be coming soon to finish up.  Then we'll be ready for insulation, sheet rock and brick!  Here are some recent pics:

 The fireplace is in!

And last, but certainly not least... Baby Seth.

We are very excited that his arrival is so near.  I am 35 weeks today, so we will get to meet him in 5 weeks or less!!!  Even though I know that our lives are getting ready to change drastically with his arrival, I find myself aching to hold him and kiss his precious little face.  We don't have a lot for him right now because we are living in a little rent house, but we have enough :-)  Here's his little closet in the hallway just waiting for him to wear all these cute little clothes!

 Are these not the cutest little shoes ever?!?!?!

 These will be his "Sunday-go-to-meetin" shoes :-)

And his bassinet is right by our bed just waiting for his little body.

I am feeling pretty good right now.  I had a rough few weeks in June but I think it was due to over-exertion.  With all of the activities that were going on and moving, etc., I think I just pushed myself a little too hard.  But now that we are settled in we are taking these last few weeks to just enjoy life and wait for our little man to come!

So, that's all for now.  I'll try to be better about updating more often now that things have settled down a bit :-)

Home Is Where The Heart Is

I know this saying is as old as the hills, and probably most think of it as a total cliche, but lately I've realized how incredibly true it really is.

Back in March we moved from our family's first home to my mom's house as a temporary place until our new home is complete.  Then after living here for less than 3 months we found out my mom's house sold and we have to be out by next week.  Our house is still not complete (and may not be for at least 2-4 months), so we are moving to another temporary home.

I've never really been a materialistic person - I'm actually a minimalist - but now more than ever I am realizing that it is not the house, or the things in the house that make a place your home.  I honestly don't care where we live as long as it is safe and clean and our family can be together.  And while it is absolutely exhausting to move again and again, it can also be very refreshing and cleansing because you truly learn what it is important in life.  It's not the stuff.  Stuff doesn't make me happy.  I've actually enjoyed letting most of my stuff go.  My new house may not have much in it, but I know that it will be filled with joy and love and that is what I desire :-)

I think the most challenging part for my Type A personality is living "in the moment" and not having everything perfectly planned out.  Oh, yes, I still try to plan things out, but I've discovered lately that no matter how much I plan, those plans often get thrown out the door because of circumstances.  With my previous two pregnancies I had their rooms set up, the names on the wall, the clothes washed and hung in the closet, the swing, carseat & stroller all in place and a stash of diapers and wipes just waiting for that little bundle of joy.  Because we've been living "in limbo" I haven't done any of that.  I have ONE small package of diapers, a few burp rags, a few outfits, his bedding, and that's it!  I have no bed, changing table, dresser, carseat, stroller, swing...NONE of what I would normally have by now.  But the funny thing is that I'm okay with it.  Obviously I will get a carseat and other necessities, like some more clothes, diapers & wipes before he arrives, but all those other things will just have to wait.  Right now I have to focus on moving again, and the less stuff I have to move the better!  I just want a happy, healthy little boy and that will suffice.  All the other "stuff'" can wait.  Because STUFF is just STUFF, but HOME is truly where the HEART is!!!

A Day At Rose Hill School

Today we took a very exciting field trip to Rose Hill Pioneer School in Perry, OK.  The school is still set up as if it were 1910, and the students who visit get to spend a school day just as if they lived in 1910.

In order to prepare for this field trip, we spent a couple of weeks learning about what life was like in 1910.  First, we got together with some good homeschooling buddies and went through a huge wooden crate that was full of information about the time period.  They watched a video about the time period and about the school.  Also in the crate were pieces of clothing, books, pictures, toys, games, and so much more for the kids to handle to get a better idea of what life would have been like.  Here is just one small tub full of old toys that came out of the crate...

After the kids explored the things in the wooden crate we set them to work on some activities.  First, they had to learn how to wash their clothes THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY!  We set them in the yard with a bucket of water, a wash board, a bar of lye soap, and some dirty laundry!  Then we made them scrub away to get the idea of how hard it was then to wash clothes :-)

Next they used an apple peeler/corer to see how they prepared their apples for canning/baking.

To end our group day we played some games from the time period.  Their favorite was called "Drop the Hankie".  It was very similar to Duck-Duck-Goose, but with a little different twist.  Even though it was a very simple the kids LOVED it!!!  They had so much fun and giggled with delight the entire time :-)

After group day was over we did several activities on our own that related to the pioneer days.  Zora also checked out several books from the library about that time period and indulged herself in them!

One of the first activities we did was learn about the kinds of food that kids took to school then.  We talked about the fact that there were no plastic baggies, or tupperware, or anything of that sort to keep their lunches fresh when they went to school, and that they had to wrap their food in hankies or paper and put it in a pail to carry to school.  We found some pails to carry our lunches in and then we had to make some "tin cups" to take with us since we couldn't use plastic bottles, styrofoam, etc.  Our "tin cups" were some vegetable cans that we took the labels off of and scrubbed inside and out.  Here is Zora peeling off the labels and washing the cups...

Some other activities we did included keeping a daily journal, making a name-tag to wear to school, learning some old-fashioned phrases and what they meant, practicing some math word problems from the time period, reading some old fables, and learning some spelling words they would have learned then.

By far, Zora's favorite activity was interviewing someone who would have information about the time period. Since my grandparents are all gone, we spoke with a precious lady from our church, Lois.  She went above and beyond when we went to her house for the "interview".  Zora had a list of 11 questions for Lois...

1. Where did they have their babies?

2. Who helped them have their babies?

3. How did they clean their house and wash the dishes?

4. What did they use to cook their dinner?

5. What did they do for fun?

6. What happened when they got sick?

7. What kind of chores did they have to do?

8. What did they use for glasses (drinking and seeing)?

9. What kind of decorations did they use in their homes?

10. What did they use to keep their meat cold?

11. How did they keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer?

Lois not only answered her questions but told some great stories of her childhood.  She also took the time to pull out numerous things that she still has that were from the early 1900's.  Things that were her parents', grandparents', and even hers as a small child.  She was so gracious to let the girls ask endless questions and even show them how everything worked.  We spent 2.5 hours there and it only seemed like minutes!  Here are some pictures from our "interview"...

Lois shared a story about a relative who was a broom maker.

Several different items she pulled out for them to see included old quilts, a butter churner, a kettle, a washboard, cheesecloth, a wooden rolling pin, a wooden bowl, and old milk bottle, a flour sifter, a meat grinder... and the list goes on!

She also pulled out some old family dishes that have been passed down in her family.  She let the girls handle them even though they were antique and breakable.

The girls giggled with delight when she showed them how they milked a cow!

When Zora asked the question about staying warm in the winter she showed them how they used multiple quilts and body heat to stay warm.  Here are the girls laying under 3 of her heavy homemade quilts.

At the end of our visit we started getting silly.  Lily and Zora both decided to see just how big this butter churning pot was :-)

She also dug out an old-fashioned cast iron stove with all the little utensils for the girls to bring home and play with.  She explained to them that this is what a stove may have looked like then only MUCH bigger!  The girls have loved playing with this and letting the Barbies "cook" at it :-)

So after all the preparation - TODAY WAS THE DAY!  I took over 100 pictures, so it's going to be hard to choose what to post, but here goes...

 All dressed and ready to go!

Students walking across the "time-bridge" and into the life of 1910

Rose Hill one-room school house

The students are lined up and meeting their teacher "The School Marm"

How cute is this?!?!  The girls all had to remove their bonnets for their lessons

Students standing by their desks waiting for permission to be seated

Zora's orthology lesson

Students preparing the drinking pail and washing basin for lunch

 Drinking pail (left); Wash basin (right)

The students had to wash their hands before lunch then have them inspected for cleanliness.

The boys had to use the lye soap and towel on the left.  Girls used the one to the right.

 Before they washed their hands they had to read aloud individually.

 Washing hands

 Hand inspection for cleanliness

 Students are dismissed for dinner (lunch) and recess.

Look how happy they are!

 Zora enjoys lunch from her pail.  Lunches had to be authentic to time period.  

Zora had biscuits with jelly, dried meat, carrots, an apple, a brownie, and water in her tin cup from the well.

 After lunch they enjoyed some games from 1910.

Zora on stilts

 Miss Rupp pushes the kids on the Merry-Go-Round

 Zora's face is priceless!

 Playing the handkerchief game again

 More old-fashioned games

 Zora even found time to read in the shade before they had to go back in for more lessons

PRICELESS

 After lunch they had their Oklahoma history lesson

 Their final task for the day was a spelling bee.

Zora was SO nervous... look at her nervous little smile!

Zora knew how to spell the word she got, 

but she got nervous and restarted the word, so she had to sit down :-(

This little guy was such a good sport.  He didn't actually get in trouble, but the teacher used him to demonstrate one of the forms of punishment.  She drew a circle on the chalkboard a little above his reach so that he had to stand on his tip-toes to get his nose in the circle. He had to remain there for quite some time.

 Class dismissed!  All lined up and ready to go HOME!

 Here is one of Zora's writing samples from her lessons.

 And her certificate for a completion of "A Day at Rose Hill School"

 And last, but certainly not least, the class picture.

(They were not allowed to smile because in 1910 people didn't smile for pictures!)