Another Beach Excursion

Yesterday, Mom, Clara and I made another beach excursion. We went to a different one for an outing and a chance for Grandma so see another place around here. It was VERY chilly and windy and we hadn't brought our jackets, so it didn't last long! However it was still a beautiful day and the beach was lovely. Mom and I were able to do a little walking and then Clara had a great time running around on the beach and playing in the sand for a bit. Afterward, Mom treated us to lunch at Chic-fil-a. We were super hungry by then and Clara had tons of fun in the play area!









And yes, baby is still cozy and comfortable where he / she is at! :-)

Walk, Waddle and Wide

Walk, waddle and wide is what happens here when Mom, Clara and I go walking. Mom walks. I waddle. Clara wides (rides) in the stroller. :-) We thought we were so clever and funny coming up with that one! :-)

So, up-date time on what's going on around here. We're enjoying Grandma's visit, which thankfully gets to last as long as it takes for baby to come and me to get somewhat back on my feet!!! The waiting game has begun.

I had a check up today with two of my midwife's apprentices, and that went very well. The baby was in a fairly good position and moving and had a good heartbeat: 140. And I checked out well too. So, we're very blessed and will continue to wait and pray that baby will come in the right timing and all will go well.

Aunt Janette's visit was short and sweet. We picked her up on Tuesday and she left Thursday, but we were still able to get in some good chatting time, sight seeing and treat times... like stopping to pick up ice cream bars one day and Starbucks the next... some very immature choices can be made when four ladies are out and about! We also got to pick up Chipolte one day and take it to Stephen's work and have lunch all together, which was fun!

One of our outings was to the beach and here are a couple shots.




And here are some shots from around here during this last week and a half:

Horse ride with Daddy!



Ice cream session! I had accidently ended up with a serving spoon to eat off of, which inspired the picture taking session... you know "nine month pregnant lady, eating ice cream, of all things, off a serving spoon". Oh yes, and that day, Sunday the 25th was my due date, so we are now +2 days.





Grandma and Claires! They've become good buddies so fast! Stephen and I were even able to go out on a date last night! What a treat it was! Clara only cried for a minute as we were starting to leave and then was fine and happy the whole time!



Fun pictures from a little over a week ago of Clara with our neighbor's cat, Smokey. Clara greatly enjoys Smokey and seems to think she has authority and can order the poor cat around. You should hear the very bossy yelling that goes on as she calls and motions for the cat to come! Of course, the cat pretty much ignores the situation or just leaves.





Clara's Uncle Caleb was asking about the chickens the other day... so this is an up-date pictures particularly for you, Caleb! The chickens are doing well and growing fast! The kind of different looking one over on the right hand side of the picture is the turkey. Stephen is almost done with the coop. I need to take some up-date pictures of that and post them!

Special Times!

So, yes, it has been over a week since the last post, but that does not mean I have had a baby in that time... I haven't. But some other very special things, HAVE happened. A week ago, my dear Mom arrived for a visit (Lord willing, until sometime after the baby is born)!!! We have been able to have some good visiting and Clara has been getting re-acquainted with her Grandma, which has gone very well!!! She has really enjoyed Grandma!

Then, on Tuesday, we drove to DC to pick up Aunt Janette (Mom's sister)!!! She has been traveling around visiting family, and we were able to be on her agenda, which was so special!!!! We had lunch with their cousins, Aunt Beth and Aunt Sharon and had such a good time with them, enjoying Aunt Beth's kind hospitality.




The four cousins. Aunt Janette, Aunt Sharon, Mom and Aunt Beth. Wow! These four can sure be hysterically funny! Sure had us laughing at lunch time!!!


After the super visit with Aunt Beth and Aunt Sharon, we four (Aunt Janette, Mom, Clara and I) headed to down town DC to visit some sights. We went to National Mall, did a lot of walking and were able to see quite several of our nations significant memorials, as well as the White House. What a treat! Mom, Clara and I had never been to the Mall and Aunt Janette had, but was able to see Memorials she hadn't yet seen. We thought all the walking might help me go into labor... but alas... no.

This first shot is Mom and Clara on the Metro! Clara enjoyed having her OWN seat!










The Vietnam Memorial. Sobering. I had no concept or idea of how many people perished in that conflict. But seeing all those names... wow. I still don't know the total number, but you get a picture of it just by walking along that memorial.




No rest for the weary, it would appear! :-)









On our way to the top of the memorial, we had taken the elevator... but on the way down we thought we'd just carry the stroller... well, it was going to be a HEAVY job. A man offered to help, but I told him it was ok, there were three of us and we would probably manage. Well, as we were trying to figure out how to go about this rather awkward, heavy project, these other two kindly offered to help. Mom wisely suggested that we let them! So, we did. It became rather humorous as there was this group of girls off to the side who began "ewwwwwwing" and "ahhhhhhing" there admiration rather loudly. One of the men said they "should have been doing this all along". :-)






What a special day!

The Labors of Spring

Well, to start off this post on projects around here we'll start with this picture of a precious little load of laundry I did recently. It's now folded and sitting as you see it, on a shelf in Clara's room, waiting for the arrival of our little Blessing! As you can see, there's a little girl stack and a little boy stack. There are some people with some very definite opinions as to which one we'll be needing. :-)




In the last several days we've had some very enjoyable times of working out side together in the beautiful weather. Stephen's main focus has been the chicken pen and coop and mine has been getting a garden put in. He's quite a bit nearer being done then I am!

This little lady has given us many smiles as we've been working with her cute antics... and she's added her share of challenges too! :-) These next several shots are from Saturday, when we got a fair amount done and a little lady got soooooo dirty!



And here is Daddy and part of the chicken coop he's been doing a fabulous job of building.




Mommy, little Blessing at 8 1/2 months, and the newly planted tomato sprouts. We sprouted some tomatoes from seed, and hopefully, at least some will survive. We'll probably also try to get a couple established plants in different varieties from the store.



The chicken pen looking good! Way to go Daddy!



And another shot of the sweet, rascally, grubby little lady!



Yesterday, more work was done together, in the beautiful outdoors. Here's more chicken coop progress. Stephen says that at one point, Clara was using the tape measure and making lots of pencil marks, just like Daddy! :-)




Near the end of the evening our "little chicken" had fun testing out the nesting boxes! I love these shots!!! :-)



Spring is a wonderful time! Enjoying it together makes it even better! Thanks You, Lord Jesus for this beautiful time and for my precious little family!

A Pony Tail and a BBQ!

A few days ago, Miss Clara got her first real, single pony tail... at least, the first one that ever really worked! As you can see, it still needs the assistance of bobby pins. :-)



And we enjoyed having a BBQ that night! We've been enjoying some very warm weather here lately!