Good Friends

Last Friday night Matt, Grace, and I had some visitors come over. But before I start with that...here is a picture of Grace.


I got to know Laura and Amy while I lived in Staunton. I was in a Bible Study with them and we did many things together outside of the Bible Study. We started sewing together and they were actually the first to hear about Matt since we had a sewing night the day after our first date. But that was two and a half years ago. Since then Laura has moved to Texas and I moved to Roanoke. So it is very rare that we all get together anymore. Well, a friend of ours got married this past weekend so that prompted Laura to have a trip to this location, and a reason for all of us to get together again.

They came over Friday for supper. We went for a walk, ate good food, laughed and talked a lot!
It felt very odd to have yet another girls night because the night before I had went out to eat for part of my Mother's Day present. But catching up with these ladies is wonderful!
Laura decided to do a little photo shoot of Grace and I.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures. I miss you ladies, and I so glad that we could visit even if it was a very short time.

First Real Mother's Day

To start out, here are some pictures of Grace today.
Before breakfast....
During breakfast she got so covered with pumpkin and applesauce that she needed to go straight to....

Bath Time!

At the beginning of this month I experienced something that I had never experienced before. Mother's Day! And it truly was a special celebration for me.

On the Thursday before, I got a box from Steve and Sue (my in-laws). Inside of the box was a card and a beautiful framed picture of Grace and I after her dedication. It was a wonderful reminder of why I am celebrating this day. It found a special place in the dining room so that I can see it often.

On the Friday before, I got a bouquet of flowers from Matt and Grace. The flowers are from Matt and the brilliant red rose in the middle is from Grace. They quickly made it to the place of honor in the middle of the dining room table so that I could gaze at them often through the day.
On Sunday (Mother's day) I got the most amazing gifts. I got a SHOWER! Yes, I really got a shower. And it was even on Sunday morning (one of our most hectic mornings). That was amazing to me. Then I came downstairs to pancakes being made. A shower and a hot breakfast...how could life get better? (And yes, I am serious...there is no sarcasm there at all)
Well, to answer that question. After church I got...wait for it....wait for it....A NAP! Oh, it was glorious.

What a wonderful Mother's day, and the gifts were all amazing. But Matt was not done yet...I had one more gift, which I cashed in last Thursday.

I got one night out without Matt or Grace, just to gallivant around town and do as I please. So I went out with one of my friends and we had dinner together. We just sat and talked and ate, nothing special....except that we sat and talked and ate WITHOUT KIDS! I did get to missing Matt and Grace and got home fairly quickly, but it is nice to have a little time away from everyone and everything to recharge.

It was a wonderful first Mother's Day :)

A Few Weeks Back...(revised)

Well first to start...here is a picture of Grace and one of her new favorite toys (which are anything that will hold her upright)

A few weeks back Grace's grandparents came to Virginia from Tennessee. They made the long trip to visit, play, and also to see Grace get dedicated at church. The visit went great and we are so glad that they made the trip. However, this blog is about the dedication, so I will not say too much about the visit...though it was wonderful!When I was pregnant I knew that I wanted to have my child dedicated or baptized at a church. The action of dedication or baptism depended on what church we were attending at the time. After Grace was born Matt and I had many talks on this topic and finally decided that we would like to have Grace dedicated at Weavers Mennonite.This is the church that I grew up in. This is the church that Matt and I got married in. This is also the church that we go to at least once a month when we visit family. But most importantly this is the church where our family, friends, and strongest support attend. We attend church here at home, but we do not feel as close to individuals here as we do at Weavers.

So we made the arrangements and told all of the people involved, and it was planned for April 25th. Matt's parents drove in on Thursday. On Saturday we all drove to Harrisonburg to spend some time with my parents, Matt's parents, and all other family who arrived at the house.Sunday morning we arrived at church and got Grace dressed in her very special outfit. She wore the dress that Matt's mother was baptized in 60 years prior. That was extremely special for us. We had 10 family members standing at the front of the church with us, it was so nice to be so surrounded by those who love and care for us.
Other meaningful points for us (other than the history of the dress) was:
The woman who did the ceremony for the dedication also did our premarital counseling.The man who carried Grace around during the ceremony was the one who performed the marriage ceremony for us.
It was a great visit and very meaningful for us all.

Three Things I Love

Ok, Matt and Grace are two obvious ones in my life, but these are non-human loves.
But first, here is a picture of Grace.

1. I love the internet. Matt and I, a couple of months ago, decided to get rid of TV access. I was fine with it because usually there is nothing on, but I was sad that I could not watch the one or two shows that I do really like, such as Bones, CSI, etc. Well one day a few weeks ago I was surfing the internet and I found out that the Fox site offers complete episodes of Bones to be watched. None or few commercials interrupt the shows. So I can watch, pause, close, return, etc. all without missing anything. Upon further investigation I found out that CSI is offered, Bones is offered, NCIS is offered, and the Biggest Loser among others. All I have watched so far is Bones and The Biggest Loser, but I am glad to know that when I do need a break and just want to watch a show...I can!

2. I love lists and schedules! That sounds odd I realize, but it is true. For the past few months my sister has been calling me and saying "what are you going to do today?" My response is usually, one load of laundry, or shower, or do dishes (but only one item per day). She is shocked at my response, but I explain that if I set low goals I will feel an accomplishment and then I will also feel free and energized to do extra. Well I have noticed that my one item a day has started to become the same item each day and it feels like I am getting nothing done around the house, and the house and cleaning were defeating me. So I made a list/schedule for myself. Still with the one item a day idea, but better. Mondays I do laundry, Tuesday I focus on the floors (sweep, vacuum, wash...what ever is needed at that time), Wednesday I conquer the kitchen, Thursday I clean all of the bathrooms. Friday and the weekends do not have chores because I know that sometimes I am packing on Friday, some weekends we are gone. Also I thought it would be nice to have a few days to do the extras that are needed around the house, and also to have a "catch up" day in case I do not get my chore for the day done. I am giving myself a lot of wiggle room with chores and schedules because I know with a 4 month old sometimes NOTHING gets done, but so far with me only focusing on one thing...things are getting done. And I feel accomplished and ready for the next thing that is needed to get done.

3. The third thing that I love is Grace's nursery. Yes it is finally done!
Above is one of the corners of the nursery, pretty self explanatory but I want to point a few things out. The wonderful play table...I know it can not be used there, but it will be moved out to another area when Grace is able to use it. And above the table is a wonderful piece of artwork by Shannon (Grace's cousin).
Above is Grace's changing table, dresser, and shoe rack. Yes, Matt is amazed at the amount of shoes she has and he comments about it each time he is in the nursery. Oh, if he only knew that this is just the start of the shoes for her...
The couch has been wonderful. Matt and Grace sit there during the middle of the night times they have together. And when I am in the glider rocker with Grace Matt will often sit on the couch so that we can still talk and have "family time together."
This is the corner that I seem to use the most. My glider rocker for nursing, a book shelf on the left for my reading, a book shelf on the right for books for Grace. A window that has the best view from the whole house. Such a nice little nook to relax in.

I am sure that the nursery will change, but I often sit back and look around and just state "I love this room!"

Belmont Yard Sale

What a way to start the day. A wonderful walk around the neighborhood with my cute new sun hat!

Ok, Belmont Yard Sale...
Matt and I have been collecting items for the yard sale all year long. So when the day came I got to thinking, what do we have to set out...we have not gotten rid of much. Then we began to pull items that we had been collecting all year long in mom and dad's garage and to our amazement we had A LOT to set out!

The day began the night before, with setting up (the rest of the family did a lot of that since Matt and I arrived so late, Thanks!) We spent much of Friday night organizing, setting up items, and trying to make sure that we were not forgetting or missing boxes or bags of yard sale items. Grace was also in the yard sale mood I guess since I wanted to sleep at 12:00 midnight, but she wanted to stay up till 1:30 am!

The next day began at 4:30 am. Not a long night, but hopefully Grace will sleep in since she had such a late night.... We set everything out and had our first sale at 5:30 am! Which by the way Grace was awake for.... :(

The people selling at our house were all of my family (four households), and three friends of the family. Pretty much it was a big party at the house with lots of talking, laughing, caffeine, food, and fun (it helped that we were all so tired that we were all a little punch drunk!)

Grace had a great time. She was handed off to so many people during that day that at times I had no idea where she was. But she was always in good hands, and usually in a good mood. She acquired a few BIG toys to play with, a walker (which has already been pictured for this blog), an exersaucer, and a portable high chair, and the week before Amy got her in indoor swing that actually works! Matt and I laughed that we got rid of so much little stuff only to buy huge items that do not all fit into our car for the ride home.

Final numbers came out that we made just enough to cover our bill that we acquired at Sharp Shopper that day. This is the second year that we made our yard sale money only to spend that exact amount at Sharp Shopper. Oh, well.

Yard sale day is long, tiring, and crazy. However, I look forward to it each year. In fact, I have already found my first item for the next yard sale day....

Success and Trials

A few posts ago I mentioned that we were starting with food for Grace. She was unsure about he rice cereal, but got used to it because she was having it fed to her for two weeks.

Then we added banana to it...
YUMMY! I probably would not have started with banana but it was the best thing that was available in short time at my parents' house. She was not quite sure of the texture to start, but after about three bites, she was going after the spoon like I had never seen before.

Three days of happiness with banana...only to be upset by the start of PUMPKIN!

Here are the trials, she tolerates the orange goop that I am feeding her, but it is not as sweet as banana and it is just different. So we are on day two of pumpkin and she has been eating it, but not as well as she ate the banana (I can not expect her to like all foods equally).

You just wait Grace....soon we will get into peas, carrots, and all those other lovely foods that will not hold a candle to bananas either!

Lack of Posts

Ok, reason for the lack of posts this past week or so...

Thursday of last week was my last post. Then my in-laws came, and we just had too much fun to post a new blog (I will write about that later).

Then we went to Harrisonburg where I accidentally left my compter, so no posts.

This past weekend I finally got my computer back but I was very busy with Belmont (I will write more about that later).
But to make a long story even longer...all of this is to say that I might be writing one or more posts a day to catch up on all that is going on in our lives!
Here is today's picture of Grace enjoying her new "ride" that we acquired from the Belmont Yard Sale!