Happy Birthday Chris!

We had a great time celebrating Chris' birthday yesterday.   Good conversations, good food, and time with family.   He got lots of little goodies too like jeans from Ruthie!   The girl knows style!

Happy Birthday Chris!  You are a such a treasure to us!

Older and Wiser!  28!

Ruthie made sure to spend some extra quality time with Daddy on his birthday.

And I indulged in a little quilt planning!

Happy July 4th

We are out of town for the next week or so visiting family and then attending a conference.   And tomorrow we celebrate Chris' Birthday!!!   Happy July 4th!

Quilting along!

So I'm so excited!  I picked up the rest of my quilt fabric today!

So here are all the patterned pieces. 

And here are the plain ones.   These pictures are a little dark so the colors are more pastel than what you see here.   After stacking them all together I'm fearful there might be a lot going on!  yikes!   But every fabric is just so pretty I couldn't resist not including it.

And I've made some more birds last night.  I'm up to 15 now!  There are 63 total squares so I'm hoping to have around 20 or so birds to randomly place.   This is the outfit she wore on her first trip to see Mawmaw and Pawpaw.

And this sweet number was was a gift from the Bugnars.  I loved this outfit on her.

And this blue flowered sleeper she wore all the time.  It really complimented her dark blue eyes before they started changing.  I specifically remember her wearing it at Nana and Poppy's while laying on her baby quilt.

So things are coming along!  I just need to make a few more birds then I'll start piecing it all together!

Like Her Mother

Ruthie did the funniest thing yesterday.  She was playing out on our porch, running in and out, messing around.   She starts saying "wipe, wipe" and runs to get some tissues out of her room.   Then I hear her stand at the doorway saying "Geeii, Geeiii"  over and over.   I was cooking so it took me a minute to realize what was going on.  That's her word for "get it"     So I walk over to the doorway and she starts pointing and saying "bu, bu" for bug.   I died laughing.   She obviously has seen me do this quite a few times.   She always points out bugs and I say "do you see a bug?  do you want me to get it?" So I guess she was going to do it herself.   She never did reach down to "get it" though but just pointed, walked around it and whinned.    Ha!  I guess she has seen me do that to her Daddy too!

A tissue for each hand.  Better protection of course.

Quilt

After thinking through Ruthie's bedding I've decided to start working on a quilt for her. I'm so excited about it! I'm hoping for something similar to this.  I have a few more yards to buy but I picked up most of the fabric at Joanne's this past weekend. They were having a great sale and since I needed just plain fabric I knew they would have a nice selection. So that just leaves a few special patterned pieces I still need to pick up from a quilt shop.

There are 7 plain fabrics and then there will also be 7 fabrics with larger patterns (two shown).  The hope is that the patterned pieces will blend all these colors so that there wont be too much going on!  

But this is the best part, and one of the reasons I actually wanted to make her a quilt. Instead of the dresses in the link above I'm going to try to use her clothes to make little birds.  Then applique the birds onto some of the squares.   Here is the first one I made.  I really don't know why I didn't cut out the beak.  My thought was that I was going to use another color of fabric so hopefully that will still work out.  Otherwise I'll just get creative with some stitches.

And here is the second bird.  Its been fun to dig through her clothes and find lace, pockets and buttons to use to embellish the birds with.  Its been so difficult to decide what to do with these "special" clothes.  Knowing that we are having a boy and potentially moving overseas I've been torn.  So I hope this will be a fun yet practical way to continue using her baby items.

The funny thing is I really don't know why I feel like I have time to do this.  We are going out of town for practically two weeks this week, then half of July is gone!  And August is set aside to get ready for little boy blue. I have passports to work on, purging to do and lets not even talk about my prayer life. I've been conversing with God about why I haven't read my bible today as I cut out birds.... and I've come to the conclusion that this is not what it means to be a Prov 31 woman.

 But who knows.... maybe it will all work out, I'll learn to spend my time wisely, become a godlier woman, and Ruthie will have something to keep her warm come fall.
  

In the mean time a section of our living room has turned into craft corner.  Being able to leave stuff out is what really helps keep one progressing.   But we all know the floor is too accessible for little hands and we eat three meals a day on our kitchen table.   So in came our patio set!  Hopefully I wont end up taking over our whole living room!

Another Pool

Today, I planned to try out our apartment pool with Ruthie.   I feel like such a high maintainance mom when getting ready for the pool.   When we use our blow up its no big deal but seriously, I feel like I'm planning a wedding when we go to the big ones.   My idol mom's with multiples would laugh at me, I know.   I think two little ones will do me good... or either make me go bald.

Once I get her out of bed I just immediately put on her cover up.   She knows exactly what that means and starts emphatically saying "waaeeer" over and over.   As I get breakfast ready I get to explain about 100 times that we aren't going to be using our baby pool.  Thankfully she got distracted with the broom, or "sweep" as she calls it.

Breakfast, clean up, get toys and towels, change clothes and then get Ruthie ready.  She's already tried to put her swim suit on herself about 20 times saying over and over "help peease"  Then begins the lotion process that feels like an hour but is probably only 5 min.  I'm so OCD about covering every inch of her. Thankfully she's a good trooper, but a video always helps.

Then swim suit.  Putting it on over a sticky squirmy girl is no easy task.   Doesn't she look so happy with me?

Finally out by the pool!   Its a really nice pool actually and no one was there!  But no real area for babies so its pretty hands on and being pregnant can complicate things.   Several times I thought... "can I actually still move in water?"  

 I discovered these baby floats are truly for babies.  I could barely squeeze her in it!  But it worked fine and she enjoyed floating around.

Here was our little neck of the woods.   We just sat on the steps and played with cups.  

Ahh snack time!   Then, after about 20 more minutes in the pool we begin the process of heading home.... pulling off sticky clothes, changing swim diapers and laying out wet towels to get ready for lunch.   So all that for about an hour and 20 min of water time.   But its worth it.  It gives us something to do together, we make sweet memories, and it wears her out for nap time.   

So after evaluating, Id say this pool would have been more fun with company and probably a better float.  But it was free and we both enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  I'm thankful we have so many options!

A Little Update

I know its been pretty quiet on here.   Really that's usually a good thing from our end.  It means we haven't had a lot of going ons which is nice!

The hot days have been a little long.   So we've been playing in the pool some and trying to get creative inside.   (Hence the table tent photos below)   I took Ruthie back to the community pool last Wed and that was a nice outing.  Sorry no pictures though.  I can't keep both camera and Ruthie safe from water and strangers.   Maybe having two will help me learn to multitask.  :)

She's really into playing under the table lately.   So the tent was a hit!  

On Thursday, Chris surprised me with another date out! We went out for a late lunch at Salsaritas and some time at Borders since I'm in the market for a new journal.  I've had the one I currently use since before we were engaged!!   So this is a big commitment people.  

Chris has been such a blessing to be intentional with our time during this little lull we have.  Things will pick up soon!   This time our friend, Peter, came over while Ruthie slept.   She never even knew we were gone!  Great for all parties involved!   

Speaking of pools, Chris has been using our apartment one for a few laps.  You should hear ruthie say the word "goggle"      She's such a hoot.  Can't believe she's about to be 19 months.  

So, I'm sorry that's all I have for an update.  I promise I do try to take pictures of things other than Ruthie.  :)  But seriously...  why would you want to see anything else?

Fun Date

Chris surprised me with a date this morning to Starbucks! We brought our books but I ended up talking his ear off for 3 hours straight.... It was such a treat.

 Our friend John came over to watch Ruthie. Thanks John for giving up your morning to serve us.    They played with photo both and got these pictures.  Its a program on the computer that takes your picture similar to being in an actual photo booth.  As you an tell from the pictures, Ruthie was pretty intrigued with seeing herself on the comp screen.

Father's Day weekend

Our Father's Day weekend was really special!   It was a time of reflection on God's grace in our lives for the "Father's" in our lives....  how God has used each one to help us know our Heavenly Father more fully.   

Friday started off with some craziness.   Chris had a leak in his office from all that hard rain we had early on in the week.  So the maintenance men asked him to "move out" so they could work on the carpet and leaks.  Its so nice to have someone else be responsible for things like that!!   However, it was a bit hectic work wise.  Once you think your settled its time to move your stuff around again!  I never knew it took so many wires for Chris to work.  Amazing.      Ruthie really enjoyed the new office being put in the middle of her play area.  Thankfully by the end of the weekend all was well and Chris was moved back.  

Then, Friday night we went over to Brooks house to have a big sister sleepover bash! It was fun to wake Brook up with the news about Emory!




Then Father's Day Sunday was great!  Brian Frost preached an encouraging sermon on being a Father to Sons.   So good and it really applied to parenting in general.  It hasn't been posted yet but check here in the future if you want to hear it.  I highly recommend it.   Afterwards we swung by Rex to have lunch with Emory and her parents!  She is soooo beautiful with tons of hair... tons!!!   Then, for dinner we celebrated Chris with grilled cheese and tomato soup, presents, and a trip to marble slab.      Ruthie was a bit of a grouch at Marble slab so no smiley pictures really.  But she still loves her Daddy!   We put her to bed a little early and ended with a movie.

Speaking of Brook....

Mark and Katie are over at Rex about to welcome Brooks little sister!! We can't wait to meet her. In the mean time the Rubrooness continues. Hopefully some pictures of the girls to come including the newest little Carrington!

Be praying for them!