five + two

So, I've decided to hang out exclusively with pregnant mamas.  Not really, but that's just how it's happened as of late.  I took this pic from my friend Lisa's blog who came up and visited a few days ago.  She's 34 wks. prego, Melissa (on the left) is 30 wks and I'm well only 20 wks. Seriously though, check out my belly!  I'm loving all these reunions with friends, people I really missed.

I thought we left this weather when we left St. Louis. I guess I was wrong. We are using all kinds of measures to stay cool. Today we made it down to the ocean. We got a nice breeze, significant shade, a cold water source and some fun exploring done.

A week or so ago we had a major reunion. All the family on Nate's side from Washington, California and Florida were here at Nate's sister's farm. Wendy and her family now have a beautiful farm with horses, chickens, dogs, goats, cats and the like. We spent a couple days there and just relaxed. The kids roamed free and explored. Why are farms so relaxing? I put a few pics below, but for a more thorough break down you can check out my flickr here

We had a couple visitors today and as you can tell in the pic, we were all pregnant.  Amazing Leslie was a week from her due date- crazy girl making a road trip (I probably would do the same thing), Kristen is about a month out and Kathy has a couple months to go.  We had such a relaxing day at the park and then at our friend Megan's house.  Thanks for making the trip up- it was great to see you.
( i missed the hands under the belly memo while I was setting up the camera- oh well. i also think it's time to invest in a remote for the camera, i could hardly make it in the picture in time, give me a couple months and it will be impossible.)

This stomach is growing and growing. My body feels like it usually feels around 35 wks or so. I just went to the doc yesterday, not much to report, but I'll have the big ultra sound in a week or so and will hopefully verify the sexes. That's all for now, have some catching up to do, but I've been crazy busy so it will have to wait just a bit.

We are 7 now.  The anniversary would have almost got lost in the mix ... but it wasn't.  We had an awesome celebration thanks to Nate's sister and the Mauss'.  Nate's sister treated us to a night away at a beautiful hotel on the ocean, along with a great dinner while the Mauss' watched our children.  We had almost 24 hours to ourself and it was much needed.  We hit up a couple bookstores, enjoyed wonderful food, walked a bit and most importantly just relaxed together.  A great way to celebrate our marriage- I'm so thankful for my husband.

We feel very blessed to call this house our home. It has been a bit of a process to make it feel like home, but now that we are almost unpacked we are loving it here. I would say we're about 95% done in each room. I've been dreaming of being here for a while, so to actually be here and get the rooms together is great. I thought I'd just post a pic of the dining room/living room for now, but do a full house tour later. Pretty much all the colors of the house (10 or so), were picked out in 5 hours- it was wild.   Initially I was going to have the DR color be the LR color as well, but once I saw it on the wall I called "halt" and picked a more neutral for the LR- this was a good thing I think.   Anyway, more to come...

I can't believe Lucy is now 5- pretty amazing. The thought of throwing a party was a bit overwhelming, so I was very thankful when Nate's sister offered to take care of the whole thing. It was at their amazing new farm and Lucy had a splendid time with some cousins, friends and family. Thanks for everything you did Wendy- it mean a lot to me and Lucy!

First thing when we drove into Washington a family BBQ was put together. A family BBQ means, all the cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, nieces... there were a lot of people there. I was so thankful to have such a gathering and welcoming. I got to meet my cousin's son who is the same age as Ada and to see everyone I've missed while we were in St. Louis.  Below is my wonderful Aunt Karolyn with Tyler's son Connor- he's a a cutie!

Yes, I'm really behind, so I'll just start a couple weeks back when Nnte was just about finished cutting his own hair and I asked him to cut Will's hair.  Will went in the bathroom with Nate and came out with this manly mohawk.  I do like it, but it might have to go.  I think a bit of his rebellion has come out since the new cut.

Just super busy.  No time for details now, rest needed.  But for a quick run down check out my loyal friend, Sarah's blog.  She was wonderful and flew out with me and the kids to Washington, along with many other things.  Love you Sarah and thanks for everything!