Well-Dressed and Regular!

People have been so kind and generous to us lately! People sharing and gifting have given us a LOT of fruit and some LITTLE clothes.

A couple days ago we received a great package in the mail from Mom/Grandma. She went crazy at the Carter's store and bought the new baby some really cute outfits. It is fun to look at such tiny clothes and imagine the little girl who will wear them soon. One of my favorite things in the package was matching shirts for Ella and her new little sister!

I've been wanting to plant our own peach tree, but with all the fruit that everyone shares with us, we don't even need it! Last night our babysitter brought over a whole pan of apricots from her family's trees. Good thing Ella loves them, she'll eat as many as 4 at a time!

Not included in this picture is the abundance of huge zucchinis a friend gave me last week. Here is a great recipe I found that used up some of these veggies:

Lemon Zucchini Bread

4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 package (3.4 oz) lemon pudding

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup milk

1 cup vegetable oil

3 tbs. lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/4 cup poppy seeds

Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking soda and powder and salt). In another bowl whisk together eggs, oil, milk, lemon juice and extract. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in zucchini and poppy seeds. Pour into TWO greased loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean). Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then transfer to baking rack to cool completely.

Officially Summer: Swim Day Commences

There are just some things that mean summer: hot weather, free nights from no youth group meetings, grilling...and the institution we participated in today-- Swim Day! Swim Day is a very official "holiday" occurring every Thursday afternoon of the summer. It is hosted by Jared's grandma (Amy's mom) and attended by all the VMs that go to our church. We say we get together to swim, but mostly it's a chance to share homemade snacks, chat and pass around the newest babies (there will be 3 this summer!). Some of us ladies are even smart/sneaky enough to bring along our husbands to chase the kids in and out of the pool! Our party favors are bags of fruit from our host's many trees, peaches and apricots today. It was a wonderful afternoon that I wouldn't have missed even if I had been in active labor!

Four little VM girls on a raft. Phil only brought half of his family (with three kids!)

Filling Time

This morning we killed some time at the library. Every Thursday our library puts on a special program for kids. While this morning's "Science Experiments" was aimed at kids older than Ella, we still had a good time singing songs as a big group and seeing our friends Thea, Kirsi, Annelies, Jacob, Bailey and Brittany. And of course, any venue that involves reading books and doing puzzles is a hit with Ella!

Just Waiting...

Ella has a book called "Waiting for Baby." This title is also an appropriate one for our lives this week. It seems every little decision is based on the imminent arrival of our daughter ("Which car should I take? Better leave the one with the car seat home in case we need to whisk Ella off..." or "I've been wanting to have these friends over for dinner-- better do it tonight, who knows when we'll get the chance again?") We've felt this decision making "pressure" most with Dave's assignment to do both services this Sunday. Will we even be here? Will we be just returning from the hospital? When will Dave prepare if we go to the hospital now? What does the church do if there is no pastor on Sunday?

We may have some answers after today's doctor appointment. From last week, there has been no progress. The baby's head has still not dropped and Doctor told me I won't go into labor until this happens. We may have longer than we first thought.

So now a new mindset: We'll probably have a daughter with a July birthday, Dave will probably be able to do both services this Sunday with no issue and I will have to keep finding something interesting to do each day to keep my time filled! We're actually not too bummed, we know God will bring us our baby when the time is right.

Cowgirl

While picking up some routine necessities, Ella found these pink boots at Target last night. She was so excited to try them on and wear them (she kept saying, "Ella's boots!" and "I try boots" and "Happy boots!"), they had to scan her foot and cut the tag off at the register! So, good thing we live in the rural community where we do-- wearing pink cowboy boots to church is no big deal!

And if it isn't obvious already, here is what you do when you are finally persuaded to take your new pink cowgirl boots off: take off your skirt also, put your socks on your hands as gloves and vacuum.

"Baby! Another One!"

Today Ella got to meet her new sister's future best buddies. We made a visit to Jetta's to see the twins. Peter and Cora are both doing great-- getting on a good schedule, eating well and partying all night (like newborns are supposed to do, right?) Jetta's recovery is going well and she has lots of people helping her. It was nice to chat with my friend and hold these sweet little babies. It seems like we waited so long and with so much anticipation for them!

Happy Birthday, Calvin!

Today is our #1 nephew's birthday. Calvin will always hold a special place in our hearts because of who he is and our more active part in his first year of life. Of course, we love all our nephews, but the first baby in a family is always extra special. Because of where we were living, we were able to meet Calvin hours after he was born and spend a good amount of time with him before he even turned one. We cherish memories of watching him grow up during this time full of changes.

Calvin is just an amazing kid, too. Today he turns 5, and he can already read, spell words to us over the phone and do complicated math (like multiplication and square roots!). Yesterday, Dave asked him how many kids were in his VBS class and he answered, "8 and 8, so 8 + 8 is....(mumbles while doing mental math)...16!" Calvin is a deep thinker and has a great personality. Like every member of our family, we just wish we could spend more time with him and know him even better.

Happy birthday, Calvin! Say "Hi" to Crabby and Ku-we-toe for us!

The Last Tummy Shot

If we are on the same time line that we were with Ella, I have less than 2 weeks of being pregnant and only 1 more doctor appointment! My appointment today was kind of exciting. I learned that things are progressing in terms of dilation (3 cm) and effacement (50%) and that my doctor is sure I won't make it to my due date in 3 weeks. "Any time now," he did say, however he still gave Dave a green light for his all-day trip to LA tomorrow. And because I have reached that huge, ugly and uncomfortable stage, here is one last picture of my belly...

Happy Father's Day!

I love my Daddy!

More Mountains

We spent another fun morning running though the "mountains." This time we went with Ella's buddies Jared and Jonathan. Check out Jonathan's site for more pictures and a very cute video!

One Boy, One Girl!

Early this morning we got a very exciting phone call: Phil and Jetta had their twins!

Here's the info-- they had one boy named Peter Gus (6 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches) and one girl named Cora Arianna (5 lbs 5 oz, 17.5 inches).

Here's the story-- Last night Jetta's water broke around bedtime so they ran to the hospital. After determining via sonogram that her one baby had flipped back into a sideways position, they went ahead and did a C-Section. They were born around 2:00 am.

According to Phil, the babies are perfect and doing great and Jetta is recovering. We're so excited for our friends (and even more anxious for our baby to get here now!)

Meow!

Tonight we went to an "International Fair" for the Back to God Hour (or as Ella called it, an "Ice Cream Party"). Not so interested in the 9 foreign language ministers' short reports, Ella did have a great time having her face painted and jumping in the bouncy house.

We're Working On It!

Two of Ella's favorite books are the "Family and Friends" photo album I put together for her and our book of VM Family Cruise pictures from 2 years ago. She loves to page through pointing and either name each family member or ask me, "Is Dat?" (Who's that?) Recently we've had a little confusion, though. According to Ella, here are some members of her family: Grandma, Aunt Kris, Aunt Karen, Aunt Heather...and Aunt Kyle and Aunt Calvin! This made me laugh.

A Wonderful Surprise

Amidst a completely crazy 2 weeks, Dave surprised us with an unexpected day off today! He is so busy because Pastor Bruce (our Senior Pastor) is at Synod, so Dave is being Senior and Youth Pastor right now. Here is what has been filling his schedule: lots of preaching, lots of meetings, lots of report writing and preparations for the meetings, being the speaker at the local retirement home and planning/recovering from a middle-school lock-in this weekend. His being this busy is somewhat normal and fine when I am not 9 months pregnant and finding my energy and mobility very limited. Ella and I have hardly seen Dave for the past few days and I was feeling pretty worn out!

Not today, though! Dave turned off his alarm this morning and slept in, then asked if I would like a special lunch. So we went to the Olive Garden and spent a great day together. I got to sit with my feet up for most of it, as Dave relished in the play time with Ella. They did artwork, read stories, did puzzles, played the elephant and butterfly game, played cars, built towers, made videos and Daddy was even Ella's horsie for a little while!

What a great husband and dad, I'm so blessed!

Fashion Show

Ella received so many pretty dresses for her birthday. She wore one this Sunday and last Sunday. Today, I thought I'd play dress up with Ella and give you Aunties a fashion show, featuring the styles you picked our for our little princess.

I love the long length of this colorful striped jumper. Thanks Auntie Karen!

Here Ella models a flowered dress from Meilani (and Auntie Dorina) and a face from Auntie Kris.

This cute pink dress is from Auntie Kris and it is fancy enough for church, yet casual enough for every day (great since Ella always picks a dress when given her choice of what to wear!)

A very pale pink lace, this pretty dress got lots of compliments at church last week-- thanks Auntie Heather!

Big Tummies, Life Lessons and Clean Windows

Betcha can't guess which one of us is carrying the twins! Can you believe how much bigger one extra baby makes you?

Since many friends and family have been asking, I thought I'd post a little pregnancy update for me and my friend Jetta. Jetta is uncomfortable, tired, sore, growing and stretching by the day, and completely ready to be done with this difficult pregnancy. Through this experience, she has learned many lessons about trust, faith and surrender to God. After scheduling a C-Section for June 12 (because of the position of the babies)-- something Jetta was extremely hesitant to do, she has recently learned that both her babies are head down. Her doctor has given her the go-ahead for a natural birth, which she favors and has done with her other 4 children. She runs about 2 weeks late with her pregnancies and says she will kill me if I have my baby first (which I may, I'm early and we're due at the same time!) I, on the other hand, do feel large and uncomfortable, but am having the easiest pregnancy in the world compared to my friend. My doctor appointment on Tuesday confirmed that everything with me and the baby seems just right. My doctor even told me I don't even have to see him for another 2 weeks! Our baby has flipped and is no longer breech. Her heartbeat was strong, though still "sounded like a boy's" according to Dr. Pont. We are just counting down now, as it could be a matter of weeks. So now I am just dealing with pregnancy's strangest side effect-- that nesting instinct. I am packed for the hospital, the plans for Ella's care are all set, the new baby clothes are in the closet and the windows are clean (weird I know, but this just had to be done before the baby arrived!) Next on the list is cleaning the carpets, oh help! Please continue to keep Dave, Ella and I, and especially Jetta, in your prayers as we look forward to our new arrivals!

Reunited!

We just had a very special 3 days. My beloved college roommates, Dorina and Cindy, came for a visit! Dorina brought her daughter Meilani ("A-Lani" Ella calls her) and Cindy brought her new son Ezekial ("Baby Zweep-Kul" Ella calls him). Besides our menu and the many topics of conversation (shish-kabobs, lasagna and Dutch Baby/everything from Mormonism to breastfeeding...), I don't have too much to report about the events of this visit. As usual, the best times with my best friends are spent talking and eating! This time we enjoyed a new baby to hold and watching the 2 girls play together. I'm so grateful for their visit and the opportunity for some quality time with some of my most important people!

Dance party on the table!

Dorina and I began sharing clothes in college and continue to do so through our pregnancies. Our similar taste permeates even our daughters' wardrobes-- see their matching shorts?

A little break in the wild playing for some educational activities!

Ella gently rubbing Baby Zweep-kul.

Need a Visual

As described in our post yesterday, here is Ella taking over the present opening portion of Jared's birthday party. Amy just emailed this to us and it's too funny to not share!

Buddies Since the Beginning

One of our most special relationships is with Jared (and his parents Amy and Brad). After enduring our first pregnancies together, Amy and I found ourselves in the hospital together delivering our babies, hours apart! Jared and Ella have always been great buddies-- they actually met in their hospital bassinets as newborns! Today Jared celebrated his 2nd birthday. It was a great pool and lunch party, complete with bouncy house and a smaller pool (with a slide) for the little ones. Though, Ella did enjoy the big pool as well. Incidentally, the location of this party was Jared's grandma's house-- the same place we do Swim Day, soon to start!

The funniest part of the party came at present opening time. Jared was pretty worn out and was having a hard time acting happy for his presents. Ella decided to jump in and give him a hand opening things and enjoying things for him (especially his new tricycle-- she literally pushed a crying Jared out the way to open it and get on it for a ride!). She must figure she's the birthday pro now, having practiced 2 days ago.

Bouncing with Jared

Splashing with Jonathan

Making Mommy get into the pool

The water slide pool-- a huge hit!

Jared's grandma's house is loaded with truck and tractor toys. It was fun to just play too.