One of Her Favorite Things

Sea of Tulips

We had a lot of fun taking photos today... these few are especially fun... Adam thought it would be cute if Julia looked as though she were in a sea of tulips (and she was... thankfully there was a path to the middle where a fountain had been placed and we did not get fined for trampling any tulips... though, Julia did accidentally fall into one of the dying beds today... whoops!).

It is hard to see here, but Julia is especially giddy because OH. MY. GOSH. MOMMY. IT IS ANOTHER FOUNTAIN!  She was so very obviously filled with glee when she was placed next to the fountain.  (And I will pretend that I didn't see her stick her hands in it a few times and suck the water off her fingers... eww.)  I tried to include one picture that shows her little fists all balled up because she can hardly contain how excited she is.  I love kids. 

erin

Little Dutch Girls

A Few of Julia

Though Julia is not one much for having her picture taken these days, her "action" shots are cute and occasionally I find that I am able to get one cute one of her straight on too.  :)

 

By the way, I am positive that the fountain in the town square is Julia's Absolute Favorite Place in all of Pella.  Earlier this month when we were uptown, she ran as fast as she could to the fountain only that it wasn't on or full of water yet.  So, imagine her delight when today she scurried as quickly as she could and she was much rewarded!  :)

erin

A Preview...

Daddy was Mommy's photo-taking helper today.  Can you tell?

Ha!

Daddy was in charge of trying to make the girls smile at the same time... easier said than done.  (He did a way better job than I've ever been able to do on my own!)  As you can see, he had no problem getting them both to stick their tongues out simultaneously.  Hilarious!

Yes, today was Dutch Costume picture day!  Usually I would have waited until parade day (this coming Friday), but the tulips are fading fast and I didn't want to miss an opportunity to take the girls' pictures in front of some.  We had a costume for both girls (thanks to Linda for letting us borrow one for Raven), and it was a beautiful morning, so we headed out hoping to get some shots in before Raven needed her morning nap.  I would say all in all it was successful!  More pictures to come...

erin

Power Washing the Deck Furniture

Looking at these pictures makes you wonder why you would even want to sit on our deck furniture to begin with, doesn't it?

Our deck and its furniture are subject to the wiles of our maple trees... so every few years, Adam takes it upon himself to power wash the deck.  This year we decided we might as well purchase our own as we could think of a number of things to power wash... so Adam got started with the deck furniture last weekend and finished the deck this week.  It looks WONDERFUL and the cedar is so bright and beautiful again!  :)  It will weather and collect the blackness over time again, but at least we know how to "fix" it.  :)

Off to go add more things to the power wash list...!

erin

Happy Baby Raven

It is a good thing Raven is so darn cute, because otherwise 6:00 am on a Saturday after having gone to bed at 1:00 am would suck more than it did this morning.  Wouldn't you agree?  Isn't she a doll?

 

Very soon Raven will be 8 months old... wow!  She is such a HAPPY child... really, truly, she is content... happy... full of joy... more often than not.  Recently we've had a bout of hard nights... for about 2.5 weeks... she was up ALL. THE. TIME.  And, due to her generally laid-back nature, she didn't cry or throw fits... when she was awake from 1:00 am to 3:00 am... she was happy.  Giggling.  Chatting.  Wanting to play.  See, we had finally reached that transition... going from swaddling to not.  Yes, we swaddle our kids a LONG time.  Most people either choose not to swaddle at all or only swaddle for a few months... we go until the child decides it's time to stop.

So... we finally reached that stage, but of course it takes a bit for the baby to figure out how to sleep with limbs askew... and so it took Raven a few weeks to get that worked out.  But, she is back to sleeping through the night again... yay.... 11 - 12 hour stretches... gotta love it!  But, sometimes that means waking up at 6:00 am.  However, I'll take it... because I was very much asleep straight from 1:00 am - 6:00 am... and wow, what a good 5 hour stretch will do for a person!  :)

 

A few more notes/updates... no teeth yet, though the drool is constant.  And Raven still won't eat solid food... she acts like it is poison and when I do manage to get some in her mouth, she makes herself gag until she spits it all out OR throws up... fun!  But, we've successfully gotten her to eat rice crackers.  But, I'm not worried about her not eating... goodness knows she has plenty of chunk on her and she is not going hungry!  She rolls over but is not a roller yet... and no crawling yet, but she is very steady in a sitting position... ah, this reminds me of Julia all over again.  ;)

 

ej

A Wonderful Gift...

My all-time favorite quilt block is Dove in the Window.  (My all-time favorite quilt block that I'll actually make... Log Cabin.)

Dove in the Window is a difficult pattern to find... and a difficult pattern to make.  So, imagine my delight when my dear friend Chrissy offered to tackle the beast to make a fabric-matching quilt for Julia (she completed one for Raven the day Raven was born... oh, yeah!).  She set out on the adventure and I will say, this quilt was definitely about the journey and the destination.

Imagine my further delight when this quilt showed up at my front door earlier this week delivered by Linda Schminke of Quilting Corner here in Pella.  Chrissy had sent the quilt top with me so that I could take it to Linda to discuss the quilting in it (beautiful!) and Linda and Chrissy took care of the rest (transaction-wise).  Chrissy and I discussed briefly the possibility of this quilt being done in time for the Tulip Time Quilt Show, but if she is anything like me, I know she is a busy woman (even more so than me, I think!), and I wasn't expecting to see the quilt finished.  So, it was such a fun surprise to see Linda with a finished quilt -- bound and everything!  And... done a full week before it was even needed for the show!  Thank you to Linda for binding the quilt...

... and of course, MANY THANKS to my darling friend Chrissy for being willing to attempt this beauty... it was difficult, but oh so gorgeous in the end!  I love the quilt... and obviously Julia does too!  (She couldn't get enough of rolling around on it and saying, "Ooooh!  Pretty!")  Thank you, Chrissy!

love,

erin

Swing

Julia was a trooper this morning and stuck it out with me while I set up my raised flower beds, so after hanging around me for over an hour, she completely deserved a good bout of swinging.  And... baby, blanket, and milk had to come along as well!  Hee!

Our Backyard

Today I was looking outside our back door and thought, Wow, our backyard sure is pretty this time of year!  With the crab apple and regular apple trees blooming and the tree foliage small and freshly green, it's quite a picture!

Our trees provide the perfect amount of shade for our entire backyard which makes playing outside pleasant at all times of the day.  And, the weather has been so nice (low-to-mid 70s) that I've easily been able to take the girls out to play or for walks or to hang out while tending to some of our plants.

I love the rejuvenation that is spring... so fresh and so full of possibilities... too bad it gives way to hot and humid summers!  Ha!

erin