First Day of MDO

I'm so excited for Landon because he is doing Mother's Day Out again this year and yesterday was his first day. It happens to be at the church we've found and been going to since July so I'm excited that he will have consistency from Sunday to the weekdays of MDO. One of the things I was most dreading about moving was finding a new MDO and church and we've easily transitioned to a great place for both that's really close to our house!

This year he is going two days a week for 5 hours each. The program follows a Christian curriculum and he has two really special teachers. Most of all, I think these programs are perfect for giving kids who normally stay-at-home a chance to be in a structured "school" setting where they are learning to interact with other kids and teachers other than Mom! ;-)

One of the things I was most worried about was that they have the kids nap on a nap mat on the floor. I was so flustered that Landon wouldn't stay down, wouldn't understand to be quiet, etc. but we did a lot of pretend play on his nap mat beforehand so he would hopefully understand what to do! Evidently he laid right down and went to sleep yesterday!!

I was so excited to pick him up at the end of the day and see what kind of projects he worked on. It is so hard to think that he won't be with me every single day but I could tell he was proud to be learning to be away from me independently!

What a difference a year makes!

Baby Girl

You read that right! We are having a girl in December! I am SHOCKED because I always thought I'd be a mom to all boys. But BOY am I excited!!

I thought I'd share a few updates on the baby. I feel so guilty that I have not documented this pregnancy like I did with Landon. The truth is I'm so busy running around with him that I have usually forgotten I'm pregnant at all! I've felt great for the most part and I'm so thankful for that!!

I'm just a little past 23 weeks now and I'm starting to show a baby belly! I've been digging out some of my old maternity jeans and ordering a few things to wear with my expanding midsection. I'm so excited because H&M just opened their website for online shopping and these have become my ultimate favorite maternity jeans. They are seriously a revelation in maternity wear!

I have started working on the nursery. I was so torn on if I should even set one up because baby sister will only be 6 months old when we move to Kansas City and I know she will spend the first few months in our room with us. But at the end of the day this is probably our last baby and I wanted to indulge the experience of decorating a nursery again! ;-)

This is the fabric I've decided to use for most of the bedding. I think I'll end up going for an English type theme with a few touches of vintage castles/crowns. Joe's aunt will be making a lot of the bedding for us and I'm so excited to see what she does!

I already had an antique dresser I bought at a garage sale in Wichita as a project for a future nursery. A month or so ago Joe and I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Coco and I distressed it so it looks worn and well loved. I love it!

I found this framed picture of Jesus in a gorgeous ornate frame at a garage sale two weeks ago for $1 (!!). I'm going to paint over or remove Jesus (sad face) and hang it above the crib.

We have NOT decided on a name. We have two front runners right now and we will probably either use Lucille or Mae for a middle name. Mae is my grandma's middle name.

Well that's a quick update on where we are with sister! 

Happy Tuesday!

Hot Springs, Arkansas

One of the best things about moving to a new state for a year for Joe's fellowship is getting the opportunity to explore a new region we probably wouldn't have done otherwise. I'm so glad we moved to Arkansas because it really is a vacation-zone with little towns, B&Bs, antique stores, and touristy type things in many of the little cities here. Last weekend we decided to spend a couple days in Hot Springs. I'm so glad we went - it was only a couple hours from Little Rock but it was like being on vacation a million miles away! :)

Sidenote: on a whim I decided to be "old fashioned" and try to use a real map to navigate us there, instead of our iPhones. I had no idea how spoiled I had gotten with Google Maps until I tried to do this! Hah!

I had always heard there was a place you can mine for diamonds on the eastern part of the Arkansas. We did some research and got up early Saturday morning and drove to Murfreesboro which is the 8th largest diamond mine in the world! It is a tiny itsy bitsy town in the middle of nowhere but there were tons of people there! You rent all the mining tools (pans, buckets, etc) and go out into this huge open mine and start digging, sifting the dirt through water and searching for diamonds! I was SURE we'd find one. Or probably not. Hah! It was SO hot that day but Landon was in heaven digging! :) After a couple hours we had a little bowl of rocks we thought could be winners.

You take your "diamond hopefuls" into the lodge and an expert looks at them, tests their hardness and tells you if they're diamonds or not. None of ours turned out to be diamonds (oh well!) but we had so much fun with it! On the same week we were there a 12 year old boy did find a 5ct diamond - my mom texted me the CNN article a couple days later!!

That night we went to a hole in the wall fish place and we stayed at one of the hotels in town. The next morning we got up and walked around the downtown area and decided to do a Duck tour. The Duck is an old army vehicle that rides around the streets like a bus but it also is a boat that can go straight into the water. We did a tour of Hot Springs and they touched on some historical areas like where Al Capone had stayed and gambled and also took a tour around Lake Hamilton. Very neat!!

That afternoon we also went to a little water and amusement park.

Landon had so much fun on the rides. There was one ride that he was allowed to ride alone and I took this picture and wondered where my tiny baby had gone. He looks 22 years old to me.

We had such a fun time in Hot Springs and I wish we could have stayed longer. It's such a neat little town that is perfect for a little getaway! We definitely didn't want to come home :)

Lifestyle Shoot Pictures

Way back towards the very beginning of spring my friend Katie from Novella Photography came over to our house to do a "Lifestyle Shoot" for us. I LOVE the concept of a lifestyle shoot - Katie literally just sat in the corner of the house and captured moments as we ate dinner, played, did bath and bedtime, etc. She was at our house for nearly four hours I think! It helps that she has done 100% of our family photos since Landon was born - we are super comfortable around her and she's also one of my best friends! :) We did have her take some posed shots at the front of the house while she was there since we knew we'd be selling and moving. I love these pictures so much; I know when we've forgotten the details of our first house and when Landon is moved away at college I will treasure having these moments on film :)

I am extra thankful that Katie was able to capture Boomer for us. Little did we know we would lose him several months later ~ we said goodbye to him just a few weeks ago. I haven't been ready to talk about him or how much we miss him. But he's left a huge hole in our family. I love looking at these pictures to remember him.