reading with daddy

the other day i went to Bible study and when i got home this is what i found...

the loves of my life reading together.

gemma has a new found love for books and

eric and i love to read to her

so it works out quite nicely.

just the 2 of us

trying to plan a surprise date night with the hubs.

it is kind of difficult...and it is actually more of a date afternoon/evening.

it seems like it has been forever since we have been on a date with just the 2 of us. i heard several times before we had gemma that we need to keep spending 'just us' time together. stuff happens though and schedules get crazy.

i am going to make it happen tomorrow though...

plan so far... drop gems off with aunt adrian and the kids, surprise eric at work (he only works 1/2 day on fridays), have a picnic lunch somewhere, this is the part of the date i am not too sure about yet (any suggestions are greatly appreciated; can you think of anything to do on a hot afternoon with the hubsters?), then for dinner i am planning on going out to eat for an early dinner. then we will head back to pick up gems and actually spend the night at ryan and adrian's. (we are going to a wedding saturday so... jenni and tim are staying the night there as well... we are probably going to stay up way to late and eat too much junk food, but that's what makes 'slumber parties fun, right?!)

so that's the plan...i am also planning on bringing my camera to take some pictures of just the two of us. i was trying to find some today and can't find many so i better make that a priority!!

let me know if you have any suggestions as far as something to do on a sunny afternoon!

kiddie pool

after a hot morning at play group and a nice walk around the park

of course, after a short nap, quick lunch and some time with grandmama

we finally got around to...

gemma's new-to-her-kiddie pool

we got a small kiddie pool from some friends and gemma enjoyed it immensely.

i think we will be spending lots of these hot afternoons there.

my girl

i've got sunshine on a cloudy day

when it's cold outside, i've got the month of may.

well, i guess you say what can make me feel this way

my girl

talkin' bout my girl

whats the magic word

it is unbelievable how quickly and how young kids can pick up on things.

eric and i have seen the benefits of sign language with babies...

so we have been working on baby sign with gemma. she is doing really well too. she has 'please' down for the most part (with a little help.)

now we just need to work on 'more' 'thank you' and 'all done'.

maybe we will just name him 'kitty'

after 14 years...we said goodbye to the family cat. ole' zeus.

it is now time to find a replacement...

cy and nolan, i think, picked just the right one...

he doesn't have a name yet, but he will soon!

(it is either this kitty or another one...i will let you know which one gets chosen)

good morning

this is the sweet face that i get to see every morning when i go into gemma's room

picture post

its true

i knew that this day would eventually get here, but i was wondering just when it would arrive...


gemma really sat up by herself for the first time today!!!!!
she has been working up to it, but until today she has been falling either backwards or forwards.

i thought it was a good day to practice. i figured since she had the sitting up thing down,
(well she does for the most part, besides her falling on her face there at the end)


we might as well work on crawling, she actually didn't do too badly!!

i am so proud of our sweet gemma!! she is getting so big!

blanket time

there are so many different aspects to parenting that i know nothing about. in fact, i was just telling eric the other day... 'how in the world did we get through those first months with gemma?' i mean we had no idea what we were doing concerning schedules, feedings, sleeping...you know everything involved with babies. not that we have everything figured out now by any means, but it just seems a little easier now that she is a little older.

there are several ideas that we have gotten concerning parenting that i have been trying to implement throughout our days... thanks to suggestions and advice from various people whom i greatly respect and admire their parenting styles.

these suggestions include, reading lots of books, practicing sitting in a high chair (so when we go somewhere she will actually sit in there and we can enjoy our time), swimming tips...

one such suggestion was 'blanket time'.

this includes simply laying a blanket on the floor with a few toys and having gemma stay on it for anywhere from 15-30 minutes. so right now it isnt too effective. she still rolls right off and i am constantly having to put her back on it and say, 'stay on the blanket'.

i know that she will get it eventually, but for right now we are still in the training process.

before & after

one of the hardest things about moving, besides the huge task of unpacking, is deciding on the decorating and painting and colors.
i have actually finished the painting in the living room and kitchen...i am now trying to decide what to do in the guest bedroom and the master bedroom.
and now the very daunting task of interior decorating... it is so incredibly hard to decide what to decorate the house with.

never mind that tiny wreath on the fireplace... haha... i made it, but still haven't found quite the right place for it... and quite obviously it doesn't quite work on my lovely mantle...which, by the way, i can't wait to hang stockings on this christmas!

so here are the before and after pictures of the living room and hallway... i didn't get a before picture of the dining room, but here is the 'after'.

the pictures with the model are the before pictures

4th of july

random

yesterday we went to some friends' house from church. they run a wilderness camp for troubled teens and they have lots of horses. they actually use the horses for therapy type activities.

i dont know why, but i have this strange fear of horses. i used to love them, maybe i have just psyched myself out about them or something...

anyway, they just built this
huge horse arena.
it was amazing.
we all got the chance to ride a horse. (yes, i did make myself ride as well)
i knew i couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a picture of gemma riding, so we put her on a horse with uncle ryan and snapped a few.

that's about all she did. she is still not the greatest sitter, so i knew it was kind of hard to hold her and steer the horse at the same time.

ryan probably didn't care, but did i mention my fear of horses.

speaking of birthmarks

gemma's is getting so much lighter.

if you look closely in the first picture you can see it on her left thigh. i have really begun to notice that, especially in the middle, it is getting more faded.

i found this old picture from my cell phone of it. see how bright red it used to be. doctor's say that it isn't actually a birthmark, but is called a hemangioma (probably not spelled correctly). so supposedly it could fade away in time. since hers is so big they said that it could take up to 10 years.

this might be weird, but i am glad that she has it. i just feel like it makes her unique. of course, when she gets older she might not like it which is fine, but i love it.

we got a new used swing from my parents. so eric and i sanded it, stained it and hung it up on our front porch.

there is a small problem, we don't have a very wide front porch, so when we swing it will be more like we are swaying. oh well, at least it is aesthetically pleasing. i can't wait to go to some flea markets to find some small side tables to put beside it.

i am going to ladies nite tonite at olive garden...yum!!! eric is going to stay home for baby duty.

i don't really know what we are doing for 4th of july. i know that we are going to go watch fireworks, but that is the extent of our day so far. oh, and i cant wait to have gemma wear her 4th of july outfit from her gramm!

hope you have a great weekend.

i had better go do the breakfast and now lunch dishes.

gentle and humble in heart...

"Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

(Matthew 11:28-30)

WOW! These verses really encouraged me this morning. What an amazing, precious promise.

As I was reading them I sat and remembered all those times when I am mentally beating myself up for some unfaithful act on my part towards the Lord.

Whether it is an act of laziness regarding my personal quiet time or a judgmental attitude towards an individual or maybe some selfish thought about what another person has that I feel I deserve more than they do.

It is after these sinful and unrighteous actions that I begin to 'beat myself up'.
I ask God why He would even consider forgiving me? After all, I commit the same offense over and over again. Why would such a faithful and perfect God 'save a wretch like me'?

Then these verses reminded me...

"...I am gentle and humble in heart..."

Thank You, Jesus.

I need a gentle and humble Savior. One who forgives me over and over again. A Master who grants rest for my weary sinful soul. A loving Father who does not condemn me, but instead sees me clothed in the pure white righteousness of His son, Jesus Christ.

So the next time I begin to get down on myself or become discouraged for not spending time faithfully with the Lord or sitting around being lazy instead of cherishing those special times with gemma...

Instead of becoming discouraged I will ask the Lord to, again, gently remind me that He faithfully loves and restores me back to a personal and intimate relationship with Him.