A Surprise Shower!

Last night we made some lasagna and headed out to meet our small group for our usual last Thursday of the month meal together. But, little did we know they had other plans! They had invited more friends from church over and had planned a little shower for us and baby girl, or should I say....

Eva Claire

When we walked in they said, "Surprise!" and I was thinking - surprise, what? as I walked on in carrying the lasagna to the counter. That's when I noticed there were more people there than normal and I saw this cake....

They did capture Michael's reaction
the girls ready to eat at the table

I thought these flowers were beautiful!

They even had a babysitter for the kids, and they enjoyed playing outside together after we ate. Then it was time for us to open gifts.

This was Michael's first shower!

We got lots of essentials like diapers and wipes and several little outfits that she can wear right away!

After gifts they had a time of prayer for us and our children. It was such a special time.

We had the kids come back in for cake and then the girls even had little gifts to open!

I didn't think to get a group picture until most people had left. I did get this picture with Marilyn and Erika.

And here's our hosts - Jonathan & Marilyn

And we got a family picture just before we left!

We just feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends or "family" here in Utah! We thank you all so much for all you've done for us! We are now less than 2 weeks away from meeting Eva, can't wait!

36 weeks

I can't believe we're at 36 weeks...3 weeks to go and we get to meet our precious little girl!
My c-section has been scheduled for August 10th!
Everything is still looking good - my blood pressure has been great, and I've gained a total of 18lbs. so far!
Baby girl is still moving quite a bit and likes to get herself in odd positions and make my belly totally lopsided on the left. It looks so crazy - flat on the right side and a huge ball on the left side. Her heart rate was 160bpm.
I go back to the doctor every week now and it was so wierd she had me go ahead and make my last 3 appointments while I was there today.
I've been trying to rest more this week and not get too tired and worn out! I feel like we have most everything ready, not really sure what I should be doing. I do have some pictures to print out and put in her baby book. I guess I could start packing our bag for the hospital soon...
Also, we've been reading the "I'm a Big Sister" book more recently. Madilynn knows all about it and can basically read the book herself. She is so excited for this little baby to come out of my belly. She keeps telling me that my belly is getting so big, and asking, "Is it time to go to the hospital yet?"! Elizabeth is starting to figure things out! When they get that book out she says her version of "sister" and likes to see the baby on every page. She is very interested in baby's anywhere we see them. She says, "baby room" and has had fun checking out the baby gear and diapers. One day she got some of the newborn diapers out and hid them all around the room. I didn't even know she'd done it until she went and started finding them!

Our Weekend

Friday night before heading out to enjoy some pizza! Me and the girls!!

Elizabeth "reading" a book
they love reading books

Saturday morning Michael went hiking/scouting for deer in the mountains. The girls and I enjoyed some shopping, playing at the park, and then some Aggie Ice Cream! We had a great time together!

Sunday morning before church

Sunday afternoon Daddy decided I should go ahead and open my birthday present. I got a new digital camera!! We wanted to have a new camera for when baby girl is born, and since my birthday is a couple of days after she's born, I got to open it early!

Elizabeth helped me open it

Sunday evening we decided to try to fly the girls' kite. There was some wind by about 8pm, but not a lot. We got to see it fly a little, and they loved it of course.

Elizabeth got so excited! We also got sprayed by those sprinklers in the field. We started out on the field then the sprinklers came on. We all ran off the grass onto the sidewalk and parking lot and Elizabeth was left standing there in shock, so she got a little shower!

Madilynn would say, "Daddy, run, run!" she knew that would get the kite flying!

Flying high

Madilynn flying the kite

Our next door neighbors had a yard sale on Saturday and I saw this rocking chair as we were leaving our house. By the time we got home they were done with their sale. So, Michael went over on Sunday and asked if they'd sold it and they let us come in and look at it. We got it for $15. Elizabeth checking out the "rock chair" as she calls it!

All ready for bed!

Earlier this week I got Elizabeth to go all the way through the ABC's with me and repeat the letters. I thought I needed to get it on video, so a few minutes later I tried again and got this video. Some letters aren't as good as they were the first time around, but I still thought it was worth sharing! Enjoy!

The Past Couple of Weeks...

Okay, so it's time to catch-up on what we've been up to the last couple of weeks. After our fun 4th on Friday the 1st we spent the weekend outside. The girls enjoyed the pool and Daddy did some work on the landscaping and other outside projects.

Our flowers are blooming everywhere...

some roses

We fed the ducks and they thought they needed more so they headed up into the yard, they can go back and forth under the wire fence in this spot. The girls just love the ducks. Elizabeth says, "Duck, wa-wa" all the time!

Michael took out these huge shrubs in the back

and we replaced them with 3 hydrangeas. Madilynn can't wait for Daddy to spray this stuff on them to turn the blooms blue. I don't think she understands that it won't happen instantly.

On the 4th we had a pretty lazy day, but we did go to Chick-fil-A for lunch and the girls got these red balloons which were very entertaining for a few days!

Elizabeth got a bandaid on her finger and she's showing it to me. I just thought her red shirt and bow were so cute - this is the best picture I could get though.

Before church on Sunday, so sweet!

Our lillies bloomed this week!

We got this Dahlia in a pot for the front walkway

Hydrangea

rose

pink rose

I thought I should show that there's still some snow left on the mountains. This was taken from our driveway to the east, the mountains that are the closest to us.

Elizabeth says, "bubbles" and tries to blow them. This container is empty, but she still had fun pretending for awhile, hey and no mess!

Monday morning we had craft time. Madilynn wanted to make a mask. I got out some paper plates and cut out holes for the eyes then I let her decorate however she wanted. She started out painting the entire thing.

This was Elizabeth's first time with watercolors and she did really well. I had to help guide her to rinse the brush off, but she really enjoyed it!

Here's Madilynn's mask all painted, then we had to let it dry.

After naptime it was time to decorate it...and here's her finished work of art!

She's taking it to school tomorrow for show and tell.

Sunday night we got the infant seat out of the box and got the base installed in the car. All three seats fit nicely in the mountaineer and Madilynn can still buckle her own seat belt. We also have the third row if we want to spread them out a little and Madilynn knows how to fold down the seat to get in and out! That's a big help for Mommy!!

Anyways, so now the infant seat has been in the baby's room and Elizabeth has spent lots of time buckling her babies into it. Tuesday morning while Madilynn was at school she got this bunny all buckled in and then drug the seat all the way into the kitchen! So I had to get a picture...

saying, "cheese"!

And, here's a video from Monday morning when we were doing crafts at the table. Elizabeth picked out a ladybug sticker and put on her paper and then she says, "Lala - bug" and it's so cute!

Whew! Feels good to be all caught up! We've just been enjoying the summer and getting ready for baby sister's arrival. The girls are getting excited -well, Madilynn is anyway. Not sure if Elizabeth knows what's happening. Madilynn is excited to take on the big sister role again and she is constantly telling me all the things she's going to do to help out!

The 4th on the 1st

Get ready...this is a long one, it was a long, fun day!!!

Madilynn showing off her new sandals that Granny & Pepaw got for her!We spent the morning running errands. Then after a quick lunch it was pool time!

And water the plants, of course!

Our yummy treat for the evening

We enjoyed eating in the backyard. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, corn on the cob, lemonade, and fruit. It was so good...here's the spread.

Elizabeth figured out that she could just help herself to the olives...she LOVES them!

Swinging in the big girl swing

Family picture

Elizabeth taking pictures of me and dancing. Our neighbor's a couple of houses over had a live band for the evening and we could hear their music. It was great and the girls loved dancing around.

the girls hanging out, waiting for it to get dark - check out the tan lines on Elizabeth's feet...

Once it starting getting dark we got out the glow bracelets

So fun!

Daddy swinging Elizabeth around

Madilynn's turn

Finally at 10:05pm the fireworks began. The girls were so tired by that point, they couldn't even stay up for the entire 30 minutes of fireworks. After 15-20minutes Madilynn was ready for bed. Elizabeth kept telling us there was "more" fireworks to see. We had such a fun time hanging out outside and watching the girls play outside. What a great day!!