A boy?

Last week we went for the 12 week screening ultrasound to make sure the baby looks healthy.  We had an ultrasound tech and her assistant helping with the ultrasound.  After the tech finished, she asked the assistant to play around and see some different angles.  Though she wasn't allowed to tell us girl or boy, she said that she did find something between the legs that was not the umbilical cord.  Sounds like a boy to me!  It's not for sure though, as the baby is still so small.  Next ultrasound we should be able to know for sure.  From the six week ultrasound until now there's a huge difference in size and detail!  He looks like a full size baby now with facial features and all, even though he's only the size of a lemon!  He even sucked his thumb while we were watching on the screen...

Baby on the way!!

Josh and I are so excited to announce that we will add a new member of our family in September!  We already went to the doctor to have the first ultrasound and heard the heartbeat!  Hard to believe there is a person growing inside of me...  I've been feeling great.  No morning sickness or anything!  Right now, it's only the size of a prune.  We are hoping to find out in two weeks, the gender of the baby.  Josh thinks it's a boy and I think it's a girl.  We'll see!  I can't help but stop at the baby spot in the grocery store even now, just to scope it out. :)  We started this weekend working on the nursery.

This was how we told our friends on Facebook ;)

More updates to come!

Our Progress!

Bedroom

Office/Music Room

Living room (Jumangi is curled up on his bed with his bear)

Dining Room

Kitchen

 

Five rooms down, one spare bedroom, basement and sun room to go!  It's been a lot of fun fixing up this cute old house.  It's home :)

New

We moved into our house two weeks ago!  The closing process went surprisingly smoothly and we were living in the house that very day!  The house was so much dirtier than we even thought!  Our families helped us clean the house and move everything over that weekend.  So far we have finished cleaning, painting and decorating the living room.  There is so much work to be done!  I know we have all the time in the world to finish the house but we are excited to fix it up and it’s fun to see it looking better with a coat of paint!   This week we began pricing out and brainstorming ideas for the counter top.  I cannot wait to make that look better.  Right now it is 1x1 inch tiles with lots of yucky grout in between and it grosses me out!  Josh painted the front door and shutters and those look good!  Josh is also working on the wallpaper removal in the kitchen which is impossibly hard to get off the wall.  Even all my mom’s tips/tricks to get it off didn’t work!  This week I am working on the hallway.  I do the trim and then the edging and then the paint rolling.  Although it’s a lot of work, it is fun because it is ours J 

We also got a dog!  One of Josh’s students needed to get rid of a dog because of a move and we inherited him.  He is wonderful!  He’s an American Bulldog and the cutest and sweetest dog ever.  It seems so silly but this dog has brought so much joy to our lives!  He is so goofy, cuddly and wrinkly. We love him!  God just keeps blessing us.  Life is very fun right now!

Stories Already!

Yesterday we were out at recess and one of the little guys in my class was racing his friend, tripped, fell and lightly skinned both knees.  There was only a tiny bit of blood but he was wailing as if his legs were going to fall off! :)  I sent him into the office to get a couple of band-aids.  I put the band-aids on his knees and he was still crying quite loudly.  It was time for us to go inside and pack up to go home.  His sister came over and said, "Lets pray over your knee..."  It was the cutest thing!  Child like faith!  They believe God is big enough to heal his knee!  Pretty cool!

Yesterday we began writing stories, which at first is really just drawing pictures.  I went around to each student and wrote down what they told me their story was about.  One girl showed me her picture and said, "My story is about how my mom dresses up in scary costumes."  Hahaha I suppose maybe she was talking about Halloween but it sure was funny!  I sent it home ;)

New Crew

Surprisingly the first week of school was great!  Of course I forget each year how helpless the little Kindergarteners are when they first arrive.  They are everywhere except their seat, they cry when it's time to go home, they try claiming, "You are not my friend!" when someone does something they don't like...  Haha!  And here I go again, trying to make little independent, kind, thoughtful people.  I think I have a great group!  They are all eager to please and are like little sponges already, soaking up the knowledge.  I can't wait to dive into our curriculum because I think they are going to be a very bright crowd!  Good stories to come, I'm sure! :)

Trying my hand at canning!

As we get closer and closer to buying our house, the more and more frugal we are trying to live in order to save up the 20% down payment.  We are right on track to have the amount saved up by October!  Josh has been tutoring in the mornings before our summer camp job.  Since we drive one car, that puts me to work 2 hours early!  Though I was dreading it at the beginning, I've been really enjoying the mornings reading and "pinteresting" :)  I have a new love for pinterest!  I'm learning all kinds of new things from DIY projects to decorate our new house to canning!

God is allowing our garden to produce so much this year!  It's so cool how the produce spread throughout the whole summer.  In the beginning we had tons of lettuce and ate salads almost every day!  Then for the last few weeks we've been overwhelmed with summer squash and zucchini.  Next it will be bell peppers and tomatoes.  Because we will have so many tomatoes (provided the groundhog doesn't chow down) I will try to can them for sauces, salsas, etc.  My mom gave me her old canner (which she said she used when she was my age!).  We've only had a few cucumbers so far but I was able to successfully can a jar of pickles!  The dill smell is super hard to get out of the kitchen.  I made them 3 days ago and the smell is still wafting around!  I figured I would try out the canner with only 2 jars just in case I didn't do it right and ruined them.  I tried one jar of pickles and one jar of berry syrup.  The pickles sealed and can now be stored but I failed on the syrup...  Oh well :)  It's fun to try!   I'm hoping that canning some of these things will save us some money!  We'll see...

At least I have the option of running to Meijer to grab whatever I need, basically whenever I want.  It's probably been only in the last 100 years that people had this convenience!  I'm afraid we might starve if we could only live on what I (successfully) canned or grew! Hah!  There's something that is so interesting though about that simple life.

I found this quote about slowing down and living more simply :
"As we make an effort to slow down we are able to hear God’s message more clearly.  Whether you are at home, in the car or on the football field, act with compassion, be loving and kind, and put others before yourself." Tracy Lynn