Week Ending, Week Beginning

This has been one of the nicest weekends. On Friday, I began a quilt for Bea, made a nectarine crisp (creative but not my best work), and watched Everett play in his new yellow pool in the ridiculous heat. Saturday, I requested a little "time-off" for myself. My adorable husband sweetly acquiesed, so I spent the morning thrifting and sewing--absolutely delightful. Today we tried a new church, went to the wonderful local pool (unfortunately it was their last day to be open for the summer--which makes NO SENSE, because it will be over 100 degrees indefinitely according to NOAA, went out to dinner with my grandparents and enjoyed a fantastic Kansas summer thunderstorm. Tomorrow I see the doctor, again. I am going to cancel my pencilled-in induction. After doing a little more research, praying, and talking with both my mom and grandmother, I feel that waiting for Beatrice is the best option. It may not be convenient or comfortable, but she should be allowed to come when she is ready and not because I am being impatient.I only wish I could have caught the raindrops on film. It was pouring and Evie and I stood on the porch and just watched it rain. So very lovely.

This is the quilt I am working on. The top was given to me, pre-pieced by my mother-in-law. She knows how much I love vintage fabrics and it is made entirely of flour-sacking and feed-sacking from the 30's and 40's. Somebody put a lot of love into making it and I am so glad I can finish it up and give it to my prairie princess. The batting and the backing are the remnants of a comforter my grandmother passed on to me. It was on her bed for years, and has been very, very loved. It is incredibly soft and actually matches most of the bedding I have chosen for Bea's eventual crib--she will start out in a cradle, which has different linens.

Sorry about the fuzziness, I snapped this in the peer-glass before running upstairs to quilt a little bit more.

Looking down our street at the rain.

The top of Bea's mommy-made quilt.

Pretty little sweet-peas in our "garden." Next summer, we will have a real garden. But this year it has been fun to see what blooms or grows as left-overs.

One of our neighbors has a real garden and he very generously shares his delicious fruits and vegetables. This melon came from Charles and is by far the best cantelope I have had all summer. I doubt it will last through the night!

Everett was quiet the floaty-pirate this afternoon at the pool. Whenever he could he would snag a new flotation device and twirl it around the baby pool. Notice his "Cars" life-jacket. When we told him we were going to the pool to swim, he immediately told us he needed his "Cars" and then when we didn't respond quickly enough, took his father down to the basement to get it and put it on. Water-safety is quite important to Mister E.

While I soaked up the sun and cooled off in the water, Everett and his dad played and splashed around. Notice Evie is in a different floaty this time.

After noticing all the lovely "naked-ladies" in our neighbors's yards we were pleased to see that we had a small patch near our garden too. I am going to research to see if they are easy to divide and transplant.

Have I mentioned recently how very in love I am with these two guys? They melt my heart.

My nectarine crisp. Sure it looks pretty, but it just isn't a peach/apple/or cherry crisp. And Russ bluntly said, "That nectarine thing--I don't really like it" However, I was trying to be responsible and not just throw out the nectarines which were quite mushy and over-ripe (even though I had just bought them).

Evie playing in the backyard on Friday. When it is over 100, the only ways to be outside comfortably involve water and lots of it!

Our funny little bird house. I haven't seen any inhabitants yet, but maybe they only take up residence in the spring.

They are called "naked-ladies" because they have no leaves on their stalks and are thus a bit nude. My great-grandmother had another name for them because she thought "naked-ladies" was impolite and vulgar, unfortunately I can't remember it. Mom, help me out!

Can you see the grin? Even from the back! He adores being wet and splashing and I love it when he is happy!

Weekend Tomfoolery

Here is our little Bea at about 27 weeks and a couple of days. The weather has been completely wonderful, I think we may actually be enjoying Spring, albeit a little later than usual.

Mom and I were talking the other day about the feelings that certain flowers engender. For her, iris are the high-mark of Spring's floral abundance because of her grandfather's iris beds, which she remembers him carefully tending. For me, peonies are the fragrant, blousy reminder of my great-aunt Ruth who would take pails of them to the cemetery for Memorial day when I was little.

Russ did a little re-wiring underneath the house this past weekend. I came back outside to find Everett had joined his daddy and was being "very" helpful! I couldn't separate those two if I tried.

I even like the ants that come with peonies, as long as they stay outside. A simple trick is to just blow them onto the next bud after you have cut a stem.

Almost unbelievable, but here we are all together! We went to a friend's baby shower on Saturday and she snapped this picture. I love it--maybe because we have so few family photos.

Of course we took Everett to the park before the shower, we thought we would try to wear him out. Haha. At least he had a great time on the swings and slide, I don't think it affected his energy level one bit, however.

I still enjoy the swings, Russ snapped this picture, and even though Miss Bea is kinda hiding, I think she enjoyed the rocking motion.

We had a friend over for dinner on Sunday night and this arrangement helped distract from the boxes and moving chaos as well as the fact that I packed all three of my salt and pepper shakers!

She sits so low in comparison to Everett.

This is Evie's preferred method of swinging. He will sit if required, but he really likes to pretend he is flying.

This is another of Evie's favorite games, "wake-up, Daddy!"

Poor Russ just wanted a mini-siesta--he should have known his plans would be thwarted.

The scrape on his nose is finally, almost healed. I keep hoping it won't scar, but Evie and Russ don't seem to be worried at all. Boys.

Russ enjoying a few peaceful moments before the onslaught.

He looks so very thrilled to have his picture taken (for the hundredth time) doesn't he?

Both Russ and Everett insist on helping with clean-up when I bake. Russ even pouts a little if I don't leave enough batter in the bowl.

Everett is still perfecting his beater-batter retrieval system, and it is a messy process!

Another favorite game--"goodnight, sleep time" Everett has three favorite blankets, plus one he borrows from his sister's cradle. These blankets go everywhere so that he can pretend he is going to sleep, he also requires the use of a laundry basket to make his bed in. If only we could get him this excited about actually sleeping.

While he hasn't fallen or jumped in, fountains still make me a little wary. But he loves the water, so we always throw a few pennies in for luck.