26 weeks!

Here's another shot of me, growing belly and all! The baby is really moving around alot now, which is an amazing feeling! (except when I am trying to fall asleep!) We are getting the nursery ready, registering for showers, trying to find names (hard!) and just asking the Lord to prepare our hearts for parenthood one day at at time. :)

Apples to Apple cider...

Last weekend we went over our friend Gabe's house and picked 11 bushes of apples from his trees. We then took them over to an amish neighbor who runs a cider mill on saturdays. Dumped the apples into the mill, and out came 42 gallons of fresh cider! We couldn't believe it! What a fun and quintessential fall day. And needless to say, friends, family and we ourselves will be enjoying cider for quite a while this fall. That is o.k. by me!

Here they are, all 11 bushels. It only took us about 2.5 hours to pick 'em all. Not bad!

Girls day!

Mom, Dad and Libby came out to Ohio a few weekends ago to visit, and so that us girls could have a bit-o-fun at the Country Living Fair in Columbus. (Dad and Joe hung out at the house, working on siding, visiting an auction, and watching football while we perused the fair!). It was held at the Ohio Historical Village, a perfect venue for the artsy/crafty/"antiquie" event! We had so much fun together, the weather was beautiful, too! And the whole atmosphere just emitted the feeling of all. Mums, pumpkins, apples, and straw bales. We even got to meet a few famous people :) Well, famous to us, I guess. David T. Smith, the woodworker (dad has his book, and has made several pieces of furniture after his design, including a shelf in our house!) and then we saw Will Moses, signing paintings and such. And finally, the editor of Country living herself! We even got inspired for a bit of decorating in the babies room....pictures of that project to come. All in all, it was a great weekend, and we are so thankful they came out to visit!!!!!

The BEST cobbler in the world...worth waiting a 1/2 hour for ;) haha. We enjoyed every bite!
Sisters!!! Love it...

Crazy Cat

These two crazy animals...they love to snooze together almost every evening. This was just a cute shot of Sam, smiling it seems, for the camera. And then another evening he climbed into this faucet box, and decided it was a comfy spot for a nap. Oh brother! But pretty cute, sammy!

Siding the House!

Here is the latest project Joe has been faithfully tackling on our house...siding! We had a few good friends and family help us get started, and lately Joe has been working on the project whenever he has a few spare hours (which is not often!) It has saved us a ton of money by doing the project ourselves, however it did cost us one minor trip to the ER :) Joe accidentally cut his hand while cutting a piece of siding one night, but one small steri-strip later, we were good to go! The house is looking so much better already...it is amazing! We are very thankful to be able to do this!

hair ties and bella bands...

Here I am, about 21 weeks prego!!! This was about a month ago, so today I am currently 25 weeks, unbelievable!! This baby is so active, kicking throughout the day, which is an amazing (yet sometimes uncomfortable!) feeling :) I have been feeling so great, trying to keep as active as I can and eating healthy. I haven't had any wierd cravings yet, so lets hope it stays that way, haha! We are working on the nursery and our registry for all of the baby items we will need! Exciting yet overwhelming at the same time! Lets just say, its only month 6, but I am ready to meet this little babe!

More BWCA pictures

boundary waters!!!

Here are a few pics from the family adventure we took this summer to BWCA. We spent about 10 days together, driving, packing, paddling, fishing and at times, relaxing. ;) What a beautiful place, the lakes of Minnesota. Joe and I have both been there before, when we were in high school, and the beauty has not changed. We were able to see wildlife (loons, beaver, bald eagles, mink, deer) and hear some too (wolves!) It was a great time, although we all agreed that it wasn't quite a vacation, but rather, a canoe trip!!!

There's a Lonely little Petunia in an Onion Patch...

I haven't actually planted any petunias yet, but I just have fond memories of that song and thought it appropriate for a gardening entry in our blog. :) We used to listen to that song and many more on road trips with Grandpa and Grandma Brown! Well, here are some pictures of a few little gardens I have been attempting to cultivate. The picture above is a small patch around our poplar tree in the front yard (haha, i just thought of it...tulips for the tulip tree!) I put a few hostas and a daylily there, as well as a little coral bell plant. I hope they all grow! Thanks to my mom for the tulip bulbs and my mother-in-law for the other perenials! What a blessing.

Well, this little patch isn't too big, as it took my 1 hour just to dig up the sod and about 3 inches of topsoil (if you want to call it that) :) TONS of rocks in this area, but i think once i start planting more, the topsoil will increase. This is right under our curly willow tree in front. Some day lilies, hosta, bee balm, daisies and a few others i forget at the moment.
This bed was already at the house (1 of 2 places that I could see someone actually tried to landscape). The well pipe isn't used anymore, so Joe hopes to cut it down (me too!). There were two large hostas already here, so I just planted around those, and increased the sized of the bed. Our friend Tyler gave us a small river birch (at right) and he has another for us to plant in the next few weeks! It has been so much fun to try my hand at this. Joe keeps claiming i have my mothers green thumb (well, i think i have a ways to go, but at least i have the passion and joy in it!) Pam gave me the idea to use the sod i was taking out of the beds to put in sparse places around our yard. Great thinking! I have been depositing sod everywhere, as our yard needs some help :) I mowed the whole thing yesterday (with a push mower!) and it was a little rough going in places. I think we need like a roller to come in an smooth out the backyard, at least. haha! But i guess last year the owners didn't mow at all, so that kinda reeks havoc on ones yard and the way the grass grows. Oh well. We will do our best to take care of what the Lord has given us, and see what comes of our hard work. Oh yes...one more thing....is it crazy when i get really excited over a wheelbarrow? Saturday i went to Menards and bought a no-flat tire steel wheelbarrow that should last us a long time. Who-hooo! Considering before this piece of equipment I was using an old sheet to haul around leaves, sod and sticks, I am quite happy with the new set of wheels, errr, wheel. You don't know how valuable that thing can be until you own your own home!!!!

Alabama trip

A few weeks ago, Joe and I took a road trip down to Springville, Alabama to enjoy a camping conference for all Assembly of God camps around the U.S. It was so beautiful! And the food...mmmmm! We ate well, and tasted some amazing southern cuisine. Here we are in Ruffner State Park, overlooking Birmingham.
I woke up early our last morning and took some pictures of the lake and board walk. It was a peaceful morning, just me and a few birds soaking up the sunshine.
This trip was a refreshing break from our hectic schedule, a great time to reflect on God's blessings and the way that He provides EXACTLY what we need!

Deck Destruction..dunt dunt dahhhhh

We look a bit ferocious in these pics. haha. Well tearing down a rotting deck will do that to oneself. Today marked the beginning of the tear down process for our old deck. Actually, mother nature was doing a pretty good job already. The deck was previously made with untreated wood, conveniently rotting away as it had not been painted in a while. This made the use of sledge hammers quite easy! It was even rainy, windy and cold today, but we demolished any way. After almost stepping through a hole in the deck, i decided to get down and do all demolishing from the ground. Our new supplies are being delivered tomorrow (friday) and we plan to begin building on saturday. Yippee!!! Funny thing is that snow is falling down as we speak. 3 inches to fall by tomorrow. What a trip. Well, thank goodness it will be 50 by saturday. We have never built a deck before. I made birdhouses when i was little. Does that count? (jk, joe is going to do amazing with this deck. i am pretty handy with a drill when i have to be, too) more pictures to com...

babysitting 101

We got the chance to babysit Joe's sister's kids last week. What a blast! We had pigs in a blanket, mac'n cheese, green beans & ice cream for desert. yum. Then a walk outside. Funny story was that the kids asked to see down into our sewer system (it is covered with a cement lid in the backyard, and they were curious as to what it was). Joe told them it was our poop hole. (oh my) and so they shouted "we want to see down in it!" then the chanting open it open it open it!!! Alas, the lid came off, noses crinkled, and Nathan promptly said "oh, ok you can close it up now." What a hoot.

After a quiet storytime and a quick video it was time to go. One thing convenient about being uncle & aunt...the kids go home at the end of the day. :) But we love 'em and hope to do it again.

puppies

Here are the abandoned puppies we found at Heartland a few weeks ago! 3 females, 1 male. They were starving, so we brought them home, fed them, and gave them a good night's rest. We took them to the Mt. Gilead Dog Rescue the next day (same place we found Molly) and they were taken in. It was so much fun to have them, though! Definitely made us think about what life would be like with another furry friend...but then we thought again ;) Maybe someday! Molly had a good time with the little ones, too. It hurts to know that someone just dropped these guys off...they were so loving! Well, we hope they find great homes!

A winter past...

So, this was the drift on our deck about 1 month ago....we were surprised the thing didn't give way underneath the weight! :) Molly loved it, needless to say.
Here we are playing in the yard, enjoying the amazing amount of snow...thankfully its all gone now!
What I thought would be a fun, innocent picture of our day in the snow...
turned into a rather hilarious moment. I was totally oblivious, up until this exact moment. haha! Look out joe...i know where you live.
Sometimes i like to think that Joe has read a bit too many Calvin & Hobbes comics :) He had a blast making these with kids at Heartland a while ago. Did you notice the dog? I love this man....

As the days go by...

Here is the closet in the new foyer area that Joe built!!! It took ALOT of mud to make a closet. One would never know how just how much, until one does it. ha! It is primed and ready to be painted. We have a motivating factor to get alot of this done quickly...we are hosting a SuperBowl party at our house on sunday!! ahhh! No, it will be fine...
A quick view towards our front door, with the closet. We are very excited to put on the bi-fold doors and use it!
Oh yes, this is the other side of the room, where joe acutally built a half wall next to the concrete block, added insulation, and then finished it with bead-board paneling. It looks so much better!
After an evening of painting, we have a semi-finished wall! We chose to paint with the same color as in the dining room. I hope to punch some color in there with a few pictures or accessories as we have time. Its all coming together!
And the most recent... I took this picture about an hour ago. Joe and our friend Gabe are installing the ceramic tile in the foyer. Whew! Now this is a project. But once they got going and had a system, things went smoothly. I can't wait to see the end project. We found this tile on clearance at Menards for 89 cents a square foot. One more step in making these projects affordable! :) Now the only catch with the tile is that we have to stay off of it for 48 hours...hmm, that means we get to enter and exit our house from the second story sliding doors. This should be fun. I hope our deck holds up under all the traffic. Well, I suppose we have a piece of plywood over the really rotted-out parts. haha. What an adventure...

Transformation

I caught Joe in the act of painting trim (neither of us like this tedious task too much...hence the amazing face on my hubby!) This is in our front entry way, which we are currently in the process of transforming into a more comfortable & usable room.
Before shots of the entry way, without a wall and closet. Just one big room, that actually used to be the basement of the house, but was remodeled even before we got here. We are just taking it a few steps further.
Ta-da!! Joe took a day and built his very first full wall with a door to beat. It was perfectly plumb (well, to me) and straight and we were both impressed with his handy work. So now the back room will have shelving and be a storage area. I can't wait!
Here is a shot from within the storage room, looking out into the foyer. Now its time for some mudding!!