Here's Laura!

She's Here!!!!

Laura Elizabeth arrived at 1:41 p.m. and is 6 pounds, 4 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. Very thankful for the easiest labor yet and for a safe delivery -- Laura had the cord wrapped around her neck 3 times.

Now it's time for some lunch for me and then the kids are coming up to meet their new sister.

Thank you all for your prayers and kind thoughts! Hopefully we can post pictures later today.

The Final Checkbox

I think just about all the checkboxes that are going to be checked off are completed. This little sweater was my last project I really wanted to get finished before the baby arrives. It's an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern called "The February Sweater" I believe. I'm working on a tiny little hat in the same pattern.

I also spent a bunch of time sewing flowers this past week -- a nice, relaxing activity to get my mind off the fact that she hasn't come yet.

We made it through another Sunday for Michael without the baby interrupting the normal plans. And we had another delicious Sunday dinner, which included beet salad. Beets never cease to amaze me with their color and I can hardly resist photographing them.

And this is my last pregnancy photo:

The plan is to head to the hospital tomorrow morning (Tuesday) for an induction, if our little girl doesn't come on her own tonight.

Hopefully next time I post I'll have good news!

Annual Wildflower Walk

Earlier this week the kids and I went on our annual wildflower hunt in the woods. It's amazing the variety that one can find, and also how fast the variety changes. I know we probably missed some of the early flowers and if we go again in a week or two we'll find even more blooming.

Here's what we found:

Ragwort:

Mustard flower:
Honeysuckle:
Garlic Mustard:
The Redbud trees have just past their peak. It is always hard for me to capture their beauty on camera. I do love them!
Wild White Phlox: (we also found blue phlox)
Thanks to Laura P., this plant is called Stylophorum diphyllum:

I couldn't resist capturing this little creature:

Jack-in-the-pulpit -- one of my very favorites!

Mayapple:
Blue violets (and we saw lots of white ones too):

Haven't located the name for this one yet:

Perfoliate Bellwort:
Yellow violet -- I actually had no idea these existed!

Prairie Trillium:
Star Chickweed:

And here is the trail we enjoy:

For those in Indiana, here is a list for identification.

Since the baby hasn't made her appearance yet, it means I need to get to work! Ironing, food shopping, etc. Have a good weekend!

To Market...

Another batch of flowers headed out the door this past week and off to market. There were plenty of colors to choose from.

Pink:
Orange:
Blue:
Purple:
And the minis, which we all love:

You can find them at The Village Yarn Shop in Zionsville......

And now I'm on to the next batch.

Meet the Cousin

Earlier this week Michael's brother and his family stopped by for a visit on their long trek out to Oklahoma. The best part was meeting the newest cousin -- Sophie!!!

She is a very happy baby and had lots of smiles to share:

The kids all had fun playing together and it was hard to believe how much they've all grown since we saw them last (about 1 1/2 years ago). And now we await the newest cousin....

Catching Up

I feel like there are SO many things to catch up on posting here on my blog. Here are a few of them:

Emily and her friend, Kelsey, organized an Easter egg hunt for the kids at the beginning of the month. The kids loved it!

One morning we woke up to find Mr. and Mrs. Duck checking out our front yard. I guess they decided to pass, since we haven't seen them since.

I never even got to post about Michael's birthday back at the end of March. The kids and I spent the entire day (minus our outing) in the kitchen. I promised each one they could bake something and it took all day to turn it all out!

Here is the carrot cake that James made:

David chose scones for tea, Rachel made granola and Andrew decided on cookies.

We took a break in the afternoon to go bowling.

Easter Sunday we had the exciting event of six baptisms at church. I think it was a highlight for the entire congregation.
Dying Easter eggs was a colorful event:

Emily arranged flowers for the Easter dinner she made for school friends. The flowers were gorgeous and we enjoyed them all week:

Rachel and Andrew got to spend a day at Eagle Creek Park taking various nature classes with other homeschoolers. They really enjoyed it and just today I heard Andrew in a long conversation all about different kinds of squirrels and how to tell them apart.

Last week Rachel convinced me that she should cook for the day. We planned the menu in advance and she made muffins and yogurt for breakfast, cottage cheese with homemade bread (from the freezer) and fruit for lunch, and pasta salad with peach crisp for dinner.

The pasta salad was delicious and all my picky eaters (who take an hour or more to eat their dinner) gobbled it right up.

Last Friday we had our own little preschool here. Right now I'm finding that I love teaching the 3-5 year old range. They are so much fun to have around! Maybe it helps that I have older kids who can do things on their own, or help me.

Sunday dinner was so good....all recipes will soon appear on TCND, but I can't resist telling you what we had: green rice, cucumber and sugar snap pea salad with mint, and tarragon chicken. The meal finished with rhubarb and strawberry crumble. What a treat!

And today we went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art's gardens to celebrate Christina's birthday. Isn't it beautiful!!!

And the gluten-free cake was way too good:

This picture makes me happy. :)

And now, it's time to put my feet up for a few minutes....

Check Box #8: The Room and Quilt

Finally, I have pictures of the baby's "corner" of Rachel's room and just about everything is finished!!!

Here is the changing table -- the dresser is full of tiny, little pink clothes! Just this week Michael and I found the diaper basket for free. All I had to do was cover the broken handle with a bit of fabric and the wool flower. The lining washed easily and it is just what I wanted!

Here is the crib, which was also "found" for free. I love it! The curtain came with the bed set off of Craig's list and my mom is painting two paintings framed in white -- one for each side of the window.

The crib set I found went perfectly with the lavender-painted walls, but didn't have a quilt. That was fine because the one thing I wanted to make the baby for sure was a quilt. Here is the finished product. It goes along almost perfectly with the bumper and sheet.

And the basket of blankets and burp clothes is waiting beneath the window.

Here's the quilt. Rachel and I made up the pattern using the diagram below. Rachel sewed the top together and I quilted it. We found ribbon to match the bumper and sewed that along the edge and then I embroidered a few lines here and there to match the design on the bumper.

Here was our plan:

The fun thing is, Rachel is working on a miniature of the quilt. She's sewn the top and it looks EXACTLY like the big one, just tiny. I need to put it together for her so she can start quilting it.

My sister came today and put lettuce, beets, swiss chard, and radishes in the garden. Now we just need some rain!

Everyday we get a little bit closer to meeting the baby and just a little bit closer to having everything ready for her!