Candice & Brian's Gender Reveal

I was the first pregnant one in our couples lifegroup when we joined around 2 years ago. Since then we've had 3 babies born and another 2 on the way (including our round 2 :c)  Our friends Candice and Brian did a gender reveal and I got to snap some shots.. enjoy!

We were all a bit confused when we saw both colors (twins??) but then the last 2 balloons made the announcement.. it's a boy!

Their family is growing- Congrats Brian and Candice!

Lorelai's 4 Month Session

We have some friends from college who have 2 adorable little kids that I got to photograph this Saturday! It was a beautiful day (just a tad windy), but this girl was all smiles :c) I have been somewhat nervous about having another baby around the house, but this sweet girl made me excited for my own son! Enjoy-

To-Do, Check-

When the cat's away, the mice will play 

So if my son is the cat, and I'm a mouse, and my 'playing' is 'blogging', this is a true statement! 3 blogs is almost what I've been doing on a monthly basis, but now I'm on my 3rd in 2 days! I have been wanting to get this update in, and figured now was as good of a time as any..

Ray and I enjoyed dinner at the Sushi bar last night- I meant to take a pic, but forgot :c( Even though I was restricted to cooked rolls, we really enjoyed the meal! Then we went and watched Home Run in the the movie theater and didn't feel the need to rush home to releavie a babysitter!

Isaiah enjoyed his time at Grandma and Grandpa's. They took him swimming at a friends indoor pool, made strawberry shortcake (I told you they'd be baking) and wore him out with play!
 Here he is with the ball they gave him (that is waterproof and he played in the pool with)

While Isaiah was in Tulsa playing, we were here working. It was awesome to both be able to accomplish work at the same time! Ray worked hard on the lawn all day, and was even able to tackle the monster of a bush we have in the back (while I was at a photoshoot- this wold not have been possible had Isaiah been here). I'm blaming it on parenthood that kept us from doing hardly any yard work last year, so things were quite a mess. Our weed eater also broke, which has the attachment for the hedge trimmer, so I think this bush was a couple years overdue a trim. This is a good view to see just how much Ray had to take off, but it makes me so happy to look out and see that project done! Check-

I don't know if it's 2nd trimester surge, Isaiah getting older and more independent, or less time at the computer/photography work, but the bush is not the only to-do getting checked of after spending years on our list. In the below post I talked about my garden and how I've wanted to start on for a couple years, that's now done! Check- I've also tried to work on my home movies for over a year, then imovie messed up, I didn't know how to create DVDs, and it was all just a big learning process for me. But I finally figured it all out (slow learning curve, again) and now have all of our home movies backed up on a disk up to this year! Check- Cleaning all the grout is another 'big project' that sat on my to-do list for awhile. I posted back in February that it is now a completed task, Check- I've developed a good sorting system for my pics on the computer, have Isaiah's books printed up to 18 months, and will be ordering hard copy prints now that snapfish has penny prints to have all of my photos up to date. I also put Isaiah's scrapbook officially together, Check- I purchased tabs to redo some of the velcro tabs on my cloth diapers. Since I bought them used, there are some that have gotten pretty worn in my stash of Mediums. He is in the larges now, so it hasn't been pivotal, but it's something I wanted to do before baby gets here, so the is next up on the list. 
So that may seem like a ridiculous list and you'd wonder why it took me so long, but it seriously makes me happy to have a process for some of the things (like archiving movies and pictures) and have some tasks done that only need to be addresses every couple years (grout and bush). I think I understand more fully that there will be some tings I just won't be able to do with a baby, and that's okay, there will come a time again where I have my hands free (if I send them to grandmas ;c).

My Square Foot Garden :c)

It's official, I have planted my first garden! This is something I have been wanting to do for a couple years now (I remember thinking about it when I was pregnant last time, but decided that I wouldn't want to be weeding a garden with a big belly, this time I figured I'll be outside with Isaiah anyways, why not have a garden!). Through pintrest I found a link to the book, The Square Foot Garden. It had actual directions for me to follow, which I like to start (even if I'm not good at following them all- as you'll see below..). It also seemed small and manageable for my first time. So over a couple weekends, I constructed the box, filled, and planted my first garden. 

Here she is :c)

 My supplies for the box-

My helper-

 It was all hands on deck to build the square foot box

 The quality of work with this guy on the job was outstanding!

Then I shooed everyone away and really got to finish the box and decide where to place it. I had planed on having it further from the house, but my yard slopes and it fit perfectly here!

After building it, I screwed 3 screws on each side to tie twine around. Mel, the author,  recommends something more permanent, but I though this could get me by for the first year.

 Next I dug up the grass, the least fun part (and the part that always made me nervous to start a garden.. I felt like it was destroying my lawn or making it a permanent garden spot!)

 Then I put my barrier in. I think it only recommends laying on the bottom, but I felt better going up the side (hopefully it doesn't leave room for moisture to sit on my untreated wood)

I recruited hubby again, and we filled the box with Mel's mix, 1/3 Vermiculate, 1/3 Peat Moss, and 1/3 Compost. We used a tarp to mix small batches, then dumped in. I then created my grid with the twin.

We've had these wire stands on the side of the house left over from the previous owners and have never used them, I though they fit perfectly into my garden, esp. for the price of free!

 Next came the actual gardening part.. planting! I tried to wait until after all the freeze (what a crazy April it's been!), but there's still talk of cold weather next week. I might have to replant my seeds anyway, because I just couldn't get myself to plant the seeds 1/4 of in inch deep (I felt like that was just tossing them on top!), but I think I went too deep on them all...

 I used rocks to label, although now some of the sharpie has washed off.. see why it took me so long to start this? I have a slow learning curve..

 If any on the plants needed to germinate inside first, I just bought a plant. For all that could start outside, I did seeds.

And that's my garden! This 4x4 box has 16 square foot spaces to plant in. I am attempting: pole beans, 2 kinds of tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, kale, red peppers, jalapenos, green onions, cilantro (I hope to have everything to make homemade salsa!), and I still have 2 open squares. I also planted 3 strawberry plants in my front planter, and yesterday I found the start of 1 strawberry, so exciting! Like I said, this is my first experience to garden, and I usually have a bit of a learning curve, but once I get it then I'm good. So hopefully we'll have some produce this year, and experience for the future!