TROOPS wedding

All the troops made it to Erica's wedding on 6-23-12 at the lake house, the usual spot of our yearly reunions. It was such a lovely evening wedding - everything was perfect, she looked amazing, it was SO fun to see all my girls, but it was definitely too short :(

Here are some photos from the event taken by Rachel, Kendal and Elizabeth:

Our newest trooplet, sweet Bonnie Lu

 

 

And because I loved this idea so much (stolen from Rachel C.).....here's a little history of this group our senior year and beyond:

Lots of memories and great times together and excited for many more to come. Love you all!

Parenting....

I have not read "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp, but Sarah did a post about this book here: http://thefabricofcotton.blogspot.com/2012/06/shepherd.html

And she included this amazing quote from the book:

"You must regard parenting as one of your most important tasks while you have children at home. This is your calling. You must raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You cannot do so without investing yourself in a life of sensitive communication in which you help them understand life and God's world. There is nothing more important. You have only a brief season of life to invest yourself in this task. You have only one opportunity to do it. You cannot go back and do it over.
You live in a culture in which there are opportunities for you to do things unheard of in history. You are presented daily with scores of options for investing your life's energies and creativity...you must therefore prioritize. Parenting is your primary calling. Parenting will mean that you can't do all the things that you could do otherwise. It will mean that you can't develop every interest that comes along. The costs are high...but the benefits far exceed the cost."

Have any of you read this book/recommend it or have other must reads for parents??

31 week update

How far along: 31 weeks - how is this possible?!? Was 29 weeks at my appointment (I think)

Total weight gain: 11 pounds, baby's heartbeat was 160

Best moments this month: Love how much the baby moves except that it actually hurts lately, strong little baby in there & can tell he or she is getting much bigger!

Food cravings: fruit, ice cream, sweet pickles

Gender: Don't know!

Belly button in or out: poking out a little, eeks!

Labor signs: think the braxton hicks have started minorly

What I miss: I feel HUGE lately and feel extra tired and sore in this heat and with doing lots of walking at summer camp plus chasing Lucy around. hopefully I will feel more like myself again in the fall!

What I am looking forward to: Getting really excited to meet this little one and to know if it's a he or she!

Milestones: Can't believe there's about 2 months to go - it's gone so fast! Thankful to be this close and that the baby has been healthy.

Photo updates:

26 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

 30 weeks

31 weeks

Getting there!!!!

Slip N Slide 2012

Who doesn't love a giant slip n slide at on a wednesday night at youth group?! :) Very fun times!

Summer Treats

Here are some ways we have been enjoying summer and staying cool in the heat!

Iced Coffee
Here's Pioneer Woman's recipe for homemade iced coffee - been making this for a couple summers now. It's very good. I usually use starbucks and add ice, a little sugar, some flavored creamer and vitamin D milk. healthy, i know.
Here's my post on it:
http://joeandracheljones.blogspot.com/2011/08/perfect-iced-coffee.html

If you are out and about in the afternoon and haven't had your coffee fix, definitely hit up Dunkin Donuts for  any size $0.99 iced coffee or iced tea from 3-6 p.m. I get the iced coffee with mocha, cream and a little liquid sugar since the regular sugar never dissolves.

We've been branching out from just Dean's vanilla and me with my chocolate ice cream and have been getting all these great Breyer's ice creams on sale at Dominicks. They are SO good & of course love the Edy's fruit bars :) We actually make ourselves ice cream cones for walks since I get these for less than $3 and just a cone in dt wheaton is more than that. woot.

We have been utilizing our swing in the mornings and baby pool along with our park district pools to keep cool. Lucy is still being "trained" to obey and stay by me at the pool. She's a wild woman with the water and LOVES it :) Plus who can resist a baby in a bikini????

P.S. Let me know if any local girls are going to the pool - having other kids to watch or play with might be a better way to contain her :)

"Baby Time" - Helpful post on early motherhood :)

I thought this was a clever and helpful & light post on early motherhood. Feeling like I need to read these things and remember what is coming my way again in a couple months, eeks!!

http://www.feminagirls.com/2012/01/23/baby-time/#more-4001

Happy Father's Day - Gampa edition

We are so thankful for both of our dad's being so close by and involved in our lives and Lucy's life. Lucy's Gampa and Pop Pop are two of her favorite people and I'm so thankful for that and that she gets to see them so often.
Lacking in photos of Lucy and Pop Pop but my dad is always taking photos so we have gotten a lot of him with his favorite little lady :)
So thankful on this Father's Day for their influence and example to us as parents and to our kid(s) as well.

Pop Pop




Gampa