Little Reader

I so hope my kids grow up with my love of reading! Seeing things like this give me warm fuzzies :)

He was reading aloud, too so I could hear his version of the story. Love!

Oh by the way, we're having a baby!

I guess it's true what they say about the first born getting all of the photos and documentation and the second one getting the short end of the stick. It's already proving true for us. So here is my full on baby #2 dedicated blog. We went to take these family photos on April 1st. I said to Dave as we were driving there that I thought I was pregnant because I had been ravenous hungry that day- which was one of my early symptoms with Will. So in these photos I was indeed pregnant, but didn't know it yet.

And later that night we found out we were to be a family of 4...

We told our parents at a joint gathering at one of our local favorite eateries; Mellow Mushroom on April 26. We were dining on the patio for what they thought was a celebration of my dad's birthday. We gave Dad a card first, then said we had a present for Will to open. When he opened it he pulled out this t-shirt :)

We had a few glances at our little peanut along the way at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks, respectively.

We stayed fairly mum on the subject for a while to everyone else. It wasn't until our 20 week appointment that we finally announced it to the world. Thank goodness I had a morning appointment because I was dying to see the ultrasound of our little sweetpea! We were also to find out the gender. Dave was 100% certain that we were having a girl. I was super hopeful that our baby was a girl. I have always dreamed of having one of each. I was afraid to get my hopes up, though because I didn't want to be a bad mom who was disappointed if it was to be a boy! That morning I didn't realize it until after I got dressed but I had a little pink and a little blue on as if rooting for either one! The turquoise scarf if hard to see here because I pulled it back for my belly picture- but it was there!

When we walked in for our ultrasound the lady asked if we wanted the gender revealed today. Dave said something like, "well we already know it's a girl!" It wasn't but a few minutes before she said, "Oh! Daddy's right!"

After that we had so much fun watching our baby girl be perfectly well behaved so the tech could get a picture of her feet:

Her legs:

Her profile:

and her beautiful face:

Immediately following the ultrasound I raced home to post this photo which I had my cousin Ashley take for us a few weeks prior. We took a photo with little boy shoes, too, but I didn't even bother to put the text on that one. This one was all cued and ready to publish for the world to see!

My phone started ringing and alerting me to texts about 60 seconds later. It was such a fun morning filled with so many congratulations and well wishes! Since I had been waiting 9 years to buy those stinking adorable little girls shoes I wasted no time hitting a few shops and finding some perfect kicks for my sweet daughter to wear.

I can't tell you how blessed we feel. Our every prayer has been answered and we are amazed that God would grant us the privilege of raising both a son and daughter. We continue to pray for her health and safe arrival but until December I am going to enjoy every second of having this child in my belly.

"For this child I prayed." 1 Samuel 1:27

Our Square

I know I have said 1,000 times how much I love where we live... but I'm going to say it again. One of the reasons I love Bentonville so much is the great town square that is a mere 2 blocks from our house. You can find us Saturday mornings at the farmer's market and on various evening occasions. Below are a few pictures from a First Friday event. This takes place once a month and there are a bunch of cool vendors, children's games, live music, and awesome food.

It's the best when we run into friends! Here is Will's friend Brighton.

Some performers were there, too and they wandered every few minutes to a different location and created a new pose and then stood still. They are re-creating a scene from a Maxfield Parrish artwork which we have at Crystal Bridges.

Saturday morning visits usually start with some hot donuts...

which are followed by listening to this awesome local band called the Farmer and the Markets. We are in love with these 4 musicians! (totally stole this image from their Facebook page!)

There are always some fun happenings on the square. Stick around and I'm sure you'll see a few more events!

Halfway Fun

We have some wonderful friends whom we met while I was teaching in Missouri. We now live close to two hours apart but have found this great spot to meet halfway and have some fun. Roaring River has a playground, a big grassy park area, plus the part of the creek that is there is shallow enough for the kids to play in. Our three munchkins had a BALL with each other and the surroundings. The adults had a ball catching up and laughing together. We all agreed it is such an easy trip and we must do it more often!

Visit from Uncle Steven

2 weeks ago Steven came down for the weekend to visit. We had the best weekend! We rode bikes to the farmers market, borrowed a boat to cruise around on Beaver Lake, and grilled an awesome dinner and ate outside. Will adores his uncle to no end and I think the feeling is mutual.