Merry Christmas!

Good News that will cause Great Joy

Praying that the Good News of Jesus resonates loudest this Christmas!

Cozy in His Hat

Benjamin loves his hat. 

Loves his hat.

I went to check on him as I went to bed, and this is the image I found

I would tell you that sleeping in his hat was a one-time moment, but...

this gives it away.  He has slept in his hat at nap and bed time for the last couple weeks. 

He does wear his hat well!  

A Girl and her Dog

Anna-Kate looks for Gladys first thing when coming downstairs.  She loves to sit and watch TV just like this...for as long as Gladys allows

Quote of the Day

Benjamin and I were playing yesterday.  I said to him, "You are my Super Benjamin."

Yes.  I am Superman!

Anna-Kate can be Batman.
"Who do I get to be?"
You can be a wise man!

Naming the Baby

Look at this sweet face!

Time to announce this little one's name!  

What name did we go with?  

My siblings insisted the name needed to start with a "C", so that we could have an "A," then a "B," and now a "C."  My favorite of their suggestions:  

Collard. 

Well, let me ruin the suspense; we are not going with Collard and we are not even going with a "C" name.

Benjamin was mainly a help with boys' names.  Ranker or Lightening or Swiper were all names that were mentioned.  Not quite the direction we were headed.

Anna-Kate had a lot of helpful ideas.

Rainbow Blossom or just Blossom.  Snowbell.  Her absolute favorite option Julian.  

She was the one I feared being most disappointed if we didn't go with her suggestion and I was right.

Anna-Kate's response to our chosen name:

"Are you sure?"  

What do you think?

Bethany Joelle Simmons

Bethany is a name we both like.  No hidden meaning; we just really like it.  

Joelle is a combination of family names.  Will's mom's middle name is Jo after her father Joe.  My grandmother's names:  Dora Vernell and Bertha Bell.  Stealing the "ell" from both my grandmothers, combining it with the "Jo" from Will's mom, we have "Joelle."  I love that her name honors so much of our family.

Okay, true confession.  My dream world had told me she was a girl.  I was not sold out she was a girl, but I also couldn't deny my gut said she was a girl.  A week or two before we found out girl, I felt her move in such a way that kicked my bladder.  I immediately thought, "whoa Bethie girl."  I then quickly realized I had talked to our baby as though I already knew she was a girl and I had already given her a nickname.  From then on, I knew if my dream world was right, she had to be our Bethany.

I absolutely love ultrasound images of little noses and sweet little feet like this one!

24 Weeks

How far along?  24 weeks

Weight gain:  Whoa.  I gained nothing in the first 14 weeks.  The last 10 weeks, uumm, quite a bit more than nothing.  I can admit it; I gained 2.5 pounds in one week.  

This leads to the next milestone...

I can't wear my high heels anymore. I went to put on my heels for church.  No luck.    At the end of the day, my jeans have turned into skinny jeans.  My legs have weights pulling them down.  

Water weight, welcome back.

Movement:  I feel her daily.  She has a bit of a schedule already.  Normally, I can feel her around 9, 11:30, 3, 6, and I feel her the biggest at 9pm.  Does she already know 9 at night means she is the only kid vying for mom's attention?  I love feel her bigger movements!  

Sickness:  Reflux is still the name of the game.  Luckily, I can eat most things now.  Most things.  I don't feel good after eating a lot of them, but not good is better than miserable.  Instead of getting sick daily, I just throw up every 3 days or so.  Progress.

Food cravings:  SALT.  I crave some of those things that make my reflux angry.  Salsa.  Pasta.  Asian.  Anything carb-y and salty.  I can eat sweets in moderation, but I crave salt.

What I miss:  Legs that don't feel like they have weights in them.  

What I look forward to:  holding this sweet tumbling girl, and drinking coffee, lots of coffee, especially a Big cup of coffee with an even bigger piece of chocolate cake!

Old House Love - Months 13-19

This is the post I have been waiting to share! 

   The Den

I am in love!  This is the room that made me want the house.  It is not too big; it's cozy.  It had built-ins surrounding a fire place.  It had double doors to the outside.  

BUT

It also had dark, cave-creating, wood paneling.  It had a big, not-working intercom system.  It had 11-inch deep built-ins that held practically nothing.  

I had a vision; I knew it would become the amazing-ness that its bones implied. I just figured we were on the 5 year plan to make it possible.  

UNTIL

We were talking to a friend from church, our former Sunday School teacher who happens to enjoy woodworking on the side.  He said he would build the built-ins.  Yes!  Our neighbor (who is also a contractor) helped us get rid of the paneling and put up dry wall.  

Before

After

 Is that even the same house?!

Before

After

one day this wall will not be blank

Before

After

 Look at these beautiful built-ins!  They are actually useful; they can hold something deeper than a dvd.  I am ob.se.ssed!

Before

After

Before

After

Seriously, a breath of fresh air!  Did you see how NOT cave-like this room now is?!  

Phase 1:  intercom system gone; wood paneling gone and dry wall up; old, shallow book cases gone and new beautiful built-ins up; fireplace covered painted a better, not-brass color; old, dirty doors gone and new sliding glass doors allowing so much more light in

The last thing for phase 1 is replace the light fixture.  

Phase 2:  Get new furniture.  We got this suit when we got married.  I have a new look in mind.  I know what I want, but for now we wait on phase 2.

Phase 3:  Hardwood floors.  (We want hardwoods all over downstairs everywhere.)  This is probably the 7-10 year vision.    

I am so happy with Phase 1!!  I can wait for Phases 2 and 3.

Next projects...
Will started building our pantry a couple months ago.  It has not been a straight-forward project.  So, we continue with that one.  After the new year, our goal is to paint the nursery and the master.  The baby is due right before our second anniversary in the house.  So, have those done by the time the baby comes.  Then take a break to enjoy baby and family.... and the updated rooms!  

Old House Love - Months 11-12

After so much muscle needed for the yard, it was time for a smaller interior project again:  Benjamin's room.  

I didn't take a good before of his room.  The before's of the bedroom are pretty much are all the same.  White walls with brown trim, everywhere.  The task:  turn all brown to white.  Turn all dingy white to "accessible beige," the same neutral color we painted Anna-Kate's.

This is the best before I could find.  All the shelves out of one of the bedroom's closet.  This picture also shows why it has been helpful to have no furniture in the front room of our house.  While we are working on the shelves for Benjamin's room, why not also paint our new kitchen chairs.

  

Momma, I paint too.

Right now we have nothing on the walls.  I know what I want to find.  But, no luck yet.  So, decorations to come soon.

A happy boy bouncing on his bed.  Room as complete as he needs!

Old House Love - Months 8-10

This is where I fell off blogging our home updates.  I am so proud of my man!  So.proud.   

Last winter, Will, with some help from his dad, were in our yard Saturday after Saturday.  When we moved in, the yard was so overgrown.  Before we could visualize what we wanted the yard to look like, we needed the yard clean.  I can not emphasize enough how proud I am of the months Will spent hours working in our yard to clean out.  He  gave the kids a yard with no real places for snakes to hide.  (He found 6 hibernating snakes, 6!)  He created a blank slate for future yard visions.  

Check this out! 

Before with all the overgrowth, notice you can not tell we have neighbors.

After, we can actually see neighbors now.  Also notice that we have shutters.  Will added shutters to the house as the very first part of the exterior's improvement.

Before, one of my favorite views except see all the growth in the middle

After, ah, now my favorite view

Before, this is standing at the back of the house, looking toward our neighbor's house.  Again, you can barely see the neighbor

After, a wood pile removed, over growth cleared, random odd bush removed

Before, this back natural area was insane, so much poison ivy

After

Before, this is in the back corner of the yard, looking toward the house and the storage unit.

After, a great view of how much Will has cleaned out.  And, this picture shows the one thing I miss now, the big honeysuckle bush

Before, this is standing in the other back corner of our yard.  Can you tell our house exists

After, ah, much better

Phase 1:  Yard clean out.  Complete.
Phase 2:  Create a vision.  Hopefully a garden in the corner of that last picture.  Flowers somewhere.
Phase 3:  Patio furniture.
Phase Day Dream... a sunroom at the back

Old House Love - Months 5-6

After the major kitchen, it was time for a quick project.  Anna-Kate's room.  We painted.  Will and my Dad traveled to Memphis, TN to pick up some furniture from family.  I finished a quilt for Anna-Kate's new bed.  

The only difference from last November to now is that it is a bit messier.  

Old House Love - Months 1-4

When Will and I first moved into our house, I did a long post about what the house looked like when we moved in and our hopes of what we would eventually do with the house.  Now, we have been in the house for over a year and a half.  We are making progress, but we have made checks in pretty much a totally different order than expected.  And, I have neglected to post many of the improvements.  At a year, I wanted to do a look-where-we're-at-now post.  I have waited for our latest major project to be done before going through with it.  

So, now at 19.5 months,

Look where our house is now!

First on the list is the Kitchen!  

We just knew the kitchen would be the save for ten years project.  Instead, we got to know our amazing neighbor.  He was a retired cabinet maker.  He offered to take on our kitchen and 4 months later, we had a knew kitchen!  (See full before and after here )

Since then we have only made minor changes.  But, the one that I am most excited about is we finally re-did some chairs to go with our bench around our table.

We got 4 chairs from the flea market.  Painted two of them the same color as the walls.  Put the same upholstery as the bench on the seats.  Voila!  A finished kitchen table.

I have always loved this before and after!  It serves to keep me encouraged when the rest of the house feels like it is never going to get finished.

The next few posts are meant to document the progress for me and Will, encourage us for the next couple projects we need to get going on, and maybe be fun for you as well!

Quote of the Day

A few days before Thanksgiving, I volunteered in Anna-Kate's class.  As the kids began moving to their stations, one little girl stopped me, 

Why your belly look like that?  "I have a baby growing in my belly."  

As a child sits down at the station I am helping at, 

Why you eat your baby?  "No, I didn't eat my baby.  The baby is growing in there."

He looked doubtful but he accepted the response.

About three minutes later, a little girl added to the moment,

How did the baby just pop in there?  "God put it there"

Meanwhile, another little girl, requests,

Can I rub your baby?  "Sure"

She then rubs my belly for 3 minutes.

So ends our life lessons for today.  Now, back to Sight Word Bingo.

Thankful

I did not take one picture over Thanksgiving.  Not one.  We had such a great few days.  Two days of eating and visiting with Will's family.  A supper with my siblings.  A lazy day at home.  Truly just a sweet way to spend a few days!  No work or school.  Nothing to clean or bills to pay.  Just days to wake up, eat, fellowship, enjoy our blessings.  

Now, we are excited for a month of festivities with family and friends, enjoying old traditions and building new ones...

Around Here

These are some of my favorite images from the last two months, just some of the everyday moments...

I did my first cooking project with both kids!  We made dirt!  I loved the look on their faces when we stepped into the grocery store and I told them we needed the ingredients to cook dirt with worms.  

They were quite happy with the finished product!

Benjamin is very into drawing right now; our Magna Doodle has never received so much attention.  And, notice he is showing firm signs of being our left-handed boy, following in his daddy's footsteps as well as his Oma and Opa's.

I love when you can start to see real images emerge from these little toddler drawings!  This is Benjamin's first person.  "See Momma.  Ears.  Eyes.  He has mad smile."  And, I always love seeing the arms and legs that come straight off the over-sized head!

Benjamin's new love:  cutting.  Anna-Kate needed to cut as part of a homework assignment.  Benjamin wanted to join the scissor party.  I gave in and, boy loved it!  He will sit for 20 minutes making cuts on the edge of paper.  (Also worthy of note:  this kid will put his coat on in the morning, hood up and stay like that whether inside or outside, even through nap time!  Silly, but super cozy!)

I pull Benjamin out of his nap time everyday to pick Anna-Kate up from school.  This happened once.  He was sleeping hard when I got him up from nap.  He fell right back to sleep in the car.  I love those sweet, sleeping profiles!

Anna-Kate is determined to learn to ride a bike.  Before it started getting dark early, she had a renewed desire to learn.   I look forward to seeing her take off when spring comes!

Anna-Kate loves asking questions about how the body works.  I always say the same thing, "you should ask daddy about that."  He'll pull down a book and really show her.

Anna-Kate's school had a fun run fundraiser.  Anna-Kate actually ran all the laps plus a couple.  I was so proud!

Toward the end, she walked with her favorite girl friend from her class. 

This.

Hands down, top moment from the last month.

Will and Anna-Kate always go on shell hunts while at the beach.  They found a couple really perfect ones this year.  Will set them aside; he had the idea to make her a necklace.  One day on an errand for me to JoAnn's, he bought what he needed to follow through.

Her reaction to the surprise:  Thrilled!!

The memories captured in that necklace:  Priceless!