Smart like daddy

Today I was going through Noah's bookbag. We got the March newsletter from Noah's school. I normally toss it (I know, I'm not your typical gun-ho PTO mom). But since we were all huddled in the livingroom because of the bad thunderstorm outside, I decided to actually read it. On the back there is a small article called "Proud Outs" which I guess is their "shout-out" section. The article highlights students who are doing exceptionally well in certain areas. There were only four noticiable mentions. Guess who was the Proud Out for reading for the ENTIRE school for February? Noah Siak. Evidently having consistent 100's on his reading tests, being a fast reader, etc led him to this nomination. Yup, I've got a brilliant son. He loves to read. He loves chapter books. And I am so thankful for his passion for learning.

An owl, A boo-boo, a smile

My friend Kim came over to pick up some things she left at our house the other day. We were standing on the porch when she said, "Hey, is that an owl?" It had been there for goodness knows how long... but we quickly ducked inside for safety :). We snuck back out (staying behind the protection of the screen door). Then finally got close enough to take a picture. He stayed there and slept all afternoon. Having an owl on the porch was a first for us!

Ella loves her daddy so much. Here he is comforting her. She got three new boo-boos today. Both knees have new scabs, and one elbow. She gets the klutziness from her mama :)

I could eat up this toothless grin.

Crib Skirt and Curtains

The finished product!

Ribbon embelishment on the curtains/crib skirt (to add a little khaki color).

The fabric.

Supplies: 2 Heavy material curtains 80x84" in red on clearance from Walmart ($15). One tube of liquid stitch ($3). Iron. Velcro tabs ($2.49). Leftover brown ribbon (free from Kim).

A few weeks ago Kim and I went to the fabric store looking for something to use to make the curtains and the crib skirt. After realizing that fabric is really expensive, and not falling absolutely in love with anything, I went back to my original plan of using plain red fabric for the main pieces I needed for the nursery. Kim in passing mentioned to me to look at curtains, because sometimes you can find them cheaper than it would be to buy the fabric raw. Super bonus: The edges are already hemmed! After finding the curtains in the clearance section, Kim and I set out to put everything together. I did the crib skirt with ABSOLUTELY NO SEWING!!! I measured, cut, glued down the raw side with liquid stitch, then velcroed the tops to the sides of the bed. The ribbon was applied to the bottoms with liquid stitch too. The curtains did require some sewing, and thankfully Kim stepped up and did that for me while I was working on the crib skirt. (You might notice that they were originally tab tob panels - I don't like tabs so we took them off). A few hours later we were finished! Minimal cost. Minimal supplies. Great friendship. Beautiful nursery.

52 Days

Luke will be here in 52 days or less. This morning Noah and I spent some time in Luke's nursery

looking at where he's going to sleep. He's going to be such a good big brother!

More from Katy Cook

I got to get the first round of pictures from the mentoring session Katy Cook used Ella as a model for last week. Love them! I noticed two things - my daughter is absolutely beautiful... and she is starting to favor her daddy more and more every day!

Sewing!

I made the pad cover and pillow. The cover is reversible, do you like the monkey fabric side (above) or the brown fabric (below) better?

Liquid stitch - absolutely amazing! Here's Kim embelishing the crib skirt.

Working on the curtains!

Today Kim came over and helped/taught/etc as we tackled the fabric in Luke's room. We got everything done except for a back-up diaper changing pad cover! I'll post more pictures once the room is completely finished. It was fun and I'm proud of our hard work!

Buddies

Ella has had friends over every day this week except for Thursday. Today she got to play with Carter while Kim and I crafted.

Getting There!

Luke's bedroom - the fabric is still not finished to complete the diaper changing table and everything still needs to be washed. Don't the floors look amazing! One of Matt's projects was to add trim to the bottom and top of the dresser - he did a great job!
Luke's crib - a lot of sewing will go go into making this project finished. And I decided today he will definitely need a red chair in the corner or something like that. We still have to hang the mobile, curtains (Jen is helping to make a cornice board) and I ordered an awesome vinyl decal to go on the wall from etsy.com that should be here any day now.

Our bed (the other side of the room still needs blinds hung, curtains re installed, etc). I LOVE my ikea rug! Pardon the mess on the bed :)

Here are a few sneak peaks of the progress that has been made. I told Matt that I feel so blessed and loved to have had so many people step up to help us put everything together. In 7 weeks (or less) Luke will be here, and my nesting/to-do list is getting shorter by the day. Thank you Mary, Gabe, Papa Siak, Nana Scoggins, Jen, Kim, and of course Matt for giving so much of your time to make all of this possible. When everything is completely finished I'll post the final product pictures. We still have a ways to go on the nursery, but if Luke were to come tomorrow, I have diapers and a bed ready for him - and that's all I need for right now!

Picnic!

Nana was only able to come by for 24 hours, but we packed a whole lot of stuff into that time! The kids were excited to get to have a picnic lunch with Nana in the front yard for dinner.

The great bedroom weekend

These pictures are backwards, so scroll down from the beginning of this post to see everything as it happened....

Monday Kim & Jen (and mom) came to paint and help re-organize!

Sunday morning, finishing touches, and the floors are finished!

Saturday afternoon, after working hours and hours to scrape the old felt off the old hardwoods.

Saturday morning, starting to rip up the flooring.

This wasn't our first rodeo when it comes to taking up flooring to put new flooring down. The unexpected part was, that upon taking up the old carpet we would find there were 3 layers total of carpet plus felt glued to the original hardwood floors! This added a whole new dynamic to
the workload for Matt and his dad.

Once we completely finish the room, I'll post pictures! We're down to the finishing touches (painting the rest of the trim, etc) before we finish our bedroom, and I'll be working on the fabric for Luke's nursery on Friday with Kim again.

Baby Update

Ella and I trekked to Asheville this morning for our bi-monthly Luke check up. My blood pressure was normal (praise God) and I had only gained a pound in 2 weeks which brings my total up to 14 1/2 or so pounds at 31 weeks prego. I feel so blessed to be doing so well with this pregnancy. Continue to pray blessings on this pregnancy as we are nearing the countdown to when we get to see Luke's face!

Yeah, She's a model.

Today Ella and Meredith got to be the subjects for a mentoring session for our favorite local photographer, Katy Cook. I haven't gotten all the pictures yet, but as soon as I do you know I'll share them!

Do you know my friend....?

Sweet Meredith

Watching Strawberry Shortcake (they were only still for 2 minutes)

Sylvie and Ella

Chasing Noah around while he ate his after school snack

Ella has been calling Sylvie her "sister" for a few weeks now. Which gave us the opportunity to talk to her about how one day Sylvie will be her sister in Christ. She doesn't quite grasp that concept. But she still insists that she is her sister. They've been best friends forever and I hope they always will be. Enjoy these pictures from a day in our life!

Get a grip.

I'll Love You Forever!!

My friend Jen has given me grief in the past because if she get's teary-eyed I tell her to "get a grip." I'm not good with female emotions and don't handle them too well. Pre-pregnancy I averaged about 4 good cries a year. Usually one is during "The Notebook." And the rest I sum up to PMS. Pregnant - I am eating my own words. I average a daily cry now. Don't feel bad for me - I blame it totally on horomones. Matt thinks I have lost my mind and doesn't know how to handle it. Today's cry - looking at wall quotes online for the nursery. I came across the poem "Love you forever."
If you haven't heard it - you have got to go and buy the book. It's one of the sweetest children's books out there. The phrase that runs through the book is "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." It's a story of a mom and her son, how she sang that to him every day when she put him to bed. She kept telling him that phrase through his life. The book ends with her as an old woman and he is holding her telling her the same thing. (Sob, sob).

The kids were playing outside today and Noah is coming up to my mid-chest now. Ella is not too far behind him in height. I was reminded how quickly they are growing up and it got me all choked up for many reasons. My love for those two reaches the end of the earth and back around again. I'm so blessed to be their mommy. Tomorrow's cry? Maybe maybe something on Oprah or one of those abused animal commercials? We'll see.

Weekend Update

Honestly, isn't the demo part the best part?

Mary is going to love seeing this picture of her :) She worked hard on putty-ing and being Matt's assistant!

The closet came down, and went back up! Thanks to Mary and Matt and their hard work. Hopefully by tonight the flooring will be down and we will be one step closer to making Luke's nursery a reality.

This is for you, Bekah

The two sides of the bumper I bought. Luke's 1st nursery purchase, bought last fall.

The fabric I bought today. For the diaper changing pad.

Sock monkey's make me think of Bekah. She makes them.

The beginnings of nursery fabric...

Often (all the time) I wish my siblings lived closer. Today, I wish Bekah did so that she could have gone fabric shopping with me. She's pretty crafty. Our nursery started with a bumper I found. I love it. Stripes on one side, polka dots on the other. Lots of colors. My bestie Kim and I went up to Black Mountain to a huge fabric outlet determined to find the fabric to finish the nursery. We found some, but not the fabric I want to use for the crib skirt and curtains. More than likely I will go with a solid red or brown. I haven't decided yet, but I am sure I will document it through pictures for you!

And so it begins...

Ella's last picture with her butterflies before the wall comes down

Watching daddy work.

Remodeling. A word almost synonomous with Siak. Our favorite past time. And the thorn in our side. A few years ago when we moved the bathroom to it's new spot, it used to be what will be the nursery. When we did this (I shouldn't say "we"), we left the wall up that was in between the toilet and the tub, slapped a door on it, and it became the closet. However, this closet wasn't your normal size. It was too deep for how small the room is. Since Luke will be here in 9 weeks or less, it's time to start on the nursery and at the top of the list is tearing out the closet and making it smaller. Then putting in the new flooring. Etc, etc. I will post more pictures as more progress is made! Hopefully within a month (give or take a week) we will have the nursery completely finished!

3 Hour Delay

What are you going to do when there's a three hour school delay because of snow? Snuggle in Mama's bed as long as possible!

My best friend.

Nine years ago tomorrow, I married my best friend. We joke about how different we are today compared to then. We look different. We have different goals than we did as 21 year olds. Parenthood has changed us. But one thing is constant - we are best buds. I am so thankful that God is in charge. That He knew exactly the person I was supposed to be with for my life. Looking back we both can see His hand over decisions, obstacles, blessings, and adventures through our marriage. Matt calls me out when he needs to, and I try to convince him every movie he sees doesn't "change his life." We laugh furiously on a regular basis. Matt as a father is amazing - watching his relationship with Noah and Ella moves me to be a better mother. Matt is patient, loving, caring, and hilarious. Which counteracts my high-strung-ness, spazz-tic, fast paced demeanor. He's my better half. And tomorrow we will celebrate the best decision we ever made. It's been nine years. I hope to multiply those years over and over and over as we journey through life together. I'll love you forever, Matt Siak. Happy Anniversary.

Thankful list

I've been reminded of all I have to be thankful for this week. In my mind I've been developing a running "thankful list" of all that I need to be thankful for.

Tonight I am thankful for:

• The fact that the movie Groundhog Day is on Netflix. And that even though it probably isn't true, I got some hope today from Phil that spring might come sooner than expected.
• How whoopie cushions make my kids (an Matt) belly laugh... for a long time (and even funnier and somewhat gross, Ella calls hers her "fart sack.")
• This crazy kicking baby growing in my belly.
• That when I don't want to cook, Little Cesars will provide dinner for a mere $5.
• My children's imagination - earlier 3 empty shallow totes were the boats and the rug was the ocean. They were saving each other from sharks.
• For Matt. He has stepped up into the caretaker role for me over this pregnancy without me having to even ask. He realizes that if I drop something, he probably needs to pick it up, and does so without me asking. He fixes the sheets when they get all crumpled up, and finds the remote when I lose it every day without complaining (pregnancy brain keeps me from remembering where it is). He is a hero to our children. And my very best friend.
• That I am forgiven. Every day. If you want to hear one of the best sermon series I've been able to hear, go to www.graceforall.org and listen to the past series on forgiveness.
• That I have this amazing little life at 860 Virginia Road.

My list could go on and on. And for those moments when I'm super tired or losing my patience, I am going to go back to running thankful list and remember just how blessed I am. What are you thankful for?