Happy Graduation Day, Josh!

More to come, but I thought I would load a sneak peek.

New arrivals

New arrivals in the garden, that is.

I planted some lupine seed last year in our back bed, knowing that it would take a full year to mature & bloom.

I'm happy to see how beautiful they are becoming.


Our lilies have returned, thankfully, and they have multiplied much more than we had expected. We are patiently waiting for buds & blossoms. Any ideas on when it is safe to transplant lilies to other locations if needed? I'm wondering the same for tulips.
Josh's Papaw has been working on a project of his own. With our permission & that of Josh's aunt who has adjacent land to ours, Papaw is putting up a cattle fence. He plans to put about 20 head of cattle on the sloping acres in "front" of our house. (in front of our front porch, but really to the right of our driveway which runs in front of the house, if that makes any sense). The part of the house that faces the road, where we have our "front" beds is actually to the left of the front porch.

I just finished spreading Black-Eyed Susan, Blanketflower, Marigold, and Wildflower seed. We'll see if half an hour on a spring afternoon with yield much result with our front flower beds. I'll leave those hours of weeding our garden and back beds for another day. I have too much indoor housework to do in preparation for Benjamin. I'm off to eat some dinner, and then I'll focus my attention to housework. Have a great evening!

Baby Shower #1 continued

Here's a few more pictures from our shower. It was held at the church where Josh formerly youth pastored.

There was a rubber ducky theme, complete with yummy punch.
If you notice, the cake says, "Welcome Benjamin Thomas Holder."
I made Josh pose for a few shots, including a humorous one. He's a good sport. I found it adorable that he ended up coordinating outfits me, which was completely unintentional on his part.
Have I really gotten this big already? I still have 14 1/2 weeks to go. I noticed this evening that I can no longer suck my tummy in. It is growing firmer every day. I'm so glad that little Benjamin is growing!
Sweet little Christianna. ;)
We had a great shower, and we're thankful to the ladies who helped host. Josh's family helped a lot along with a church member who is close to the family.

I'll have to detail items received a little more later. I can say that our crib & mattress has been purchased as well as our playard (which will also double as the bassinet beside the bed). We have a high chair ordered for us that we should receive in the next few weeks. Overall we were highly blessed with this shower, and we feel even more blessed to realize that there are still several more coming from friends, family, and co-workers.

Hopefully our car seat, bases, and stroller will come along in one of our new few showers. Now that I know he has a place to sleep my focus is on having a way to transport our little bundle home safely!

I'm off to bed now. We are doing our required end of the year home visits for our class, and it is getting me out of bed about 15 - 30 minutes earlier than usual.

Baby Shower #1

More to come....

Just because

Disney World 2008

Animal Kingdom

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has has a wonderful day as we have celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. I have had a fantastic break so far, and I am looking forward to one more day of rest before returning to a busy week of work. As I remarked to my husband (while looking at the above photos). "Hey, I actually look pregnant in those pictures." Christianna is, as usual, absolutely adorable.

Benjamin's nursery is slowly transforming from a spare room into a nursery. I've made a dent in it so far, and I hope to get more done tomorrow. My first baby shower is next Sunday, and I know we're supposed to be getting the crib, so I need to get moving so that there is room for it. Fortunately, I have completed my registering at The Baby Place, Target, and Amazon.com.

I'm off to shower (after working in a dusty spare room), and then I'll probably head to bed shortly after. My allergies don't like the dust very much, so I've taken a Benadryl to help aid my stuffiness, and consequently, my sleep. Here's hoping for a productive day tomorrow!

And they shall call him...

Benjamin Thomas Holder

Why?

Well, they're both Biblical names.

We both like the name Benjamin, and it means son of my right hand. (i.e. He's favored.) We're not opposed to possibly calling him Ben.

Josh's great grandfather (on his mother's side) was named Thomas. There are some who say Thomas was an excellent cook...which is probably where Josh gets his cooking talent.

We are so happy to have a name picked out! :)

A few pictures taken over the past few weeks...

I'm 23 weeks and counting...

I'm doing well. I've had a good case of hormones over the past few days, and I'm hoping that my emotional normalcy this evening will carry on for a while. That's all I have for now unfortunately. I'm doing some last minute things getting ready for tomorrow.