Bump or Blimp?

There are few things in life that I covet.  I'm pretty much content with my lot in life.  I'm never going to be wealthy, I doubt I'll be famous, and that's okay with me.  And though there's much I need to change and improve in my personal life, I pretty much like who I am.

So what do I covet, you ask?  The tiny, cute, adorable belly bump some women get when they are pregnant.  (And in case you haven't heard, yes this is an announcement.)  We're expecting our fourth child this coming October, which means that I am ONLY 7 1/2 weeks along.  Our baby is no bigger than a blueberry and yet this crazy thing has happened to my body!  Just look!

Looking at this picture you may say "what thing?"  Let me spell it out for you.    I can't fit in my jeans already.  Oh, I can get them on and could wear them, but they cut into my waist and feel terribly uncomfortable.  So I'm already having to wear my maternity clothes, which are really still too big for me.  That means I walk around all day hitching up my pants.  Annoying, right?  Not half as annoying as feeling like I'm waddling already and knowing I really don't look pregnant yet - just like I am gaining weight.

So that, my friends, is what I covet.

Sunday Dinner With the Crews Clan

I have such a weird family.  Really I do.  But since I fit right in, I just love them to pieces.  Take this past Sunday, for example.  My sister Dorothy who lives in NY had surprised my mom at church by showing up in Primary where my mom was playing the piano.  She had convinced my mother she was going to Vermont for her winter break, so it was a great surprise for her.  In honor of said surprise (which all the rest of us knew about and had been hiding from my mom for two weeks) we were having a family dinner at my sister Beth's house.  It was loud, chaotic, and utterly enjoyable for all of us, though I'm pretty sure Beth felt significant stress from having made the entire lunch by herself (lasagna, of course) and having a hoard of crazy people storm around in her house.

So anyhow, after lunch we were just sitting around, talking and laughing.  Most of the men in the house had retreated to the den to watch something on TV while the estrogen-laden members of the family were hanging around in the livingroom.  My sister Dorothy starts picking on my sister Gwen.  Now, keep in mind that Dorothy is 30 and Gwen is 28.  Dorothy takes out a permanent marker and holds the tip near Gwen's face so that when Gwen turns her head she'll get marker on her face.  And you know, we all still find this funny!  Maybe it was just general lack of sleep...

I tried to get some good pictures since we were all together (except the brothers and their families - we missed you guys!) but alas... it was not to be.  Something about a mirror and a glare.  As my mom would say, "Oh, phooey."  But I did snag a few pictures that are worth sharing.  Many more just didn't turn out the way I had hoped!

This one is my neice Bobbi (Beth's oldest) with my neice Gwendolyn (Dorothy's youngest).  Two beautiful ladies!

Grandma reading to Connor - his favorite passtime!

Me and Dorothy

(I know the color is bad, but I'm on my mom's laptop and it's cumbersome to edit pictures - deal with it.)

And last but DEFINITELY not least, my picture with Gwen that had an unexpected surprise in the upper right-hand corner... Dorothy is such a freak.  Weird family, remember?

Capitol Day

Last Tuesday Olivia, Connor and I attended Capitol Day at the Oklahoma State House.  Apparently, this is sponsored by a Christian home educators association and involves things like meeting your legislators, discussing upcoming legislation that may impact home educators and for the older kids even having a mock legislative session.  For us, it consisted mainly of delivering cookies to two state representatives and trying to meet our local representatives.  I say "try" because one wasn't in yet and the other was meeting with someone else.  Since we were just "squeezing this in" for an hour on the week we were preparing to leave for SC, I didn't feel so inclined to wait around to chat.  However, Olivia, Connor and I enjoyed ourselves.  Connor especially enjoyed the view from inside of the state house dome.

Worth it, don't you think?

Fortuitous

fortuitous (fawr-TOO-i-tuhs) 
adjective

1. happening or produced by chance

2. lucky; fortunate


This is my lucky day.  I have been trying to buy a small black table to decorate my foyer/entryway.  I found one on Monday at Ross for a reasonable price.  The only problem was that it had baskets for drawers, and they were not the right color.  See?  Way too light to go with the rug.

So I went to the store and bought some primer spray paint and what I thought would be a nice sage green to spray-paint the baskets.  After two days of on and off painting in my pantry and stinking up the house (it was way too cold and wet to do this outside) I put the baskets in this morning and noticed something.  They looked terrible.  Way too bright and kind of Incredible-Hulk green, if you know what I mean.

So I went BACK to the store and bought a darker green to repaint them with.  The sun was shining and it was above freezing, so I set up on the back patio and got busy.  Not only was it a much better color, but the darker green looks AMAZING over the lighter green underneath.  Talk about a fortunate accident!  I love it.  How fortuitous for me.