Up From the Grave He Arose

I hope you all had a good Easter! Ours was filled with church, food, family, friends, and for me, a nap and the Sound of Music on TV. For Nick, he cruised in the boat on the river.

The past two years the Spooners have come over here to eat Easter lunch, and both years we had salmon. This year I decided to change it up by picking up some fried chicken from our friend The Colonel. I also made pavlova for dessert. I used to request pavlova for my birthday instead of cake. You may be wondering, what is pavlova? And no, it isn't a country. Pavlova is meringue topped with whip cream and any kind of fruit you like. I almost couldn't fit all the fruit I wanted! There are many recipes to make meringue. You can also make any shape you want. I like the big circle display.

Here Smalls was eating the leftover fruit. He really liked the mandarin oranges and blueberries. Later he even ate his own serving of pavolva!

Don't you like my Easter flower arrangement! It came from my yard.

We also took our annual Easter picture by the pool. Next year there will be three of us!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Alleluia!

Bump and Nursery

Hello all! I have taken a blog break for a while. Lately I have not been in the 'blog' mood. I have also been sitting by the pool on some of these warm sunny days. I swam last weekend! Don't worry, I have a nice maternity bathing suit that is very covering. I'm not trying to squeeze into old ones.

On the pregnancy front, I have about 7 weeks to go! Maybe less, if baby girl decides to appear a few days early. I'm still not feeling great, but I'm making it OK. Here is my latest bump picture. I'm still supposed to gain about a pound a week! How can I get any bigger?

She has been moving a lot! She especially likes to stay on the right side of my body and play with my rib cage. Because her movements are so strong (and visible) it makes me more anxious to meet her! When baby girl does decide to come out and meet us, her room is just about ready. She also has an assortment of outfits to choose from. I have washed everything and now her stuff is waiting on her.

My favorite part of the nursery is the fabric I found for a quilt. I found the fabric over Christmas, and my talented cousin Bibba sewed it all together for me. Now she is even working on some curtains and a pillow for the twin bed. My sister is also sewing some smaller pillows for the crib and rocking chair. I'm so glad to be related to such talented people because I certainly missed out on that gene. Maybe this baby will get it! The crib and some other goodies were given to me by my other cousin. The crib was pink, but now it looks white. All these things are great! And thanks for letting me use them Ellen! Thank God for cousins! Here are a few pictures of the nursery and some of baby girl's things.

Here is the quilt!

It was also my cousin's idea to cut out some scenes from the quilt to frame. I wanted something above the crib, but it could not be anything too big (in case it fell). So these little pictures are perfect!

This was the blanket used to bring Nick home from the hospital when he was born.

This baby has plenty of artwork in her room. These are my feet from kindergarten. I vividly remember making it in class. This is 'The Grand Catch' by Father Canonici. He is a priest, artist, and cook that lives in Madison, MS. I love his artwork. This pictures captures the story of 'the grand catch' in John 21.

For now, I'm counting down. School/work is over in 5 weeks, baby in 7. Hopefully it will fly by!