Field Trip: Desoto Caverns

In September Nate visited Desoto Caverns. 

I remember visiting Desoto Caverns as a child.  They have added a lot of other things to do as well as tour the cave.  Nate enjoyed the maze.

His favorite activity was panning for gems. :)

The Nursery

I am so pleased with Cora's nursery.  It is an eclectic blend of fabrics, textures, (mostly) old and new. Almost every piece in the room has some sort of story.  I wanted her room to be beautiful, but I also needed to do it on a limited budget.  

My mom had the great idea of using the drapes and bedding from our old guest bedroom in the nursery.  The fabrics and colors from those pieces were my decorating starting point.  I used them to find coordinating fabrics for the crib bedding and pillows.  

Here are the pillows from our old guest-room.  I took them apart and used pieces of them to create new pillows.

Here's the finished product.  I absolutely love how all of the fabrics and colors blend together perfectly.

I mentioned that almost every piece has a story.  My parents found the chandelier at a yard sale for seven dollars.  We just had to clean it and add new candle covers and bulbs.  The rocking chair came from my parents' and the crib came from a thrift store.  I originally planned to paint the crib, but it matched the furniture perfectly so I decided to leave it natural.

This piece and the bed are part of a set that belonged to Darren's grandparents.  

My talented cousin painted this beautiful abstract.  

 

This shelf looks old, but is actually one of the new pieces.  It's a Hobby Lobby special. :)

My mom found this ballerina picture at a yard sale several years ago. I love how delicate and feminine it is.

 A little girl's room would not be complete without bows.  Two sweet friends made these for Cora.  :)

The most challenging part of the room was the paint color.  Pink is hard.  You can choose a super light color on the color chart/card and it looks so much brighter on the wall.  The first color I chose looked like pepto bismol.  I tried to talk myself into living with it but just couldn't do it.  The room still needed one more coat so I decided we should just start over.  The second time I went with an extremely pale pink - like white with a pink tint.  It ended up being perfect.  It has plenty of color without being overwhelming.

These guys worked so hard prepping the room for paint.  We had a leak in this room a while back.  They had to get that repaired before we could paint.

We finished the room in just the nick of time.  Cora ended up arriving about two weeks early.  That story is coming soon. :)

My Guys :)

I love these two.  I love that Darren is happily willing to work on projects with Nate.  Here they are working on a boat Nate designed. 

1st Grade

We started our school year on Monday, August 4th.  Nate is in first grade this year. We are continuing to focus on reading, writing, and math.  We have also added spelling, Story of the World (history), and three subjects from coop.    

We are participating in a different coop this year.  Nate is taking chemistry/physics, geography, and art.  He takes classes each week at coop and has assignments/projects to complete at home.  We enjoyed the coop we were in last year, but it requires a lot of parental involvement.  I knew I would not be able to teach and/or volunteer with a new baby.  I am so glad we made that decision.  We LOVE the new coop.  Nate is learning a lot and I am enjoying not having to teach. :) 

One perk of home school:  no shoes. :)

Baby Shower

At the end of July some sweet friends gave us a baby shower.  It was a huge blessing to receive some much needed items to prepare for baby girl's arrival.

These sweet ladies hosted the shower.  Each one of them is so special to me and our family.  

These women are very special to me as well. :)

And, that's all the photos I have from the shower. :)  I wish I had photos of the other guests and all of the great gifts I received.  It was such a special time with friends and family who are very dear to me.

Nate's Birthday Week

We do our best to celebrate Nate's birthday for an entire week.  He only gets one a year and we want him to feel special.  The week-long celebration doesn't have to involve gifts everyday, just little things that we know are his favorites or things he enjoys.

One of his favorite birthday activities was spending time at the creek with his friend, Gabe.  We met Gabe and his mom at the summer movie to see Walking With Dinosaurs.  After the movie we had a picnic at the park then the boys played in the creek.  

They had the best time throwing rocks and sticks.

I kept trying to get them to smile for me, but these boys would only give me silly faces.

We also enjoyed celebrating with our small group.  Words cannot express how special these families are to us. 

His birthday was Thursday, July 10th.  He requested breakfast in bed and hats for some of his soft toys (stuffed animals).  I was able to make the hats out of pipe cleaners, so no sewing had to be involved. :)

This is such an interesting age.  Nate's all into star wars, mine craft, survival craft, creepers, zombies, and werewolves; but he also still loves his stuffed animals.

We ended the week with a family celebration.  

My precious friend and running buddy, Teresa, made Nate this awesome cake.  It tasted as great as it looked.  

We were so excited that Aunt Lynn could make it to the party.  Her husband, Gavan, has been the in the hospital since January.  Thankfully, he seems to finally be making progress towards recovery.  

I've mentioned on this blog many times how close Nate and my dad are.  Nate's favorite thing to do is wrestle with Pops.  My dad, even at age 70, is always ready to oblige Nate's requests.  Tonight Nate wanted to ride him like a bucking bull.  I should have videoed this moment.  Daddy gave Nate just what he asked for, a wild ride.    

After dinner, Nate opened gifts.  Granna gave him a money tree!  It had 100 one dollar bills on it.  

My parents gave him a .410 shot gun.  He's not quite old enough to use it yet, but my dad wanted to go ahead and give it to him.  My dad's first gun was just like this one.  I love to hear him tell stories about being 12 years old and going out into the woods by himself to shoot squirrels.  Sometimes he would walk several miles and spend a couple of days with his grandparents, all by himself.  Times have definitely changed.

Can you tell this boy is excited to be 7?  We love this little guy so much.  We are so thankful God gave us Nate.  He is smart, funny, kind, and compassionate.  He is very thoughtful and considerate of others.  He is also very competitive and hates to lose (this is when we see his not-so-kind side). He loves to draw and read.  He does not enjoy handwriting or spelling.

To end the evening, we released 7 paper lanterns.  We saw some on the 4th and thought they were cool.  I will admit that they weren't exciting enough for Nate, but all of the adults loved them.  Nate would have preferred firecrackers. ;)