Isabella's quilt

Just finished it yesterday. Perfect for snuggling baby girl when she comes (9 weeks left!!!)

front of quilt

back of quilt

grandmother...

My grandmother is in the final stages of her life right now, she's getting ready to go home to see the Lord and her husband. It's been a difficult journey, I wish I could say she's hasn't been suffering and in horrible pain but that just isn't the truth. This is so hard for me because I want her with us always, but I also want her soul and her body to be at rest and at peace. I will miss her so much, I will cherish and hold onto so many great memories; I will sing "Tura-Lura-Lura" a little more often to my kids at night before bed, I will dust off my tea-cup collection and drink a cup of tea and think of her (I always adored looking at her collection), I will be proud of the amount of books I have in my home (her home always had a lot of good reads), I will wear something magenta (her favorite color) Come Thanksgiving, I will miss her so much that it aches, but I will make a special effort to always make Thanksgiving special and have mexican food the night before as tradition would always have it.
I'm finding myself crying at the drop of a hat this week, anything does me in. But I am finding God's graces and His subtle ways of reminding me of His love. My eucharisteo list of things I'm thankful for...

Grilling Kabobs in the back with my family
and watching the way my kids eat them with gusto.

Making a strawberry pie from fresh strawberries,
relishing the taste.

Feeling every kick and squirm from Isabella,
feeling a foot stick way out and getting to
give it a tickle.
Sharing this with the kids and having them
Ooooo and ahhhh whenever she moves.

Folding tiny baby clothes and teensy socks,
in preparation.

Being blessed by the women in my church,
their fellowship, their laughter, their advice,
sharing their sorrows, pain and frustration,
and me,
realizing God designed me to be a woman too.
Sweet voicemail from one friend, pouring refreshment
to my soul with her encouragement.

My mama's and sister's voices on the phone,
I am just like them you know.
My sister shares photo's of a garden with me,
she knows my soul. She knows that pretty garden
pictures heals a part of my soul that is hurting right now.

Watching my husband wrestle with all three of my sons,
hearing their giggles and laughter, their grunts as they try
and pull Daddy down. My daughters and I laughing as
the baby boy's facial expressions of "toughness" are just
too hilarious for words.

Rolling over in bed at night and feeling for my husband's
arm. He is there. He gives me a comforting pat-pat on my
shoulder. He understands just how much I need him right
now and that a pat-pat is a safe harbor for me. He is there.

He sees my face, that it's not quite right, that it is sad and he
says "thinking about your Grandma?" and I nod my head yes,
and he says "I love you", and it's all I need to hear. I love him too..
so much!

I pour over Psalms and verse after verse seem to jump out at
me, like it's written just for me.
I hear the song "I will Arise and Go to Jesus" and I think
about heaven and eternity and the beauty of no more pain,
no more sadness, no more sin.
How awesome, how beautiful, how glorious!
I think about Grandpa, that Grandma is coming to join him soon,
and together they are the bride of Christ,
in glorious robes, in bright array,
faces glorifying their Savior.

Thank you God for these gifts!

30 weeks and a very cute face!

Well, I'm here at 30 weeks, things are going pretty well despite the joint pain here and there. It's very obvious that this isn't my first baby and that my body is very tired, but then I get to see her little face and such a fantastic reminder of just why we go through all of this. Here is Isabella....

My precious Izzy's little face (in 3D ultrasound), her foot is literally hitting her in the face and she's doing her best with her hand to get it out of the way. Isn't modern technology fabulous!!! I'm also proud to tell you that she's got quite the head of hair already. You could see the fuzzy curls, delicious I tell you! She's already weighing in at 3 and a half pounds and right on schedule.

 I can't wait to meet you darling baby girl!!!

third trimester!!!

I'm now 28 weeks which means I'm in the third Trimester!!! Woo-hoo!! Hope it goes fast!

wonderful Easter

We had a fabulous Easter, or Resurrection Sunday. Here are my cutie pies!

The boys (constantly in motion these days!)

My Easter girls in their Sunday best. I made the headbands and skirts, the shirts were clearance at Old Navy.

And we really enjoyed my mom's recipe for Hot Cross buns as we read the story of the Resurrection around the breakfast table. It was a blessed day to be sure!

a rose by any other name...

Yesterday my children and I went to the Glendale Library and to the Saguaro Ranch Park next to it. If you haven't ever been and you're a Phoenician, you ought to check it out. Really this historic park is a gem and one of our favorites. We had no idea though, that we would stumble upon this, which utterly took our breath away!

My kids share my love of all things roses and so this was such a special treat for us. Each rose had such a different and intense perfume, I tell you, it was heaven!

Soeren was really getting into smelling them!

Here is what we found at the Library

It's rare to see a peacock in full flair, but so beautiful. We also found this gem..

It's called an Orchid tree, it's scent is intoxicating!

My kids never leave an opportunity to ham it up for the camera.

As you can see, we've been really enjoying our week off, so much fun!

The Farms at South Mountain

We visited one of our favorite places yesterday: the Farm at South Mountain. Oh, it was lovely! My eyes needed to see some bursts of spring and that is what we got.

Bachelor buttons

Chamomile (it was tempting not to make tea out of it all, the smell was unbelievable!)

Oriental poppies (one of my favorites!)

Hollyhocks

I adore each of their personalities!

The kids loved the chicken coop! Some day I really want to have one, but for now, we'll enjoy theirs

We brought our sketch books and made an art day out of it. Ahhh, the joys of glorious homeschooling!

What springtime adventures have you been having?? This week we are taking our spring break for Holy Week. Yes, I am a firm believer in observing Holy week and not just taking a "Spring Break" in some random week that has nothing to do with Easter. So, we've been trying to tackle some projects, do some sight seeing, etc. We hope to go have some more fun tomorrow!

26 weeks

26 weeks are here. New haircut and even bigger belly!

a nice weekend

We had a nice weekend, lots of time spent working in the kitchen...

We made...

lots of zuchinni bread

triple berry popsicles!

tomato sauce

We roasted adobo peppers...

and tomatillos

and made salsa verde!

The kids made a dinosaur out of legos and entered it into a lego contest.

and my sweet husband bought me a bouquet of pussy willows. Ya girls, I scored an awesome guy!

Altogether I had a fantastic weekend! Hope yours was lovely too!