An early glimpse of Isaac's face

Here's our sweet little boy!
The girls keep asking me when he's going to come out!
Brian thinks he is going to be smothered by these two doting sisters.

Paper Doll Party for Genna

The invitations

I just used my scrapbook supplies to make this invitation. I used an angel cookie cutter to base the template off of for the paper doll pattern.

Dinner

Brian was the master grilling machine and made bratwurst and hot dogs for everyone. I just had some chips and homemade salsa, veggies and dip, and a fruit tray available. And I made some sherbet punch to drink along with the regular sodas, water, and beer. We had just enough of everything except we had quite a bit of hot dogs and cake left, and one large family canceled at the last minute because they were sick. Hannah always says, "When Jesus blesses the food, suddenly there's enough for everyone!" She got that from the miracle of feeding the 5000, but she seems to think it happens every time we pray over the food.

The cake

I made a double layer 8 inch square chocolate cake with a chocolate glaze. Then I cut out a paper doll pattern similar to the invitation template and glued it to wax paper. (I basically laminated it with wax paper using nontoxic Elmers glue.) Then, after letting the glaze harden a bit, I placed the wax papered template on the cake and sprinkled powdered sugar all around it. I got this idea online. It turned out nicely, but when we blew out the candles there was a cloud of powdered sugar as you can imagine! :) Genna loved the cake and the punch! The girls are pretty much milk and water drinkers so the punch was an extra special treat!

The craft-dressing your own paper doll to take home

Genna's is the one in the purple and Hannah's is in the yellow!

I drew and cut out dolls on card board and then drew clothes outfits for them all so the kids could glue them on. I made hair for the girls, but I figured the boys wouldn't be interested in this craft long enough for details. So they were bald, and I made sports outfits for the boys also. And I was right, by the way...the boys could only handle a few minutes of this before running off to do boy things. The girls, on the other hand, loved it! Genna colored on hers the longest of anyone after gluing on the outfit.

The party favors-a paper doll set to color and keep (plus the usual candy and stickers)

Here are a couple of the boy bags!

I printed off paper dolls and cut them out so the kids could have their own doll and clothes to color and play with. Again making boy paper dolls for the boys. (The cutting out took many nights to do.)

Some of the friends

Hannah barely left the new baby's side, as usual! I keep telling her we'll have one soon enough, but she just loves to take care of all the babies!


The Highlight-the birthday girl, herself!


What an angel! Thank you God for our Genevieve Marie!

Brief update on baby Isaac!

On Friday, I had another 4D ultrasound and Isaac has been given a clean bill of health! We had to have a few extra detailed ultrasounds because the radiologist thought he saw a spot in his heart the first time on the still pictures the tech provided him with, but it turns out there's nothing there. It has been such a blessing to get to see him grow and develop and even see a bit of his personality during all theses ultrasounds.

We finally got a couple good 4D pictures of his face with a bit of coaxing. He was facing my spine and so it was very hard to catch a glimpse of him that way. The doctor had me lay on my side for a bit and then back on my back to get him to move, and it worked! I will post those pictures very soon. I have to get them scanned. The doctor said right away that it looks like he has my nose. I am getting so very excited to meet my little boy face to face!

Brian and the girls got to go to this ultrasound, and that was another blessing! Hannah just talked nonstop to the doctor and nurses from the moment we got to the check-in desk until we left. I mean she was telling them her whole life story with a "Once upon a time" intro and everything! Genna was throwing in her two cents when Hannah would take a breath. Isaac had his hands over his ears when the doctor first looked at his head and the doctor said, "He's covering his ears. I think he's getting ready for life with his sisters." Ha ha! I then told him how I am hoping this little boy doesn't talk quite so much. He said he was pretty sure the girls wouldn't give him a chance. How funny!

Today was Genevieve's birthday party, so I am exhausted! We had a busy weekend, but I will have to catch up tomorrow with the blog. I am going to bed!

A prayer for mom

After I was urging her relentlessly to hurry and finish picking up her dolls (and, yes, I was being a bit snippy and sarcastic,) Hannah turns to me and says, "I think we need to say a prayer for mom because she is being a bit mean today." I cracked up laughing because she was so right and said in such a nice way. I am feeling a bit like a whale these days and getting a little irritable by the end of the day, but that's no excuse!

Right after this we were getting ready for bed, and she came up to me and caressed my face (her trademark nurturing gesture) and said, "Mommy, I will always be here for you, and God will always be here for you too." What a sweetheart I have!

I've posted a lot today, when I have a million things to do for Genna's party and the rest of our upcoming busy weekend. I just know if I didn't post this now, that I would forget all about it.

Our Travel Hallway

I just finished framing and hanging up all of our prints from our travels in Europe. I am just happy to have it up and finished. My second trimester is coming to an end, and I am trying to take advantage of my nesting urges while I have the energy!

I know you can't see the pictures, but they include places we visited this year: England, Florence, Prague, and France.

The Nursery In Progress

This is FAR from finished, but it's got the basic necessities in it, like the furniture, toys, and even some clothes. Because the room is so large, I am dividing the room into a nursery and a guest room with two guest beds and a little chest of drawers (which is hidden behind the shrank.) A shrank is a German armoire since they generally do not have closet's over here. The cribs are much lower which is why I wanted a German one. I am so tired of lifting the baby over the high American crib rails or lowering and raising them which sometimes wakes the baby up. I have ordered the bedding and the pictures for the walls, but it will be awhile before it all gets here. The theme of the room is centered around my favorite Van Gogh paintings. (Hannah's room was centered around Degas' ballet paintings and Genna's room is centered around Monet's landscape and floral paintings.) The colors of the rooms will be from the paintings: blues, greens, and yellows. I have a lot of work to do!

The crib and glider

The changing table/dressers and hanging shelves

The shrank and one guest bed (in the background)

The bookshelf and toy corner (For the toy corner I ordered a Krabbeldecke which is a thick blanket for the floor, like a pallet, that matches the bedding.)

Genna and her "Nani"

This is Genna with her favorite blankie that she calls, "Nani." She has such a sweet personality!