Cape May

This summer Sid and I had the incredible opportunity to go to the beach with two of the teens from our youth group. The guys invited to go with them to Cape May, NJ and spend a long weekend at the beach house of one of their families. We had such a wonderful and relaxing weekend.

I love the beach. I mean really love it. I don't have to get in the water, although I do enjoy that. I just love to hear it. And marvel at the beauty and vastness of God's creation. I love to sit and feel the breeze and hear the waves. I love to look as far as I can see and see... more ocean.

I had never been to Cape May before and it is a quaint tourist town at the southern tip of New Jersey. It has very cool old Victorian style houses. And a town center that is nothing but cutesy shop after restaurant after cutesy shop. I love it!

Coming back up from the water.

Stella and Sid also had a great time. Stella was fascinated and terrified of the water. She loved, sometimes, to get her feet wet, and sometimes not so much. One evening Stella and I got to take a walk on the shore, just the two of us. We took a bucket to collect some shells. We couldn't leave the beach until she had thrown (almost) all of them back in. I was able to rescue a few of them (and the quarter she found).

The shells I managed to save

The guys were/are so good with Stella, and Bruce. And Stella loves them. They were patient, and loving. We climed to the top of the lighthouse one afternoon, and Stella walked about 20 of the steps up and then was carried the rest of the way, they would take her to the edge of the water and hold her hands and let her look, they showed her rocks and jellyfish and all kinds of things and she reveled in the attention.

Looking at a washed up Jellyfish.

Bruce was a champ. He spent the first day on the beach eating. For about two hours straight. The second day we were on the beach he slept. It was wonderful. And he looked so cute in his little bathing suit that was two sizes too big!

Sleeping away in his tent on the beach!

We are so grateful that we got to go and not think about anything but where to go for dinner, and what time was bedtime. It was a wonderful vacation. We'll never forget it.

Brown Butterfly Outfit

In early July I sat down to make Stella some new pajamas. They turned out really cute. I love them. They have a few flaws, but for my first real self drafted "pattern" I'm pretty pleased with them. I made the shorts and then realized I had enough fabric left for a top. It has pleats in it, a first for me. I'm very proud of them, even if they are a little off center! The straps come together in the back, meeting in the middle. I have decided that they are too cute for PJ's and can be worn as an outfit. Not that she has worn it yet.

(Please ignore the angry face, she was done with trying them on and done with having her picture taken!)

Playing Catch-up

Stella having fun in Cape May

So, it's been well over a month since I posted. Ooops. But I've been busy. In that month I have been to New Jersey for four days, Florida for 10, AND packed and moved.

Not that any of that should have stopped me from blogging. There's plenty to write about. Like going to NJ for 4 days and FL for 10. Like moving, and packing, and getting our (Stella's) first tricycle. Like the cute little outfit that I made Stella and haven't had the guts to put her in yet. Like Bruce's first smiles! Those are all posts "coming soon."

We are also looking for churches, or just... work, for Sid. And trying to figure out what to do about a Masters program and how that will look. There are some developments on that front (school, not church). But there is no decision made yet so I'm not quite ready to share.

We have moved in with my wonderfully loving and gracious parents. It's a great thing, but it does take some getting used to. I feel like I'm very busy, but I'm not busy at all. It's probably not a good thing. It will get better as the school year starts and there is more of a routine to follow.

I will be more involved in my Bible Study this year. And I am looking forward to it. But I'm also a little nervous about it. I know that God will enable me to do what I need to, since he has called me. I'm very excited to be studying Isaiah this year.

Baby Bruce with his very proud Papa Bruce

4th of July!

Warning: Picture heavy post!

Last year when my parents moved, they moved onto "The Parade Route" in their new Borough. It is a slice of Americana. I have never seen anything else quite like it. The Parade is what it is all about in this place. Everyone decorates, and goes all out for this. Little kids deck out their bikes, and parents deck out strollers, and dogs. It's really a lot of fun.

This year since the 4th was a Sunday, The Parade was at 1 pm. We decided to "do church" ourselves. My parents invited people to come over and Sid gave a message at about 10 or so. He spoke about our higher citizenship. And he did a great job. Not that I'm biased or anything.

Then we had lunch and sat down to watch the parade. The Parade starts with the mayor, and ends with the fire trucks. Really fun 45 minutes.

Bruce was wonderful and went from aunt to grandparent to uncle to another aunt all day and never complained about it at all. He also didn't complain about loud music, screaming kids, or wailing fire sirens. What a champ!

We all came home exhausted after a day of picnicing and fun. And I can't wait to do it all again next year!

First Haircut

Stella had her first haircut the other week and I have been meaning to blog it. But you know, it happened the day, well night if you want to be all technical, before Bruce was born. And I have had other things on my mind. It was a sort of last minute deal, so I have no pictures of it. It was 9 pm and outside at my friend Tyna's. I said something about Stella needing a haircut and Tyna offered, so I took her up on it. I didn't even think to grab a lock of the hair, so my poor first-born will not have a lock of hair from her first haircut. Some days I think I'm a bad mom! No pictures, no hair, her baby book is gonna be empty! Oh well. She's my kid, and so, chances are good she won't ever think anything of it! Here are the early morning pictures of the haircut (and oatmeal face) the next morning! I think that besides make her hair look neater, and thicker (like mine!) the haircut also made it curlier. Except for the very top front. That is still very straight.

He's Here!

Bruce Bingaman Fields. Born on Tuesday June 22, 2010 at 6:33 PM. He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, and 20 in long. He's got 10 fingers and 10 toes. We think he's perfect!

Stella is doing a wonderful job with him. She loves to hold him and kiss him and bring him "friends." It is really sweet to watch. Our little family of three is now a little family of FOUR!

Sweet Gifts

Last night Sid had a Youth Devo Night. They do this once a month, and instead of attending church the teens go to someones house and hang out for the evening, and have a devo. It's pretty fun and the teens really enjoy it. Sid was struggling a little bit with going, but, he had to go. It turned out to be wonderful.

The teens turned it into a little party for him. They had ice cream sundaes, nothing too unusual there. Then when Sid sat down with his, the girls approached him with a large duct tape covered binder. They had made him a scrapbook. They each did at least one page, and many of them wrote him notes about how much they would miss him, and how much he had taught them.


Then he said he realized the guys were missing. They returned with a large blanket covered item. Under the blanket was a three foot tall Chic-fil-A Cow. With two plastic swords, a mace, a ninja mask and a hot pink skirt. It was also covered in memories written with a sharpie. And the names of the boys who gave it to him in glitter puffy paint. I love it. It makes me laugh. They also gave him a card and a HUGE bag of Skittles.


There was also a framed 8 x10 photo of the teens and sponsors that was taken last week during Sunday School. It was a really good night for Sid, and that is a really good thing.

Ready to go

That's about how I'm feeling right now. In several ways. I'm ready to go with this baby. The sooner he comes now the better as far as I'm concerned! I'm 38 weeks and I think that it's plenty of time. I'm hot, and I'm tired. And I'm stressed.

Also I'm ready to go with church. Last week Sid made the official announcement to the church on Sunday morning, and the week before on Wednesday night to the teens, that we'll be leaving this summer. And it's not by our choice. There are all kinds of emotions that go into this, and I'm not really gonna go there, but the Elders asked him to, so he resigned. All that to say: I'm ready to go. It's time now to move on.

It was really hard to go to church this morning. I wasn't quite expecting that. I figured that last week was going to be the hardest, but I think it's going to be the showing up every week, and the keep on smiling thing that is gonna be the hardest.

It wasn't even the getting up and ready, or the walking in. It was the actual, practicing for choir and sitting in the choir loft looking at the congregation that was really hard. I just wanted to sit down and cry all day. It was Sid's first Sunday not on the platform, and maybe that had something to do with it, and maybe it was just the hormones on top of everything else. I was glad that I was in the nursery, because I don't think I could have made it through the whole service.

Anyway, I'm also ready to go in the figuring out what's next part. Ready to "get this show on the road." I want to get packed and go to wherever it is we're going. I guess I am really going to have to learn to wait on the Lord. I know that He is good, and that this did not surprise Him. I know that He loves us and is doing this ultimately for our good. But it doesn't mean it isn't hard.

On a totally unrelated note, I really want a sewing project to work on, but I don't know what. I am thinking something small so when the baby comes I'm not in the middle of some huge project that we'll just have to move in it's incomplete state. I just need something to keep me occupied.

What did I make now?

It's a crib bumper. All sewn up, and on the crib.



Please ignore the stuff in the crib, it seemed like the logical place to store the baby's clothes!

More Creating

This time it was a nursing cover. Very fun, functional item. I saw my cousin use one a few weeks ago with her brand spankin' new little one and thought it was a genius idea. I also thought that I could probably make one fairly easily. I was right. I actually made two, one yesterday and one today. I love them both and will give one to a friend who recently had her baby! I'm not totally sure which one I'll keep and which one I'll give away yet. But I better decide soon since I'm taking it to her this afternoon!

I found a very good tutorial online that I used and will probably be making lots of these as gifts in the future! It was about $10 in materials, and an hour to an hour and a half in the making time (today, which included a "helper" for a few minutes and few breaks to start a new playlist of Sesame Street videos). Totally worth both time and money! Here are the pictures:










Also, to give credit where it is due, the tutorial I used was from the blog Make It and Love It and can be found here.

Look what I found

... in my bed last night!

Sid and I could hear her chatting away upsatirs at about 9:30. A good 2 hours after she had been put to bed. But I didn't hear her moving around. When I went up to bed at 11 I peeked into her room to turn off the light and discovered an empty bed! I flipped on my bedroom light, and there she was. Sleeping like a rock, right smack in the middle of my bed. Being the good mom that I am I got Sid and my camera. She did sleep the rest of the night in her own bed!

Too sweet!

New Quilt Top

I finished another quilt top. I'm pretty excited. It's a Christmas quilt. I know, I know, it's May. But I have had the pieces cut out since sometime in January. I decided to go ahead and join in with Tallgrass Prairie Studio's "Spring to Finish Challenge". This was one of the things I decided that I would get done. And I am counting the top as a finish because now I can move it off of my desk. So here are some pictures of it:



Also as part of the challenge I want to get done the new crib bumpers. I officially have everything I need for them. So that is fabric, batting, ribbon, and thread. So now I have until May 31st to get them done. Well, I guess first I actually have to start!

Kids say the darndest things/ freezer cooking

Today, I did a freezer cooking day at a friends house. She has a three year old and Stella and Wyatt like to play, which makes it easier for us both, since the kids are occupying each other. We wound up staying for dinner, homemade pizza. I called Stella in for dinner and she decided that she didn't want any. She told me so and then as she was walking away said "thanks for offering." You gotta be kidding me.

On to the freezer cooking: I brought home with me:

2 Buffalo Chicken Calzones
16 slices of french toast
24 pancakes (half whole wheat!)
5 Pizza pockets

I was pretty pleased by the amount of food I brought home. It should definitely help with breakfasts, and it's always nice to have a dinner or two in the freezer as well.

Nail Clipping

This morning I found myself laughing as I lay in bed squished between Sid and Stella. Stella was sitting up and playing with her stuffed bears. I realized after a minute what she was doing. SHe had found a clothes pin on my bedside table, (don't ask, I don't know either!) and she was clipping her bears nails. Yes, she was holding one foot at a time and clipping their nails, and talking about their hangnails! Guess what we did last night.

Stella-isms

This weekend has just been full of cute little sayings. I just love having a 2 1/2 year old. I really do. When she isn't crawling on me or kicking me that is.

Sid was away for the weekend on a retreat with the teens, so I had a fairly quiet couple of days. Stella was so chatty though. It really made me laugh. She also confirmed her status in my mind as a hopeless ham, and probably an attention hog! Saturday afternoon found us in the church's fellowship hall for a baby shower. It was a wonderful time, spent oohing and ahhing and chatting with friends. And for Stella, to "help" Mimi open her presents. She was pretty good about it too. Mostly she just handed the very pregnant lady her gifts. Every now and then though I had to get her attention and give her a look that told her to give the recently unwrapped present back. And she really didn't understand why she couldn't read every book for the new baby as it was unwrapped.

She told me the other day that she loved me "in the hay." I asked what that meant and she just repeated it. Too funny. Then she told me that "Daddy calls you Annie." I was pretty impressed. It's so fun to watch her learn. I love that she is grasping that she calls me something different than what Sid calls me. Of course, she has on occasion referred to Sid as Pastor Daddy.

The other thing that made me laugh out loud was this short conversation we had in the car:

S: I need money.
Me: You don't need money.
S: Yes, I do.
Me: Why do you need money?
S: Because I said so.

Really? Because I said so? Oh man am I in trouble with this one. She loves to play with money. The other day she asked for some and I told her I didn't have any, she came and grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the jar where we keep the coins, pointed, and told me it was in there. ai, ai, ai. Trouble. At least she's cute.

Screaming on the Inside

It's been a long week. Some good, some bad. And my kid doesn't want to sleep.

Friends came to visit and we went to Philadelphia for the day (Thursday). I FORGOT to take my camera. Just left it at home. My brain was obviously elsewhere. We walked. A lot. I was tired. We got in about 10:30 or so and picked up our tickets to see Independence Hall at about 11. We* watched two videos with some history about the Revolutionary War, what the revolution really was (hint: it was more than the war), and how and why certain people chose sides.

Then, we went to The Mint, The Liberty Bell, and finally Independence Hall. SO cool. I love all that stuff. By the time we were done with the tour of Independence Hall, and the tour of Congress Hall we decided to go get our Cheese steaks for dinner. We opted to walk the 8 or 9 blocks to Reading Terminal and Market. Good choice and Bad! The market, and steaks, were totally worth the walk, but the 10 to 11 block walk back to the car was a little long. It was a very fun day and I enjoyed it. But I was VERY ready for bed when I got home.

On Friday, I took Martha to the Farmer's Market here, because it's totally different from theirs (ours is way better!). Then we went to Lancaster County. You know, to see the Amish, and the replica of the Tabernacle. I forgot my camera, again! We did the tabernacle tour and watched a video on the history of the Mennonites and Amish. We all learned something new. Fun fact: the Amish are an offshoot of the Mennonites, not the other way around! Then we took a quick tour of the beautiful Amish country. In a horse drawn wagon. It was gorgeous and I wish I had taken my camera. It was a really neat thing, and absolutely beautiful countryside. I really do think that I live in (well, at least near) one of the most beautiful places in the world. Maybe just because it's home.

The Magees left from there and Sid and I were about one exit from home, when my mom called. She had gotten a call from the Tabernacle people. They had my phone. Yes, that's right. I lost my cell phone at the Tabernacle. We turned around and went back to get it. Needless to say, Stella didn't nap very well in the car Friday, and not at all on Thursday. Or Saturday. So. of course, today she took a short nap at my parents (we were there for dinner, Thanks Mom!). And I put her to bed twenty minutes ago and she is still not asleep.

I feel like I've been going non-stop since Tuesday. I had to clean the house, make sure we were ready to sleep and feed 5 extra people, which I loved doing, but it still can wear a girl out. I really am not complaining! I loved having them and I would/will do it again and again. To have them here and go-go-go for two days and then a weekend filled with youth events and bridal showers and church and just, life, was tiring. My house shows it. I should go now and check on the kid. And clean the house up. It feels good to get some of it out. There is definitely more, but since I already have written a book and not a post. And since there isn't even a picture to break it all up, I will close there. I think I'll go to bed early tonight. If my house is clean enough.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Spring!

I love the spring. And this winter felt very long. It has been good to open the windows and doors and air out my house. I love to get outside and I am figuring out what I will plant this year. I love to watch spring sprout and grow and blossom. Here are a few pictures of early spring!

More friends

I watched a friends little boy this morning for a few hours and learned a few things.

1. At two a shopping cart that is just your size is lots of fun. And worth fighting over.

2. So are cell phones. Plastic ones that play music, bonus.
3. Third children learn to share MUCH sooner than only/oldest children.
We had lots of fun playing. Even with the occasional frustrated cry of MINE!!!

Sleeping with Daddy

Today I put Stella down for a nap, but I knew it wouldn't last. (sigh) She was crying as soon as the door was closed. Shortly after that she calmed down, and Sid got home. Then her door slammed closed and she started to cry. It wasn't a pain cry so I was going to let her cry for a few minutes. Daddy has a harder time with that and decided to go check on her. "I'll make her stay up there," he said 20 minuted later it was silent. And Sid still hadn't reappeared. I thought I'd go check on them. I grabbed my camera before I headed up the steps, expecting them to be asleep on her bed. They weren't. So I checked my bed, not there either. So I looked closer into Stella's room and this is what I found:

Too Cute. Both of them out cold on the recliner. I love my family!

Friends

It's so cute to watch Stella develop friendships. Especially with my friends kids. Here she is with Taylor. They really got along well.


Most of the time. Two two year-old first children are bound to head-butt every now and then!