Graduations

Derek's sisters both graduated this month! Sarah graduated from Boston University with a Masters degree and Elizabeth graduated from Calvin College with a bachelors degree. Congratulations to both of you and God's blessings on your future plans! You're graduates now, hopefully you'll be aunties SOON!

Fifth Baby Shower

My students and their parents threw me a baby shower at school. The "Room Moms" did a great job organizing and planning it! The first thing the students did at the shower was to pray over me and the baby. It was really sweet. They all laid hands on me (or a friend if they couldn't reach me)... most of their little hands were laid on the baby. I work with such a wonderful community! I teach to be a blessing to others and yet each day God uses these little ones to bless me even more!

Lots of yummy treats made by the moms:

Everyone brought in a small baby item to give me and they were placed on a tray as I unwrapped them. The students had to remember what was all on the tray once it was hidden. It was hard remembering what was on there but also what it was called and how to write it! :)

"Take as much as you need" is all they were told. The length of their toilet paper had to match the circumference of my baby bump. I had a few students that were very close!

Tasting baby food... She was the only brave one of this group! I don't blame them, you should've smelled the peas!!

Fourth Baby Shower

Third Baby Shower

Derek and I had a great time at this baby shower. Our friends threw us a "couples shower" since the men are just as close of friends as the women.

Cute decorations and details! :)

We played some fun games. The guys are pretty competitive and had battled it out drinking beer from sippy cups at a previous shower so this time they had to suck the beer out of a baby bottle. Their cheeks were pretty sore!

This game was a hoot too. We choose a number and ended up with the playpen that matched. You had to be the quickest couple to set up your playpen. Derek and I would have had no clue how to set it up other than I had JUST been monkeying with our new pack-n-play the night before!

The whole group (minus one couple that lives out-of-state... we missed you Chris and Holly!)

Eric & Deb, Jason & Amy, Bryan & Julie, Elliot & Jodi, Mark & Kelli

A Full Term Baby

We're in the "safety zone" as my doctor called it. You remember the game of Sorry, right? Well, she's almost "home"!


Our baby girl is considered full term and will be welcomed with open arms by her daddy any time now or in the next few weeks. Are we ready? Are you kidding... yes! and no! It really is like a roller coaster. You planned for it, dreamed about it, waited for it and now you're really excited and you're on the ride... the crazy thing is though, you can't stop it anymore, it's going to happen, you can almost hear the click-click-click and you ascend to the top of the ride, you know you'll enjoy it... it's just going to TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY!

Cinco de Mayo

I had a great birthday. Derek sent flowers to school for me. The tulips were so pretty and the daisies lasted 3 weeks!

My class gave me this great platter. They all used their finger prints to make a picture around the border. They were so proud to show me which one was their fingerprint! I will definitely be able to use this platter for many things. :)

We also took advantage of some of the different birthday deals. We headed to Crazy Horse for dinner and then off to birth class to end the night.

Tulip Time

Yes, I still "fit" into my Dutch costume! I wouldn't pass inspection but it was fun to wear around for the day. I didn't end up marching in the parade but had fun watching all the activity downtown and helping my students get ready to march.

My Second Baby Shower

I had my second baby shower on May 1. We had a lot of fun. My two aunts planned the whole thing and my sister-in-law hosted it. I'm 35 weeks pregnant in this photo.