Lots of Visitors!

So much has happened in the last two weeks!  Mostly we have enjoyed having lots of visitors: first Mom and Dad spent a week here, then my good friend Genavee came during her Spring Break!

With Mom and Dad, we played lots of games, went on some nice walks, and set up Baby's nursery.  They also helped with our school's book fair during Parent-Teacher conferences.  Between their cooking, cleaning, and home improvement projects, we were spoiled all week long!  :)

Beautiful (if windy) day for a hike!

The happy hikers

Mom helped me roast and peel green chiles for the first time--a big NM milestone!

We did lots of pre-baby home improvement projects...

...including some work on the nursery.

The day that Genavee few in, we went to the Albuquerque Zoo--and it was so much fun!  We also took an adventurous hike to Church Rock and played lots more games!  It was a great week...unfortunately Genavee had to fly back to Seattle this morning.

Beautiful day at the ABQ Zoo

We had a delicious dinner at the Flying Star Cafe!

We couldn't find the official trail to Church Rock...so we took a more adventurous route.

At the top

Great views!

This evening was the middle school's big World War II Museum Night.  The students' amazing projects were displayed and my mid-school play group put on the play "The Hiding Place" based on the book by Corrie ten Boom. 

Student WWII scale model projects

Corrie and her Jewish guests

In Ravensbruck Camp

Taking their bows!

The kids did a really good job!  Now we're ready to enjoy a quiet and restful Spring Break...  :)

"Nesting"

A few weeks ago I was suddenly struck by the urge to start cleaning out, setting up, and decorating the room that we will be using for Baby's nursery.  This urge was so sudden and strong, I found the best way that I could describe it was with the word "nesting".  Although the room has some ways to go, the first project I decided to tackle was to create a wall decoration that would fit with our nursery "theme" of sheep and lambs.  Here's what I came up with:

First, I drew two patterns: one for a playful lamb and one for a sleeping lamb.

I used the patterns to cut out the lamb outlines from an old white t-shirt.

Then I pinned, hand-stitched, stuffed, and embroidered the lambs, and I hung them up with some gender-neutral ribbons.

My next project: some little knitted lambs to hang from a mobile over the crib.  It's been such fun to have this creative outlet and a way to prepare for Baby during the third trimester wait! 

Knitted Lambs

In the meantime, we are also enjoying visits from my parents and my friend Genavee, and Jonathan is very busy coaching tennis.  Hopefully I will be able to blog about all that excitement sometime soon!