Let The Fun Begin!

Emma and Isla arrived yesterday to surprise us!  I was sworn to secrecy as Em wanted to surprise a friend of hers, but now I can tell!

Everyone was surprised and we gathered last night to eat pizza and spend time together!  

Isla and Klaire were only a month old the last time they were together!  They were really interested in each other, touching each other gently and hugging.  They look a lot alike, but Isla has a more broad head and Klaire's head is rounder overall.  They are so sweet.

Kamryn really is a little mommy and wanted to be holding them and they are at the age where they like to explore and not be held!

Tomorrow is the rodeo day at our local Ag fair, and so Emma will take Isla and meet up with some friends.  Lindsay is riding tomorrow night so she may go back to see that, and most of us will be there too.

Saturday we are all going out to breakfast, and then doing various things.  Sunday is our sweet friends' wedding and we are so excited to celebrate with their whole family!

Monday I get to have dinner with my blogging sister, Cheryl, and her sweet family!  They'll be in town for a few short days, so we're meeting up for dinner!  We are so excited as due to one thing or another we've not been able to visit each other for two years!  We have birthday gifts to exchange!  

My birthday is Tuesday, and I always like to extend the celebrating!  This year it has started early and I am so thankful!

Road Trips, Bedroom Painting, Baby Holding

Friday we had rain all day long, and part of the day it rained hard. The visibility wasn't that great, and it was challenging.  Not like getting a lot of snow, however, so I am not complaining.  Not too much anyway.

When I sent that photo to Tim and Rachel this is what they sent back to me.

They were on a road trip to SC to a prayer conference being held at the school Emma and Vinnie attend.  We were all going to go then realized that is was starting the same evening as the kids' co-op concert.  So we split up for the weekend.

Sarah and I made plans to paint her bedroom on Saturday.  We already had the paint from the bathroom refresh, and so this was a free project!

 The deal was that she would go up and down the ladder cutting in and I would roll.  She was uncertain about the cutting in, so we asked Nate if he could come do the cutting in.  What a nice big brother!  He came with the family and he and Kay helped Sarah, while I held Klaire, and Kyle and Kamryn played.

Now that may seem like an easy task for me, but Klaire is decidedly a Momma's girl, and was not happy to have me holding her!

It turned into a win though because she finally gave in and went to sleep...

 And then when she woke, she snuggled with me and smiled at me and I was her new best friend!  Win!  

Rachel did some baby holding this weekend too!

 In the morning before Sunday School started Kyle, Kamryn and I decided to take a selfie to send to Tim to say 'good morning!'

We laughed when our friend Kelly photo bombed us!

We brought our lunches to church, and then later friends came over and we visited and then watched a movie.

Our road trippers are almost home!

How was your weekend?

Four Generations

Today was a family day.  It was a day for newborn cousins to meet, 

 Isla (eye-la) and Klaire 

Sister in laws to hold each others babies

 Four Generations - my mom, my son, his daughter and me

 Another set of four - my mom, my daughter, her daughter and me

Big sister holding baby sister on the right, and cousin on the left!

Our nieces (Tim's brothers' girls) came over today to hold the babies.  This is the only photo I have of them.  Here Shelly is holding her first cousin, once removed.  Shelly then Skyped with her dad and mom in Africa and they got to see the babies, too!  So cool!

Tim always called Emma 'his little package.'  I love this photo of his package holding her package!

Family is a beautiful thing.

Grateful for everyone of them!

Sewing: Baby Quilt For Granddaughter Number Three!

Most of you know I have a darling granddaughter who is six years old.  She is going to be a big sister this fall.

This quilt is for her baby sister Klaire.

I love this material and wanted to highlight the details when quilting it.  So I quilted around the squares and around the sweet birds.

 I love how it looks on the back of the quilt!

I also made her a snuggly blankie.  Kamryn still sleeps with hers everynight!  The floral minky fabric was so cute and the pink minky the perfect backing for it!  I did a decorative stitch to bind them.

I can't wait for October!

Sewing For The Babies

As you know we have two new baby girls on the way in our family.  I have been waiting to find out so I could get busy sewing snuggly blankies and simple quilts for them.

Today, I made my way to Jo Anne Fabrics and found the cutest patterns.   I take Emily and Kayleigh's tastes and color likes into consideration as I pick out the material, but I also like the blankets to reflect a bit of me, as I am making these especially for my new grand girlies!

 This will be for a snuggly blankie for the Rabe Babe.

 This is for Emily's wee girlie to snuggle with.

 I'm going to quilt this for Kayleigh's girlie...

And this one for Emily's baby.  It's reading more blue, but it's actually teal, a favorite color of hers.


It's a joy to make my granddaughters' blankets and quilts to be wrapped up in for comfort and warmth.  As I sew I will be praying, and dreaming about holding them and loving on them.

I'm thankful to God for the gift of these children.  They are already greatly loved.

Joining with Thoughts of Home on Thursday @ White Spray Paint 

I Can't Wait Until This Evening!

This evening there is going to be a fun gender reveal party here at my house!  Kay is planning it, and I am excited!

We (hopefully, if the babies cooperate) will find out whether the two grandbabies, due in October, are boys or girls!

For those who don't know, our son Nate and his wife Kayleigh are having their second child, and our daughter Emily and husband Vinnie are having their first - 5 days apart!

Really cute ideas from Pinterest!

They both are having 20 week ultrasounds tomorrow.  We are all excited!

I'll take photos and be sure to let you know on Wednesday!

One? Two! Pink Or Blue?

You wouldn't know by looking at me, but Tim and I are adding to our family in the Fall!

Surprised?  Don't be!  Our married kids are making us grandparents again!  And not just one couple.  Oh yeah, two couples are expecting in late September!

Kamryn is going to be a big sister!  She has been asking Nate and Kayleigh, since their wedding, when they were going to 'have a baby!'  

 Kamryn at one week in 2010

 Emma and Vinnie are expecting, too!  They are having a sweet little honeymoon baby!

 I'm over the moon excited!  We all are!  We are confirmed baby lovers around here!

What precious gifts we are being given!  

 Allposters.com

31 Days - Loving In Spite Of Differences

Many of you know that our son is engaged, a dad of our darling 3 year old granddaughter and now they are expecting a second child.  

Just for the record (they already know) this is not the order we would have wanted these events to play out.

That said, these children are gifts from God, and we welcome them.  It's a humbling thing to trust God for all the details and to set aside potential anger and bitterness for love.

We're not perfect at this.  In fact, I've spent way too much time this past year being upset that things weren't moving along like I thought they should and feeling resentful at times.  God has convicted my heart, showing me that he has given me another daughter to love and mentor, and I haven't been doing it.

Just days later we found out together, in the ER, that I would become a grandma for the second time.  Kayleigh had been having a pain in her chest that was getting worse so Emma and I went with her to the ER.  Turns out she has some inflammation of her cartilage on the ribcage, and it will heal itself.  But in the course of wanting her to get a chest X-ray they had her do a test to determine if she was pregnant.  She is.

I am sure that many of you have been in the situation of having someone you love making different life choices that you would want for them to make.  I'm certain that you've struggled.  Know this - that God is not taken by surprise by anything and He already knows. 

We can cast our cares and concerns on Him.  He will carry them, and He will give you what you need to love and help your loved ones with what they need.

Is their situation what we feel is ideal for them?  No.  Is God able?  Yes.

Now we are anticipating a new baby grand in May.  May is the month of our family birthday craziness.  Did I tell you that since the first moment we found out, I've had boy on my mind?  Don't know why.

Welcome to the Rabe Family baby.  You'll fit right in.

Baby Quilt

My niece Jill and her husband Rodney are going to be parents very soon.
 

 Their little boy, Logan, is due in early December.

 Being a great Auntie means lots of homemade gifts for the sweet grand nephews and Logan is no exception!  I love working on gifts for them and thinking and praying for them while I work...

 This fabric is so cheerful and fun...it is showing lighter on the computer than it is in real life.

This last photo shows the color much better...

I made it a rag quilt because I wanted it to be a 'toss on the floor for the baby to lay on' kind of quilt.  I made it with turtles because they have chosen the most delightful baby bedding!

Turtle Reef from Target.com  - isn't it the cutest?

I need to pop it into the mail so it can arrive before Logan does!  

Sweet Woodland Animals and A Question

Well, the consensus seems to be - boy like.  I love it though and am still going to make it into a quilt.  You never know when a baby boy blanket will be needed.  I still must search for a gender neutral fabric.

 Our niece Crystal and her husband Andrew are having a baby in about 8 weeks.  It occurred to me that I better get busy and make a quilt!  When I inquired I found out they don't know if it is a boy or girl and they don't have any colors picked out for the nursery.  So, what to do?  Andrew is an artist and loves color and my niece is a purple lover but I just couldn't see a possible baby boy wrapped in a purple blanket.  I looked around my favorite fabric place and found this sweet woodland animals print. 

 

 It does have blue in it, but I think the colors are neutral enough...

 Who can resist this sweet owl?  I mean who-oooo?

 Momma Opossum and her babies climbing in the tree...

Cute squirrel!  

Tim says that it seems like it is for a boy! Really?  I loved the little woodland animals....What do you think?

So Precious

Meet Hope Evangeline.  She looks like her big brother Caleb...I get to see her today.  I can't wait!

Brigette Had Her Baby!

I don't have a photo...I hoped to go see her today, but several of my kids ended up with a stomach bug...not nice.

But on to happier topics!

Brigette was to be induced today if she didn't go into labor before then.  The other kids were all safely tucked away at Grandma's and at Auntie's, and she and her husband Jeremiah were to go into the hospital at 7:00 am.  About 3:00 am Brigette awoke in labor! 

They headed in to the hospital and it turns out she is 8 cm dilated!  Wow!  

However baby doesn't make her appearance until 11:15 am!  Turns out that this baby is big!  10 lbs 3 oz!  

I asked Jeremiah how long she was and he said "I don't know!  Everyone was so excited and caught up in how big she was, I don't even know if they said how long she was!"  I am sure Brigette will fill me in on all the details!


They are all doing well, getting to know each other and settling in.


A few of us ladies are providing some meals for the weekend, before a cousin comes to help out for a week.


I can't wait to see this long anticipated girlie!


Welcome Hope Evangeline! 


Congratulations Jeremiah and Brigette!

Full Weekend

Here are my Mom, myself and my girls at a Mother/Daughter tea that the Women's ministry team from her church sponsored, on Saturday.

It was lovely, held outside at a beautiful home

The tables were simple yet pretty - white tablecloths, a bit of pink tulle, and peonies cut from someone's garden.  The placed a couple of pedestals on the tables with chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, lemon bars and rice crispy treats.

They also had chilled strawberry soup - it had an unusual spice added - cloves!  I had never thought of using cloves with strawberries before.  I don't care for the strong flavor of cloves so, it was not a favorite with me.  Bummer!  I love strawberries!

It was very bright and sunny - so we all had our sunglasses on!

It was also my sweet Momma's birthday!  She is 39 years old.  She says the scary thing about being 39 is that she is now younger than her own children!  Amazing how that happened isn't it?

On Sunday I threw a baby shower for Kayleigh.  My granddaughter is due in 4 weeks!  It is getting close! 

You can see here Emily's Bitty Baby dressed up in a onsie that I embroidered for my granddaughter, and I also knit her wee little cap.  The crib is a gift from our family and my parents (the great grandparents!) to Nate, Kay and Kamryn!  It is a mini convertible crib.  So, so cute!  It converts to a toddler bed then to a single bed instead of a full size bed.  It fits their living space much better than a full crib yet it has all the beautiful styling and design of a full size crib.  It uses portacrib sheets which were hard to find so I bought fabric at JoAnn's and made one!  It is that cute brown and pink polka dot item the dolly is sitting on.  The brown and pink blanket you see, I made to go with the sheet.  I am next going to attempt to make a crib bumper using the left over brown and pink soft material!  What fun to sew for my wee grandgirl who is coming soon!

Of course the girls and I did my usual sweet and savory tea.  Scones, mock Devonshire cream,  homemade lemon curd, mini quiches and Emily's amazing Lemon Bars.  They have an unusual topping that makes them divine, in my opinion!  I will get her to post the recipe and then link to it for you!

Here you can see they pretty table - I used a vintage looking floral fabric on our huge table and added a smaller lace tablecloth on top.

My mom, Kelly from Cozy Comforts, Becky from Hospitality Lane , 

Another pretty view of the table, our punch, which was on the counter, was pink lemonade with Sprite - no water added.  It was a pretty pink color and tangy in flavor!  Of course we had tea. 

Here you can see the crib, next to the Momma to be.  Notice the little girls listening to Kay.

From this view you can see the rest of the guests.  It was special to have mothers and daughters together - showing love and being excited to welcome a new Rabe Babe!