First Day of School

I know everyone wants pics of Miss Abby but I want to keep things in chronological order, so first things first...FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

September 8th was the first day of school here in Prince William County. Sam started 3rd grade and Ethan started 1st. We woke up to a dreary, nasty, rainy morning. Regardless the boys dressed in their finest and we headed off to the bus.

Sam - 3rd Grade ~ Check out that new big front tooth!!

Ethan - 1st Grade ~ Love the glasses!

Watch out ladies, here comes the Spencer boys!

The other boys had to get in on the action as well!

It rained the last day of school last year and the first day of school this year, fun, fun!

Stay tuned this afternoon for pics of Abby!!

Finally Finished...well...almost

I feel that I'm as close as I'm going to get (for now) to finishing Abby's room. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! I couldn't have done it without the help of Holly Mathis, thank you girl for your design savviness, patience and friendship over the last couple of months!

Several blogs I follow have been doing price your room entries. I thought I would do that with Abby's room. Most of the things in her room were from the boys nursery, but we did buy a few things. Remember, we are on a tight Dave Ramsey budget. Nothing in this room was put on a credit. Granted, the budget had to be shifted around a little for a month or two but that's the beauty of a budget. So here goes!

I'll start with this picture...can ya'll see the little numbers?? Sorry they are a little small. I have more pics to come, more close up...just wait!

1. A is for Abby picture. $20 @ etsy. Frame $16.99 @ Target
2. Curtains: Central Park Toile Fabric in Blush from Fabric.com $70ish I had a coupon for fabric.com but then realized I could have gotten a better deal at Hancock's when they had a sale...oh well...live and learn. Ball Fringe Trim from Tassel's in Louisville, KY $12.00. Curtain Rod, Rings and Clips, and Curtain hardware $60ish @ Lowe's.
3. Bed: Jenny Lind Crib Walmart 2002ish time frame. Given to us courtesy of the in-laws. Ya'll I love this crib. It is so easy to put together, is a total classic and they usually run about $100-$130. Now it doesn't convert to ANYTHING, but I'm okay with that! Baby bedding: this was probably my biggest splurge, but I'm so glad I did. I knew I wanted all white bedding. So clean and classic. I found this matelasse set at a Baby/Kid store in town. Greg had to do some serious convincing to get me to buy it and we also did some hard core negotiating to get the set for $189. I love, love, love it! The blanket on the end of the bed was made with left over fabric from the curtains and Dark Brown Minky Dot ($12) fabric, sewn courtesy of my girlfriend Connie. It's beautiful and super cozy!
4. Chair: The white Jenny Lund chair is IKEA $200. The green pillow in the background was Southern Living for Kohl's $25. The white pillow was part of the above mentioned set. You should remember my ottoman from my trip up to Luckett's in Leesburg ($35). With $18 in white duck fabric from IKEA and Connie as my seamstress, the chair and ottoman look like a matching set! You may also remember the quilt on the chair. I mentioned making it back before we knew Miss Abby was in fact a "Miss". I love it, it turned out so well. Total cost for the quilt ~ $70.
5. I was unsure about the Simply Shabby Chic banner from Target. LOVE IT now!! $17
6. Dresser Area: Simply Shabby Chic dresser from Target $200. I bought this dresser when we first moved to DC almost 4 years ago. It started off in my bathroom, then went in Gabe's room, later Joel's and now finally Abby's. It is a super sturdy heavy piece of furniture. I love the lines and it was a great price. I think Target still sells it online. The plates were a set from Tassel's in Louisville ~ $90. The old metal oil lamp is a family antique. The little doll and the little pink glass ware were mine as a little girl.
7. Ceiling fan: I love this fan. It is so girly and so sweet. The fan and light kit was $200. I tried to make shades, which was a disaster. I ended up with these gingham shades from Pottery Barn Kids. They were on clearance, I got FIVE for $12.99!!!

Now for some close ups!!

This little books shelf is another IKEA find. The Hemnes bookshelf is $109. I will say, it's not deepest bookshelf in the world. It works well for kids books and baskets for toys. The five IKEA baskets ran me about $30. Since I bought this for Gabe's room I didn't have to worry about the expense this time. The little white lamp was a reuse from Ethan/Gabe/Joel's room I have no idea how much it cost me originally. The shade is new from Target $6. Eventually in place of the stick figure there will be a painting from smallwords.com.

The changing station: I guess this is the business part of the room. The changing station was purchased for Ethan's nursery back in 2002. It's a cheap PX find. It was $100. It has been sturdy and does the job. The matching dresser didn't survive all of our moves, I do use it for extra storage in Abby's closet but it is on it's last leg! The baskets underneath were from the Pottery Barn outlet also back in the day. If my memory serves me correctly I paid about $50 for all six. The white shelf is recycled from the boys room. We had three, they were custom made for the house (by the previous owners). Greg gave them a fresh coat of spray paint. White for Abby's room, black for the boys. The dresses were all mine as a child. The hangers were all from Pottery Barn Kids. They are getting out of selling clothes and I bought each for $1/piece. The yellow "A" was a steal at Home Goods for $6.99. I actually like it better then the white "A" from PBKids which ran me $10. The arrow in the picture is pointing to an awesome white whicker laundry hamper I found at Home Goods for $25.

SO GRAND TOTAL: This entire room (over the last 7 years) cost us about $1750. That's not too shabby considering it's been through 4 children!!

I'm uber proud of the room. I can't wait to get this baby girl home and get her in her new room!!

A Letter

Dear Miss Abby,

We cannot wait to meet you. Your brothers, Dad and I are anxiously waiting on pins and needles for your impending arrival.

Your brothers can't wait to stare at you, they tell me all the time. They want you to lay on a big blanket and they all just want to watch and adore you. This could be slightly overwhelming, I understand! Eight eyes, forty fingers, forty toes and all the extremities could be a little much for such a wee little girl but don't worry. These boys are going to love and adore you more then you could ever imagine!

Your Dad and I can't even imagine what it will be like to have a little girl in the house. We hoped the Lord would some day bless us with a little pink, a little feminine touch and we are tickled to bring you home. I can't wait to see what you look like. Will you be blond like Ethan and Gabe? Brunette like Sam and Joel? A red head like your Granny? Will your eyes be blue, brown or hazel like Gigi's?? Will you like dolls and tea parties or will you prefer trucks and transformers? So many questions, so much excitement!

Baby girl, know that we pray for you and your brothers daily. Know that we want you to be godly men and women and desperately long for you to find the Lord and find godly spouses. You each make us proud everyday all day. I cannot believe the day is almost here when we will finally meet you.

We love you, come see us soon!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Sam, Ethan, Gabe and Joel

36 weeks

Reading

Ya'll I wish I could read more. Between children, husband, cleaning, sewing, church, cooking, etc. I cannot find the time to read. This year one of my "resolutions" was to blog about the books I've read. It's kind of sad that it is August and I've only read a handful of books. Regardless of how pathetic, here is the sad little list of the books I've read since my last book review:

When Greg travels (which thankfully isn't very often these days) he often picks up books at the USO. We're pretty sure that's where this one came from. I picked it up on a whim, it's not riveting, it's not THAT great but it's not bad. If you are looking for an easy mindless summer read, this one is for you.

On a deeper note, I read "Ruth: A Portrait" by Patricia Cornwell.

This book was for a book club. I love reading about Mrs. Graham and this book was no exception. Patricia Cornwell is best known for her crime books but she wrote this book because she loved Ruth and was a friend of the family. The book has a fictional air to it but it does give yet another fascinating glimpse into the life of Ruth. Highly recommend!

I was flipping through Family Circle the other day and found a list of books they recommended for summer reading. I loathe going to the library to pick out books so I reserved their suggestions and I have been slowly coming up on the waiting list to pick them up. The first one was "The Actor and the Housewife" by Shannon Hale.

Ya'll it is SO bad. I couldn't even finish it. Maybe I would have liked it had I been able to finish it but the story line was just so STUPID and unbelievable and quite frankly very uncomfortable. I finally just had to stop. The worst part, the silly thing is now overdue which is very unlike me...ohhhh it makes me mad just thinking about paying a fine for this book!

The last non-fiction book I attempted to read this summer was "The Nine Day Queen of England: Lady Jane Gray" by Faith Cook. This book was also for book club.

Now it could just be me and my spacey pregnant brain but this was another one I just couldn't do. I am so not into this time period in history, mix that with the fact that we were on vacation and let's just say it's being put in my give away pile. I'm sure she is probably a fascinating person, but I needed cliff notes and a graph of characters to really care. Can ya'll tell I'm getting a little grumpy in my preggo state...

Any good books from you guys lately?

Joel's Party

I know we're lame.  We have a lot of family only birthday parties and this year was no exception.  I was just too tired to think about having people over.  Joel enjoyed his "party" none the less!

And now two reasons I love Joel at two:

1. He is the cutest thing you ever saw.  Look at that sweet face.  We are all totally smitten' by him.  His world is in for a rude awakening when Miss Abby gets here but for now he's loving being the center of attention.
2. I also LOVE his baby talk/confusion.  We've always taught our kids to sign.  Recently Joel has had a hard time saying thank you so Greg re-taught him the sign for thank-you.  Now when he says thank you he blows you a kiss and says BYE-BYE!  It's so cute.  Last night at dinner he very clearly told us he wanted to pray.  He set down his sippy cup and crossed his hands and bowed his head.  Oh he is just sooo cute!

Happy Birthday AGAIN my sweet Joel.  

**In other Spencer baby randomness, I totally copied my girlfriend Nancy and posted an online baby pool, click on the orange link and make a guess as to when Miss Abby will be here.  Top prize is bragging rights!**

EXPOSED

Last Tuesday I took Sam to have his front top teeth "exposed".  In October 2006, Sam was playing on the playground at school and somehow fell into the ladder of the jungle gym.  The fall took out his top four teeth roots and all.  The dentist warned me that it would probably be years before we saw his adult teeth, and she wasn't kidding!  

The last couple of visits she (the dentist) had been telling me that she would probably need to do a procedure to expose his top teeth because his gums had become very hard and calloused over the last almost three years.  In May she told me that she was ready for me to schedule the procedure which I did for August 4th.  I really debated about when to tell Sam, I finally decided the morning of was plenty of time for my little worrier.  He took the news rather well, especially after I mentioned the promise of milk shakes and a trip to the grocery to pick up "soft" foods for afterwards.  

That morning we got to the dentist right at 12:00 and they called us right back.  Twenty-five minutes, laughing gas, Novocain, and a scalpel later we were walking out the door with one pearly white already showing through.  I couldn't believe how fast it was over and I also couldn't believe how much she had to saw through those poor gums to get to his tooth.  The dentist basically took two almond shaped pieces of gum out of his mouth so that his teeth could fall into place.  So far we've had great success with the left tooth, the right tooth has been more reluctant.  I'm hoping we see it VERY soon.

Here are some before and after pics and one from today:

BEFORE

AFTER

TODAY (I don't know if you can tell, but braces are in our future)

On the subject of exposure...I wanted to EXPOSE some of the great sellers I have been finding on ETSY.

Ya'll I love etsy!  I have found some great things for our house.  I got a great silhouette kind of like this one for Abby's room:

It's by sarah + abraham.  Click here to go to their store.

I also got this for Miss Abby's Room:

It's by Megity's Handmade.  Click HERE to shop her etsy store.  I'm not much for clutter but I think these tassels are SO STINKIN' CUTE!!

I also got this for Miss Abby herself:

baby not included...but isn't that the most ADORABLE hat you ever saw.  Oh I can't wait for her to get here and to put it on her little head!  This little flapper hat was from Portland Beanie Company.  Click HERE to shop their store.

From Roll and Tumble Press I got these great prints for our bathroom and for our kitchen:

To shop their store click HERE.

I'm not even mentioning the great fabric I've purchased as well as the lady who is making me an infant car seat cover!  I'm in love with ETSY!  Do you have anyone etsy stores you recommend?

Sugar and Spice

I had a wonderful shower today.  So much fun and so girly!  Thanks to my girlfriend Nancy for putting it all together and for taking lots of great pictures.  

The super cute party favors with a tea set!

Super cute pink baby buggy sugar cubes!

Opening lots of pink gifts!

All the ladies!

Looking rather "swell"  26 more days for Nancy, 46 more for me!  If we both make it to our due dates!  

Thanks again to everyone who came, for all of the wonderful gifts and to Nancy for putting it on!  Tomorrow's Nancy's big shower day, can't wait to reciprocate some love!

Get your kids to eat their veggies (and your hubby too!)

Growing up my Mom always made us eat HORRIBLE things...brussel sprouts, kale, spinach, if it was green and horrible we ate it!  Thanks Mom!  No, I mean it!  To this day my Mom still eats vegetables like they are going out of style.  I don't completely share her love but I do try to give my children lots of well rounded fruit and vegetables.

Last night I made one of my favorite stews (courtesy of Mom's kitchen):

3 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
1 lb. smoked sausage
1 large onion
6 to 8 large cloves garlic
4 large potatoes
1 large bunch kale (buy the pre-washed/chopped kind from the grocery)
2 quarts water, or substitute some chicken stock
2 16-ounce cans Great Northern Beans (don't bother draining)
Salt and lots of black pepper

Heat olive oil in a wide, deep (the deepest you have) soup pot over medium heat. Chop smoked sausage and add to pan.

Dice onion and add it to pan. Mince garlic and add it. Cook them together, stirring often, until they soften, about 5 minutes.  

Meanwhile, dice potatoes.  Add potatoes and kale to the pot.  (The kale is going to look like it is going to take over the entire pot, don't worry it cooks down)  Add water (or chicken broth). Increase heat to high, and bring stew to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until potatoes are very soft. (As it was cooking I picked out any of the kale stems, there was a lot in this particular batch.  If it looks like it will be hard to chew throw it out)  Use a potato masher or fork to roughly mash the potatoes and thicken the broth (I don't even bother with this step). Add beans and heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with bread or our favorite CORN BREAD!! I always add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese...SO YUMMY! 

Serves 4 to 6.

We enjoyed ours with the corn bread and fresh strawberries.  Very colorful and very yummy.  The best part...you really can't taste the kale, so you are sneaking in veggies without anyone being the wiser!

Off to an OB appointment...go eat some veggies today!

Happy Birthday Joel!

You are such a joy and blessing!  Happy 2nd Birthday, birthday boy!!  

No Surgery

There will be no surgery for this baby boy!!  Thank you Lord.  The doctor felt confident that doing surgery would not be beneficial so we are going to leave well enough alone!  YAY!  Trust me Joel was thrilled in his own baby sort of way!  I cannot believe it but Mr. Joel William is going to be 2 years old tomorrow...my baby's not a baby anymore!

On a side note have ya'll seen these car seats?  It's a Radian 80 by Sunshine Kids.  We are in love with these car seats.  They have a five point harness that will fit a child up to 80 lbs. AND they are very thin, so thin in fact they are made to fit three across in a car/van.  These have been a life saver for us.  Thanks to Dave Ramsey we won't be buying a new vehicle so we will be shoving all five children in the back of our trusted Honda Odyssey.  My children are all fairly petite so it will be years before they don't need some sort of restraint system.  Really I'm okay with this, I like to know they are as safe as possible, but have you ever tried to buckle three boosters on a bench seat in the back of a van, impossible!  Thank goodness for Sunshine Kids!!

Have a great weekend!!

Were you starting to think we were lost forever??

Gosh it has been forever since I posted last.  Almost a month!!  I think it's because I'm in full nesting mode and because we were in Kentucky for almost 2 weeks, not to mention hauling kids all over Virginia for Civil War and Dinosaur Dig camp!  It's been fun, but life is starting to take a toll on me.  Ya'll I'm TIRED and my pelvis feels as though there is 50 lbs of pressure on it.  Oh the joys of 5 pregnancies!

To start catching ya'll up I thought I would post pics from the last couple of weeks:

My boys travel so well.  It took us 11.5 hours to get to Halfway, KY and no joke I don't think there was one complaint.  We stopped three times to potty, ate breakfast and lunch in the car and even enjoyed some super quiet time when both Gabe and Joel fell asleep.

We had a big time in Halfway.  Greg's parents live on his grandmother's farm.  They have a huge garden, cattle to look at, a go-cart, a golf cart and plenty of cousins to play with.  The boys had a big time!  Joel was especially found of Great Granny.  They played cars together and he especially liked trying to push her around in her wheel chair.  He also LOVED to kiss her:

I was afraid he was going to snatch her ears off trying to plant a big one on her!  God love him, he is such a sweet boy.  

After four days in Halfway, we headed up to Louisville.  The boys were a little tired of being in the car.  Can you tell?

We had a fabulous time in Louisville too.  The highlight of the week for me was my baby shower!  Mom is a phenomenal hostess and the place couldn't have been prettier:

We totally stole this from Holly's blog, but isn't it soo cute!!

And the food, YUMMY:

Ya'll I don't think this is even half of the food!  It was so good and we were so blessed by so many people.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of you who came out to join with us in celebrating the birth of our very first daughter!

This past Wednesday we started to head home.  Greg was super anxious to get back (more on that later) and we immediately started home improvement projects.  We got the boys new bunk beds which meant their room needed to be painted ASAP before we could put them up.  Greg paints best at night when we are all sleeping and since he was in their room this is what I had to contend with:  

Let's just say, at about 11 I made two pallets on the floor and put two big boys to sleep down there!

One of the rooms we have really been working on is Miss Abby's bedroom.  Now that we have the bunk beds we can start thinking about moving Joel in with his brothers and really start working on Abigail Grace's room.  I found some fabulous ball fringe at Tassels in Louisville and hot glued it on yesterday afternoon.  I have a lovely blister to prove it.  OUCH!!  Here is a sneak preview of her room:  

It is SO not done but I'm really starting to love it.  When I get finished I will take a ton more pics and tell you where everything is from!!  Holly has been so wonderful to work with.  I totally recommend her.  Her prices are SO reasonable and I have totally gained a new godly friend in the mean time!

In other Spencer house news, ya'll we need some prayer.  Do ya'll mind?  I don't usually share this kind of stuff on the blog but my brain is on thinking overload and I just need to share.  Here is what is going on in our house that I need some prayer warriors to lift up to the Lord with me:

1.  Joel goes on Thursday to see a doc about a minor surgery he needs.  One doctor thinks it might be a little more minor then we initially thought which would mean a second surgery.  I should know more on Thursday.  It's really not a big deal (I don't want to post details for fear I may ruin his political career one day LOL), but finding time for doctor's appointments and pre-ops and surgery, etc is always stressful.

2.  I have yet to tell Sam, but on August 4th, he has to go in for a dental procedure to expose his top teeth.  Basically, since he knocked them out three years ago, his gums are so calloused that the teeth cannot break through on their own.  I had soooo many dental procedures as a child and this will be the first of many for him.  The dentist is already talking about pulling baby teeth after this visit.  My heart aches for him.

3.  On August 10th I head up to Bethesda to talk to the surgeons about having my gall bladder out after baby girl is born.  I have heard two horror stories in the last week about gall bladder surgery and my neighbor had hers out in June and mentioned that it was no walk in the park.  I'm pretty stressed about this.  I cannot imagine being out of commission for two whole weeks, YIKES!

4.  Sometime in August my Dad will be going to Kuwait for 6-8 wks.  Please pray for safe travel and for my Mom's sanity while he is gone.  I've already told him that I will be really ticked off with him if he goes and gets himself killed...sheesh I've sent my husband to the sandbox twice, enough already.

5.  September 9th is when Baby girl should be here.  Please pray that she comes as easily as her brothers.  I'm very nervous about having "drugs".  I loathe the thought of having another baby naturally, but the thought of ANOTHER (I've had tw0) spinal headaches is almost more then I can handle.  Please pray for Greg and I, I often refer to army L & D floors as MASH for good reason!

6.  We found out 2 weeks ago that there is a VERY good chance that we will be moving in the spring.  Greg was just accepted to George Mason's two year MBA program and we were really excited about being in Virginia for another three years.  Evidently the Lord has a different plan for our lives so now we are preparing our house (why Greg was anxious to get home) to either sell (PLEASE LORD) or rent.  Please pray/beg the Lord to find us the perfect buyers that want to buy our house and that we will be able to walk away without owing a dime.  Once we get an RFO I will post more details.    

Shooey, that was a lot.  I feel better all ready just sharing everything....on a closing note I just had to post this picture of Joel:

For some reason this picture totally strikes me as Ethan.  Bless his heart!!

(Can ya'll tell I've been in Kentucky??  How many times have I said ya'll!!)