The Beach with Friends!

BIG NEWS!

Well as many of you know Dan was told his job would be gone as of the end of June, this caused a little stress in our lives. :) Well he heard this last week that he indeed does still have a job and that job will be staying around! We are so very thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers! Another of our stresses was that our van died...again, and thinking Dan would not have a job we could do nothing about it. But after hearing he would have a job we found a new (to us) van to buy! We picked it up today and are so happy to have a car that our whole family fits in again! After 3 months of having just my old honda civic (and borrowing, and asking for rides), I almost don't even care that we have a car payment (almost), for the first time ever!
And just to make you smile, and because both of my girls are so cute here is Leili smiling and Fern just being Fern! :)

Life!

We have the best little mommy here! I just love the sweet sister love!


Here is Leili in her favorite sleeping place, mom! :)

Look at the sweet chub slowly packing on!!

We are really enjoying all of the great awake and alert time Leili is having now, we all just marvel at her cuteness!!

Here is Leili's first bath! She had quite the audience and she really enjoyed the water!

All last week Riley was at cub scout day camp, his good friend Orion got to go too!!

My birthday was on Saturday so after a yummy breakfast of vegan french toast we drove to the canal at lock 12, had a picnic and then enjoyed a nice walk. Here is a picture Riley snaped during our picnic!

Fern enjoyed testing our new stroller, first by pushing, and then by riding! :)

Of course I had my traditional lemon cake with lemon frosting. MMMMM!! Thankfully Dan did not try burning the house down by putting enough candles on!!

And here is sweet Leili just being Leili! She makes noises all of the time, even when she sleeps and eats!! :)

Returning to Life...

...ever so slowly!

We went out on a little family excursion a little over a week ago... and it was SOOOO yummy! Blueberry picking!

Don't let this serious picker fool you, she ate more than what she put in her bucket!
Isn't she too cute!!

Dan and Leili did the most picking!

Jake and Fern were more into finding "hide-outs"! It was pretty warm in the sun and even I was wishing for a little shade!

Riley Loves to pick blueberries, and he actually put quite a few into the bucket!!

But of course Leili and I did plenty of sitting too! I don't get much done between nursing yet, but I enjoy cuddling with my babe! Here she is sporting her beautiful sun hat Aunt Mary brought her!

Here was Leili and my view from the wagon! Our hard working boys!

Look at our loot!! We froze most of our berries (9 cups), our next bunch we are hoping to make into jam! MMMMM!!!

Babymoon!

Hi all, thanks for the well wishes! We are doing well and just enjoying our babymoon! Here are a few more pictures to hold you over until I am blogging regularly again!

P.S. Leili is pronounced "Lay-Lee"!

Leili Ann

Well after the long 9 months of waiting she decided she yesterday was the day to give up her warm and compfy home inside mom's tummy and so here she is! She was born Sarurday June 20, 2009 at 2:29pm. She weighed in at a modest 8 lbs and 2 oz. and was only 21 in. long. She has a lot of dark hair, Dan's cute nose(only a little smaller and cuter than his).

The Proud Family!

Riley is so happy to be a big brother for the third time! He is so happy and helpful.

Jake is so good with little babies. He wanted to hold her all the time (and he is good at it too, he is a natural).

Last but not least is Fern with her new little sister. She spent all the time she could in the our bedroom after she was born either holding her or just sitting next to her looking at her and running her fingers over all of Leili's little small parts. It's nice having two mommies in the house.

MMMMMMMMM....

Well what else do you expect a VERY expectant mama to do but eat! :)

I have been a fan of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food for quite some time (I don't think I have met a lentil I did not like)! But have always relied heavily on other cooks and restaurants. Well no more! I have found a very happy meal that is easy and MMMMMMM!!!!!!

Over at the blog Vegan Dad I found this recipe for Nann triangles with Dahl filling. I love little red lentils, and chickpeas, and nann so I figured this was a winner! We have now had this a couple times in just the last couple weeks! But seeing as I said easy was a requirement I will tell you the secret ingredient (Trader Joe's nann is super yummy and about the only brand I have found without dairy in it)!!! One other tip for the recipe, Vegan Dad says to cook the lentils without a lid, but it is much more creamy (less pasty) if you cook it with a lid)!

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Now what to serve with it?

How about this SUPER yummy Quinoa Tabouli!!

(Sorry about the lighting on the picture we have not seen the sun in a few days and today it never stoped raining!!!)This is a recipe from one of my all time favorite cookbooks, Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair, I just make it with quinoa instead of burglar. MMMMMM!!!!

But sorry I am quite pregnant and just do not feel like sitting here and typing the whole recipe out. So if you want it email me and when I have a bit of time I will get it out! :) Or you could just buy the book, you will not be disappointed! I have the older edition and it is hard to not justify buying the new edition (all the pages ARE falling out of mine, and there ARE new recipes included in the new one), but who's justifying? :)

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Anyone else have a super yummy dinner tonight?

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Oh and now all the baby guesses have passed, so ether re-guess or I get the treat! :) Who would have guessed #4 would be the hold out! :)

While We Wait...

Dan has been getting a couple "honey-do" items done! He patched THE hole, fixed the mower and mowed the lawn, tended the garden, and... Created my hair brained idea for quilt hanging!

Here is my quilt from when I was little, my Grandma M. gave it to me and it is well "loved"!
Here is one of Dan's baby quilts, he is pretty sure Peggy F. gave it to him (although he can't quite remember that far back).
They both look great up on the wall in our bedroom, plus it is nice to have a little extra "comfort" hanging around! :)
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Also during our waiting we got to enjoy Aunt Mary for a couple days!! It was great although always too short!


Jake enjoyed hanging around and hamming it up for Aunt Mary!

The kids even got her up in their little fort they have built in the wooded area!

And the good Aunt brought fun new baby stuff!! Now if we only had a little model to show them off. (COME OUT BABY!!!!)

Then Mama scored and brought out the squirt guns, what is more fun then squirting Aunt Mary!!!

Dad tried to stay out of the way doing yard work, but....

He was gotten!!

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Thanks Aunt Mary for the visit!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Belly!

Now remember this is the 4th big belly I have had and that is why I like black & white photos (it hides the stretch marks better)! Thank goodness for the self timer my camera has, the tripod my mom bought me for my birthday last year, and Riley's budding photography skills (and his patience for all of mom's directions)!!Just 5 one more time!
Fern is so excited to be a big sister!

Riley just loves babies, and bellys, and mama!

Jake is the one who plays with all the babies anywhere we go, we know he will be an awesome big brother again!

And the production team!

I think this is the first picture of Dan and I together for a nice belly shot besides last time with Fern, but that was just his hands.

And then today, it is faint but if you enlarge this you can see the henna my friends decorated me with and my birth necklace they all made too!

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Well here we are on the home stretch, now just to wait until this one is ready! I know I am!! :)