August 4th

We have an inducing date!!! AUGUST 4th! I had the option of having the baby on July 30th, but I figured since I had waited this long for her, I'd do all I could to have an August baby, so she'll have her own birthday month. Now, if she wants to come early tomorrow...then hey, that's her choice! I have had a few contractions here and there, but nothing serious. So, Klaire Rylee (Riley, Ryleigh, Rylie) Alma will be here no later than August 4th. (Obviously we still haven't decided on the spelling of the middle name. Feel free to leave your opinion on that one!
In no particular order:
1. Klaire Rylee Alma
2. Klaire Riley Alma
3. Klaire Rylie Alma
4. Klaire Ryleigh Alma

Nesting part four - the finishing touches

Some finishing touches in our bedroom:

I made the clock this past week from a kit that I have had for quite some time. I got the candle holders from...get this....GOODWILL yesterday.

This is the top of my dresser with one of my all time favorite pictures of Luke, a box of albums, and some other stuff I got on sale.

Here's the top of Eric's dresser. The lamp was normally $119.00, and I got it for $12 at Hobby Lobby!!! Crazy, huh? I'm not crazy about the glass part of the lamp, but I think I know something I can do to make it look different or slightly colored but......it would be an experiment, and I'm not sure I want to tackle it in case I ruin the lamp. (Oh, and try to ignore the pole behind the lamp over there in the corner. That's not supposed to be there.)

Some finishing touches on the living room area
The bookshelf/desk you see when you first come into the house. Eric built it quite a few years ago.

These were up in my house growing up, and well, they just make me happy. The top left is my dad and his sister when they were little, and the bottom right is my mom and her older brother when they were little. These are located at the front of the hallway when you actually walk in to the house..(right next to the bookshelf).

I found these votive candle holders that my neighbor had given to me last Christmas and they match nicely. She was thrilled when she saw that I finally had put them out. She actually thought that I didn't like them. I had to convince her that I did like them, but just didn't know where to put them until now. I put two over here and then three on the bookshelf.

I found this little black basket at Goodwill the other day, and knew I could find something to do with it. And I think it works really well to store all the X-box controllers and stuff. Now to keep the kids putting them back in there when they are done!

I wanted some Scriptures on the wall which is yet another reason I LOVE Hobby Lobby. I go these canvases for half off which made them about $7.50 each. SWEET!!! These are above the chair in my living room that in the corner.

Remember the stars in the corner of the dining room??? I thought they needed something else, and well, I think it looks so much better now with the rub on words on the wall. Don't you?

Let's see...there's a couple of projects in the works still to get done. I have a mirror that I want to spray paint the frame of it, and display it either in the dining room or in my bedroom. I've heard that mirrors make a space look bigger, and I think it would probably look best in the dining room since our dining room isn't very big....but then...it would look good above my dresser too. We've had the mirror FOREVER and it's just sitting in a gold frame in our basement, so I might as well put it to use, right?

I'm also spray painting a basket that I found in my mom's basement gathering dust. It was a scary gold color, but I spray painted it brown and am waiting for it to completely dry. We'll be using it next to the love seat to put library books or magazines in. Hopefully it'll work for us.

Eric's working on building a wall in the basement to separate the yucky part of the basement from the school room. The frame of the wall is up along with the door, so he's moving on to phase 2 - DRYWALLING. I'm excited to see what it will look like when it's finished. It'll be so nice not to see the laundry/storage side of the basement when we have school.

Oh, and last, but not least. We plan on painting the playroom/guest room downstairs to make it look nicer instead of just having the primed walls. But this project probably won't happen for quite some time.

K-A-L-E-B

Kaleb wrote his name yesterday. Yay for him!!!!

This makes me smile!

artwork by Jakeb Alma

OUCH!!!!

Poor Kaleb did a wipeout yesterday, and used his face to break the fall! Poor little guy! Looks like it hurt, huh?
Maybe being "Mr. Independent" isn't such a great idea for him!

Two weeks from today!!!!!

Well, baby Klaire Riley/Rylee will be here no later than TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!! (We still haven't decided the spelling of her middle name!) I'm hoping she comes early enough so the older boys can come home, and then go to camp next week, but I'm not holding my breath even though the doctor said I've softened and I'm 3 cm. I guess we just have to wait and see. It's all in God's timing, right?

Zoo w/ the cousins

Map Quest

The other day I was talking to Blake, and he was reminding me how he borrowed some money from us when we were at Mackinac City. He went on to tell me that we could go get the money out of his box that he BURIED IN THE BACK YARD!!!! He told me that he made a map for us, and that he had mailed it, so we could go and get it. So, when we got the letter from him, I had the cousins and younger boys go on a treasure hunt. Surprisingly enough, they found it within minutes! It was crazy....and it was DRY!

Nesting part three - Klaire's letters

Here's phase one of Klaire's letters. Someone was asking me how to do them. It's super easy. First you but the paper out and glue it to the letter. (You put it face down on the back of the paper and trace the letter onto the back of the paper.) After the glue dries I either cut the excess paper off or I sand it off. Remember if you don't cut exactly right or something.....you can always fix it later.) I also like to use a sealer to put on the top of the paper too to make sure the paper doesn't start to come off. That's why I use Mod Podge glue because it's a glue and a sealer.Then after it dries you simply add the ribbon and embellishments. Here's where you can fix any imperfections with your cutting techniques (especially if you're like me) by simply covering them with the embellishments. Just add the buttons, ribbon, and flowers. I add a little 3 dimensional paint too just for kicks! And then Voila...you're done!

Nesting part two - the living room/dining room

THe wall above the love seat. This used to be where a whole bunch of pictures of the kids were, but I switched it to this. Once again....everything on the wall was either on clearance (like the big picture for $10 at Michael's), or from a garage sale (sconces). Here's where I put some of the pictures of the kids that used to be on the wall. I know the candles are a little tall up there, but whenever we get the chance...we're going to cut them down a bit, so there not quite that tall.

And I think this might be my favorite wall right now. Here's the wall you see when you first come into the dining room. Obviously...the new baby will be in the last picture. I did the H-O-M-E letters this past week. They were super easy...not to mention that they were free because I won a prize from that scrapbooking crop that I went to two years ago. See..I finally put them to use! Those weren't the papers that originally came with it, so I got some new papers to match the dining room a little better.

I just got the stars today at Joann's for 70% off. I got all of the stars for less than the price of the big one originally. I think I still need something on this wall. What do you think? Does it look okay?

The entry table....once again....90% off clearance for the LOVE and the metal thing to the right.

And the dvd cabinet

I've had this bowl for literally YEARS, and never knew what to do with it. I bought some of those big balls to put in it yesterday, but they looked funny. Stacy, my sister-in-law, suggested getting some fancy potpurri to fill it up, and VOILA! it works great, not to mention that cool candle holder (90% off) and the prettiest candle in the world (50% off). Oh, and that orange ball/orange thingy is NOT that bright in real life! I promise!

Nesting part one - our bedroom

I think I've been nesting or something because I've been hanging these pictures like a mad woman! Okay, not completely true. Eric's been hanging them. I've just been buying and arranging them. above the piano in the back corner of our room
Got the picture and frame on clearance from Michael's for $10! Can't beat that, huh? I need to find one more picture for above Eric and me, but I haven't figured out what to put there yet.

on the side wall next to our bed

Mostly everything was on clearance or 50% off here too. And the Rejoice sign was a gift from Niki that I've had for a couple years and finally got it in on the wall. See that metal thing on the left of the shelf??? Got that for $1.50 the other day at Hobby Lobby. It was 90% off! Crazy, huh?

And then the wall above the bed

I got the picture from Kohl's for 40% off and then an addtional 30% off of that. I LOVE that picture!

Anyways, that's phase one of the nesting. Stay tuned for phase 2 - the living room/dining room!

The Pink bike...

...that is constantly fought over in the house by two kids. Here we have Kaleb making fun of Makenna crying. (Yes, this bike is not pink, but that's because the pink one hasn't been brought outside until about 5 minutes later. Then they fought over that one too.) Who would have thought? What's funny is that Kaleb loves to ride it around the house and outside, and Makenna doesn't care too much about it until she sees Kaleb riding it. Then it's all down hill from there! I actually videoed them fighting over it the other day, but just so no one would think I'm the meanest mom in the world, I'm not gonna post it.

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

Makenna girl sure does love her grandpa, T-Rex!

We're home!

Okay, we're home, and have been home for a couple of days. But I've been slow in getting back to the blog. We had a good time in Michigan..enjoyed the family reunion, went to Mackinac City, and LOST TWO BOYS!!!! No, they're not actually lost, but the older two boys are staying with their grandparents until the baby comes. It was all such a last minute decision, but they were stoked to be staying. I haven't even talked to them yet because I don't want to be the "over-paronoid mom," but I'm calling them today and gonna talk to them. I've heard that they are having an excellent time, so no need to stress out. Right?

Here's some pictures from our trip.

Some reunion pics

We celebrated Jake's birthday again up there. It was pretty late when we finally went out to eat at Jet's Pizza, but he didn't care. Shoot, the kid got to play at a wanna-be Chuck E. Cheese, eat pizza, and then go shopping afterwards...not to mention stay up till almost 12:00. It was definitely a good day for the little guy.


After church on Sunday morning we went to Fort Michilimackinac and Mackinac City. I love the pictures of the kids at the beach.

Ha!!! here's a picture of them in the latrine all sitting on the pot.

And then we went to the house of mirrors where there is a maze of mirrors to go through and them crazy mirrors at the end.