More Greta

It's a...Greta!

Last night Lori woke me up at 1:30 am and we headed into the hospital. At 4:11 we welcomed little Greta Rachel Heitland, 20 1/2", 8 lbs 2 oz into the world. She has a full head of black hair, and she and Lori are doing very well. We're very excited. Check out the pics below:

The countdown continues...

Well, I am officially one week away from my due date and still
no real sign of baby wanting to come. I have never really had
"big signs" with the other kids so I'm not anticipating much there.
Aaron came super fast so we'll see about this one.

This week Morgan has been very sick with some weird virus,
(throwing up, super high fever, and very sore throat- not strep,
the test was neg.) so we have been cooped up all week. It has
actually been a good thing, I've been taking it very easy, reading
to the kids, naps, etc. I think this week was what I needed! This
morning I even attempted one of my Grandma Thomas's recipes,
Graham Cracker pudding. It was always one of my favorites.
Haven't tasted it yet, but I'm sure it will not taste anything like
her's. Whenever I have tried any of her recipes they fail miserably.

Aaron loves to kiss the baby and we have been trying to get
a pic of it, but whenever we try to snap a shot, he does not want
to cooperate! Here he is just cheezin' it with my big 'ol belly.


Story time with dad


Claudia being silly

Watermelons

Every summer, our Amish neighbors from across the street
sell their "seconds" from their watermelons. You can get a big
ol' one for just a buck. For whatever reason, it is against the
Amish religion to have their picture taken , but I snuck this
one from the front yard today. I sure hope they didn't see me!
Here they are with a few of their kids (they have 7) setting them
out for sale. Don't know if you can tell from the pic, but the mom
has a sleeping baby in her arms as she writes the price on each
melon.



Aaron and his find at the stand today


"Uh-oh ball!!"

Sissy's hat

Aaron is now in love with hats. T he other day he got his
hands on one of Claudia's and wore it for awhile.

Busy Days

These past few weeks have been busy busy with summertime
things. There is much to do around our place with pulling weeds,
flowers that need trimmed and grass that needs mowed. Not to
mention trying to capitalize on all the fresh produce available this
time of year. I also spent 2 days cooking and freezing meals to have
ready for after baby is born.

Speaking of baby, I have only 1 1/2 weeks left until my due date.
I went early with 2 of my other pregnancies and so I am banking
on that again, but know that it could be longer! Overall, I have been
feeling pretty good, it's just very awkward and cumbersome at this
point in the pregnancy. I very much look forward to having this baby
out and finally meeting little one who has been living inside of me.
This waiting part is hard for me, I wish I knew if the baby was coming
tonight or if it would be another 2 weeks! Guess this is all a part of
the beauty of pregnancy (someone remind me of that beauty next
time you hear me moan and groan about being swollen and large!!)

Here are some picts of what we have been up to. Last week we got to
see my long time friend Bethany and her new bubby Eric. They
got married last month in New Hampshire and we were privileged
with their visit on their way to Arizona for their new jobs there.


Our corn was finally ready and we spent the day today husking,
silking, cutting, freezing. A BIG job but we are oh-so-grateful
when we get to eat it all winter!! My mom was the life saver today,
doing almost all of the cutting off the cob. My large belly could
hardly fit over the sink.


Last week we canned peaches. One thing about living in such
an area as we do, is all the access to cheap produce. My mom
found these LARGE boxes of peaches for $5 each b/c they had
hail damage. They were hardly damaged and good eatin'. That
was the deal of the year.


One more fun thing that happened this week. Down the road
from us was this Amish run, fire company benefit garage sale.
They had all this cheap stuff, tons of clothes, fill a bag for $2.
I went twice and got a full bag each time of great clothes for the kids.
Some of the items still even had tags on! As we were leaving
after being there for the second time Claudia said to me, "Mom, the
sign said FILL a bag, not STUFF a bag!"

Reading on the Roof

My adventurous husband has tackled yet another project and 

re-shingled the roof to our shed.  The girls had fun hanging out 

on the roof with him.  Here they are enjoying their library 

books.

Aaron having a little picnic

Morgan and Aaron were quite hilarious cruising around the 

yard in the Barbie jeep.  Aaron kept calling it a "Beep!!"

Happy Birthday, Morgan!

Yesterday our precious little Morgan turned 6! It is hard to
believe that she is growing so quickly. She is such a sweet and
cheerful addition to our family and we are so grateful for her.
Sun. night we celebrated with my parents. Morgan and my
mom had made some flower pot cupcakes. Here they are
proudly displaying them.




Aaron enjoying his flower pot


Morgan's new tea cup and saucer from gma and gpa


New sweat suit (yeah, it's a little big!) and a
squirmy worm from sis, Claudia

Naughty Boy

Up until our move back to PA, Aaron has been my dream sleeper.
Not sure what has happened since the move, but he wakes super
early now and struggles with his naps. The other day he would
NOT let me put him in his crib, I spent 3 hours trying to get him
to nap. Finally, he konked out on his bedroom floor.

Yard Helper

Red Beets

We spent the whole day at my mom's yesterday canning red
beets. Fun for all...

Everyone helped scrub them clean


Aaron getting a drink


The scrubbing turned into a water party


We have over 80 pints when we were done