Five for Friday - the nursery

The nursery is almost complete and I couldn't be happier.  I am not a frilly, pink kind of girl so I went with the same bedding and furniture I had with the boys since it was gender neutral and just added some girly accents.  I love that its serene and calming.  Hopefully this will have a positive effect on her as well. =)

1.  We used the same furniture we had with the boys.  Love the piece below.  It was handmade by David and his dad before Austin was born.  Truly means so much to me.  Little keepsakes and personal things are kept up top with blankets and burp cloths in the bottom.

I found this piece of furniture at an antique shop and use it as a changing table.  (I know the picture frame is a little off center, we moved the piece of furniture yesterday and haven't had time to move the frame).


 2.  The painting was done by my friend Cortney.  Couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  Love having something with all 4 of my children represented.


3.  This is the same chair I rocked/glided Austin and Miller in and I can't wait to rock baby sister in.  We purchased the lamp and my interior designer found this great little garden stool.  We had this pillow made.


4. The curtains were left by the old homeowners but had a very heavy valance at the top. We removed the valance and added a beautiful curtain rod instead. I love the color and how they turned out.

5. I'm starting to pack our hospital bag and laid this out to bring her home in. I can't believe I am a month away from bringing home a precious baby girl.
 

One last thing in her room to remind me of what a precious gift the Lord has given me.

Countdown is on to meeting baby sister!

quick post

I have been a terrible blogger.  I am tired, big, uncomfortable, and a little overwhelmed with life right now so blogging has fallen by the waist side.  I hate that because this is my scrapbook and I love keeping up with our day to day lives but chasing 2 little ones while growing another little one is a tough job.  The kidney is unfortunately getting worse so it looks like the next couple weeks will be a grin and bear it kind of month.  Something else I hate because this is my favorite time of year.  I LOVE Christmas...decorating, baking, crafting, wrapping, worshipping, and I feel so crummy that I just don't feel like doing those things.  My OB put me on some pain meds to help with the kidney pain so hoping I will have some relief from the pain and can enjoy this time with my family.  Please hear me out...I am thrilled baby sister is doing well and we are getting so close to meeting her.  I really am thrilled but being pregnant 4 times in 5 years is tough work.  Just keeping it real!

So I plan on doing a much longer post of our wonderful Thanksgiving with family and the other happenings around the Spence home but here is a little tease.

Reading at night with daddy...definitely one of our favorite activities.
Loving on my littlest

Watching Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
Spending time with some of our favorite people...our cousins.
Making smores in the fire with daddy.
Seeing some of my high school girls while home for Thanksgiving break
Celebrating Thanksgiving

Picking out our Christmas tree
Be back soon with more recaps.

Sweet friends

Our precious friends the Meduri's came to visit Memphis this week and we had the best time playing with them.  We miss our Boston friends and talk about them often.  The boys are 3 peas in a pod and my boys love Poppy, especially Miller.  It was a gorgeous day so we spent most of the morning outside enjoying the weather.
 
The boys had the best time riding down the slide on top of each other and making a pile on at the bottom.


Audra stuck Poppy on at the end so she could be part of the pile on.  
Such a wonderful morning...thanks Meduri's for spending time with us.  We love and miss y'all!

Thankful

I am so very thankful this holiday season!

Thankful for this amazing man God gave me for a husband.  He is truly the best husband and father!

Thankful for these beautiful blessings God gave me to raise and love.
Thankful for 55 days with this beautiful boy and for knowing that I will be with him in eternity.
Thankful for our newest blessing and that she continues to grow big and strong in my belly.
Thankful for precious schools for Austin and Miller and that they both love attending.
Thankful for wonderful friends and family.

Thankful Miller is doing well with potty training.

We truly have so much to be thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Five for Friday

1.  Just got back from the Urologist...kidneys are worse but nothing we can do about them.  Just wait 6 weeks until baby girl makes her grand entrance.  Nothing worse than a doctor telling you that everything looks worse and you feel worse but there is nothing they can do about it.  Say a prayer if you don't mind that the pain would not get any worse over the next 6 weeks.

2.  Just finished shopping for Le Bonheur's Christmas Stockings.  Love that the Forrest Spence Fund can help provide cheer to children while they are in the hospital.  I truly can't imagine spending the holidays in the hospital with your child.  We are hosting 3 dinners for families between now and Christmas.  This Tuesday we are expecting close to 120 people to eat a warm meal with us.  Truly a blessing to be able to serve these families.

3. The Forrest Spence Fund is in need of new children's books to place in our Care Baskets and to give away to families at the dinners. If you would like to contribute than new children’s books can be dropped or mailed directly to: INDEPENDENT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 4738 Walnut Grove Road - Memphis, TN 38117. Please make sure your name is included so we can thank you.

4. Starting potty training boot camp in the morning. Wish me luck. I am truly dreading it with this little spitfire.


5.  We are getting ready for Thanksgiving over here.
We have been working on our Thankful tree.

Just a couple things mommy is thankful for...

Hope you have a great weekend.  I am hoping to get some projects done around here...definitely starting to nest!

On the road again...

The last 2 weekends we have been on the road.  2 weekends ago David and I left the kids with the grandparents and drove to Middle Tennessee to spend the weekend with my best friends from college.  We try to get together at least once a year if not twice.  This year we were blessed with 2 weekends, 1 in Boston just the girls and this one at the lake with the couples.  It was truly perfect.  Perfect weather, perfect friends, perfect relaxation.


This past weekend we loaded up the boys and drove to Knoxville.  The boys did great on the drive there and back.  It took over 7 hours to get there because of a terrible wreck on I-40 which meant the entire interstate was diverted to Hwy 70.  We thankfully made it home closer to 6 hours.

We stayed with one of our favorite families...the Robinsons.  We have been friends with them through most of our marriage and it is always such a blessing to be near them.  We lived in the same city for 5 of the last 9 years and are sad we are 6 hours apart now.  We hope to continue visiting them every year.  The boys LOVE Kate and CC and talk about them all the time.  (Unfortunately I didn't get 1 picture with the kids or us together).

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Robinsons and then drove to campus to experience game day.  It was so great to be back where so many wonderful memories were made.

Before the game we met up with some old high school/college friends who were so sweet to let us use their tickets for the game. They were perfect seats and the boys enjoyed the view of the field. Thanks Tyra and Eric!

After we met up with Tyra and Eric we met up with 2 of my high school girls who are now freshmen at UT. It was so great to see them and hug their necks.
We then headed to the stadium to see one of the best sites...the running through the T. Love it!
We did lots of things to entertain the boys when they got restless...took pictures of ourselves with the camera.

and enjoyed a lot of food.

We made it through halftime and then threw in the towel.  The boys were not going to make it that much longer.  When we left we were up 21-7 so we felt pretty confident that we were going to win but boy were we wrong.  What a terrible loss!  We made the long journey back to the car to head back to the Robinson's.

We spent the rest of the afternoon outside enjoying the perfect weather.

Sunday morning we took 3 of my high school girls out for breakfast in downtown Knoxville.  It was such a treat to spend time with them.  I am so proud of all my girls and love seeing them enjoy college life.

2 great weekends spent with wonderful friends making lasting memories!