Happy half birthday, Julia!

Julia turned 6 months old on the twelfth of the month.  I can't believe half a year has already flown by!  It seems like only yesterday that we were welcoming our precious daughter into the world.

Julia is not quite crawling, but she scoots around quite well.  She's in constant motion, and she must have really strong abs and arms with the number of crunches and push-ups she does!  She sits up on her own like a champ and she is getting more and more used to solid foods, after her first foray into the world of food - Grammy's mashed potatoes on the evening we finished taking boards.  Raspberry yogurt seems to be her favorite food thus far, but she also likes rice cereal, peas, and bananas.  Applesauce has made her gag every time she's tried it!  Julia continues to make fun sounds and we're pretty sure she's begun trying to use one of the signs (milk!) we've been trying to teach her for months now!  It's amazing to see her trying to communicate with us!  After a few months of only wanting to eat books, Julia is getting a little more patient, which makes it easier to read to her once again.  Julia loves being outside, swinging, playing in water in the tub or pool, playing with toys, jumping around in her activity center, playing with her feet and her hands (lately, she loves moving them in the air like she's conducting an orchestra!), and music.  She is such a happy little baby and she loves to smile and laugh.  Julia is also very affectionate, and loves snuggling, hugs, & kisses.

These six-month photos were so hard to capture because Julia was so squirmy!  Here, you see her about to dive out of the chair!

Doing push-ups!

And sit-ups!

Julia, I want you to know that the past six months have been the best six months of our lives! You are so beautiful, so full of life, wonder, and joy.  Thank you for the lessons you have taught us.  Thank you for being you.  We love you so much, and we come to love you more and more with each passing day. You bless your daddy & I more than words can describe.  May God bless you always, precious Julia Grace.

Done!

We're FINALLY DONE with Step 1 of boards!!!!!

Can you tell that I might be a little excited? ;)

The last month was one of the most challenging and exhausting experiences I've had, but our studying finally came to a close when we took our 8 hour (!) exam on Thursday.  Praise God for pulling us through!  And, praise God, it's over!  Now, we can take a much needed break before starting rotations in July!

Here's some snapshots of the more interesting (read: non-studying) happenings lately.

Our bathing beauty.  She loves trying to drink out of big people cups.

Julia goes swimming for the first time with her aunts!

Aaron and I were interested in the caffeine... Julia just wanted the cardboard.

Happy girl

Might she have a religious vocation in her future?  Haha!

You can tell this was on a Sunday after church, because we don't look bedraggled!

The game we were playing with Julia had her laughing hard!

Towards the end of May, Julia started getting really good at sitting up by herself!

Julia, just playing with her chain and talking to herself

My boards study party is cooler than yours.  Admit it.

Chillaxing in the backyard. 

We read First Aid while Julia read about penguins.  We wanted to trade.

Now it's finally time for summer VACATION!  Woo hoo!

A Shower for Meghan

My older sister, Meghan, is getting married this month.  So, one beautiful Saturday in May, her other bridesmaids and I threw her a bridal shower!  Since Meghan is an artist, we had an art themed shower.

I had fun drawing and designing the invitation:

We decorated my house with Meghan's artwork through the years (from 1989 onward!), as well as photographs of Meghan, trying to create an art gallery ambiance.  Besides being decorative, the artwork and photos were used for the first game.  Guests had to match each artwork with a photo of Meghan, based on how old they guessed she was when she created each piece.   We also framed images of famous paintings of weddings, and used these as decorations.

Playing the first game.

More of Meghan's art on the walls, and famous wedding paintings decorating the side table and entertainment center.

The game was quite the challenge!

A sampling of Meghan's art through the years.

Meghan's art and photos on the wall and framed famous paintings of weddings on the bookshelf.

A sampling of some of the famous wedding art used for decoration.

We had famous paintings to go with each item of food, keeping with the theme.

The spread of food.

Picasso pizza, displayed with one of his paintings.

Spinach dip, paired with an "Untitled" work by Jackson Pollack (see the resemblance?!) and Corn Tortilla chips paired with "Young Corn" by Grant Wood.

Still Life fruit cups paired with a Cezanne painting.

My dad cut us out a nice big cardboard palate so we could feature "paint splotches" of M&M's - one of Meghan's favorite treats.  Some of the many home dipped chocolate covered "paintbrush" pretzels were bagged ahead of time and sent home with guests as party favors.

Punch bowl, with more of Meghan's artwork on the walls.

We played three more games.  For one of them, I had asked Meghan's fiancee, Erik, some questions ahead of time, like what their first date was, who their favorite artists are, what their favorite paintings are, what they're looking forward to most about being married, what their biggest pet peeves are, etc.  Meghan had to guess what Erik's response was.  Party guests had to guess how many of the 25 questions she would get right. 

Another game was a wedding cake decorating contest - guests were given cupcakes and frosting and everyone made a tasty creation.  For the final game, guests had to use chalk to sketch Meghan's wedding gown... with their eyes closed!  The bride-to-be was the judge for the last two games.  The winners of all four games received a pack of 5 custom notecards, each notecard featuring a different piece of Meghan's artwork on the front.

The bride-to-be at the beginning of the wedding cake decorating contest.

The mother of the groom and the mother of the bride!

Guests getting creative!

The winning wedding cupcake!

My mom with her cupcake, made to look like the groom-to-be... haha!

Eyes closed, drawing wedding dresses!

Comparing creations

Meghan was showered with lots of beautiful gifts and enjoyed opening those throughout the shower.

Some of the shower gifts, placed on a desk we'd moved into the entryway.

Having fun opening gifts.

As Meghan opened gifts, guests colored and wrote messages for a special coloring book for Meghan to keep as a momento of the shower.  Each page featured a different picture of Meghan and Erik to be colored in, as well as a place for a fun caption to be added under the picture, and a message box for each guest to be able to share some warm wishes with Meghan. 

Guests coloring while watching Meghan open gifts.

Coloring pages + bin full of crayons = Creative momento for the bride-to-be!

I think a good time was had by all, and the other bridesmaids and I certainly had fun planning and throwing the shower for Meghan!  She is very much loved!

Meghan with her bridesmaids, hostesses of the shower!