FALL GARLAND CRAFT

I loved planning our first fall painting project for Charlie recently. He is super into painting right now, which makes momma so happy! After looking around online for a template to print out like I was wanting, I just decided to make my own.

YOU'LL NEED

- Printer paper (2)
- White cardstock/construction paper (2)
- Sharpie
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Fall paint colors (we did orange, green, and yellow for the pumpkins, and red, brown, and yellow for the leaves)
- Paint brush
- Baby wipes (so necessary with a toddler!!)
- Twine/String
- Hole Punch (not pictured)





CREATE YOUR OWN COLORING PAGE
First step is to get started on what you want to be painted! This was so simple and completely however I wanted it to be. I wanted him to paint pumpkins and leaves, so I started by drawing some examples of each in various shapes and sizes on regular printer paper. Then I picked 3 of the best ones to keep. Some other ideas that we may do later this fall are: Candy corn, acorns, piece of pumpkin pie, a cute little turkey, or a football. You could even do Halloween items like: a bat, friendly ghost, black cat, or a jack-o-lantern -- seriously, anything your heart desires here.

Next I cut the templates out and I traced multiple of each onto one full sheet of thick white cardstock with a sharpie to create my own coloring page for my little guy to paint.

I thought it would be a lot easier to let him paint the entire paper before the shapes were cut out. He is starting to really understand filling the shape in with color, but coloring in the lines is not his ability yet. So this was perfect for a 2-year-old to be able to fill in each shape with paint and me to cut them out after they dried.

 

Once the pages dry, cut out each image. I like the look of leaving the black sharpie edges as an outline. Look at some of these pumpkins and leaves that are totally filled in with paint!!!! I was super impressed that he did that. 

The last thing you have to do is decide how to order them on your garland, hole punch each shape, and string them up. Yay for this beautiful fall craft done by your little one!

If you do this with your kids, be sure to send me pictures. :)
Emily

OUR FAMILY IS GROWING! + PREGNANCY UPDATE

I haven't officially announced our exciting news on my blog: We are adding another James baby to the family sometime at the end of February 2019!

We are so thrilled and thankful to the Lord for this sweet gift of life. Every time I think about it I am completely overwhelmed by the reality that this is a gracious gift from the Lord. I am so excited to snuggle another little baby and to watch Charlie become to be a big brother. 

I thought it would be fun to share some details about this pregnancy and compare it to my first pregnancy some, how it has been different or the same and if that is any hint at the gender. And speaking about the gender...our anatomy ultrasound is at the beginning of October! Ahhh, I can't wait to find out. 

So let's get into this pregnancy update!

How did you tell your husband?
I told Samuel totally different this time around. For one, our first baby was a happy surprise. :) Also, Samuel was basically waiting outside the bathroom door with me to find out. And, he was the one who recommended I even take a pregnancy test to begin with because I didn't believe I was pregnant. Ha! We found out together, and I was already 8 weeks along at that point.

This time around, we had just started trying to get pregnant again. I had a very strong feeling that I was pregnant for over a week before I took a test. I didn't really keep him in the loop at all, which is so unlike me, but it was all because I wanted to really be able to surprise him with the pregnancy test since I didn't get the chance to do that the first time! I kept my suspicions and buying a pregnancy test a little secret until I knew for sure. I took it early one morning while he was at the gym before work, and when he walked back in the door, there I was with a positive pregnancy test! 

Were you surprised? 
I wasn't! But Samuel was! Opposite of last time. 

How many weeks along are you?
18 weeks.

Baby's heart rate? 
It's been 154-155 bpm.

Cravings? 
For most of the first trimester, NOTHING sounded good. It was a  s t r u g g l e. I would get so so hungry, but felt like there wasn't a thing that was actually appealing. 

Eventually I started to crave egg salad sandwiches - for like two weeks straight. Then I craved this little made up combo with tortilla, cream cheese, pepperoni, and cucumbers and ate that every day for like two weeks as well. Bagel with cream cheese was also a staple early on. I might have also needed a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonalds a couple of late nights. My husband is the best. ;) 

Gender? 
We are going to find out in early October! We are both suspicious it's another boy. I would guess boy based on not being terribly sick, acne improved, and similar pregnancy "feel."

1st trimester symptoms?  
Sickness- I only threw up one time (around 6 weeks) because I waited too long to eat breakfast which made me sick. There were two other instances were I thought I was going to get sick, but I hurriedly shoved a bagel in my mouth and it went away. It's a weird sensation to feel nauseous and be eating at the same time, but that is the secret in the first trimester. 

Tiredness- No joke, I could not go one day without taking a nap while Charlie was napping. It was unbelievable how tired I was. Sometimes on the weekends when Samuel was home, I would take a nap basically as soon as I finished eating breakfast and then again when Charlie was taking his nap. I have never been more unproductive or let chores go more, but it was so unavoidable.

Hunger- SO so so hungry all the time.

Can't Stand- Super sweet food and my sugary gummy vitamins.  I had to switch to a non-sugary vitamin because the others tasted SO sweet!

Round Ligament Pain - This was waayyy worse this time around. Basically any time I would stand up after sitting down for a while, that muscle would spasm and shoot pain! I had to be sure to stand up super slowly so that it wouldn't hurt. It's finally happening less often.

Other- I had major bloating and discomfort in my first trimester as well. So miserable. A homemade peppermint oil scrub right on my stomach worked wonders. 

Movement?
I started to feel light flutters around 15 weeks pregnant. By 18 weeks they feel like tiny kicks! I remember starting to first feel flutters during my first pregnancy around 17 weeks, so for me it's true that you feel movement earlier the second time around.

Maternity clothes?
I have started to wear maternity clothes here and there for comfort, but I can still wear most of my normal clothes right now. Same as first pregnancy at this point. 

Baby name? 
It's sooo much harder this time!! I feel so picky. We have mentioned a boy and girl name that we like, but we don't know if we will use them yet. Send me some suggestions y'all cause the ones I keep reading online are....terrible haha.

2nd trimester symptoms (so far)?
Energy- Hallelujah, my energy is ten times more than it was last trimester! Around week 14 I really felt a jump. I don't have to have a nap to function and that is a relief!

Sleep- Still getting up once a night to go to the bathroom, but sleeping fine. Crazy dreams, but that's normal for me. I had some back pain at night lately and started sleeping with a pillow between my knees which has helped.

Bump- Oh yes. It's here for the party.

Left: August 15 (13 weeks along),  Right: September 18 (Almost 18 weeks)

Thanks for reading this little update, friends! I don't know how often I will be able to do these, but we will definitely share the gender sometime after we find out. What do you think - boy or girl? ;)

Emily

MICHIGAN: FAMILY TRIP, HOLLAND, THE BEACH

The end of summer will be here before I  know it, but we just got back from our long-awaited summer vacation to Holland, Michigan! This was my first time in Michigan. The weather was mild, the beach was beautifully sandy, and downtown Holland was adorable. 

This particular part of Michigan was highly recommended to us by some local Illinois friends who have taken family vacations to Holland nearly every year. Everyone we talked to raved about Michigan, so I was excited to cross a new state off my list and get a beach trip all in one. And it was only a short 3 hours from our home which is an added plus! We traveled to a 100 year old AirBnb house with my parents and sister for our week away.

DAY 1: DOWNTOWN HOLLAND
The first day was drizzly and cozy. We didn't let it stop us from walking around the shops of downtown Holland. Samuel and I agreed that this was one of our favorite days of the trip. The sprinkle of rain made ducking into the shops, eating treats, and drinking coffee even more cozy and enjoyable. 

Some favorite shops were:

• The Peanut Store (the dark chocolate sea foam might be the best chocolate tasting thing I have ever tried)
• Reader's World bookstore
• Crane's In The City Cafe
• Big E's Sports Grill

Also on our first day of vacation, Charlie refused to take his nap and ended up totally crashing at dinner time. We woke him up to eat, but he just could nooottt peel his eyes open. So, it was an early bedtime for this guy. And some good snuggles beforehand.

DAY 2: FARMERS MARKET, SUNSET AT THE BEACH

First we stopped for coffee, went to the Holland farmer's market, and then we checked out Nelis' Dutch Village. Animals to feed, carnival rides, places to run, free cheese and chocolate samples - it was basically a kid-sized theme park.

  

Later that night we drove to Holland State Park to watch the sunset which was beautiful. This was Charlie's first time seeing waves and sand! His shoe came off while we were walking towards the water and he would NOT let his foot touch the sand at first. Like, he stood like a flamingo with a disgusted look on his face. (Hence the shoes on while we are at the water.) He eventually warmed up to the sand by our beach day. 

DAY 3: BEACH @ TUNNEL PARK

Finally we had a beach day!! It was......cold-ish. The wind was chilll-ly, but laying on a towel in the sand was actually warm and totally fine, like I may have gotten a sunburn. Charlie loved the sand (after a worrisome first sand experience!). Digging, scooping, falling over on it, laying on a Darth Vader towel, playing in his tent, he had a blast. He even liked standing at the water as it came up and back even though it was FREEZING. 

 

 

Michigan, you were lovely! We can't wait to go back again someday.

Emily

APRIL ADVENTURES: TAKING FAMILY TO CHICAGO

I'm back with more April adventures as promised!

If you read my last post about our two week trip to see family, you would know that my sister-in-law and her family will be moving very soon to a new state. They told us a while back they wanted to come see where we live now before they moved, so they came up for the last weekend of April for a quick weekend trip. Samuel's parents came too because they had not visited Wheaton since the weekend we moved here. We had 6 adults, a 6- month-old baby, and a 21-month-old all staying in our two bedroom place. It was pretty cozy, but oh so fun.

They, of course, wanted to go to Chicago while they were in town! We've lived in our new town for TEN months now, which seems so hard to believe, and we had not been to Chicago since last August. It's only about an hour away from us so that's kind of crazy, right?! It was about time we went back. 

The first time we went last year it was only Samuel, Charlie, and I who rode the train in for the day. Let me tell yall. This second trip with family was WAY more successful, enjoyable, and eventful. So keep reading for some tips and details of fun things we loved doing. 

1. Choose the right travel method. First things first, we drove instead of taking the train this time. Don't get me wrong, riding the Metra was a super fun experience that I hope to do again soon, but for a big group (we had 6 adults and 2 infants) it was just so much easier to drive exactly where we wanted to go because of strollers, diaper bags, babies, a nursing mother, etc. 

The drive into the city was not terribly bad. I had always heard how awful the traffic would be. My husband, the driver, might disagree with me but I didn't think it was all that bad. The hardest part was trying to find parking, but once we realized most places were about the same price we just settled on one. 

The cost of parking was ridiculous, so be prepared for that if you decide to drive your own car. We were there from about 11 am - 4 pm and it ended up being $37. To be fair, we parked at probably the most popular parking garage directly under Millennium Park, compared to my sister-in-law who parked about a mile away from Millennium Park and only paid $12. It truly was nice to be in a convenient spot that day even though we paid a little more for that convenience. Just to give you some perspective, when we rode the Metra it was still over $20 for our tickets. 

2. Pick just a few main destinations. Our main destination for the day was Intelligentsia Coffee. My sister-in-law was a beast at mapping out everywhere we wanted to go. The first time we went to Chicago this was not the case. We failed at planning. People, planning is the KEY to an amazing Chicago trip  because you really have no conception of just how BIG this city is. It can seriously take 30 minutes to go from top to bottom of the city. So you have know where you want to go in order to survive. 

The location of Intelligentsia we picked was just a block away from Millennium Park. Look at it HERE on the map as a reference. It was so so good, you all. I wasn't sure if I was going to love it (because I think Quills coffee back in Louisville is the worst, and I thought it would be similar) but I really loved Intelligentsia. I'm so glad we stopped in there for coffee first thing because the temperature was in the 50s, which felt like the 40s. In April!!!! Chicago winter never ends. It was nice to have a warm cup to walk around with.

After we got our coffee, we walked back over to Millennium Park for those who had not been. Is that place ever not crowded!? It kind of is one of the best photo spots, though. We grabbed a quick Panarea Bread lunch across from the park to take care of the babies diapers/feedings. 

 

Which brings me to my next tip: 

3. Plan your destinations based on what's nearby. Make your plans doable. It's not realistic to plan to go to place A, then drive to B and C. That will waste your money and your time. We walked to a nearby shopping area (essentially an indoor mall) called Block 37 which we found on the maps app. It was just a short walk from where we already were and it had a lot to see and do! We went to the Disney store, a two story Anthropologie, Magnolia Bakery (no relation to Chip and Joanna's Magnolia, but they had the BEST whipped chocolate banana pudding. Oh my.), and got a break from the cold wind being inside.

4. Go to Garret Popcorn. That's the last tip. Just go there. Get the Garret Mix with caramel and cheddar popcorn, and you will have pretty much guaranteed a successful Chicago trip. It's DELICIOUS. 

I'm definitely not an expert at Chicago travel by any means yet, but our experience from the first time was just so night and day I wanted to share the things we found helpful. 

I still have some other things on my Chicago bucket list like:

Stan's Donuts

Go to a Cubs Game

The Navy Pier 

The Skydeck at Willis Tower 

Lincoln Park Zoo

Chicago Children's Museum

Firecakes 

Oz Park 

Garfield Conservatory

Drop anything else you think we would like in the comments. I'd love to know what other things you recommend doing! 

-Emily 

APRIL ADVENTURES: TWO WEEK TRIP TO KY AND TN

Loooong time no blog! How's your start of Spring been? It's been a busy month for us, but filled with the most exciting things like family, vacation, and lots of traveling. 

When we went back home to Louisville for Christmas, we knew it would be our last time in Kentucky until April. You may not think 4 months seems that long, and really it's not, but it was the longest stretch between seeing family we had had since moving last July. And it was going to be over winter which would make it feel even longer. But come April, Samuel would be attending the T4G conference for work which, as it happens, was back in Louisville! So all three of us were going along to spend time with family for a whole week.

During that long winter like I mentioned, we found out that both of my sister-in-laws and their families would be moving this summer. It seems hard to believe that in the short span of a year, all three of the James kids would be moving to new states away from family for the first time. But each for great, God glorifying opportunities that we are so excited for! For the last few years we have been doing our James family vacation in May, but with the moves coming up, we started to wonder how we could squeeze in at least a small family vacation in April. We had this crazy idea to take the week after the conference off for the family vacation and it worked out absolutely perfectly. That's how we ended up sneaking in a TWO week trip!

The first week of our trip, which contained the 3 days of Samuel's conference, we stayed at my parents house. We did ALL the things, you guys. We had a belated Easter meal with my Mamaw and aunts and uncles, Charlie and I had a mall shopping day with Mimi and Aunt Rae Rae, Samuel and I saw A Quiet Place on a date, we had dinner with sweet friends from our pervious church, I saw one of my best friends from high school, Charlie and I got haircuts by my talented cosmetologist sister, we got pedicures, ate Steel City Pops, and played the worlds hardest game of sequence.


S N A P S H O T S  from  the  first  week

Easter// Mamaw + Charlie

Mimi reading Charlie a new book

My Favorite Muffin + Aunt Rae Rae

He was a BIG fan

We went to the Zoo with cousins and old church friends!

B O T T L E  B R O K E N  (on  accident!)

Charlie was bottle broken during this trip!!!! Color me SHOCKED. Before this trip, he was drinking basically all of his cow's milk in his bottles. He would ask for it every time and get super sad if I even thought about putting the milk in a sippy cup. He would drink his water in a sippy cup or Contigo water bottle, but not that precious milk. It had to be a bottle. Even though I was hoping to break him of it eventually, I was totally fine with him keeping the bottles until 2ish, or at least until he finished cutting his last teeth - the two year molars. Throughout teething, the bottle was his main source of comfort so I was fine with him having it until then. 

I joked to Samuel about "forgetting" to bring the bottles to see if we could break him of it, but decided the thought of having to go buy new ones in Louisville if he needed it would be silly. So I washed them and put them out to dry the morning we were schedule to leave Wheaton. That night in Louisville, I went to make Charlie his bottle before bed and I realized I DIDN'T PACK THEM. I was highly anticipating having to go get at least one bottle the next day, but would you believe it, he never asked for it. Not once in the whole two weeks. And then we came home and he still didn't ask for them. So, I hid them away and his bottle days officially ended. I was amazed how easy it turned out to be! Maybe the Lord made me forget to bring them to Louisville. ;)

  

D A T E   N I G H T 

Also squeezed into that week was Samuel and I's first night away since having Charlie. He did great spending the night with Mimi and PopPop! He's such a champ when it comes to saying goodbye to us and we are so, so thankful. We ate dinner downtown, and walked along the river at sunset. It was really special to be able to do that back in our hometown.

Louisville, Kentucky

G A T L I N B U R G  James  Family  Vacation

On Saturday we left Louisville for a 4 day trip to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for our James family vacation! That place is our go-to getaway. We stayed in a big cabin and soaked up all the family togetherness, playing games and watching The Greatest Showman for the first time. We always love to go to Cades Cove, and this time we got to see a mama and baby bear just hanging out nearby. We also went to the aquarium, played putt putt, and went out for pancakes!

Charlie had a BLAST getting to play with his cousins on this trip. His speech went through the roof after spending that time with them, too. He was already saying tons of words well, but after being around the other kids his clarity was noticeably better. He fell in LOVE with his two little girl cousins, Leighton and Addie. It was especially precious to watch him be so sweet to Addie who is 5 months old.

We will always treasure this vacation before everyone's big life changes.

Cades Cove 

Addie and Aunt Emmie

The cousins 

Cades Cove// Charlie + Leighton

We headed back to Wheaton on Friday, almost two weeks later. With that we had officially taken our longest trip as a family ever. I was so excited to share this trip with you, but also to "blog scrapbook" it for myself for years to come. We left this trip feeling so thankful - for parents who hosted us, a job that let us travel, a baby who slept well for the first time on vacation, for time to spend with family and friends, and for new exciting things ahead for the James kids.

If you thought that was all the excitement we had in April, stay tuned for another APRIL ADVENTURES post from when we went to CHICAGO with family last weekend! I will have a happy report of a much smoother trip this time around, and some new favorite food finds you have to do if you come to Chicago. 

Stay tuned for more adventures.
Emily