Play Day, Parties, and Performing

I was going for some alliteration with the title.

But before we get to those topics, last weekend Matt and I had the opportunity to go out to dinner and SPLURGE on a feast. Sure Matt laughed at me, but I took pictures of the food. Oh, this was SO good. And I got a couple of meals out of it.

Matt had some kind of steak/seafood thing on top of mashed potatoes.

And for dessert...A giant chocolate chip cookie filled with more chocolate covered in ice cream. Um, yum. A lot.

We got an exersaucer for new baby, and had finally figured out how to collapse it down for storage when Joanna decided to climb in. She got slightly stuck, but that didn't really seem to bother her. On Friday for play day, we went to the children's museum downtown for some fun. First, let me remind you of Joanna the last time we went to the children's museum:Joanna was almost 10 months old. It's amazing what a different 7 months makes at this age. For me, the real difference is the lack of teeth and hair!She had fun then, but she really enjoyed the trip this time. There were like a billion kids there, but Joanna didn't mind. She spent a long time going up and down the stairs and ramp. She loved collecting balls and carrying them around. Good thing there were many many balls there.
"You lookin' at me?"
She spent some time hugging on some babies. And reading the giant version of Goodnight, Moon, a personal favorite.
She climbed into this little pit to play with the animals and dolls there.
Staring at her reflection in the plastic. She's pretty infatuated with that beautiful girl that shows up in mirrors lately.
Riding a fish.
And outside the "Tots" area, driving a train with her friends Anna and Emma. I didn't manage to get any pictures of Caleb and Colton, who also came with us. She's a little short, I guess.
And driving a van.
We had a great time playing, then we had lunch, then checked out a couple more things before heading home. Lisa and her girls Anna and Emma rode with us. Anna and Emma fell asleep in the car, which I was fully expecting Joanna to do. But SHE STAYED AWAKE THE WHOLE WAY HOME. She loves me; she really loves me!

Continuing our busy weekend, the ladies in our home group threw a baby shower for our friend, Kim. Kim has Caleb (see the Ege's blog), and they have a little girl on the way. So, we went all out pink on this one. Check out the fabulous decorations and cake: There are some seriously talented ladies in this bunch. I made the punch, but of course forgot to take a picture of it. You can imagine it. It was a container of rasperry sherbet mixed with a 2 liter bottle of sprite. Super easy, and if I may say so, quite yummy (and, of course, pink). I stopped taking pictures after this. I didn't have pockets and I didn't feel like keeping up with my camera. I've sent an email picture begging (hint, hint, ladies!), but you can also check out most of the other blogs linked to mine for more pics. I know Theresa already has some up -- over acheiver!

When I got home, we decided to move this dresser across the room. Doesn't it totally look like Joanna's helping Daddy? She was really straining, too. Obviously it didn't go anywhere.

This is me this morning (at 7:20am!) before heading to church. "The Expectant Quartet" (The four pregnant ladies from our home group) sang in church. If I may say, I think we rocked it. It was really fun, and of course we got all kinds of jokes about our "situation." A couple of the ladies, Kim and Amanda, are due this fall so they're sporting pretty big bellies. I have a tiny pooch (courtesy of all my cheeseburgers and ice cream!), and Theresa isn't really showing yet as she's due in March. So we were all stages of pregnancy up there. I didn't manage to get a picture of us. I keep thinking about it during the service, when it wasn't an appropriate time. Oh, well. I don't think this will be the last the world will see of us. :)
Continuing my preggo side shots: 16 1/2 weeks pregnant.