Pumpkin Picking and Play....

Here are some pictures of all the fun we have been having the last couple of weeks.

First, a few weekends ago, we went out to pick 'our' pumpkins. Some friends of ours that have a ranch planted us some, so I can make pumpkin seeds (buying pumpkins is getting soo expensive nowadays!) We really appreciated it and came away with 10. Emma had a blast picking them!

Emma wasn't so sure she could pick this big pumpkin...

this one was more her size!

Here she is going for a little bigger one!

We also went to see the kittens, which Emma LOVED, of course!

We asked Emma if she wanted to ride the horse and she was all for it, until Heidi brought the horse over! We will try again next summer!

Emma sitting with her pumpkins!

We also took Emma to pick out some fall flowers after church one Sunday. She loves flowers and thought it was very special to have her own. (we didn't plant any this summer...I was just too sick and it was too hot!) The mums from the picture have bloomed like crazy and are just beautiful!

This picture is kinda fuzzy but this is one of Emma's 'football' faces!

Emma sportin' her new Husker shirt!

Lately, Emma has been very into tutus, music, dancing, jewelry, purses, feeding and changing her dolls and pushing her grocery cart! And when Emma wears a tutu, that means she has to make mommy wear one too (believe me, I look ridiculous, but I can't pass up the sheer joy it brings her! and no, you will not be seeing any pictures of me pregnant in a tutu)!

Here I found her with Sophie propped up against the wall, feeding her! Too cute!

Emma looking so pretty in pink!

Feeding Sophie again on a different day!

Emma wanting to play with mommy's purse. In her hand is her new bracelets and ring. She is always wanting to wear my wedding ring (which I don't let her), and told her that the next time we went to wal-mart we would pick her out a ring....she was so excited to have her own ring!

Here Emma is wearing her new 'shoes'! This kid has such an imagination!

Here Emma is ready to go do some real shopping with mommy in the QC!

The last couple of weeks have been a little rough. I came down with what I would classify as the worst cold I have ever had, the sore throat was unbearable! and I was just exhausted (I went through 7 boxes of kleenexes). Emma came down with it too, but only had a runny nose, congestion and a slight cough. She also didn't sleep well at all for the week she had it and only wanted mommy, so we didn't get much sleep. 10 days out and I am still congested, but am finally getting some energy back. Good thing, b/c I was needing diapers from Target and had a long list of places I needed to go in the QC, so today was the first day I felt like I could tackle it! God really answered prayers and Emma and I managed to get to all the places I needed to go, and Emma was very well behaved. We had a lot of fun just hanging out...Emma really is a joy to be around, and I am glad I finally have a shopping partner!

I started my list of "to do's" before baby #2 arrives. It is really long! And I need some energy to start tackling it! I also signed up to do Cream of the County Bazaar & Craft Show (b/c I don't have enough to do!!!) My goal was to do at least 2 craft shows this year, so I needed to find one more and I thought this one fit the best. It is a little different than your normal craft show. It runs Oct. 14th-17th and is in an old historic building in the QC. Its limited to 25 vendors and we just set up displays of our stuff. People will come thru, shop and pay for all of their stuff at one check-out on the way out. The coordinator of the show collects all the sales for us and then cuts us a check after its all done. I only have to work the show for 10 hours during the 4 days, and I can choose when I do that. I am not sure how my 'stuff' will go over...its different from all the other vendors, and no one else is selling diaper bags & accessories. I am just not sure the type of crowd that this craft show draws, and well, my stuff has a pretty specific customer base. So I guess we will see how it goes! I have been working on inventory for the craft show, and also adding a new style of blanket (more like a receiving blanket) as well as an adjustable nursing clip (so you can turn any blanket into a nursing cover, or burp cloth into a bib, etc).

Well, thats about it for now. I will post an update after our 30 week OB appointment and 3D ultrasound that we have on Tuesday! I am excited to get a glimpse at what our little baby looks like! I also had my first dream about what this baby is last night...but I am not gonna share ;)

28 Week Belly Pics...

Here are some 28 week belly pics that were taken on Sunday. Hard to believe I have less than 12 weeks to go! I have so many things I want and need to get done before this little one arrives...I suppose I better start a list so I don't forget anything!

I am now starting to feel big!

Labor Day Weekend Trip...

Shane took a couple of vacation days from work and we took an extended Labor Day weekend trip home to Nebraska. We wanted to make one last trip home before baby Struckman #2 arrives in December, and we decided we would not be going home for Christmas since the baby will only be a few weeks old.
We had a great time and were able to spend lots of time with family! Here is the run down of our trip and pictures!

We left Wednesday, the 1st, after Shane got off work and headed to Gretna, NE to Shane's sister, Lindsey's house. We stayed there for the night. The next morning we continued on to Lincoln, where we spent several hours cuddling and awwing over our new niece, Londyn Macy Ayres, who was born on Aug. 30th. She is such a tiny little thing and is as cute as can be! Emma thought she was sweet too, but was more interested in her cousins' toys!

Miss Londyn!

Uncle Shane and Londyn

Emma and Grandma Sharon (she was down helping out with the new baby)

After leaving Lincoln, we made the journey the rest of the way home to Roscoe! Emma was thrilled to see her Nana, and my mom was just as happy to see all of us! We spent the evening making supper and settling in before the craziness began the next day!

Didn't take long for Emma to remember Nana lets her play in the sink in the bathroom!

Thursday evening, after I put Emma to bed, we set out some of her birthday presents and blew up some balloons!

This is the scene I always remember coming down to in the morning on my birthdays growing up as a kid, it was so fun to do the same for Emma!

September 3rd, 2010
Emma's face when she saw the balloons! My baby girl turned 2 years old!!!

We gave her a balloon to play with while we waited for Papa Carson, Great-Grandma Joyce and Great-Grandpa Dave to come down to watch her open presents.

(remember that I just got out of bed in this picture!)

Emma loving her card...its Micky Mouse and plays the intro song to Mickey Mouse Club House...and yes, she stills plays with it daily!

Let the gift opening begin!

We got her lots of clothes, pj's, memory game, notebook, crayons, markers, pencil box, stickers, flashcards, princess shoes and lots of other stuff (she opened some on her b-day and the rest on Sunday at her party).

Emma opening her Caillou books! She was super excited, I ordered a lot of 14 off Ebay for her!

Emma in her 'birthday girl' shirt!

Emma doing her 'scrunchy face'...LOVE IT!
She is always giving this face and many others!

Playing the piano...another thing she loves to do at Nana's house!

After gift opening, we had breakfast, then went down to my parents new house they are redoing to watch my dad pour cement in the new garage and so Emma could put her hand prints in the wet cement! We then made a trip to Ogallala for groceries, lunch and to order Emma's ice cream cake for Sunday.
Friday afternoon, the rest of the crew arrived which included: Jared, Missy, Luke, Matthew, Nathan, Jacob, Abby (my brother and family), and Brad, Brit, Zoe and Haley (my sister and family). They all stayed until Monday morning. Emma had tons of fun with all her cousins. We had quite the house full, but enjoyed every minute of it! The kids had run of the backyard and could play in the sandbox, baby pool, baby blow of jumper with balls, blow-up house and blow-up slide and pool! We had great food all weekend...my brother brought his smoker and smoked ribs, roasts, pork loins, fried some chickens and even made some crab legs! We also dined on macaroni salad, spaghetti salad, watermelon, sweet corn, homemade pickles, lots of other fresh fruit and veggies, and more! My Aunt Cami, Uncle Mike, and cousins Morgan and Chase also came down for part of the weekend. The adults were even able to squeeze in cards in the evening after putting the kids to bed!

I made cupcakes for Friday evening, so we put two candles in one for Emma to blow out!

3 of the boys going to bed on the air mattress, which after a few minutes was flat! Turns out there was a big hole in the bottom, but the whole thing was comical none the less!

Emma enjoying the sand box.

On Sunday, we had a joint birthday party for Emma, my dad (b-day is 9/5) and Nathan (b-day 9/7). Here is Emma in her party outfit, looking the big 2 that she now is!

Me and my beautiful Emma! I look at this picture and it gives me glimpses of what she is going to look like 10-20 years down the road! She doesn't have a trace of 'baby' left in her in this picture!

Daddy & Emma

Opening presents, a new baby with lots of accessories! It took us quite a bit of convincing to get Emma to open the rest of her presents, because all she wanted to do was play with her new baby!

Emma, Zoe, Gramma Joyce and Aunt B

A new hat!

Emma's cake

Shane's grandparents, Louie and Patty came down to see us, as well as, Sister Mabel (not in this picture).

4 generations!

Left to Right: Tom (Shane's dad), Lindsey (Shane's sister), Sister Mabel, Shane, Grandma Sharon (Shane's mom), Emma, Grandma Patty (Sharon's mom)

Abby walking around eating a chicken leg!

We spent the rest of Sunday playing outside. Some 'adults' even had some fun on the blow-up slide and pool. I think it began with Brad thinking it would be fun, then daring someone else to do it, which was when Missy totally went for it, which then turned into a battle between Shane and Britni of 'if you do it, i will'. (i of course could play the 'pregnant woman' card). But I have to say, none of us have ever been as shocked as when out of no where my dad comes running in and 'attempts' to go down the slide...his tailbone was hurting after that...and his second 'attempt' wasn't much better with the face plant!

It was but minutes after this excitement that the only drama of the weekend unfolded where I sat, relaxing in a chair and watched from across the yard as my grandpa Bud backed out to leave and made a huge wide turn and nailed the back of my minivan! I saw it coming in slow motion, and even said 'he is gonna hit my minivan'! And no, I didn't cry, its just a vehicle and it can be repaired (everyone seemed to think I would overreact...I guess my main point I was trying to make blogging about our new Honda Odyssey wasn't that I got it, but that I accomplished doing so paying cash with God's grace. Its just a material item, and a blessing from God that I am thankful to have for our family, but I don't place a huge amount of significance on it.) Anyway, its going to require a new back lift gate and a new back bumper...I am still waiting to hear from my grandpa's insurance to get the ball rolling on getting it fixed. It was strange, I had a feeling something was going to happen to the minivan for few days before and was extra cautious driving it, and after it happened, I told Shane about my 'feeling' and he said he had had one too!

Monday morning, we rounded everyone up to take some family pictures:

Cousins galore!

The Blackman side of the family

My sister, Britni and I

Me, my mom and sister, Britni

After everyone left Monday morning, Shane took Emma out to spend the day on the farm with his parents and I enjoyed a low-key afternoon. I had lunch with my parents, grandpa Bud, and grandma Joyce and grandpa Dave. After lunch, I got all my grandparents to play a few rounds of cards before they headed out. After everyone was gone, my mom and I went down to their new house and checked out the new deck my dad finished building. Of course, I spent a couple of hours gathering up all of our stuff and packing!
Tuesday morning, we made a donut run to town, then hit the road. We got a late start and didn't get gone til 11am our time. We stopped in Lincoln again at Shane's sister and grabbed some lunch. We finally arrived home around 9:30 pm. We unloaded, then I unpacked and did laundry and finally made it to bed sometime after midnight.
We had a great weekend and felt blessed with the time we got to spend with our families and the safe travels...can't ask for much more!