Last weekend was a thrifting weekend, and we had our sights set on baby clothes. We decided to check out a flea market right down the street, where we met some very nice people and happened upon this gem:
 

Measuring in just shy of 4ft x 5ft, it was the largest frame I’ve ever come in contact with. It was in pretty bad shape — water damage had stripped a lot of the finish, stained and warped the mounting, and left a less than pleasant looking residue on the glass. 
 

 
It was $15. It was fantastic! We told the seller we were going to use it in our baby room, and he remarked that we could do a map and planet theme with glow stars. It’s like he had known us our whole lives. Actually, it wasn’t anything like that. We told him we had other plans, and after learning that our purchase was too big for our vehicle, and then driving back home for supplies, and then slapping a huge frame with a huge sheet of glass on the roof of our car, and then very carefully arriving home, we started to flesh out our ideas. After a trip to Ikea, Jomar, and A.C. Moore, we were ready to get down to business!

And here’s my butt!

Removing the original stain with a power sander:

Liz wiping down the bare wood. With all that baby stuff happening inside her, she had to stick to the “special” tasks.

Here’s the beautiful wood that was just below the surface of all that nastiness! If we weren’t after vibrant colors, this grain would have made for a wonderful staining. 

Here’s my face!

After a priming and several coats of bright green paint, we mounted some large-pattern fabric and hung carefully on some heavy-duty hooks. I had been on the lookout for some up-lighting, and on our fabric run we happened upon these perfectly matching clamp lights on the cheap! Wooooo!

25 week heartbeat and some “neckfurters”

After our appointment we picked up Shelly and Rowan and went over to my parent’s house for a little bbq. To test our own parenting abilities, we found as many ways as possible to laugh uncontrollably at a toddler. Spinning turned out to work the best. Here are Jon and Shelly taking little nugget on a spinning adventure.

Here my dad got a little training of his own. Taking Rowan for a shoulder ride, he got a good taste of the next few summers. Rowan finally decides that the shoulder ride is no where near as exciting as spinning so he requests help on a dismount and spins again. This time I’m the spinner! Once Rowan realized how much we enjoyed a laugh at his expense he began to just walk and fall on his own. What a little ham.

On Saturday Jon’s oh so generous mom took me shopping for a whole new maternity wardrobe. I managed to get a whole bunch of items that will serve me well for the remainder of this pregnancy. Thanks Janet!!! Here you can see that Jon got a little taste of what it might be like to have a 6 month pregnant belly. I think he looks quite dashing…and lumpy!