The Billings Family: March 2016

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Virginia Baby Shower

Hello everyone!

Aaron and I had a great Spring Break on the East Coast! (March 11-20) We started our travels with renting a car and driving 5 hours Friday evening, sleeping at a friend's parents house in MO, and then finishing the 13 drive to Virginia the next day! It really wasn't all that bad! I had lots of space to stretch my legs and recline my seat when the baby was getting uncomfortable. Of course Aaron drove the entire way. He's amazing. I'm the navigator and snack provider when needed. :)

So we arrived late Saturday evening (the 12th) and unpacked and slept really well! We got up Sunday morning and went to Zion Mennonite for church and a fellowship meal. Right after the meal the baby shower prep began! My wonderful Aunt Jewel, cousin Andrea Yutzy, and cousin Risa Yutzy planned our sweet baby shower! Aaron and I felt so special and blessed by all of our friends and family that attended! Every detail of the afternoon was well thought out and well organized! Even down to the whale cupcake cake. :)

This was the cute guest book with a whale on the inside of the front cover that everyone did a little finger-print stamp to add to the whale water spout. The pages of the book were filled with sweet notes from everyone that came.

Everyone guessed how big around my belly was using a piece of ribbon!

Here's the daddy-to-be! Doesn't he look so good?! I just love him so much.

The picture board on this table was covered in our baby pictures! I can't get enough of how cute Aaron was as a baby and toddler. I hope our baby boy gets his looks!

Tea lights as a shower gift to everyone. So thoughtful.

This mound of diapers was used to make diaper cakes! Everyone got really creative and I got to choose the winner!

Here's the adorable whale cake! Aaron and I do have a theme of whales in the nursery. Lots of blues and some gray accents, with a cute white crib! I love how it turned out! I knew the second we were having a boy that I wanted everything to be blue!

Another fun shower activity involved everyone hot gluing a button onto this canvas to fill in the whale outline. It is already hung in the nursery in Virginia!

Our PILE of amazing and thoughtful gifts!!

We (more like Aaron worked and I sat in a rocking chair and read directions) got busy right away building the crib. We love it!!

These are some of my very best friends who came to the baby shower!

Left to right: Sarah, Tamara, me, Kelly, Katelyn.

We really missed having Lauren, who lives in Nicaragua currently, at the shower! A few of my other good friends who made it were Kara Eby and many Zion church friends and family from out of town!

These cute and practical bibs were a present from my mom! She saw this design on pinterest and just whipped them right up! It's a bib with a paci attached to the end with a snap! How sweet!

Week 28!

This picture was taken by the forsythia bushes in my parents backyard. The forsythia flowers were just coming into bloom.

Thank you to everyone who came and blessed us with your love and support for our baby boy! We love you all!

-Maria

Monday, March 14, 2016

The past couple of months - phone pics

Since Christmas, Aaron and I have been busy doing lots of fun activities! We are busy with work, school work, family activities, trips, selling our car, and birthday parties!

Intrust Bank Arena PBR Rodeo!

We made a quick day trip for Aaron's Aunt's funeral. We were able to see all of the Billings' family. Logan and Uncle Bear are the cutest together!

Super Bowl Party! Little Grady is the cutest and Aaron held him for so long that he fell asleep!

I always end up with the so many cute pics of these two boys:)

Madelyn loved Casey Boy! She just watched him and got really excited when he came up close!

Check out a few of Aaron's adorable baby pics! I was getting these pictures ready for the baby shower and couldn't resist snapping a picture to show you all! I hope our little boy looks just like his daddy!

So here's my Chevy Cruze...long story short, we sold it in 1 day without a whole lot of thought. We were planning to drive my car to Virginia for Spring Break and just park it there for a few months until we moved. Anyways, we decided to just accept the dealer's offer and rent a car to drive to Virginia. It all sort of fell into place quickly and worked out well! The Chevy was a great car but maybe a bit small for a car seat and a 100 lb. dog. We might upgrade to an SUV in the future! In the meantime, I am driving Aaron's parent's Jeep. We are thankful for their generosity.

Next up, Makenah Grace's 6th birthday party! We had a ton of princess fun!

Danielle and Bryan planned such a cute party for their little girl, and of course Makenah got to invite a few of her school friends! Logan even joined in on the fun with the big girls!

Frozen theme!!

Madelyn joined in the fun too! She's wearing a crown that grandma made her :) She's crawling all over the place now and loving watching her siblings play and talk.

Here's the beautiful party host! Danielle always does such a wonderful job making her children feel loved and so special.

Logan and Makenah have birthdays in the same month, so we got to give Logan his presents early. He got busy right away with his dinosaur activity book and really liked tracing the dinosaur names.

My best friend from Hesston made this adorable personalized dino shirt for Logan's 4th birthday. He's the cutest 4 year old!

Another thing that takes up most of Aaron's evenings and some weekends is his school work. He has been busy making bulletin boards for two of his courses. He also is in an internship with a 6th grade class at Hesston Middle School, and really is enjoying the teacher and students. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Aaron also works with two 1st graders at the library for reading and math. He is doing awesome with teaching and becoming comfortable in front of a class. I am so excited that he is becoming a teacher!!

Love, Maria

Growing baby boy bump!

Hello all!

In the past couple of months the baby has been growing and is healthy! Here's a few pictures so that you can see the progression! I am currently in my 28th week, and beginning the 3rd trimester. Our baby boy is well loved already! I am also going to add where each picture was taken so that I have a record later on.