Catch-up

You have a lot of catch up work to do! I just updated for the last week - have fun!

22 weeks

We are 22 weeks right now (5.5 months). That means Drew should be about a whole pound and a foot long!! I'm feeling him move a lot more consistently and it's been fun to have other people feel him kick or roll around in there. I'm still carrying pretty small, I'm actually carrying smaller than I did with Evan at this time! The picture is a little deceiving since we took it at night when my belly is at its biggest, but you get the general idea. :)

Thanksgiving

I really can't believe that this time last week I was planning my part of the Thanksgiving meal and now it's gone! Thanksgiving for us was very enjoyable. Scot ended up having to work, but we made the best of it. It was a smaller group than we though tit was going to be, we had a family from my folks church over, my grama, and then Evan and I. Even though it was smaller, we still had a lot of fun and ate a lot of good food. It was unseasonably warm out and we spent a lot of time out on the patio and the walk we took after dinner and before dessert was one of the most pleasurable I've ever been on for this time of year! We are especially thankful this year for our friends, our family, little Drew, Scot passing boards, family being close, our church family, and of course, our ability to worship our Lord without fear. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

4 generations on Thanksgiving day! It's so fun to have my grandmother so close for a little bit - especially during the holidays!

Chatting it up out on the patio in the wonderful Colorado sunshine.

One of our 'black Friday' purchases. Yes, I am close to embarking on potty training - not until the New Year, though. I'm planning to have a separate blog in diary form to track our failures and success in hopes of it being a resource for other moms who want to potty train early. More on that later.


Getting ready to leave for The Nutcracker ballet - something my mom and I have done since I was 4 or 5.

Birthday Fun

Being a Turkey baby has it's ups and downs. Growing up, having friends over was always hard since people were out of town a lot of times for the holiday. But being a turkey baby now is a lot more fun! What better way to spend your birthday with friends and family? Yeah...not much. My birthday was spread over about 4 days with different dinners with different friends. It was great fun. Very low key, but that's what I wanted.

My actual birthday was spent with Scot and I just hanging out. We had a huge breakfast (my favorite meal) and just spent time together - it was the bet present ever. On Wednesday, I went down to the springs to celebrate with my folks and grama. Scot was able to be there for birthday dinner and presents. Britt and Abby came over for my typical cake and ice cream- vanilla cake, vanilla icing, peppermint ice cream - it was great! Enjoy the pictures!

Scot bought a slice of my favorite 'store-bought' cake - Berry Chantilly from Whole Foods - for my actual birthday. He is such a sweetie!


My traditional birthday cake that my mom made me - so yummy!


Britt and I before cake and ice cream!


The kids playing while we filled up on sugar

Real Fast

Life is starting to speed up, and yet, I don't remember it slowing down. Is this normal?

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is in 3 days?! Anybody with me on that one? We're doing down to the springs to celebrate with my folks, friends, and my grama! I'm very much looking forward to it. Mom, Grama, and I will be heading out to the Nutcracker on Saturday. It's a little tradition and I'm excited because this year, it's the San Diego troupe passing through, so we're getting one of their three performances...I'm stoked. :)

This past week has been...a blur. I really don't even know how it's Monday. I know where the weekend went, but last week...what did I even do? I had a drs appt that went really well, but other than that? I'm lost. Thankfully, this is where the camera comes in handy...

This is what Evan looked like after 'eating' yogurt the other night...

Peek-a-Boo!


Our little guy was all grins and giggles this past week. His best moment - feeling his brother move for the first time! He looked so surprised, like "Hey, your tummy's not supposed to do that!"

We went down tot he springs to visit Grammy and Grama and the baby bird! (My mom has/raises birds for fun) This little girl scared the pants off Evan once she started moving, flapping, and begging for food...it was priceless.


Always spoiled at Grammy's - chocolate on a Ritz cracker. And we get to see what he would look like with a mini-goatee! haha


We had our friend Rachel over so her mommy and brother could go to a birthday party...it was fun times.


Tommy and Bethany came over for dinner (that Bethany made!)Saturday night in celebration of my upcoming birthday! It was so yummy!


Rebecca made Sunday birthday lunch for me and we had a great time just chatting and letting he kids play...and then nap. Her hubby was on-call and unfortunately not there for Scot, but he still enjoyed himself by reading a newspaper and....eating cake!

Umm...best cake ever...this is now going to Scot's request for his birthday cake from now on! haha.

Just a Plug

Kjerste had this new little blog, SarahJane, featured on her blog as a great find, and it is dynamite if I do say so myself. Get your paper and pencil out and write the blog address down and any items you see for your "Wish List"! Make sure you visit the 'shop' and check out the calendars and blank journals and note cards - all my personal favorites. She has simple, endearing, adorable designs that you'll love!! So go on, get drooling!

Like Father, Like Son

For the last few weeks, Scot has been all Evan really wants. Sure, he still prefers me...most times...right? Recently, though, Evan is distraught when Scot leaves for work in the morning, staying by the windows pleading for him to come back. Just yesterday, Scot picked him up from his afternoon nap and that was that. Evan would have nothing to do with me. Likewise, anything Scot does, Evan wants to try. Shoes. Shaving. Drinking. Or in this case...fishing a car out from under the fridge. It's priceless. I'm so thankful that Evan has such a good role model to imitate!

A Trip to the Zoo and Other Things

Yesterday was, unfortunately, the last really nice day this year. Of course, this is Colorado, so we could have a day of blue skies and 60 the day after Christmas. For now, though, it looks like yesterday was it. Never fear, though, I took full advantage and headed down to the Springs with a friend and her 2 kids and went to the zoo. It was a great day, Eli (Rebecca's oldest) kept the two younger kids occupied the whole ride down due to the seating arrangements. Once at my mom's, she had cake and tea out for us and we talked and enjoyed the yummys while the 2 little ones napped. We ate lunch out on the patio, which Eli thought was pretty cool, and then headed for the zoo in nearly 70 degree weather! It was perfect. Here are some of the pictures.

The seating arrangement we had was, by far, the most comical aspect of the trip. We had planned on taking Rebecca's van, but due to a very unfortunate fender bender, we ended up taking my Civic. Which meant putting Rachel and Evan back into their infant carseats so they would all fit. It was quite the task, but it worked out really well!

At the zoo with kids who just wanted to look at the animals. But hey - how often do you see 17 Giraffes in one place? Do you blame them?

The tigers were very frisky - we blamed it on the weather - and were running up and down and drinking out of the stream no more than 4 yards away from us. We even heard them roar!!

We're buddies!

The other very cool thing from yesterday was that we got a call from the gal who gave us our loveseat a year ago. The couple was redoing their living room and just didn't want to replace their loveseat, so they gave us the new one and kept their old one. Well, now not even 18 months later, they are redoing their livingroom again and we get a call to see if we want the sofa and 2 ottomans that match the loveseat...for free. Are you serious?

The Lord knows that I have always wanted matching living room furniture. I had saved and saved from when I was a girl for 'house furniture' for when I got married. Well, I had the money when we got married, but I now drive that money around instead of sitting or eating at it. Totally fine. We were very blessed to have the funds to purchase a vehicle at the time, but I have to admit that I was sad I wasn't going to get my matching furniture set! But here the Lord knows the desires of my heart and our the state of our wallet! I read this morning in Proverbs 13, verse 19 I think it was, about how 'a longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul' - and that is so true! I think so often we think that the Lord is only concerned about the big things. We know that He is concerned even when the little sparrow falls, but sometimes we are blind to those moments. This is a moment where you not only know in your head, but you know in your heart, too - the Lord has it all under control and He cares for you!! Evan the little things like having a matching living room set. Thank you, Lord!

My new living room all rearranged!! You can't tell from the picture, but the second ottoman is on the wall between the green chair and the blue one. I plan on getting a tray of some sort, I think black if possible, to put on the ottoman in the middle of the room to make it into more of a coffee table! This really opens the room up and lets up sit more people!

In other news - I am 20 weeks today. Crazy, huh? Evan is teething and that's not the most fun, but hey, we all have to have teeth, right? Scot is in Tulsa right now for his interview for an Internal Medicine residency program - if you think about it, please pray it all goes well. I think that's it!!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Just a run-of-the-mill kinda day

I'm taking a quick break from my Monday chore list to just sit and write and update. I feel like my life has been a massive list of to-do's the last few days (not entirely true) and right now, my sciatic nerve is bugging me a little and I'm trying to put off cleaning the floors just a few more minutes until it subsides. :)

This past weekend was wonderful and totally not filled with any to-do lists! Scot surprised me on Saturday by not studying at all and hanging out with us the entire day. We were beyond stoked. The weather was perfect and we took full advantage. I am still kicking myself for not having the camera, but if you will, picture for a moment a field of still-green grass. Now put Scot in the middle of the field with a kite high in the sky. Now for the cherry on top, picture little Evan, lightweight coat half zipped up his belly, pointing to the kite, running towards his daddy who crouches down and let's Evan hold the kite all by himself. I had two very happy boys on my hands! The best part: Evan getting so excited he let go of the kite (which we guessed would happen) and Scot running half the length of the field to retrieve it!

Along with making memories like that, we just had a general good time. We watched "Blood Diamond" Saturday night (Scot had never seen it) and were struck by the fact that even in the worst times, our lives our still so much better with all our modern conveniences and lack of war like the Africans have experienced on our front step. Take heart - when the going gets rough, it could always be worse.

On a happier note, we had a picnic after church on Sunday to enjoy one of the last nice days of the season and ended up at the mall just people watching and window shopping! We topped it off by using up the last of a Starbucks giftcard on a yummy drink. It was such a wonderful afternoon.

Today the to-do lists come back, though. Laundry, washing floors, vacuuming, bathrooms, general tidying, dusting...you get the idea. I don't know how you all clean, but growing up, Monday was cleaning day, and the 'tradition' has transferred. I don't even shower until it's all done, there's just no point in getting clean when I'm going to sweat and get dirty all over again. Thankfully, a smaller house means a shorter cleaning day than when I was growing up!

Also on the agenda today is making a cream cake and butter cream frosting from scratch for tonight's dessert. My folks are coming in from a short jaunt to VA to meet Madeline's parents, and they're stopping in for dinner...and dessert. Although they have no idea what's waiting for them!! The taco soup recipe, along with the dessert recipe, will be on the cooking blog later this week. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot...

...Jared and Madeline have set a date!! March 6th, 2010, my 'little' brother is getting married!! I was so excited last night when I heard, I couldn't stop smiling and it took me an hour to get to sleep! This is such an answer to prayer and we are so excited!

Well, my sciatic nerve has settled down, so it's off to sweep and scrub the floors!

Evan walking in daddy's shoes!

18 weeks

I'm feeling great and Drew has gone through a growth spurt. I now know why I've been so tired and hungry all the time this past week! But - thanks to the growth spurt, I'm finally starting to look pregnant. I haven't completely 'popped' yet, but it's coming soon!

What would YOU do for free food?

Scot and I decided awhile back that we weren't going to be doing anything concerning Halloween. I know to some, this may seem so incredibly lame, but participating in a holiday that is so anti-Christian just didn't sit right with us. Instead, we plan to have a huge family night - whatever that looks like. It could be a double header movie night with the kids favorite food, maybe even eaten in front of the tv - or just fun candy and games. No matter what, we want to make it something that the kids look forward to as the years go on.

All that aside, we actually ended up dressing up this year - in tin foil! When I was in college, Chipotle had this Halloween special that if you came in wearing something tin foil, you got a free burrito! On my way home from a girl friend's house on Saturday, I saw this kid walking into Chipotle with a tin foil hat and it all came back to me! I ran into the house when I got home and asked Scot: "How would you like Chipotle for dinner?" Seeing as our budget right now doesn't include going out for meals, he looked at me very curiously and so I explained. He, of course, was all for it! So we dressed up and got free burritos. (By the way, if you don't know what Chipotle is, I'm terribly sorry - you are really missing out!) So we stood in line for a mere 15 minutes to get our delichious burritos - we arrived just in time, too! We were only 2 people outside the door when we got there and 15 minutes later when we left, the line had reached the end of the sidewalk and was starting to snake around the building!

So we came home with our bursting-at-the-seams burritos and had a wonderful family night! We turned our lights off and hid in the basement while watching a movie. It was fantastic!

Also, for all you Chipotle fans who are sad to have missed out on the Halloween offer, just wait until Valentines day! Go in with your sweetheart and as long as you kiss at the register, it's buy one get one free!

I was a princess!! Costume was complete with tin foil earrings, necklace, ring, and tiara!


Our little Robin Hood


The Wannabe Gangsta