and the nesting continues...

Wasn't the weather beautiful this weekend? I hope you were able to get out and enjoy it some. I know I did. Over the weekend I also did some organizing. I guess I've hit the 'nesting' phase. Paul was gone all weekend teaching at 180 weekend (youth retreat for all the youth groups in the county where we live) so I had the house to myself and I took advantage of it. The pantry was long overdue for some reorganizing. It's probably still not as organized as it could be, but it is a vast improvement from what it was.

PS - We are human and have snacks. They are on the top shelf and it didn't make the picture. If you must know, currently our snacks include granola bars, pringles, pretzels, popcorn, graham crackers, danish wedding cookies and little debbie valentine cakes (this was a pregnancy must-have while in the grocery store:)

boden maternity...

Yes, you read that correctly! I'm so excited that Boden now has a small maternity line. I hope to take advantage of that this spring. Check it out here.

bless their nest

On Saturday my mom, sister and I threw a wedding shower for a dear childhood friend of mine. Emily and I have probably been friends since we were about 8 or 9 years old and I am just so excited for her. What a blessing marriage is!

My mom, sister and I had a blast throwing the shower. We went with a 'nest' theme and it worked well. The shower was a brunch so we had many tasty refreshments. I hope to share some of the recipes with you soon (that is, if my energy level ever returns:)

A couple items on the menu: homemade yogurt parfait, citrus salad with cannoli cream, bacon tartlets, blueberry scones, parmesan biscuits, and ham, cheese and spinach strata.

Yes, I tied the napkins with raffia.

Here Ashley and I are with the beautiful bride-to-be!

Here are our mothers in case you can't already tell.

What a lovely Saturday morning it was! Blessings to Emily and Philip!

hello, my name is...

You guessed it! We're having a baby and couldn't be more thrilled! Our little one is scheduled to arrive sometime around July 21. The Lord has blessed us with this precious gift and we cannot thank him enough.

Paul is super excited although you can't tell from the photo. He edits all blog posts and requested this picture so I thought it was the least I could do to include it.

We found out that we were pregnant on Nov. 7 and decided to wait and tell our families on/near Thanksgiving. We invited our immediate family over the night before Thanksgiving for chili and it ended up just being our parents so we decided to tell them first. We wrote a letter in a children's book and gave them their books as they sat down for dinner. There were squeals, hugs, and a few teary eyes. It was a memorable evening that we'll never forget.

Our news made the holidays extra special. My sister gave me the ornament below.

And 'tiny bug' (this is what Paul calls the baby) gave Paul the book below for Christmas.

Both of us received several parenting/pregnancy books for Christmas, most of which were serious, but there was one humorous one. I'll share some tips from it soon:) You'll get a good laugh from it.

We would appreciate your prayers over the next several months for a healthy baby and mama and safe delivery. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the baby, nursery and this growing belly of mine.

I'm 13 weeks now, but here's a picture from 11 1/2 weeks.

something bright for your friday!

TGIF friends! Have a great weekend!

source

it's back to the grind...

Well, we are back to the grind after a wonderful, restful week in the mountains.

We enjoyed sledding and playing in the snow!

We had a great time playing board games too. Don't you just love board games? We played UNO (the longest game EVER I might add), Things, Scrabble, and Foosball.

I also was able to get a little reading in.

We always cook while we are in the mountains. My mom, dad and Paul did most of the cooking this time. It's tradition to always have dad's homemade spaghetti the first night. Mom's corn chowder was a big hit too.

Paul loves to make panini's for us and we love to eat them. They are delicious! Maybe one day when we are older he can open a sandwich shop:)

We had yummy desserts too! So we ate well all week long.

What a great week! And in case I haven't said it already...Happy New Year!