moments to remember

i feel like i have already started the "nesting" portion of this pregnancy.  is that possible at 24 weeks?  well, maybe not full blown nesting, but i'm definitely thinking a lot of this baby and trying to get things ready for her.  i'm a slow and steady kind of prepper.  i don't like last minute stuff.  i hate feeling rushed.  so, i start now.  so i can take my time.  i'm weird...

but, in the midst of getting ready for baby girl #2, i want to remember special moments with C.  the just of the 2 of us moments.  i am so thankful for these past 3 years of just her.  and while we are all super excited to give her a little sister, i also want to remember the moments when it was just her.

this past friday night we made plans to go to a basketball game at daddy's school.  C loves going up to shaun's school.  the excitement of cheerleaders and all the older kids just gets her giddy.  but, when daddy came home from school he went straight to bed.  sick.  achy and tired and just not feeling good.  so, when C woke up from her nap ready to go to daddy's school, i knew i would have to think of something else special for us to do.  so, i gave her two choices.  go to the bookstore (joseph beth for you locals) or make heart shaped cookies.  she barely had to think about it.  make heart shape cookies.  we kind of love to bake together.

so, we pulled a chair over for her and got to mixing.  she knows how to lock and start the mixer.  and even though i let her put everything in every time, she still asks.  "can i pour that in?"  she asks what everything is and always says "mmm.  i like better the best.  it smells good."  hahaha!  my little baker.  i love that we can do this together.

very focused with the cookie cutter.  i love how she's holding her left hand in this second picture.

after the cookies came out of the oven and cooled, we made icing.  it was just plain vanilla icing that we made pink.  she loved watching the icing turn from white to pink with one drop of red food coloring!  the little things.... =)

time to decorate!!  

did you notice her design choice?  i just let her do whatever she wanted.  and in the end, every cookie had red sprinkles and 3 red hots on one side.  i'm not sure why, but this really impressed me.  

the finished product!

and sharing with a tired daddy.  we decided we were making the cookies to make daddy feel better.  i think it worked.  after lots of rest and lots of cookies, daddy was good by sunday.  =)

we have lots of moments like this.  she always wants to help and be my little shadow.  but especially, right now, i want to remember and cherish these moments even more.  not much longer will we be a family of 3.  and i get a little sad about that.  but, i know things will only get better.  the end of one chapter and on to another!

have a good monday friends!

random wednesday

as usual, i've got a lot of random things going on.  so, i thought i would just be random and share!

last friday, C and i went up to our local ReStore to look around.  i didn't really go looking for anything in particular, so, we were just about to leave when i saw this hanging on the wall.

i loved the sweet needlepoint, and thought it would look great in C's room.  i needed a little more art in there, and this needlepoint at only $10, would work great.

but that matte.  grayish blue?  why?

and the frame.  pretty beat up and bad.

so, i bought it, but wanted to make it work for cheap.

i took it apart and cleaned the glass and the frame.  sprayed the frame white and then found a matte for $3 at hobby lobby.  and now, it looks like this -

so much better, right??  the green matte alone makes a huge difference!  one that actually matches...what a concept, huh??  and glossy white spray paint always makes things better in my opinion.

now, it's hanging in her room with a couple of other prints and frames i already had.

the smaller frames were terrible too, but i just sprayed them white.  the mason jar art was a valentine's day card.  and the smallest print is from katie daisy that i got on Craft Weekend.

all three of these cost me a total of $13.  i mostly just used things around the house.  i love finding old stuff that's not being used anymore and making it cute again.

ok - random train moving on....

this was last saturday.  we were able to get out and ride her bike!  it was so nice to let her run around outside.  it's either been too cold (because it's february!) or too rainy.  i'm not complaining at all about this snowless winter.  it's going to be almost 60 today, and we will be doing this again!  =)

later that night, i had a free night to myself.  why?  because these two went on a little date!

i couldn't love this picture more.  she was so excited!  she calls "dates", "gates".  when she spends the night at her gran jan's, she knows that mommy and daddy are going on a gate.  well, this time, it was her turn to be taken on a gate by daddyboy.  she was beside herself.  running around, getting ready.  i loved seeing her so excited.  and i am beyond thankful for that boy.  to be excited to take his daughter to a dance in a church gym?  thats a keeper right there!  ;)

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on monday i made these

 
low-fat lemon poppy seed muffins.  i found the recipe here.  they are really good.  just the right amount of sweet and a nice change from cold cereal in the morning.

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ok - here's my last random rambling...

see these?

part of my valentine's present.  yummy.

but, today is ash wednesday.  the beginning of lent.  and i've decided to give up sweets for lent.  not sugar.  sweets. stuff like ice cream, chocolate, cake, cookies.  all things i love.  but, all things that i've started to realize, have a hold over me.  i can make up a hundred excuses and always justify a little sweet treat.  but just because i can justify it, doesn't mean it's good for me.  and worse than the physical health reasons, i realized i don't have much will-power against these things.  i don't like that.

so, i'm making it public.  i'm sharing it with the world!  uh-oh....  NO MORE SWEETS UNTIL EASTER.

uh.  i think my uterus just yelled at me....

have a good wednesday friends!!

a little love day party

hey friends!  hope you all had a fun valentine's day.

the hubs and i have never gone out on v-day.  we always get a little something for each other, but we never go out on the actual day.  too many people and too expensive.

so, last night we had a little love day party at our house.  basically, we all just wanted to get together and hang out, and tuesday was a free day.  but, the girls exchanged little valentine's and we heard all about what they did at school that day.

we attempted to get a quick family photo, but this is what we saw when we looked at my phone...

hmmm...  not really a keeper....;)

i did have few decorations around.  mostly because C is at a really fun age right now and she loves to "help" me with crafts.  when i sewed the little heart banner together, she really wanted to sit on my lap.  instead, i pulled up a chair for her and she watched with excitement the whole time.

we had such a fun night!

and remember those meltaway cookies i talked about making in my last post?

well, i couldn't get a picture quick enough!

they were super yummy!  and they really did just melt in your mouth.

it was a quick little party, but things don't tend to last too long on school nights once you have kids.  but it was a perfect little catch up and a great way to spend the evening.  i love our friends and their kids so much.  and i'm so thankful for their friendship and love.

this was my valentine's present this morning

it's not so bad to drive to work and see a sky like this in front of you.

especially when this sweet thing is sitting behind you

she got a new sock monkey for v-day.  now she has a boy and a little girl.  both named "dee-doe".....=)

happy belated love day friends!

amazing week & instafriday

i'm so bummed that i haven't blogged since last friday.  hence the double title.

but tonight, i finally have a little time to sit down and reflect.  but, i will preface this by saying that i probably only got 4 good hours of sleep last night.  C is sick for the 1st time in a year.  almost exactly to the day.  she got a lot of ear infections when she was younger, but the past year she has been clear.  well, this morning, after a near sleepless night, the doctor confirmed that she has one.  let's just say, i was up a lot last night...

this week has been awesome.  we've had some pretty big things happen here.  before anyone gets their hopes up - i'm.not.pregnant.  but what happened this week is something that i've been dreaming of, kind of like a pregnancy.  as a family, we have been praying for this for a long time.  ever since C came along.  but the timing was never right.  God was telling us to wait. 

but, 2 weeks ago, a part-time job just showed up out of nowhere.  wait, let me go back 3 weeks.   3 weeks ago, shaun and i had a family budget meeting.  now, don't be impressed.  these aren't meetings we have often.  in fact, we had been needing to have one for about 4 months.  but we dread them, so we put them off.  but finally, one wednesday night we made a plan, stuck to it, and had a meeting.  and in that meeting, we ran scenarios of what it would look like if i worked less, once we had another baby.  we prayed and left it at, "we'll make it work."  but again, this was once baby #2 was on the scene.

then, out of nowhere, less than a week after our meeting, i see a posting for a part-time job with a non-profit organization i know and love.  so, i update my resume, send it over, but don't really expect to hear anything.

but then, i did.  and then, i had 2 amazing interviews.  and then, they offered me a job.  and then they told me i could do some work from home and that i could stay home with C for 3 days a week. woah!  shaun and i ran the #'s and it all worked.  perfect.  like too perfect.  like, God perfect. =)

so, in 1 week, i will be working part-time!  yahoo!  you don't know how excited i am.  to be home more with C.  to feel more like a mom that works, instead of an employee who's a mom.  and to work for an organization that means something to me.

this has been an amazing week, and God has been in every step.  so many steps of faith, so many open doors, and so much confirmation. 

thank you to everyone who has prayed with us.

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shew!  ok, so how about some instafriday?  as usual, linking up with jeannette @ life rearranged!

this was taken a week ago, but i forgot to add it to last friday's post.  we have had some crazy weather here.  it was 56 degrees, blue skies, beautiful day, sun roof open and february.  that's weird here.  the weather today - 29 degrees, snowy, gray.  that's  normal for february.  i had to capture this rare moment!

also from last week, but again, i forgot to add it.  this was C's last night in her crib.  i know it's probably weird, but i had to get one last picture.  she looks like such a big girl here.

but an even bigger girl here!  that's right - the big girl bed!  she loooooooves it.  still thinks it's the best thing ever.  when she talks about her big girl bed, it's with so much excitement.  and she is doing amazing.  the first night was seamless.  she didn't get up once.  but, she did wonder into our room at about 5:30am.  then 6:30, then finally shaun got up at 7:30 with her.  she's doing much better now after a week, but that's why we did it on a weekend.  we knew it would take some practice!  =)

saturday morning jam session.  daddyboy was holding the chords, and C was strumming and singing.  they made a pretty good team!

isn't this vase amazing?!?!?  a very sweet co-worker gifted it to me this week.  i couldn't help but snap it's picture.  and i can't wait to put pretty flowers in it this spring.  a gift from anthropologie is always a good way to start a work day!

and look at these pretty ladies!  some beautiful tulips from my amazing hubs, as a congratulations for getting a new job!  such a sweet surprise.  i'm kind of spoiled....

my sweet girl after she was really brave at the doctor today. she's not the biggest fan of the doctor, but now that she's older, i feel like we can talk it through some.  and i'm not above bribing and rewarding her with treats.  so after she did so great, we made a little stop at starbucks.  is it weird that she get's excited about and really knows what starbucks is?  is it weird that when we go to the grocery store, she knows there is a starbucks inside and gets excited?  nah...

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well, i'm staying on track with my february photo challenge.  

 

and yes - i did take today's, even though if i could have skipped one, this would have been it.  why am i like that?  i guess because it was a picture of just me.  seems weird.  but i guess, good at the same time.  i guess...

have a good weekend friends!  

i'll be back soon with a sweet cookie recipe that i found on pinterest.  just in time for love day!  

don't they look and sound amazing!  can't wait to make little heart shaped ones!  =)

a perfectly productive lazy weekend

don't you just love those kind of weekends?  where you got a lot done, but it was easy and lazy?  that was our weekend.  it was great!

it started out with some family pictures on saturday morning.  we had such a fun time and C did awesome!  she was silly and smiley and cooperative.  i think i figured out the trick.  pictures first thing in the morning was a dream for us!  9:30am was perfect.  she was happy and fresh!  we haven't seen anything yet, but i have a good feeling about them.

after lunch and a nap, we headed to a local oktoberfest.  i have to admit, things like this are a little overwhelming for me, but C loved it!

once again - fearless!  at one point she went down face first - on purpose!  =)

sunday felt like the most productive day for me.  while C napped after church, i got in a creative mood. 

first - i had seen this recipe for some quick pumpkin bread that i wanted to try.  i've seen a couple different versions, but i decided to follow erika's from urban grace. 

3 ingredients.  that's it.  and it's so yummy! 

- one package of spice cake mix
- one can of pumpkin
- 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

i made mine in a loaf pan, so i baked it on 350 for about 50 min.

it was so quick and easy, i also made one on monday morning to take to shaun's work.  what a perfect and easy treat to give to someone.  this will definitely make more appearances in my kitchen!

after the bread, i made a little blankie for elmo.  that's right - elmo.

C loves to lay elmo down for a "night-night", and she has been using her big blankets to do so.  i bought this elmo & zoe fabric a couple of months ago, but couldn't decide exactly what to do with it.  well, an elmo blankie seemed just perfect!  i just used some flannel material i already had and used some ric rac ribbon as trim.  quick and easy, and elmo is very pleased with his new blankie.  =)

after C woke up, our plans changed a little.  we were left with a free sunday evening.  seemed like a perfect time to pick out some pumpkins!

this is outside of the church where shaun and i got married.  we were never member's, but it's a beautiful sanctuary and was the perfect size.  every year they have a little "pumpkin patch" on their front lawn to raise money for their youth.  real pumpkin patches are fun, but this little "patch" was just perfect for us this week.  C got to roam around and look at all the different types of pumpkins and it wasn't crowded. 

we found just the right ones and brought them home to our front porch, ready to be carved a little closer to halloween!

i don't work on mondays, so it's always an extended weekend for us.  i made another pumpkin loaf and C and i visited daddyboi at work.

yes - this is how we left the house.  she insisted on the bag and the beads.  i didn't argue...

after her nap, we decided to bake some more!

this...

turned in to this...

peanut butter truffle brownies?!?  perfection in shaun's eyes.  i found the recipe here.  and borrowed the picture too.  mine turned out delicious, but not as pretty.  i didn't have time to let them cool long enough.  the only hiccup was a little egg shell.  whoops...=)  it's tricky baking with a 2 year old!  fun and priceless memories, but a little tricky.  a little egg shell never hurt anyone though, right? ;)

how was your weekend?  don't you just love fall?  the holidays are just around the corner, but you can still be outside.  perfect for lazy productive weekends!