Family Update

Well, just wanted to share with you all that we are expecting baby #2 at the end of August!!!
Found out the good news just before Christmas and have had time for it all to sink in since then. The kiddos will be a year and a half apart - oh boy!! :)
I am currently 11 weeks & feeling pretty good. Only slight nasea in the a.m., but nothing bad at all. Lucy and I have had lots of outings over the past couple months just to get me out of the house and distracted a bit and I'm quickly approaching my second trimester, thank the Lord!!

We got to have 2 ultrasounds already which were very fun and encouraging. We got to see and hear the heartbeat both times, aww, it was wonderful!
Here are some photos below of the little guy or girl from my 9 week appointment on January 24.

Praising God for this good & undeserved gift
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Dinner........

Ok so here are some recipes that I'm dying to try!!
First two are from Sweet Tea & Taters and second two are from Pinterest.

Question - the vermont cheddar soup stuck out to me but then I wondered is it totally weird or totally scrumptious to make cheese soup????


Chicken Pot Pie

via
http://sweetteaandtaters.com/?p=887



Sloppy Joes

via
http://sweetteaandtaters.com/?p=852



Shrimp Lo Mein

via
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/shrimp-lo-mein-00100000072561/index.html



Vermont cheddar soup

via
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/vermont-cheddar-soup-679773/

Big Girl

Well, the little lady is officially 11 months. Cannot believe how fast time has gone and sorry for the lack of posts, haven't been around a computer much :( We have been recovering slowly from the holidays, trying to get some sleep, having playdates and some time with family. Been going on walks in good weather and some not so good weather...snow and cold (one time for man burgers from jack straws, the other just to get outside with my mom...). But they have been fun days. Loving playing with new toys with the girl from Christmas and watching curious george, watching lucy see and try new things. She is in such a discovery phase and it's so much fun to watch her and have her mimick us with sounds and motions. Ah, could go on forever. She is such a doll baby - we love her so much and are so blessed by her little presence in our lives. Here are some recent pictures from my Ipod :) Fell asleep on the way home from a fun playdate:

Playing:

Happy girl:

Climbing on her chair:

Snowy and frigid walks, she is not loving the snowsuit...haha:

Christmas gifts!

Not sure about any of you, but I just didn't know what to ask for this year. Didn't feel like there was much that I needed or even REALLY wanted. But just wanted to mentioned that I got some really fun loot this year....

(not the same pair, but very similar) Gray laceless saddle shoes Brown Bass boots (dressier than any that I had) Francesas gift card and jewelry organizer Fun tops from Nordstroms, Macys & Francescas Chick-fil-a gift card from the grab bag game And much more! Christmas and birthdays have lost most of their magic the older that I get, so getting some fun gifts and just having special times together as a family makes it all so fun and wonderful (even without Santa in the picture) :) Also - we celebrated Christmas with the Jones fam on New Years Day. And despite the fact that I was still recovering from my bout with the stomach flu, we had such a fun afternoon and evening together. A wonderful Italian meal, played wits and wagers, opened presents together by the tree, played our grab bag game, had the traditional game of nerts with my sis-in-law, Sarah. Oh and I won. Special times with everyone and Lucy's first which makes it all the more fun <3

4 year anniversary

Christmas time recap

Wow, hard to believe the holiday season has come and gone! We had a lovely time, much of it spent as just our little family of three. But also a little time with the Bubar side (those photos to come later) although Lucy didn't sleep at their house in the pack n play, long story, so we left after one night :( So great to see my brother and his family and have a little time with them in Michigan. We were able to relax a lot as well and just enjoy these special moments together, especially as everything was a first for the little Lucy girl! We celebrate with the Jones family on New Years day and we also are attending a wedding tonight, so that will be a lot of fun! Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year celebration as well. So much to be thankful for this year, especially the birth, life and death of our Savior, Jesus and His gift of salvation to all who believe <3 Here is a sampling of what we have been up to: Snowy walk

Wearing fun outfits from a special friend

Cartoons:

Cookies:

After church pictures

Opening presents:

Playing with xmas gifts:

Loving our ornaments:

Family Photoshoot

These photos were taken by Mike Herbert (a former youth group student of ours who now attends Columbia College in Chicago) in October and we are SO happy with them! A junior high kiddo came with Mike and he helped A LOT with getting smiles out of the Lucy girl. I will post a bunch, just to warn you :) And Lucy is 8 months in these photos! Enjoy!