Could it be?

Yup, I think that some creative ideas are starting to bud for my favorite time of year and my favorite people. This year's homemade Christmas is sure to be better than last year's. We're veterans now. Uncle Kurt will not be receiving one size 14 and one size 9 slippers from me this year. He'll be receiving a lump of coal because of his bad attitude, jk. Veterans don't make mistakes like that. No, I think everyone will be very pleased.

















One of my favorite things about this time of year is the baking that goes along with it. Who am I kidding I am always up for a baked good. In yesterday's cooking class we made these and there's one left. They are great in the afternoon with a cup of tea, and a game of uno.



Molasses Cookies

1 cup sugar 2 cups flour
3/4 cup softened butter 2tsp baking soda
1/4 cup molasses 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg 1/2tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger

In a large bowl combine sugar, butter, molasses and egg. Blend well. Stir in remaining ingredients and blend well. Chill dough for easier handling. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Heat oven to 375. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, roll balls in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes.

The wedding of the year.

For us at least. We have been preparing for Andy's brother's wedding for a good 2 years, so you can imagine the anticipation. We also thought of it a lot due to the fact that 4 out of 5 of us had active roles in the ceremony. God is so good! To say I was nervous about this was an understatement. Let me name a few fears and how God provided.
1. Newborn would cry through entire weekend. He didn't. He stayed on schedule and happy.
When the sang the 'Hallelujah Chorus' I took it personally... Amen
2. Feeding a newborn while being in a bridesmaid dress and having lots of places to be. We'll just say it all worked out.
3. Who would take care of the girls during the ceremony? I think they must have thought the statues all over the Catholic Church were watching them. They were great and on their own. Are we tired? Yes, but a good, had a great time with people we love, tired. So enough talk here are the pics in no particular order. Oh I tried to put them in order, but me and technology don't get along so well.

Teaser of things to come.

We are in the midst of Andy's brother's wedding mayhem. I am going to be posting way too many pictures, but check out one of the guests. He gave us a surprise performance.

That's Andy's sister and brother-in-law displaying sweet moves. More to come.

Mornings

Me, busy? nah...

Ok, it's really busy around here. Someone is always, hungry, going potty, singing, tracking in, or doing all of the above. It's awesome, and I wouldn't trade it for the world-possibly sleep--I tease. I am enjoying homeschooling and the flexibility it has offered in these early days of newborndom. Every morning the kids wake up, and climb in for cuddles. Andy fake sleeps a little longer (not a morning person), and I start handing out commands ie... iced coffee please, don't bounce the baby's head, stop putting your feet between my legs, time to get dressed. After the morning chores are under way, coffee is sipped, baby is fed we commence school. It is SO laid back and that's what I love! If you want details of our schedule, I'd be happy to share, just let me know. The weather has been gorgeous, so we are trying to be out as much as possible before winter. Andy is playing flag football, and mountain biking pretty regularly. I've also discovered the BEST hot chocolate recipe. Check it out on the Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder. I like mine with whip cream and cinnamon on top. I'm going to be teaching zumba again starting mid-October and look forward to that. Andy is going through this with the girls and it's made me cry a few times. They always want to hear more and that's exciting to us. Time to go, but I hope to update more than less. Happy Fall!

A baby story

9 days later, but better late than never. I was induced twice and really had begun to think that I would never 'go into labor' on my own. I was wrong. My due date according to dr's was Sept 10th, So when I had consistent contractions starting around 1 pm on the 2nd, I was skeptical. I would call Andy and say what do you think we should do? I decided that night to just go to bed and if this were the real thing it would wake me up. Well, at 3:30 am, they woke me up for good. I tried to be polite, tossing and turning in bed til 5 am. Anyone in labor knows how biding time in pain goes. Real fun! At 5 I hopped in the shower to see if it slowed things down or if this train was moving along. Since I had the time, I blowdried and straightened my hair. My last attempt to look decent in all those lovely pictures Andy just loves to take.

I called mom at 6 and said, you better start heading up here, it's the real thing. Yeah! I tried to wait the 3 hours for my mom to get here, an hour later we were in the car on the way to the hospital. I was contracting every 2-4 minutes, awesome 45 minute drive. God knew just what I needed! He's so good. My midwife was there which is pretty sporadic and ended up being the biggest blessing. She checked me and I was between 4-5 cm dialated. She told me we would have the baby most likely by morning sometime. I won't get into gory details, but this was my hardest labor because the baby was posterior. A comforting thought to me during labor, was Mary a young teen, in a stable, terrified, no creature comforts, having Jesus. How could I really complain? After an hour of pushing, I actually got to reach down and welcome our little boy into the world.

Andy balled, I screamed ( I'm sure politely), and we are loving our precious little guy. Even the middle of the night feedings are so special.

1. I love Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida.'
2. I really miss shaving my legs. I'm outdoorsy, but this is out of hand.
3. I hate meat right now, this is fitting quite nicely into my plan of living in the 'blue zone.'
4. I love praying for Andy and the girls and everyone and thing that God brings to my heart at 6am every morning. It could be you.
5. The book of James has been mulling in my mind. The verse that particularly stands out is 2:13b, 'Mercy triumphs over judgment.' Oh how I need to see everyone through Christ's compassionate eyes.
6. I love conversations with my 5 yr. old and cuddles from my 2 yr. old.
7. I am so excited to be in the hospital with this new baby. It doesn't get better than juice and warm towels on demand.
8. I am thankful for the unbelievably beautiful weather we've had this summer.
9 I pray daily that we will be content here as long as we need to be and we will move when He calls, and that God's will, not ours will be done.
10. I predict this baby is a boy.