A Few Packed Days...

Well, I hope that all of you had a very nice weekend and a good start to your week. I know that mine was.

My sister drove in from Florida on Thursday and drove back to Florida yesterday. We had such a nice time and it was sad to see her leave.

On Friday my sister and I went to breakfast and then went to the zoo. We spent several hours at the zoo looking at the animals and chatting.
Here are our butterfly pictures. One of us is the sweet butterfly and the other is the grumpy butterfly.

After the zoo we went up to my DH's office because my sister hadn't seen where he worked. Then we went to play shuffleboard. I taught her how to play and she even managed to get a few four pointers.
On Saturday we made French Toast for breakfast and then went to play Frisbee golf. After lunch we went shopping for a while and then went out to dinner for my birthday.
After dinner we went bowling and my DH and sister played shuffleboard. We then went to Outback for dessert and finished the evening out playing Mario Kart.
On Sunday my DH grilled hamburgers after church for lunch. My DH and sister then went to play Frisbee gold again while I rested. After I rested we went to get ice cream at Baskin Robbins, went shopping again, and then went to have dinner at Chipotle.

She left yesterday morning after we went to breakfast. We had a really nice visit, but as always, it was way too short.

Sweet Sixteen...

Today I begin week 16 of my pregnancy. Yay!!!! I can't believe that we are moving along and that I am so close to halfway there. In so many ways it seems like it has been so much longer than 16 weeks since we found out. On the other hand the time is passing pretty quickly (as long as I don't check the pregnancy counter too many times during the day).

I have been feeling the baby move a little bit over the last couple of weeks. I felt it a few different times without being sure what it was. But on Easter Sunday, I felt the feeling I had been having and when I placed my hand over where I felt the movement I could feel the slightest movement with my hand. My DH also got to feel it so that was really fun.
In regards to food, first let me say that I am loving food and have found the key to not overeating is to not get starving. I have still been craving beef though not as much as I was. I really enjoy eating Gala and Honeycrisp apples, turkey sandwiches, and drinking grapefruit juice. I have found my alternative to the "usual" pickles for the pregnant lady thoughts. They are Zapp's Cajun Dill potato chips. I have become a big fan of them since I discovered them and have been trying to limit myself to only having a few with my sandwich at lunch.

We are going to be finding out the baby's gender soon. At first I thought that I might wait until delivery, but that idea quickly flew right out of my head. My doctor usually does that ultrasound between 18 and 20 weeks. We are getting sooooo close. I jokingly told my DH that the odds are even, I have had a dream about having a girl and a dream about having a boy. (Not that we would base any of it on my crazy dreams.) In the dream I had about having a little girl, I dreamed I went into labor and I was on the spaceship thing from the movie Wall-E. The dream I had about the having a boy, my doctor walked in and said "You are having a boy, that is what the guy at Waffle House told me and I agree with him." Ummmm excuse me, am I crazy or something??? I really hope that neither one of my dreams come true in regards to the details of them. Really, all of the little hovercraft chairs from Wall-E????

I have my next appointment on Thursday. We will set up our gender ultrasound then.

My Lovenox injections are going okay. As far as I am concerned, it is a small price to pay for the blessing of a little one. My DH has been doing a fabulous job giving me my shots and my mom even gave me couple of my injections when I went out of town with her. I have been bruising some, but I found a bag of frozen corn to be my solution for humongous bruises. I put the corn on my leg for at least 5 minutes before my shot and then at least 5 minutes after it. So far it has made my bruises a whole lot smaller. The first few I got made bruises bigger than a silver dollars. However, with practice and frozen corn my bruises are generally smaller than a dime. All I have to say is it will soooo be worth it when I hold my little one in my arms.

I have been feeling really good for the last few weeks. With the energy I have, I have been trying to get as much stuff done as possible while the energy lasts. I have been having enough energy to make it through the day, but I pretty much crash at 10:00 p.m. This week I worked on the list for the registeries and we made a basic registry at a couple of stores in town. I have also been looking at paint colors. I have a bluish color in mind, but I haven't decided on one yet. I also ordered nursery furniture and can't wait to see it when it comes in.

Our house is getting turned upside down in order to make the nursery comfortable. If you feel like following the complicated "switch-a-roo" then you can continue to read this paragraph. Our bedroom is going to become the nursery. My sewing room is going to become our bedroom. My sewing room will now be the laundry and the storage shelving in there will hold all of my supplies. All of the stuff that was on the shelves in the laundry room are now on the covered utility cart in the office/dogs' room as well as the freezer. See I told you it was a big switch.

Our goal is to be finished with the room swaps by the end of June. In the case of the nursery and our bedroom, a new coat of paint is on the to do list as well. I will keep you posted on the progress, however slow it may be.

God has been using this time in my pregnancy to encourage me to trust in Him. I seem to go through these cycles of feeling like everything is going well and will turn out fine for a couple of weeks and then I will have 3 or 4 days where I am start to really worry and every time I go to the bathroom I am horrified that I am going to be spotting. I have been trying to bring all of my little or big worries to God as soon as they enter my mind. God has been reinforcing a verse that I believe will be my life verse.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
~2 Timothy 1:7

God has given me a sound mind, I have to remember that HE is in control not me. Worrying about it will only make me anxious and a nervous wreck.

Sorry this is such a long post. I know that a few of you out there were wondering how things were going since I haven't posted about pregnancy in a while. Now you have the whole 411 about my health and the baby happenings around here.

This April Past...

Okay, so it is once again time to check off another month of 2009. The year is passing by so quickly. So now its time to see what happened this month.

Well, the first few days of the month were spent on a train going to and from Chicago with a few days in Chicago. My DH had a work obligation to go to and since I had never been to Chicago before I figured why not tag along. Our train ride was over 24 hours each way, but we had a nice time. It was less stressful and hurried than flying. However, it did take a LONG time to get there. We counted the train ride as part of our days of "vacation". If you were extremely excited to get where you were going than the train is would not be your choice mode of transportation. While we were in Chicago we ate dinner at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the Hancock building and ate dinner overlooking Lake Michigan. We went to see a Shakespeare play on Navy Pier. I did a little bit of shopping while my DH was workinh, but considering that my waist is getting bigger clothes weren't really much of a temptation. We walked down to Printers' Row one day and looked around there. We also had the opportunity to go the Chicago Art Institute. It was a short trip, but we had a nice time. By the way, I brought my camera but never took a picture.

We were able to spend Easter with some friends from church. We had a great time getting to visit with each other and eat.

My sister is on her way here as we speak and I am so very happy that she is getting to come. I am sure that we will have a good time and that I will have some pictures to share.

I will have an update on my pregnancy tomorrow. All I have to say is God is so good with my ever-nervous heart.

This month has been busy with the a lot of little things. I have been watching the kiddos regularly, but they are hitting a new stage of interaction which sometime borders on needing a peacekeeper to make sure that A. understands that J. didn't mean to hurt her. He was just trying to walk past. I often think that watching these two is like my family boot camp; I am getting the necessary training for the years ahead. Case and point: A. loudly yells into the kitchen, "Charree, J. is trying to use the crayons!" Then I say, "Well, why can't he use the crayons? He just wants to color like you are doing." A. then responds, "Well if I let him use the crayons he might not let me use them at all." I then say, "So, you don't want to share with J. because he might not share with you? Does that seem right?" A. then says, "Here J. let's share these. Leave them right here in the middle, ok." Kids, I tell you they crack me up, completely crack me up.

The temperatures have been nice around here which makes you want to enjoy it while you can because the Texas heat is on its way. We have taken the opportunity to go to the zoo a few times and sat a the back porch a few times as well. It is so nice to see all of the blooms around and to actually be able to enjoy them.

My DH and I started a new Ballroom dance class this week. It is the follow up class to the one that we took last summer. We weren't too rusty on the steps this week; but, next week may be a completely different story. We'll have to see.

The scripture that sums up my month is Psamls 91:1-4.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Well, that is my month and it wasn't to eventful. Has anything neat or interesting happened to you this month? How did your month go?

The Happenings Around Here...

Hello everyone! I hope that your week is going well. I am so excited it is Wednesday because that means my dear sister is coming tomorrow. Yay!!!

I am sorry that I have been away from my blog for the week almost. Things have been not ridiculously busy, but busy enough. I have been having a nice amount of energy for the last little bit and I have been trying to harness it into doing productive things around the house.

The weather around here has been awful the last couple of days. It rains and then rains, and then rains some more. Myself and the doggies have been keeping ourselves inside and dry. A lot of our poor Irises just started to bloom last week and the rain has beat them down so now they are bent over. Poor things!

I wanted to share a picture of my mom and I from when she came. We were our photographers so you will have to forgive the fuzziness of it.
I wanted to share a project that my mom and I worked on while she was here several weeks ago. We bought these big metal utility shelves to help store some stuff and made some covers for them so that dust and dog hair wouldn't gather on the shelves' content and so that it would look more appealing than just a shelf full of junk. The two covers took us almost a week to finish but I am really happy with the way they turned out. The shelves hold so much stuff and they don't look too shabby while doing it.
They are made out of outdoor canvas and duck cloth.
The baskets on top of the shelves each hold 50 CD's which made it possible for me to get rid of my media tower and not waste space.

One Week Away...

I am so very excited. My dear sister is coming for a visit one week from today. I can't wait for her to get here. I haven't seen her since Christmas and I miss her so very much.

I am not sure what all we are going to do when she comes; but I am pretty sure that some games of shuffleboard and disc golf will be part of the plans we make. She is only getting to stay for a few days so we are going to have to cram all that we can into them.

The Blooms Around...

Happy Wednesday to you! The weather is beautiful today. The type of day where you would just like to spend the whole day in a hammock reading a book, too bad I don't have a hammock.

I wanted to say thanks to all of you for your feedback about the vacuum-pack bags. I wound up purchasing a set of them and was very impressed with the job they did. Now all of my sweaters and shirts are packed away as well as my king comforter and a queen duvet cover. I am a BIG fan of them now.

Most of our flowers in the front beds and in pots on the back porch have been blooming. I took a few pictures of the blooms around and thought that I would share them with you.

First we have Dianthus surrounded by Lillies (that aren't blooming yet) and Dusty Miller.
Then there are Columbine (which are one of my personal favorites).
There are also some Purple Oxalice and Lemon Thyme.
The Iris are also blooming...
As well as the Gerbera Daisies.
Around back, my Clematis is blooming.
And that is the tour of the blooms around my abode. Thanks for stopping by.

Do you have blooms around you? Which one is your favorite (if it is possible to have a favorite)?

This Mess I Have Made...

Today I have spent most of my day working around the house. Currently there is a slight problem though, I have made what appears to be a bigger mess than when I started.

Any ideas on what I have been doing based on the picture?

If you guessed putting away laundry, the answer is no. If you guess cleaning out my closet you are right. I have reached the point where all of my previous to pregnancy pants (except for the yoga and workout pants) are no longer closing. I am past the sucking it in stage. These pants just are NOT closing and many of my shirts are too tight in the bust area and are starting to ride up. So, out of my closet they go.

I need to go to the store this afternoon and buy some storage containers. After I do that I am planning on moving all of my maternity clothes to my regular closet and out of the spare room's closet.

I have managed to get quite the collection of maternity clothes over the last couple of years. I've seen cute maternity clothes all along at Target and I've waited until they were 75% to buy them. I need to buy some peddle pushers/Bermuda shorts for the summer. I fear that my maternity jeans aren't going to stand much of a chance against the Texas heat.

Anyway, I have a question for you??? Have any of you used the vacuum storage bags? I was debating on using them to put away some of my sweaters and stuff and was wondering if any of you had had any luck with them.

I hope that you have a great day!

Apple Buns...

Yesterday at church we had a brunch. I had a recipe that I have been wanting to make but beings that the recipe yields 12 to 16 I figured I needed to make it when more people than just my DH and I would be eating them. So I made some Apple Buns for the brunch. They seem kind of complicated, but they really aren't any more complicated than homemade cinnamon rolls.
The recipe comes from the cookbook A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman. If you like to bake than I HIGHLY recommend you get or at least check this cookbook out. Everything I have made out of it have gotten rave reviews.
Granny-McIntosh Apple Buns

Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water (100-110 degrees F)
5 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast
5 to 7 cups all-purpose
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt

Filling
6 to 8 McIntosh Apple, peeled and thinly sliced
2 large unpeeled Granny Smith apples, shredded
1 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup generous sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Finishing Touches
2 large eggs
Pinch sugar

Cinnamon Fondant
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Water, as required, to make a thick glaze


Stack two large baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper. You will want to repeat this procedure for each batch. Stacking the pans helps to not burn the bottom of the buns.

In a mixer bowl, hand-whisk water and yeast together and let stand for 2 to 3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Add 1 cup of flour and blend and then add butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, salt, and then most of the remaining flour. Mix and then knead with dough hook on lowest speed 5 to 8 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to make a soft dough.

Remove dough hook and spray dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover entire entire mixer and bowl with a large clear plastic bag. Let dough rise about 40 to 50 minutes or until almost doubled.

Meanwhile, prepare apples and have other filling ingredients nearby. Whisk eggs and pinch of sugar in a small bowl for egg wash. In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar together.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Roll out to a 22-inch circle. Deposit pieces of butter all over dough's surface. Scatter sliced apples over dough. Top with the cinnamon-sugar mixture and then scatter shredded apple on top. Cut into 12 to 16 wedges (this is really messy, but it will be fine). Stretching each wedge slightly, roll up each wedge into a crescent, starting at wide end. If apples leak out, just stuff them back in. *(Also to make buns that are not so large, you can roll out two 11-inch circles and cut each of them into 6 to 8 pieces.)

Place on prepared baking sheets, brush each crescent bun with egg wash and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes.

For cinnamon fondant, whisk ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and soft. Smear fondant on buns with a flat spatula, skimming away excess. *(Or you can drizzle the fondant on top.)

Yield 12 to 16 crescent buns 4"-5" long

He is not here...

"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying."
~Matthew 28:6

All day yesterday and today, I have had the song "In Christ Alone" stuck in my head. It is such a great song and to me it sums up what Easter is all about. I just wanted to share it with you as we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord! Happy Easter!

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

"In Christ Alone"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

The Finished Kitchen...

Today I want to share with you pictures from our completed kitchen update. When my mom was here a couple of weeks ago, she brought us the two remaining cabinets pulls we were needing. Also this week, I zoned the kitchen (for all of you FlyBabies out there) and after it was all nice I clean I snapped a few pictures.




I had a surprising amount of energy on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I took care of the zoning for the week. I zoned the kitchen, the bathroom, and the back porch. It felt so good to get somethings done around here.

I am curious about something. Have any of you ever heard of the FlyLady or done some part/variation of her cleaning schedules? I discovered her a few years ago and have made my own schedule based on some of the things I learned from her. I would love to hear about your experience.