Nana's 83rd Birthday!

My beautiful nana turned 83 years old on January 24th! Mom and I threw her a brunch with some of her friends and had so much fun celebrating her life. Nana is such a gift to everyone who knows her - truly Christ's hands extended, full of grace, compassion, joy and spirit!

Thank the Lord for genetics - my mom and nana are the MOST beautiful :-)

Love these women!

Aunt LuAnn found a practical use for the party favors...

I love you, Nana, and praise the Lord for your life. I am so blessed to be your granddaughter!

West Coast in the Winter

We really enjoyed our time in Oregon visiting Kenny's family and enjoying God's creation...even if that did include a winter storm with 115 mph wind gusts off the coast. ;-) It was a rainy and windy week, but we loved visiting with family, eating delicious fish, and drinking lots of (decaf, sigh) coffee!

We spent one day just driving up the coast and I finally had a chance to see Cannon Beach, which was spectacular. I could seriously move to Cannon City if I could pack up the fam and take them with us! It is the coolest little coastal town with tons of great restaurants and vibe-y stores, etc. Love.

We also stopped in Tillamook, OR to tour the cheese factory. I heart cheese.

And purchased some awesome blankets at the Pendleton outlet store, which was super exciting. Pendleton wool blankets are so cozy and we had been hoping to invest in some for a while...we got 3 blankets for what less than ONE would have cost. I was pumped :-)

Isn't the Oregon coast stunning?

Leah and Auggie, Jeanett's labs, came along for the ride!

Jeanette threw us a beautiful baby shower while we were there, too! I just loved meeting her friends and visiting with everyone. I was truly overwhelmed by their generosity and kindness towards us...it was a great night!

Melody MADE me this awesome tote bag for baby things!

Kenny was so excited about this Oregon Duck's sweat pant-suit...can you tell? Micah has a pretty sweet Duck's wardrobe now...

Grandma Ione and Aunt Karen (Kenny's dad's mom and sister)

We also spend a great afternoon with some of our favorite people, Jason and Kara Enright...oh, and their too-cute-for-words little boys: Trey and Brohdy! We ate at the Portland Bagel Co., and Kara and I had panic attacks watching the fathers of our children walk to the edge of tall cliffs during a storm to take pictures. gulp. We drank coffee in the car ;-)

Kenny took a couple of 24 week photos of me (and Micah) on Sunset Beach in Coos Bay, his hometown.

And this one on Cannon Beach at 25 weeks :-)

It is always such a treat to visit Oregon...it really is God's country! We're looking forward to visiting again later this year...with Micah in tow :-)

What Glucose Test?

Cookie Dough Dip

I may have a glucose test coming up this week, but that won't keep me from indulging in this recipe I came across today - I plan to make it for Super Bowl Sunday. AND...I can eat it, because it doesn't actually have raw eggs...major bonus! Thought I'd share the chocolate-y goodness:


{Ingredients}

• ½ cups Butter
• ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 block (8 Oz. Block) Cream Cheese, Softened
• ½ cups Powdered Sugar
• ¾ cups Chocolate Chips

{Recipe}

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Set aside to cool, and whisk in vanilla.

Cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar for 60 seconds. With mixer on low speed, add in brown sugar and butter mixture. Mix until combined. I added the chocolate chips at this time so the mixer could break them up into pieces. You can so that, or just fold in the chocolate chips.

Garnish with additional chopped chocolate. Serve with fruit, cookies, graham crackers, pretzels or a spoon.

{24 Weeks}

{Month 6}

How Far Along: 24 weeks!

Favorite Maternity Clothes: GAP maternity jeans I bought this week – what was I THINKING trying to stretch the use of the bellaband?! They are a-mazing.

Best moment this month: Putting together the nursery! Kenny and his mom painted it a light earthy peach-ish/brown over Christmas vacation ...and I enjoyed purchasing some artwork on etsy.com, helping kenny put together our white Jenny Lind crib, and sitting in the rocking chair day-dreaming. :) We also spent week 24/25 of the pregnancy with Kenny's family in Oregon...hence, the beach photo above. No, Cincinnati did not acquire a lovely beach-scape ;-)

Movement: Micah moves a lot! And the kicks and punches are getting stronger (ooff!). I love feeling him, it’s so reassuring.

Food Cravings/Aversions: Zero aversions. Major appetite! At my 24 week appointment, I put on some weight, so I’ve gained 12 lbs so far…I don’t know what that means, but they said it was “good weight gain”…I plan to just keep eating ;-) I’m doing my best to pick healthy choices for this sweet boy!

What I miss: Spicy tuna sushi rolls!

Sleep: Sleeping great, so thankful. It’s just a matter of time before my precious sleep is interrupted by a MORE precious baby boy!

What I am looking forward to: Starting our Bradley Method birth classes on Feb 6th, and finishing up our registry. Every detail of preparation is such a sweet reminder of the precious gift of this child!

Belly Changes: Behold, the bump!

Symptoms: Back aches, especially in the morning and nighttime…realizing my body gets sore doing things I always used do and that’s a little frustrating because it’s hard to admit you’re needy! Some Braxton hicks, but not many (usually when I overdo it – oops).

Prayer for this month: Lord, you know the cry of my heart: that Micah would come to know you personally at an early age. I pray, Father, that his heart would be bent toward you, even now- and that he would have a deep love for Your Word and desire to follow after you all the days of his life. Give Kenny and I the power, through your spirit, to shepherd his little heart.

Third Annual {Brunch of Joy}

Well, I'm catching up on some blogging now that the holidays are over. It was such a wonderful season for us, and so special being pregnant over Christmas! Since we moved into our home in 2009, we've hosted a Christmas Eve Brunch each year that we like to call the Brunch of JOY! As we continue to prepare our hearts to celebrate Christ's birth, we love to gather around the table with family and start the day off laughing, sharing...and of course eating! Here are some snapshots from our brunch...

The Master Chef preparing his mascarpone stuffed french toast with Strawberry compote!

Not the best picture of us...but you get it: we were there ;-)

Jeanette stayed with us Christmas week - we had so much fun!

The girls always get their gift on Christmas Eve morning after brunch!

It was a JOY filled morning, indeed :-)