I love thanksgiving!

How handsome are these 2 men?!?!













This picture is one of the main reasons that I love Thanksgiving. Family time is so important to me and when the kids crawl right up to cuddle, I just can't resist! FYI, I'm rubbing the bridge of Wilson's nose (at his request), not suffocating him!

The great pistachio throw!

Check out the pistachio headed straight into Anna Jane's mouth! I'm almost more impressed that I caught this with my camera than with the throw itself!

MBA Winter Formal

AKA MBA Prom
Todd and I went to his Winter Formal and had so much fun. The girls in the picture above have become such good friends of mine over the past 2 years! (Erin on the left and Elise on the right....I just realized we all have E names!)
Here's the crew that often hangs out: Michael Todd, Erin McCrary, Bobby Courage, Elise North, Jon North, me, and Todd. We have so much fun...
...having fun!
And of course I love my wonderful husband!

The finished dresser!

Here's the dresser I bought at a yardsale for $10! This picture is the dresser when I first bought it. The picture above is after the first coat of paint. I was so proud of this purchase and wanted to do something so that it would fit into our nursery theme.
Look at the drawer pulls I found at Babies R Us! I matched the brown paint to it and I think it just turned out perfect!

Love it!!!!!! (Thanks for being my inspiration, Katherine!)

More fabulous husband stories!

I have told you all how much I love my husband and how wonderful he is to me. Well the stories continue!!!

About 4 weeks ago, I hit the 30 week pregnant mark. That meant only (approximately) 10 weeks left before we have a daughter! Todd told me to keep my Friday evening clear. He surprised me with a trip to Subway and then an evening picnic in the beautiful Botanical Gardens! He even brought a blanket and a poster that said '10 weeks!'

Then, 3 weeks ago, with only 9 weeks left, Todd came home and surprised me with my favorite smoothie from Smoothie King. He had it made just the right way! Skinny Chocolate Slim and Trim with a scoop of Peanut Butter...what an attentive husband!

2 weeks ago he came home with beautiful yellow flowers with '8 weeks' written all over the pot!

Last week, while we were out of town, he told me that for 7 weeks, he has arranged for some of my friends to take me to get a pedicure! I haven't gone yet but I am sooo looking forward to it!

Now, I'm not expecting something every week but I do slightly wonder what this Friday will bring, with only 6 weeks left in my pregnancy!

Back off, ladies! He's mine!!!!!

Darndest Things....

Today in our 7th grade math class, the math teacher expressed that she would like to go teach in Mexico. (she knows no Spanish, but that's another story) Anyway, she asked 2 of the Hispanic students if they would like to go to Mexico with her and help her teach.

Immediately one responded, "No."

Shocked, the teacher said, "Why not?!"

He responded, "Cause then we couldn't come back!"

Upcoming Project

As I continue to be inspired by Katherine and her blog, I have not only been cooking, but also yard sale shopping for good deals. I found this dresser at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago for a mere $10!! I have plans for it to be a part of the nursery!

I've bought the sandpaper and plan on that being part of tomorrow. All I have to do is get the paint and get to work. I have an idea for it but who knows if it will work out. My mom and sister and aunt, really every female (and many males) I know, have better eyes than I do for this sort of thing but I'm going to give it a shot. I will post on the progress as it is being made!

The Nursery has begun!

The nursery has begun but it is no where near finished! I'm already loving what it has turned in to though.

Because Todd and I hope to be moving out this upcoming summer, it doesn't make sense to paint the walls since we would have to paint them back to white before we move. That's a little bummer but I really think the nursery is going to come together anyway!




We are so excited!!!!
















I love our bedding. Giraffe's are a favorite but we're trying not to go too overboard!

The crib is very special because it is the crib that Todd slept in as a baby. But don't worry, we have checked to make sure that it still satisfies all of the current crib requirements.










Big babies!!! Todd and Dad were so sweet to put the crib together. And mom helped me clean the room (by helped me I mean she did most of the work!)

Cooking!

Inspired by my sister, Katherine, I spent the other day in the kitchen. (Where Todd says I belong.....hehe just kidding!) Anyway, I had been looking at Katherine's blog and got inspired to do some baking.



Here is an awkward picture of Katherine's delicious Pumpkin Balls. She's right, they are soooo easy! I put some cream cheese icing in a plastic baggie and cut the tip off so I could pipe the icing onto my cupcakes. The one you see is in honor of Team Jacob! (any Twilight Saga fans out there?!?!!)








Todd had requested some chocolate chip cookies so I went a step further and made chocolate CHUNK cookies. They are delicious! One of the many treats I'm taking for Thanksgiving dessert!











This is one of my favorite recipes that Katherine makes. I even asked her to make them for my baby shower!!! They are called Spinach Brownies. I know the name is weird, and no, they are not brownies in any way other than their shape. But they are DELICIOUS!!!! Even if you don't like spinach, I recommend you trying them. They are extremely kid friendly too!




Soon, I will be doing all of my cooking for Thanksgiving dessert. Since most of what I'm bringing is going to be a surprise, I'm not going to post about them until after Turkey Day. But I'm very excited about a few new recipes!

Darndest things...

Recently I have been using lots of sick leave at work. Not because I'm sick, but because I now go to the baby doctor every other week for regular appointments. I also had to take time off during the day to meet with pediatricians. (We found one and he's awesome! Dr Henry Garrard and he went to WFU undergrad!!!)

Anyway, yesterday, upon returning to work from an appt, my 7th grade student said to me, "No more subs. I miss you too much."

I just thought that was the sweetest thing for a 13 year old boy to say to me! I'm not quite sure he realizes that in January I'll be gone for more than a couple of hours at a time!

Props to Todd

I just want to take a moment and say how amazing I think my husband is! Not only does he still take me on dates, he also takes me on surprise dates!

And he cleans the kitchen and vacuums.

And gives me feet and back massages.

But the most impressive thing Todd has done recently was this morning. If you know Todd, you know he likes to sleep! Waking up early is not one of his strongest attributes. Also important to note is that on Mondays, Todd normally wakes up around 10:30am at the earliest. Another important fact is that Todd hates being cold. All of that being said, this morning around 7am, as I was getting ready for work, I heard Todd trudging down the stairs. Not too much conversation transpired but Todd walked himself outside in the cold to check and see if my car windshield needed scraping! Isn't that just the sweetest thing ever!!!!

I love my husband!

Surprise Date

I have the most amazing and loving husband, ever!!!
Todd took me on a surprise date to the Botanical Gardens!!! We had a picnic and then got to walk around and look at all of the beauty that is Fall. I know this picture looks odd but we tried to use the delay function of my camera but it only had a 2 second delay!! Made for some interested, yet fun, picture attempts!

We love each other!!And Daddy loves his little girl!

I love my family!

The grandmothers, aka Nana and GramPage!!! These women are so inspiring to me and I hope that I am half the mother that they both are!
Page, aka GramPage, is so excited about adding a second granddaughter! Check out her blog sometime, GrowthChart.
Todd's great-aunt Margaret stayed in NC later than planned, just so she could come to the shower!
This is one of my favorite baby gifts we've gotten! This is the christening gown that Anna Jane wore but it's even more special because my sister, Katherine, made it!!!! She is just sooooo talented!
The young grandparents with their grandsons!

Baby bellies and friends!

My best friend Brittany threw me a FABULOUS baby shower last weekend! Just 7 1/2 months ago she had a little boy of her own and now she's looking Smokin'!
Another baby belly!!! My friend Andrea is one of the co-writers of the Sweet Tea and Strollers blog that I am a member of. She is due 6 weeks after I am with a handsome little boy!
Joey made it into the blog! He is a friend from college who is in the Army. This picture was last week when he came through Atlanta on his way to Ranger School! The plan is for him to be heading back through in time to meet my daughter before he deploys again!!!
dAlexis and Debra aren't too sure about all this pregnancy stuff. My belly weirds them out!! :-D
Greer is one of my best buds in Athens. She is due in 6 days!!!! This picture was taken at a joint, co-ed shower that the MBA kids threw for both of us! It was so much fun and everyone has been so sweet!

Giraffes galore!

Here is our precious giraffe pattern!!! It's now a discontinued Graco pattern but we got most of the things we needed before they all sold out.
Above you can see that Salem, the dog, is ready for her meal!
Todd's parents got us our stroller which was so sweet! And my parents got us the matching car seat so now all we need is a baby!!! I love my parents and in-laws and how supportive they are!!!!

The Cat Who...

More wedding fun!

A couple of weeks ago, Todd and I went to my friend Alexis' wedding at a beautiful plantation home in Auburn, GA called The Carl House. We had a great time and I even got to do a little Greek dancing!
Here are some of the lovely ladies that I work with! I love my Athens peeps!

Wedding Fun

Last weekend, Todd and I went to Charlotte for his cousin, Caroline's, wedding!
Here we are with Todd's cousin Chase and his fabulous fiance, Whitney!!





Here's a pic from the Rehearsal dinner the night before at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille. Thanks to Katherine for the loan of a beautiful maternity dress.

MBA Baby Shower!

Some of Todd's MBA classmates through a joint shower for my friend Greer and me! Greer is due in just 2 weeks!

It was hosted by our friends Rachel and Elise and it was so much fun! The theme was "Babies and Beer for Emily and Greer!" Don't worry, the beer was for the boys. It was a co-ed shower where the boys drank beer and grilled burgers and dogs and the girls talked about baby stuff!

We had such a great time, ate delicious food, and got the most adorable gifts!

More Literary Pumpkin pics...

Literary Pumpkins

The 6th graders at my school were given the assignment to make Literary Pumpkins. They did all of the work at home and then just brought there pumpkins in on the due date. Some of them aren't as literary as I thought they should be (I saw about 5 Sponge Bobs!) but I did take pictures of the ones that I thought were the cutest!