merry christmas!!

merry christmas everyone!

i'm tucked away in kansas with my wonderful family. see ya in the new year!

p.s - we find out the gender on friday, yipee!!!

who do you look like?

 For his series I'm Not a Look-Alike, Canadian photographer François Brunelle took 200 photos of people who look like identical twins—but actually aren't even related. How crazy is that?!

{via cup of jo}

star gazing

how true! 

{via well traveled women}

weekend recap

 josh loves his puzzles, i picked this up for him, it's a Thomas Kinkade painting & unfortunately it was missing 3 pieces!! eeks!! oh well, on to another one sometime soon. i need to find a more challenging one he did this one too quick!

 on sunday josh put gutter guards on our gutters, he did a wonderful job!

 i loved these pictures i took of him up on the roof hard at work. thanks so much josh!!

preggo update

 we have finally been able to feel the baby kick and what a wonderful feeling that is!! josh comes home everyday so excited to feel the baby & talk to the baby, it's the sweetest thing.

i'm beginning to really pop, i broke down and bought my first pair of maternity jeans the other day. i have to say i absolutely love them! got to love an elastic waistband!!

my biggest craving lately has been carrots & veggie dip, i'm loving it. but it could all change tomorrow, i've noticed that one day i love something and the next i can't stand it, especially mexican food - can't stand it!

i'm thankfully my energy is back it makes me sooo happy! no more sleeping all day and staying in my pj's for days on end. nope i'm up moving around and loving being pregnant!

snowflakes

 last week while i had a cold i made 100 some snowflakes for my house and my sister-in-law's house, since she was hosting the cookie exchange party.

i think it turned out pretty darn cute!

annual cookie exchange party

we had so much fun yesterday at jessie's annual cookie exchange party. here is some pictures surely to make your mouth water!

{hot chocolate stirring spoons, yum!}

home remedy

a friend suggested this wonderful home remedy for when you're feeling sick and i'm feeling just that. i've been trying not to take medicine while pregnant but i broke down yesterday and took the minimal does with the approval from my doctor. i also made some of this delicious tea.

Step 1: Peel and chop ginger into chunks. For 1 cup, aim for about 1 heaping Tbs. You want to slice it

            up so the properties of the ginger will seep into the tea, but don’t make the pieces too

            small-otherwise you’ll get a bunch of “floaters” that will keep coming up to the surface.

Step 2: Heat up water. It can boil, or if you can catch it right before it starts to boil that would be great. 

           Turn off the heat, and let the water cool down for a minute. Pour the hot water over the ginger 

           pieces, which you’ve placed at the bottom of a large coffee mug. Let the hot water steep over the 

           ginger by itself for about 2 minutes. The ginger needs longer time for its flavor to fully unleash.

Step 3. Cut a lemon in half.

Step 4: After waiting at least 2 minutes, the ginger and hot water should be  cooled down enough that you could pick up the mug with your hands and start to sip it. At that time,   squeeze half a lemon into the mug. If you have a hard time with lemon, do at least 1/4 of a lemon, and build yourself up. But 1/2 would be ideal!

Step 5: Give at least one good shake of cayenne pepper right into the tea. If you can handle spice, like   me, you can try 2 shakes! Don’t overdo it though.

i'm hoping this speeds up this cold! 

{recipe}

sniffle sniffle

yesterday morning i woke up with a sniffle and head congestion. so i checked with my doctor on what medicines i could take, she suggested benadryl. i knew i had some, even a nighttime and daytime one. so i went ahead and took the 'daytime benadryl' (at least that's what i thought it was). i was so frustrated yesterday because i thought my pregnancy chronic fatigue was back, all i wanted to do was sleep, all day long! it was very challenging because i was sure it was gone for a while, at least. well last night i asked josh to get me the 'nighttime benadryl' and he came back with the same looking pill i took ALL DAY LONG. yep, i took the nighttime dose yesterday :^) 

But, i was happy to realize it wasn't my pregnancy causing it, as i like to say, 'it's the little things' that really help!

happy wednesday!

air pump

how creative is this? i love it! 

{via pinterest} 

belly pictures

{8 weeks}

i have been taking pictures of my belly to see how it grows through my pregnancy. it's amazing! so mornings i wake up and look down and i'm like, "woah, my belly grew."

 hope you enjoy!

{10 weeks}

{12 weeks}

{14 weeks}

{15 weeks}

crafting session

 elizabeth and my friend jessica came over yesterday to work on Christmas crafts, it was so much fun. we listened to Christmas music, ate lunch, munched on M&M's and got a lot done!

most of my crafts were for my mom so i'll have to wait to post those till she gets home, but i will show you the advent calendar i made. jessica made one as well i'll have to snap a picture of her creation sometime to show you, it's really creative!

{jessica hard at work getting inspiration off the internet}

advent calendar with bible verses on the back of each card, yes mom you're getting one too! and thanks to jessica for some of the materials!

you may ask what are they doing in the picture, well jessica had a flat on her tire when she was about to leave my house. so we all attempted to change her tire but we got stuck at getting the lug nuts off. so jessica called her husband who graciously left work early to help, he got them off without even trying. as my neighbor said walking by, "it's a man's job!"

have you seen josh smile bigger? i'm not sure i have, he quoted that day as, "the best day ever!"

he's a simple man, boiled custard + ice cream = you gotta love em!

Christmas Decorations

here are a few Christmas decorations that my thoughtful husband thought to buy while in Maui! 

and also our first live Christmas tree :^)

{this was a pricey ornament but we loved it & it's made from Koa wood in Maui, once we hung it up we both agreed we were glad we bought it!}

{I think on the pineapples I may eventually put our last name, it fits perfect!}

{josh decorating the tree!}

{i love how it turned out, especially the 'R' which was a $1 from Hobby Lobby and I just wrapped the cardboard shaped 'R' in grey yarn}

{we have to have a bicycle ornament, love this one!}

love this!

i love this! 

hehe

weekend recap

 josh picked out our first tree this past weekend, i loved how he took the picture he pretended i was there with his arm around me - pretty sweet guy! 

Christmas at thankgiving was a success! it's always such a fun time to spend time with family we never see. here are a few pictures to recap the weekend!

{this is our house, with our first tree - not yet decorated but soon!}

{papa & aliza playing dollies}

{pretty wrapping paper}

{we did a secret santa this year and my sister-in-law, Pam, had me - she made me this beautiful wreath, don't you love it??  i sure do, it's perfect, couldn't have thought of a better gift!}

{walk around joyce & gary's neighborhood, majestic oaks}

{we had a few games night, with our newest game 'Ticket to Ride' - I LOVE IT! And of course my favorite game 'Settlers of Catan'. I use to never play board games BUT i love them now, absolutely love them!}

you may also recognize the 'give thanks' banner in the background, joyce loved it!!

{tree farm}

{family photo using a timer, attempt 1 - hehe!}

{success!}

next year we will have another family member to add to the photo, we can't wait!! my belly is growing bigger every day which I'm so thankful for! i never felt guilty for eating too much this thanksgiving :^) i could get used to that!