Matt, Megan, Luke & Neely

Pray

2012-01-15T13:50:00.003-05:00

Hey blog friends,

Can I invite you to please pray for this sweet family once again? My heart just aches for them. Thank you so much!

Kaitlyn's Korner

Paella

2012-01-08T17:37:00.000-05:00

I just rolled over!

2012-01-06T09:42:00.001-05:00

Front to back

Almost 4 months old!

2012-01-03T14:41:00.001-05:00

Christmas Tree pics and Neely Kate is 3 months old!

2011-12-13T12:20:00.003-05:00

CHRISTmas

2011-12-10T22:13:00.004-05:00

Hey Sweet Blog Readers,

So I feel like all I do here lately is tell you to go read someone else's blog. But this one, is a must. A real must-must. It's a blog post titled The Christmas Conundrum. And it's SO SO SO good. A snippet:

What happened to Christmas? What on earth happened to it? When did it transform from something simple and beautiful to what it is now? How insiduously did the enemy work to slowly hijack Jesus' birth and hand it over on a silver platter to Big Marketing, tricking His own followers into financing the confiscation?

What if a bunch of us pulled out of the system? What if we said something very radical and un-American, like: "Our family is going to celebrate Jesus this year in a manner worthy of a humble Savior who was born to two poor teenagers in a barn and yet still managed to rescue humanity."

and another (about a certain jolly old soul who wears a red suit and has a long white beard)

I always thought it was strange how Christians will tell me they have this giant and awesome truth they know is true deep in their soul and want to share with me, but when 12/25 comes around they lie to their own progeny because, apparently, that giant, liberating, and awesomely simple truth is somehow just not enough. It may be a good narrative, but it needs a little something to give it some panache.

and my personal favorite

Let's MAKE DADGUM SURE the products we do buy don't come to us courtesy of slave labor. Like Ashley Judd said in Call+Response, "I don't want to wear someone else's despair. I don't want to eat someone else's tragedy."

just one more:

Despite what your mother might say when you tell her you're scaling back this year, I am not trying to ruin your Christmas. On the contrary. I'm dying to rediscover what is simple and magnificent about the Savior of the World coming to earth, putting on flesh and saving my life. I so want my kids to marvel that Jesus came, just like God said he would, and he split history in two, forever transforming the concepts of hope and peace and salvation. And I just feel like when I create a season revolving around wish lists, frenzy, and alternate characters of honor, my kids will never understand any of this.

A to the MEN. I could have never said it better. (ps. some people's mother might say that but mine wouldn't, she's fabulous)

Sit a Spell

2011-11-30T10:51:00.004-05:00

I don't think I've told y'all about my very favorite blog of late. The woman who writes it lives in Haiti and is hilarious and amazing. She just wrote a great post about kids and nativity sets, here is a little excerpt:

"The truth is, the story of a King born a baby in a barn is not something we need our best clothes on to hear, or something we need to put on the highest, unreachable shelf. Yes this story is precious and requires reverence and awe when we really sit and contemplate all that God has done to win back rebellious people. But, I never want to forget that He came to our filth. Our dysfunction. He was born right into our complex, broken lives. Emmanuel. God with us. God with the distracted. The greedy. The back-talking children. The moms who fall asleep at night wondering if they could possibly fail more. God with the ones with secrets. The ones who feel left out. The ones who think they will never measure up. The ones with failing marriages. The insecure. The mean. The ones who never seem to learn. He camehere. He was born in the middle of our junk. He came to be God with us. God in the middle of our homes. The middle of our living rooms. Right in the middle of the madness and mess...He came. Emmanuel. God with humans who are so utterly...hopelessly...human. He was born to a teenage mother who probably would have forgotten to take her prenatal vitamins. "

You can read the full article HERE. Also, she wrote hands down the funniest blog post I've ever read HERE. It's about a man who walks around naked in public. Thank you and goodbye :)

Baby Club

2011-11-22T15:00:00.002-05:00

We went up to Raleigh last weekend and had a great time. Matt got to go to the NC State Clemson game. I got to see my brother and spend some quality time with these lovely ladies and their adorable babies. Neely Kate was surrounded by great guys in this room, Katie and Paul's adorable Hudson as well as Marie and Chris' precious Jacob!

Another set for comparison

2011-11-21T09:51:00.000-05:00

JLand NK

2 months and change

2011-11-20T20:02:00.003-05:00

Neely Kateand Mr. Lukie Poo

My little dinosaur loves to be outside even when it's freezing!

2011-11-18T11:01:00.000-05:00

Praying, Praying

2011-11-16T13:42:00.004-05:00

We have some amazing neighbors, who I have never met. They live right around the corner from us and are fighting a terrible disease. Their 2 year old girl has Niemann Pick and is really struggling. She is just a couple months younger than Luke, so this hits very close to home. If you have a minute to stop by and pray for them this is their blog address: Kaitlyn's Korner

I know they appreciate the prayers!

Bubbles

2011-11-06T12:39:00.001-05:00

Bath time

2011-11-06T12:38:00.000-05:00

2011-11-05T14:46:00.007-04:00

Blurry Bob the Builder and his baby sister

2011-11-03T22:53:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures of Luke in his costume this year.

Here his is giving Neely some love

sweet boy

CANDY!!

2011-11-03T15:02:00.000-04:00

Catching up

2011-11-03T14:55:00.003-04:00

Ok, so i'm catching up with the modern world and I've learned how to email pictures from my phone to the blog! I'm really excited about this because I can post without using the computer and without having to plug my big camera in to the computer (that pesky cord always goes missing). So hopefully I'll at least get some pictures up regularly now...yay!

Neely is 8 weeks old today! She's such a sweet baby and growing so much. She sleeps about 5-6 hours at night and then usually does a 2 hour stretch after that.

Luke is such a 2 year old. He says things like,

'My do it' (translation: I do it) and 'My do it all by myself'

'no, not quite ready yet'

'watch Thomas movie for a little while, right mommy?'

We've put off potty training long enough, we're starting this weekend. Eek! I'm nervous but we'll make it.

Ok that's all for now!

Bob the Builder

2011-11-03T14:52:00.002-04:00

2011-11-03T14:52:00.001-04:00

David Crowder

2011-11-03T14:50:00.000-04:00

3 weeks old!

2011-10-02T18:34:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures of Neely lately :)

After bath time

Hanging out outside (when it was a little warmer) so Luke could play in his sandbox

She's such a sweet girl and Luke is getting really adjusted to being her big brother. He is always checking on her and if she cries he says, "pick Neely up, NOW mommy!" it's funny.

First 2 Weeks at Home!

2011-09-22T13:41:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures from Neely's first 2 weeks at home. Today just so happens to be her 2 week birthday. Hard to believe it has been 2 weeks! She screamed every time I put a bow, headband or hat on her for these pictures. That has me a little nervous about our future with(out) bows. I'll try not to worry just yet, though :)

Neely Kate's Birth Story

2011-09-19T21:30:00.006-04:00

*This is long, and mostly so I won't forget it*

I had my last Dr. appointment on Monday, September 5th. That week I had a few plans, and decided to kind-of lay low as I wasn't feeling great and knew it could happen any moment. My due date wasn't until Sept. 14 but my last ultrasound showed I was measuring for the 9th. I wasn't as swollen or uncomfortable as I had been with Luke, but I still felt like I was very near the end of being pregnant. Wednesday morning I woke up when Matt did, and took a shower while he was getting ready for work. Luke and I hung out at home and I got some things done around the house and then we both took naps. I woke up and had this feeling that I wasn't going to sleep again until baby girl was born. It was totally the Lord because my prayer toward the end of this pregnancy had been that I would just know when to go to the hospital. I didn't know with Luke and my labor was fast and my contractions never regular. I was seriously scared of not making it to the hospital. Back to the story, I woke up from my nap around 4 and was having regular contractions that were somewhat painful. I called Matt and said I think I may be in labor, we decided I would call him back if I needed him to leave work early. I called his mom, who was going to come stay with Luke and put her on alert. Ten minutes later I called Matt back and said, come home now please :) I was having a hard time handling Luke (who was fussy from sleeping on the floor, his new favorite habit) and the pain of the contractions. I asked him to pick me up a huge cup of Sonic ice on his way home. At this point I organized the hospital bag, packed some last minute items and bounced on my big workout ball. By the time Matt got home I was feeling better and my contractions were less regular. So we went for a walk to the neighborhood playground and let Luke play for a while. We came home and decided to go to Chili's for dinner to get some spicy food for me. We ate and it was getting late, but we headed into Target to get milk and yogurt, I was trying to keep the fridge stocked so no one would have to go to the grocery store while keeping Luke. We stopped on the way home to get gas even though it was like 8:30 (way past Luke's bedtime) because I knew we would be pushing it to get to the hospital on what we had. My contractions had picked back up at dinner and in Target. We came home gave L a bath, did some face time with my parents, so they could say goodnight to him and then we tucked him in. We came upstairs to lay down and watch something on Netflix, which turned out to be no good, so we turned it off and Matt fell asleep. I couldn't sleep through the contractions so I played on my phone. He slept for about 2 hours before I was sure it was labor. I woke him up and asked him to call his mom. This was at about 1:40am. I took a quick shower, finished packing and was in the car by about 2:20. We made it to the hospital in record time with Matt running red lights out in the country and going about 90mph on 485. I told him how nervous he was making me in between contractions. We get to the hospital, park and walk in (at about 2:45)...I wasn't really able to walk when we got the hospital with Luke so I'm still kind-of doubting whether or not I should be at the hospital. Matt had called my OB on the way and let them know we were coming, but they definitely don't seem to be expecting us once we arrived. The reception girl picks up the phone calls someone, and says, 'you're not going to believe this, but we have another walk-in' at this point they put us in a regular room because all the triage rooms are full. We get hooked up to the monitor and wait for AN HOUR just to be checked to see if we're staying or going home. By the time my midwife gets in to check me I'm 6cm, so we're definitely staying and they call for my epidural. It doesn't take long for the guy to come and then they realize they have messed up my admission paperwork so he goes and does another girl before me (seriously?!?) He comes back and we have a great fiasco which I would prefer to forget wherein he can't get the epidural threaded into my back and eventually he just gives me a shot of medicine with the needle. I have about 2 hours before it's supposed to wear off. My midwife comes in and checks me, I'm at 8cm and completely numb from the shot. She breaks my water to speed things up so hopefully I can deliver before my medicine wears off. My parents arrive at the hospital around now, maybe 5ish. I am now comfortable so they let me continue to progress they come back in about an hour or so and I'm complete. We wait for the midwife for a little bit, and then I push. Literally for about 10 minutes and she arrives at 6:34am. I pushed for over an hour with Luke. And I felt way more of it with Luke. I felt NOTHING this time, I was so numb. They gave her straight to me and did all the initial tests and sucking and rubbing and patting and wiping right on my chest. I got to hold her like that for an hour. The experience of having her handed straight up to my chest is something I will never forget. It was so powerful and I just sobbed. I remember just looking at my mom and Matt and thinking, is this real?!? It was amazing to be able to hold her so close for so long right after she was born. Almost all day the day she was born I kept thinking, Is this real life? Weren't we just having dinner at Chili's 30 minutes ago?! And now I have another baby, how did this happen? It's the crazy, amazing, surreal miracle of childbirth! It was such a great experience and we are so grateful she is here and healthy and growing well. She's already over 8lbs :)

Neely Kate

2011-09-13T18:47:00.006-04:00

Introducing our sweet girl, Neely Kate Wagenhauser! She made her appearance at 6:34am on Thursday September 8th, weighing 7 lbs 12 ounces and 19 inches long. I'm working on a details post about labor and delivery. She's such a sweet baby and we are cherishing this first week with her.

Predicaments

2011-09-07T11:04:00.002-04:00

The other day I was getting ready and I hear Luke in the other room scream, "Stuck, Mommy, I Stuck in here!" This is what I found :) Guess he thought he'd try out baby sister's swing.He seemed to like it, except for the fact that he couldn't get out.
Another new thing is in the mornings when we go to get him up he is usually playing in his closet. He brings his stuffed animals and climbs on the storage bins. Usually he closes the doors back and he's just sitting indian style on the highest level of bins smiling at you when you open the door looking for him. So funny!

Oh, to know what goes through the mind of this almost 2.5 year old!

Dump Truck

2011-09-06T12:14:00.005-04:00

We went to visit my parents in Mooresville last Friday, and we arrived just before they were scheduled to get a load of mulch. What perfect timing. Luke is very into dump trucks lately. Here it is arrivingEager anticipation. Do you like the spiked hair?
Look, Mom!
Wow!
Here it comes
Dump!
He loved it very much. We talked about the dump truck and the mulch a lot that day :)
Watching with Mimmy
Later on at lunch, wearing Pip's glasses
Thanks for such a fun day Mimmy and Pip! Sweet memories before baby girl arrives.
The End.

39 weeks!

2011-09-06T10:58:00.008-04:00

I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow, I had my weekly Dr. visit this morning. We're seeing a little progress, which means things are moving in the right direction. They said if I haven't had her by my next appointment (Monday) we'd schedule an induction as they typically only let you go 1 week over your due date. I have been having lots of contractions, but nothing too crazy or worth a trip to the hospital yet. I'm getting to the point of not being able to sleep and aching all over all the time, so we're pretty much ready for baby sister to make her appearance :)

37 weeks

38 weeks 5 days

A Walk in the Park

2011-09-05T15:25:00.003-04:00

We went to check out a new park the other evening. Luke's favorite part was the little house. I'm thinking we may need to look into one of these for Christmas/Birthday/Something. He was pretty obsessed :) He kept asking if we wanted chicken fries through the window. His new things he says all the time are:

'What doin over there mommy/daddy?'

and 'What noise dat sound make?' (translation: what is that noise?)

also, he says 'Who is dat?' about pretty much everyone we see

He 'knows' baby sister is on the way, but we are sure he doesn't really grasp what is coming. He's such a sweet little guy and so full of energy.

Serving up some chicken and fries.

All the adults tried this crazy thing (except the huge pregnant lady) it must have had some appeal I couldn't see.

May I take your order?!

Wee!

Pool trip

2011-09-05T14:53:00.003-04:00

This was our last pool trip of the summer. Being the bad, yet honest blogger that I am, I will admit these are from about 3 weeks ago. Luke was a little unsure at first but he warmed up pretty quickly. He fell in the shallow end and went under for about a nano second before we grabbed him and took it like a champ.

35 weeks!

2011-08-16T11:37:00.003-04:00

It's finally cooled down just a titch outside, and this very very pregnant girl is SO thankful. I hope it stays this way, although I don't have high hopes on that front. The little ticker on the right side of my screen says I have about 29 days to go! That makes me very happy. I'll be 36 weeks tomorrow and I'm going to the Dr. once a week now. Here's a picture :)And here is Luke relaxing and eating his popsicle. He moved his chair and the footstool by himself and proceeded to kick his feet up and enjoy.
And I felt this was worth documenting. An extremely loyal Taylor Swift fan at Target.

34 weeks!

2011-08-03T14:24:00.004-04:00

oh ya'll. some people do pregnant so well. i am just not one of those people! it's such a miracle and it's so amazing... but it's definitely a challenging season for me. but here i am with baby girl at 34 weeks to the day. our household is ready for september!

luke is such a two year old right now. within the past 2 weeks we've taken his paci. so much change for the little guy! a big boy room and bed, no more paci. we took him to build a bear to put his paci's inside the animal of his choice. of course he chose a dog. we named him rover. luke calls him rowbert. i love it.

before we said goodbye

tucking them in rowbert

kissing his heart

giving him a bath

working on his birth certificate!

soon we'll work on potty training. my pediatrician recommended waiting until after new baby comes to start. so we're going with that for now.

we've had some other fun summer things going on, i got to go hear the lovely beth moore when she was here in clt. my sweet sweet sister in law threw me a shower, and we are pretty much set for baby girl, we also celebrated my dad's birthday. but mostly i've just been trying to survive this heat. it's out of control.

the end!

So I Don't Forget

2011-07-10T16:25:00.001-04:00

When Matt went into Luke's room to get him on Saturday morning Luke looked up at him and said with great enthusiasm, "I FOUND YOU!"

Happy July! Life Update

2011-07-08T15:47:00.004-04:00

Hello Blog World :) Time for a little update...

Luke has done SO WELL with his transition from crib to big boy bed. We moved him right after we got back from the beach so he was right at 26 months. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but he stays in his bed for the most part when he gets up in the mornings and says 'down please' when I walk in to get him. So sweet! He hasn't discovered he can leave the room on his own yet. Crazy, right? Here's how we found him when we went in his room at like 7:30 after his first night (he proceeded to sleep until like 9)

He loves his dinosaur sheets. We haven't put the mattress and box springs up on the headboard and footboard yet, but I think we'll be doing that very soon. I wanted him to get used to how big the bed was before we put it so far off the ground.

For the 4th of July this year we went to a little parade at Birkdale Village, followed by a little friendly competition (water fight) where two of the local fire departments squirted a giant ball back and forth on the zip line. Luke loved it. I didn't take pictures, sad story. We went to a fun cookout on Sunday night, and then Monday we did the aforementioned activities and ate some yummy food.

We've also been trying to get everything in order in Luke's big boy room and the new nursery for Little Miss. So we've been busy! Also me being 30 weeks pregnant, and super nauseous again (ugh!) has been a factor. Another fun Luke thing is that he will sing the entire song of Ring a Round the Rosie and Happy Birthday. He loves it. Anytime we drive in the vicinity of Dunkin Donuts he screams DONUTS! He has a built in donut GPS. It must be a little disappointing for him though because most of the time we're going to Wal-Mart or somewhere non-exciting. Not to get donuts. Here he is with his bubble blower

Here's my growing belly in a super comfy maxi-dress.
Here we are doing a little painting:
And I think that's all for now! PS All pics are from my phone, which is so great I love being able to take good pictures without getting out my big camera!

Coffee Cake

2011-06-23T11:58:00.003-04:00

I used a combo of a Cake Mix Doctor recipe and an Emeril recipe to come up with this one. I didn't want to do a drizzle which they both had, and I did want a crumb topping which the Cake Mix Dr recipe didn't have. So here goes:

For the cake:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan

Flour for dusting the pan

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix

1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix

¾ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup water

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon maple flavoring

For the filling:

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. For the filling, place the brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts in a small bowl and stir combine. Set the mixture aside. Mist a Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray and dust with flour. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, oil, water, eggs, and maple flavoring in a large mixing bowl. Stir until combined. Recipe calls for a mixer, but I didn't bother :) if you do decide to use one beat for 1½ minutes on medium or until the batter is smooth. Spoon a third of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the filling. Pour over another third of the batter, and sprinkle with the remaining filling. Pour over the remaining batter, and smooth the top. Place the pan in the oven. To make the topping, in a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the cake and bake until golden brown and set, springs back lightly when touched 35-40mins

Favorite Things

2011-06-15T08:56:00.007-04:00

While I'm on a blogging roll I may as well not stop now, right? So I figured I would do a favorite things! I love doing these posts. Ok, so my pregnant nose is weird. I can't stand some smells that normally don't bother me, and other things smell way better than they normally do. This is one of those things. It smells SO good and fresh to me right now. Mrs. Meyer's Basil Hand Soap. You can find it at your local Target.

This is something I seriously couldn't live without. I took this huge tub to the beach with me. I use it on my feet hands, elbows, etc at night before bed. It's super rich and thick and I think it really helps keep my feet nice and smooth, especially in the summer. It's sold everywhere. Wal-Mart, Target, Drug Stores.
Ok, moving on to my weakness. Hair care products. This is Biolage's color care shine mist. I use it at the end of flat ironing to give my hair some shine and help it resist soaking up all the humidity that is outside. It smells wonderful and I love it.
I put this on before I dry my hair. It's Aveda's Light Elements Smoothing Fluid. I think it's supposed to be used after you dry, but it works better for me before. I like it because it smoothes your hair without it feeling all greasy or weird from product.
Dove Hair Spray, ya'll it's like $3! It works great (medium hold is what I use).

This would be the splurge version of yummy hair spray. Aveda's air control. I think it's supposed to be non-aerosol too, how is that possible? I have no idea, something about wind tunnels, or wind-mills? Ha :)

Ok, and finally moving on from hair products. I found this case for my new phone and I love it! It's from Tech Candy. It offers great protection with silicone and some crazy kind-of durable plastic, it comes as three separate pieces so you can change out the teal for the slate in the bottom corner. This is the shanghai but they have others that are really cute with different designs and colors.

And lastly my favorite nail color so far this summer. Orly's Basket Case. Super durable and bright and fun. Love it.

The End. Thank you and goodbye.

Family Kingdom

2011-06-14T10:07:00.006-04:00

To celebrate Caleb's birthday we went to Family Kingdom. Luke got to ride some of his first rides. I about had a heart attack. He about fell off. He loved every second of it. Here he is driving the fire truck.

And Ains on a motorcycle!

Then Luke moved on to a motorcycle ride that went up and down and around and around. This is where he almost fell off and I almost died.

Then he and daddy rode the train. Much more my speed.

Then it was time for the boats! There's the birthday boy in the background!

And last but not least, the carousel. Which was a hilarious experience.

The End.

More Beach...I'm almost done, I promise ;)

2011-06-13T11:53:00.004-04:00

Ok, so after this I think I will have only one more beach post. Maybe two if I get super ambitious and pull the pictures off my phone. We celebrated my nephew Caleb's 2nd birthday while we were there. This particular set of photos was taken after Luke enjoyed a sizable piece of butter cake with chocolate frosting. It was amazing. I mean seriously delicious. This is the recipe if anyone is interested. Jaimie rocked it out. Notice the milk in the picture above. A must-have with chocolate cake.
I think he was quite proud of his accomplishment here.

Explanation behind the picture below: I had to capture this. Every time we got on the elevator in our condo he would sit down. It was hilarious. It was like someone told him to (they didn't), or he just assumed it was what you were supposed to do. It was so funny. And a little gross because you know that floor is nasty. Ha :)
Ready for the ride!
Matt was such an awesome and attentive daddy this entire trip. I wasn't feeling super awesome a couple of days and Matt really stepped up and gave me a break. I am so grateful for him.

Beach Part 2

2011-06-12T13:54:00.004-04:00

Back from the Beach!

2011-06-11T14:46:00.003-04:00

I think I'm going to attempt to blog a few posts somewhat consecutively to cover the beach :) So this will be post 1! The sun was a little high to try for 'family photo shoot' but we had to get it done before we headed out to dinner. This is Luke at almost 26 months and me with Baby Girl at 26 weeks. Which I officially consider 3rd trimester. I'm feeling third trimester these days.

Oh ya'll

2011-06-01T15:52:00.016-04:00

What has happened to me? I mean I have never been super consistent on the blogging front. But things have really spiraled downhill. We've been having lots of summer fun. Popsicles on the back porch, trips to the pool, squirting each other with the hose. We're headed to the beach next week, and I am so excited about that! I'm 25 weeks pregnant today, feeling pretty good. Starting to have some low back pain like I had with Luke.

I recently got a new phone. I had never put any pics on the computer, but of course before we finished up with it I had to get them safe and sound. I was so worried I would loose them all in the transition. Thankfully I didn't. They go all the way back to when my baby boy was CRAWLING! Hard to believe. I die a little every time I look at them. He has just changed SO much I can hardly stand it. So this is just a big picture dump. They are in the order of most recent down to oldest. It may take you 8 years to scroll through.

(Jenni was trying to make the same face Luke was making in the pic below hers)

favorite.

wishing I could have a glass of this yummy Sangria about now...will have to wait until Sept :)

Thankful

2011-05-15T16:31:00.001-04:00

Lately when we say bedtime prayers Luke has started contributing things/people he's thankful for. It usually consists of his grandparents and cousins. Before nap today he asked to pray and started his list. This is what he was thankful for:

-Cable (his cousin Caleb)

-Ains (Ainsley)

-Vita (his gummy vitamin, highlight of his day)

-Trash man (oh, how we love to watch the trash man)

-Door (I think in this case, he was being thankful for the door to his room, hilarious)

Things I don't want to forget. He's such a character!

Mother's Day at Mimmy's

2011-05-11T11:49:00.005-04:00

All pictures for this post shamelessly stolen from my wonderfully talented sister-in-law since I forgot to even bring my camera to this blessed event. You should all be so lucky as to have such a good photographer in your family. Thank you and goodbye.

We had a great time celebrating Mother's Day at Mimmy's house. We spent the day playing outside, doing our usual thing. Including big wheels, scooters, bubbles and the like. The ice cream man also made an appearance. He was missing some serious business by not coming down our street, so we chased him down. For his own good. Here is my hero of a brother leading him back to the masses of hungry toddlers.

Caleb waiting patiently on the curb for the ice cream he was promised. There was also a fountain involved in all of our back patio playing which meant shirtless boys for most of the day.
Here we are deciding which ice cream to choose. Talk about pressure.
Some for everyone!
Caleb with Shrek, Luke with Leonardo, Ains with Dora
Delicioso!
I like it too!
Yum!
Sharing a moment.
And another one. Love. Melt my heart with that melted ice cream all over your belly. Luke kept calling his ice cream, an ice maker. When the ice maker in our fridge drops ice he says, "ice cream." We may have things a little backwards.
And we had to fit in a round of whiffle ball.
Thankfully Jaimie spared us all from a picture of the pregnant lady batting.
Working on the big wheel.
It was a great day. The End.

It's a GIRL!!

2011-05-08T14:53:00.003-04:00

We found out on April 25th that we have a PINK bun in the oven. I am so excited and drooling over dresses, bows, pink blankets and bedding! I can't wait to get started on a little girl nursery :) The Ultrasound was great, everything looks good. My placenta is a little low so we'll get to have another glimpse at Baby Girl W around 28 weeks to make sure it has moved up and into the right place. So far sweet girl is way more gentle with her kicks than Luke was. I am always in the mood for fruit and have been steering clear of anything spicy.

Easter 2011

2011-05-08T14:22:00.003-04:00

Celebrating Easter at Great-Grandmom's house. Like we do every year.

This year consisted of lots of riding, scooting and pushing.
Lots of egg hunting, and cupcakes and honey baked ham (not pictured).
Lots of quality time spent outdoors with our cousins.
And lots of celebrating that He is Risen Indeed!
Happy Resurrection Day (only about 2 weeks late, right?)

Luke and life update!

2011-04-19T13:10:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged in forever(except for Luke's birthday which I did, yay). I think the blogging/blog reading community will recover. But I might be sad when I look back on March and April .

So here is an update...Luke is such a toddler! He is hilarious, crazy, so sweet and so full of life. He brings so much joy to our lives. I'm amazed at the things he can do! He says pretty much anything you ask him to say. He's putting three and four words together to form little adorable sentences like, "Daddy go work" "bye bye plane" and "car ride please."

I'm finally feeling much better in this pregnancy and I'm so so glad! I know Luke is glad to have his mommy back, too. I'm 19 weeks, almost half way! I think he's kind-of aware a baby is on the way. He will kiss my belly and point to it when we ask him where the baby is. We find out a week from today if baby W #2 is a boy or a girl. With Luke I was sure he was a boy. I just don't know with this one.

He has just started to LOVE to color and play with sticker books. He says everything is red, a Wolfpack fan in the making. We have our difficult moments where he will get very frustrated and sometimes whiny but what toddler doesn't? We're starting to really look forward to our beach trip coming up the first full week in June.

These pictures are from March and the beginning of April. I love the way he's looking up at his daddy in this one.

One morning when we were coloring we decide to take a taste of the blue crayon :)

Here he is helping me open the flowers Matt sent me for our anniversary

More Birthday Festivities!

2011-04-18T22:30:00.006-04:00

We've had a weekend full of fun and celebrating, culminating in the actual birthday, today! On Saturday morning we made a little trip to Dunkin Donuts to get a Birthday Breakfast. Luke enjoyed it :)

Lots of beautiful singing is going on here

When you ask Luke how old he is now he holds up the pointer finger on both of his hands and says 'two' ...it's pretty cute

his plan of attack was to eat it upside down

After breakfast we played outside some, and eventually had lunch and a nap. Then the real fun began. I was able to grab a couple quick pictures before the party really got underway.

He had so much fun, we kept it small and very manageable this year for his birthday. Which ended up being a really good thing because, um, well, um, I maybe fell down the stairs on Wednesday morning and broke my tailbone into 78 small pieces. I don't really know the number of pieces. I know that my tailbone still really hurts and I was a very sore lady. I'm recovering.

Anyway...moving on. Today we continued the celebration. We had lots of fun playing with friends, going to a birthday lunch with Oma, blowing bubbles, playing in the sandbox, playing with our dump trucks. Just doing some of our favorite activities in general :) We ended the day with a bang. A cake pop. Love these things :)

And so does Mr. Luke
He is a child that likes to savor something.
He holds his gummy vitamin until someone force him to eat it.
At first he was just licking the cake pop. Like ice cream.
Then he realized he had some competition. Riley, our neighbors dog is eyeing his treat.
So he finished it off.

And we finish his birthday by saying how thankful we are that he is our son. How blessed we are every day we get to spend with him. He is a treasure and we are so so grateful we are stewards of his little life.

Happy 2nd Birthday Luke!

2011-04-18T14:19:00.003-04:00

Today is Luke's 2nd birthday. We had a little party for him at our house on Saturday. My sweet sister in law Jaimie took some pictures for us. It's a photobucket album so it's a little different than the ones I normally post, but I hope it works :)

Happy 4 Years!

2011-03-10T11:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Anniversary one day late, to the most giving, thoughtful and selfless husband. Our wedding day was amazingly beautiful, especially compared to the dreary cold that was March 10th, 2011. It was a wonderful day and I am so thankful for my sweet hubby!

12 weeks + 2 days

2011-03-04T12:11:00.002-05:00

So, now I remember why I didn't post so frequently when I was pregnant with Luke. Who wants to read the same "I'm still puking and feel terrible" post 20 times? Not me! And who wants to remember how hard/challenging/intense this time in pregnancy is for me? Not me! So if I'm not posting that may be why.

But soon it's going to be a lack of posts because I'm too busy feeling great and Luke and I are frolicking in the Spring weather, playing at parks, having picnics, eating ice cream and making up for all that time in front of the TV. You do what you've got to do to survive.

We did get good news at our last Dr. appointment. First we got to see our little baby on an ultrasound, and he/she was swimming around like crazy, arms and legs visible and just a moving. They also moved my due date to Sept 14 (originally it was Sept 21). So that's fun! I told them they could move it up a week every time I came if they wanted. My midwife just laughed at me, boo. But it's really nice to know I'll be done with this sickness a littler sooner, and it explains why I started getting sick when I thought I was only like 5 weeks pregnant!

With Luke I was so sure he was a boy from like the day we found out I was pregnant. This time I just don't know. Strange.

Also my parents, Matt's parents, our neighbors, my sister-in-law all deserve HUGE thank you's for the amazing support, food, cleaning, Luke-care they have contributed to our little family over the past couple months. I don't know what we would have done without you guys, so THANK YOU!

I think that's all for now, I will try and post the ultrasound pics very soon...relatively ;)

random pregnancy post wherein my husband is amazing.

2011-02-15T18:06:00.004-05:00

When I look back on my posts from when I was pregnant with Luke I'm always disappointed in the lack of detail and frequency. So I'm going to try to do better this time. I've been sick to the point of being completely useless. Even if I have a day where I'm lucky enough to not actually get sick, I still fight nausea all day. I don't want to complain because I am SO grateful for this little blessing. But life has been altered over the past month. We found out we were expecting on January 6th. That day I got a tiny faint positive on a dollar store test, so I went out and got a digital one. I took it at night, when I probably should have waited until the morning. It said pregnant. Both times it has been so surreal. Hard to believe, hard to grasp. I think Matt is slower to believe it's real. By January 21 I was really nauseous. I was wishing I had called the Dr. before the weekend. By Monday I got my nausea medicine. I remember being surprised at how intense I was feeling as I didn't get sick with Luke until 7 weeks. It has been earlier and stronger this time. I had always told myself, next time it won't be so bad. I won't be nearly as sick as I was with Luke. Funny how these things work out. I'm hoping since it started earlier this time it will also end earlier. I'll be 9 weeks tomorrow. Matt has been a serious rockstar. I'm going to cry just typing this. He comes home, and cleans up everything I haven't from the day, he either picks up dinner or works something else out. He bathes Luke and puts him down by himself. Then he cleans up the rest of the mess from the night. Like every day. I can't even handle how good he's been to our family, how well he has handled this. He has done laundry, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, gone to the grocery store. Everything I always do but haven't been able to. All without complaining. At all. I am so grateful. I am so ready to feel like myself again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T10:01:00.006-05:00

5 years ago today Matt and I started dating. It's hard to believe it has been that long!

Luke is all ready for Valentine's Day

This is what he did when I said, can you show me your shirt?
I haven't had the camera out in a while

and pretty soon there will be one more little Wagenhauser to love around here!

Luke's words

2011-02-07T13:25:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to do a quick post to help myself remember what Luke is saying right now. He is saying so many words. He is like a little parrot and will try to repeat anything we ask him to say. He said Ziti the other night. We just started laying him down for naps and night time without rocking him at all and I handed him his blankie, dog and pacis and he looked up at me and said, "thank you mama" and waved bye bye to me. He is so funny! Matt said the other night, "He has such a great personality" and he really does. He's full of life and sweet and hilarious. Every time Matt or I vacuum he immediately runs to grab his toy vacuum brings it right to where we are and 'helps.' Here are some other things he says frequently:

Thank you (name) Mama, Daddy, Mimmy, Diddy, Grandma, etc...

Go out ...our boy loves to be outside!

Aww

All gone

Down please

More please

Cracker please

Bite

Oh no

Oh boy

Aw man

Chicken, Fries (I'm embarrassed)

Go, go go go! (Cat in the Hat)

Right there

Hereyago (said as all one word)

Bye bye - he says bye bye to everything, his pacis when he has to leave them in his room (byebye bapi), the tv when we turn it off (byebye tt)

Golf club - he really loves his golf clubs

Those are just a few of his common phrases, I'm sure I'll remember more later. Hard to believe he's almost 22 months old!

3 Months away from being a 2-year-old!

2011-01-18T10:55:00.004-05:00

I can hardly believe my sweet boy will be TWO in three short months. Time flies. I'm just trying to cherish every minute. He'll never be this little again. He's been really cuddly and sweet lately. He is currently loving blueberries, The Cat in the Hat on PBS Kids and shoes. Another favorite thing I forgot to mention are these adorable Keen tennis shoes he wears on an almost daily basis.

Moving on, here are a few candids of the little man at 21 months.

Favorite Things

2011-01-14T10:59:00.009-05:00

I've been blanking on blogging. We've been nested cozily inside for most of this week (Monday thru Wednesday). This is the second time since Christmas we've been snowed in! This time it was really more like snow-covered-in-a-lot-of-iced in. Which is a lot less fun for snow men and sledding. So I thought I'd do an overdue update.

Things I'm loving at the moment include:

This wonderful, challenging an encouraging blog called A Holy Experience. Ann is such an amazing writer. This is a picture of her book

And in stark contrast, just keeping it real, The Bachelor. This season is so hilariously awful I almost turned it off during the second episode. Almost being the key word there. There are two girls from Charlotte that he has kept so far, so I have to see how they do!

Also, what would I do without Trader Joe's? Oh, how I love it. The cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants, orange chicken (in the frozen section), rosemary mint shampoo, animal crackers, carrot apple crushers (for Luke) are just a few of the necessities.

Ok, moving on I got a couple things for Christmas that I really love, including my Presto microwave Popcorn popper. Delicious, fresh popcorn. I've heard the bag microwave popcorn comes in can be really bad for you, but this honestly just tastes better and is cheaper.

I got this Burt's Bees Gift Set (my coin purse fabric is a little different) but I got these colors in the gloss and chap sticks and love them! I think it came from Target if you're interested. It's the small things :)

Matt got a nook for Christmas, and I think it's safe to say it's one of my new favorite things as well. He's a good sharer.

It came with Pride and Prejudice loaded on it, so I made quick work of that one. My mom got a kindle and we read P&P at the same time. Then, she bought this movie and let me borrow it. I had seen it before, but it is just so good! I really love it.

Moving away from Christmas presents, I love this cleaning product: Mrs. Meyers Lavender all purpose cleaner. I use it in bathrooms and sometimes to mop the kitchen floor. It smells lovely and natural.

Ok, here is my very favorite thing in this post, which needs no explanation.

And my very favorite place in the world :)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T15:41:00.003-05:00

My sweet sweet sweet friend Katie and I are embarking on a little adventure this year which I am very excited about. We're joining in the Siesta Scripture Memory Team to memorize whichever Bible verses you choose, 1 every 2 weeks(ish).

The first one is so appropriate for today, I wanted to share it here:

You crown the year with Your good blessings, and You leave abundance in Your wake.

The NET Bible, Psalm 65:11

Luke In 2010

2010-12-29T14:27:00.000-05:00

January - playing in the kitchenFebruary - bath time!
March - playing at Mimmy and Pippy's house
April - at my 1st birthday party eating my cupcake!
May - at the beach (Outer Banks)
June - enjoying my juice - this is the month I started walking
July - hiding from Mommy
August - playing with my toys
September - playing outside
October - watching the leaves fall
November - playing at the Park with my cousins
December - playing in the snow!

happy birthday matt!

2010-12-28T10:41:00.001-05:00

we love you so much!

Christmas Eve with the McConnells

2010-12-27T09:33:00.003-05:00

For as long as I can remember, and I'm sure way before I can remember, my family goes to my Mamaw's house on Christmas Eve. It's such a fun time full of tradition. After we eat, Papaw reads the Christmas story, then we open presents, and there is always a paper ball fight. Then we go around and everyone 'shows and tells' what they got. We took a family picture this year, too. My cousin Chad made a video to document the event. He did such a good job with it I wanted to share it here :)

McConnell Christmas 2010 from Chad Whittington on Vimeo.

Christmas Pictures!

2010-12-26T16:30:00.004-05:00

More Christmas

2010-12-22T11:17:00.005-05:00

Ok, so this one isn't Christmas, it's just a picture I love and hadn't posted yet.

But this is a very tiny picture of a book we've read 87 million times this Christmas season. It's so great! Spoiler alert - the answer is Mary and Joseph
I posted about our love for this book last year, but it's just such a good one I couldn't resist giving it a little more blog love. It kind of makes me cry. Maybe I'm hormonal. But he's a poor little drummer boy and all he has to give the King is his best song on his drum. And that's just so much like us. We have nothing to give our King except that which He has already given us.
Another good one...
And here's our tree glowing in the dark :)
This is my stocking when I was a baby. Came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve :)
Entry way table

Our Little People Nativity. Don't worry about Mary, she's just laying down to take a little nap. Having a newborn is exhausting!

Everyone else. Minus the Angel, who was missing at the time, but turned up today.
The mantle
with Santa's village
And our mantle. Our 4 stocking say NOEL. We're not trying to imply anything with those.
And this smells amazing

The end.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-20T15:31:00.003-05:00

Welcome!...we're serious about our No Soliciting, especially during naptime ;)

This is a fun little jingle bell wreath from Pottery Barn Kids
Our Christmas card :)
and our little collection of cards from friends
a little fresh smelling bouquet of sorts that I picked up at Trader Joe's.This was me trying for some Bokeh
A sweet little Advent calendar that my dear Mother-in-law made for Luke last year. Which he may or may not have ripped apart with his bare hands. Now it resides in a very high location. And Santa, bag, tree and door no.25 may or may not be precariously perched.
Some ornaments
Our tree (please forgive my atrocious photography)
The end. The mantle and entry way table are two of my favorite Christmas spots. The pictures were really awful. I'll try for a redo :)

Talk about convicting...

2010-12-15T12:49:00.001-05:00

Catching up

2010-12-13T10:03:00.006-05:00

Yikes! It's December 13th and this is my first post of the month...Well, we've been busy preparing for Christmas around here! Lots of decorating, shopping, and even wrapping presents (I'm feeling very ahead of the game, which is not always the case)...and soon there will be baking! Which is probably my favorite part. Matt and I are both so excited about Christmas this year. Luke is at such a fun age for all of the excitement. He loves looking at the lights on the houses, he loves the Christmas tree and ornaments. It's such a fun new experience to have Christmas with a little one who is old enough to kinda-sorta get what is going on. We did manage to squeeze in a fun photoshoot back in November with my lovely sister-in-law, Jaimie as the photographer:

We're so grateful she was able to get these pictures of our little family!

Christmas Cards!

2010-11-30T10:22:00.003-05:00

Ya'll, can we talk about something for a minute? Shutterfly has the cutest Christmas Cards ever! And right now they are doing a little promotion where you can get 50 free for blogging about it! They also do really cute calendars and invites as well. Gotta love it! The hardest part is going to be deciding which one to use, there are so many cute ones. These are just a few of my favorites:

I like the one or two pictures cards best...
Another cute 2 pic one:

See, I feel like the single pic has to be such a good one if you're going to only have one. Tough choices.
This one is adorable! I feel like you have to have the teal in your picture somewhere though, am I right? I'm definitely not that much of a planner...
And another:
I guess only time will tell which I land on :)

Discovery Place Kids

2010-11-29T09:04:00.004-05:00

Luke and I went to Discovery Place Kids to meet up with our friends Laura (who I used to work with at BGEA) and her son Fox. We had a great time. This may or may not have been about two weeks ago. I may or may not be a little behind on the blogging. Anyway, Luke loved the little musical instruments. He made his first stage debut:Drove a sweet mustang. This museum is amazing. It's set up like a town. This car is parked outside the bank. It has a working screen than connects to a little play desk inside, and it even has the working sucky tube things like at the real bank.
He would like to make a withdrawal, please.
Oh, no!! There's no money to withdraw!
That's nothing a little time in the sandbox outside couldn't fix.
Oh, and how this boy loves a long and skinny object. The sticks for the xylophone were right up his ally.
Isn't Fox such a cutie??

We had such a great time! Thanks Laura and Fox!

Hilarious.

2010-11-17T10:00:00.007-05:00

I think these pictures of Luke are so funny! He's 19 months old tomorrow and he's recently had a haircut so I thought the blog could use a picture update. I just realized I hadn't taken any pictures at all this month, the shame! Also, I felt the urgent need to document this new style of shirt-wearing Luke has been into lately: the toga. And so full of expression, too:

Well Hello, Blog World

2010-11-12T11:58:00.007-05:00

I'm having trouble blogging consistently. I think of all these great, deep blog posts while I'm vacuuming or doing dishes. Then by the time I get back to the computer I have totally forgotten them.

Anyway, this will be a picture-less update, as I haven't busted out the camera in a while. I meant to bring it to a Birthday celebration at my Grandmother's last Sunday but it didn't happen. Luke did have a great time. He loved playing with the bigger boys, swinging on the hammock, blowing bubbles and eating lots of yummy food. On Tuesday afternoon Luke and I went to Birkdale where we both got haircuts with a little help from Mimmy. I like mine and he looks super cute with his, so that trip was a success! Yesterday I went to Toys R Us for a Christmas shop for Luke from my sweet Mother-in-law. We had a good time, and got some things I think he will LOVE. That boy is so blessed to have so many people who love him so much! While we were in Toys R Us he somehow managed to consume half of the food from the baby food aisle. Anything to calm him down, I guess. His teeth seem to be bothering him some this week, I'm hoping that passes soon. I think we're going to try to make it to the Southern Christmas Show this afternoon.

Oh, ya'll, I should share something. We are currently 22 days into a month of no eating out. It was just something we wanted to try to conserve finances. And so far we're doing it! We have been treated a couple times by some sweet folks, which was so nice! Anyway, during this little experiment to see if we could do it, I've discovered a new favorite winter beverage. Dark hot chocolate with hazelnut. De-lish. I love this stuff, with some hazelnut creamer thrown in. You should try it.

I also like this one, in a pinch (wasn't able to find the above at the store)

They're both really rich and make me reminiscent of the Chantico that Starbucks used to have and discontinued. It was literally about 5 years ago and as you can see I'm still not over it.

Moving on...We're headed up to Raleigh tomorrow for a wedding. We're just going up and back in the day for this one, but it should be lots of fun! I think that's all I've got for now.

Chicken and Spinach Alfredo Lasagna

2010-11-03T10:15:00.005-04:00

The recipe below is my version of this recipe. It's complicated, but so good! I made it in 2 separate pans and froze one to have later, so at least it's two dinners with leftovers.

3 bone in chicken breasts cooked (I just bring a pot of water to a boil, drop them in, cover remove from heat and let them sit for an hour to an hour and a half)

1 lb oven ready lasagna noodles

1 bag frozen, chopped spinach

1 15 oz can artichoke hearts

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 stick unsalted butter

15 oz package ricotta cheese

7 cups milk

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 cloves minced garlic (about 2 tablespoons)

1 whole onion, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon regular (salted) butter

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Once your chicken is cooked (however you want to cook it) pull it off the bone and cut it into bite size pieces. Season with some salt and pepper. In a large sauce pan melt the unsalted butter and then add in the artichoke hearts (roughly chopped) and cook about 3 mins over medium heat. Next add in your onions and garlic and stir until translucent, about 3-5 mins. Now add in the flour, whisking continuously. This will make a thick roux. Just cook a couple minutes, and keep stirring. Now add in the milk, and keep whisking. Next add in the spinach, ricotta cheese and salt and pepper. Stir and cook this until it thickens 5-8 minutes. Taste it and add additional salt and pepper or other seasonings if you like. Now, I prepared this in two square pans, one a 9x9 and one a 10x0, but you could also cook it in one large casserole dish. I'll do the measurements from here on for one big pan. Pour the olive oil in the bottom of the pan and spread around. Now put about a cup and a half of the white sauce on the bottom of the pan. Now place your lasagna noodles on the sauce. You can break them to fill in the gaps, you probably won't need the entire box. Now sprinkle about 1/3 or 1/4 of your chicken, and 1/4 of your parmesan cheese. Now you repeat, sauce, chicken, pasta about two more times. If yours is like mine you will have a lot of sauce, so be generous with it. End with a layer of pasta, covered in sauce. Then sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese (I may have used more than a cup). Cut the tablespoon of butter into thin slices and put them on the very top. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Let it sit for 25 minutes before slicing.

Like I said, complicated! But worth it :)

Trick or Treat

2010-11-01T09:23:00.003-04:00

We started off the evening with a very unhappy camper. A mad cow. After all it was warm out, and the costume was a little uncomfortable.But then, we went and knocked on some doors, and people gave me stuff to put in my bucket!!
And boy did I love that.
I began to eat it before it was even unwrapped.
I examined the goods.
I walked on the sidewalk like a big boy.
And took some pictures with mom
and dad with bad lighting, :(
Then I took a picture with Jack.
And saw an airplane.
Turns out, I liked trick or treating a lot more than I thought I would at first.

It was so funny to watch Luke, because he wanted no part of the costume or bucket or anything at first, but after we got him to the first house and they gave him candy, he loved it! He wouldn't let anyone else hold the bucket, and was much more willingly walking to the next house. So cute!

A New Week

2010-10-25T14:41:00.008-04:00

Somehow all of last week slipped by and I didn't blog. I love looking back to our blog a year ago to remember what we were up to, or to remind myself of certain things we had going on at certain times.

So, last week...Luke continues to teethe, he's cutting his top canines right now. He handles it well, however it makes all of his emotions more intense than they normally are. He did really well at his check up. He was 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. He weights 26 pounds and my back hurts :)

Also, I think it's important to note that I have a new love in my life:We went to a fun Oktoberfest at my in-law's yesterday, full of very German things, which were delicious! Luke loved the red cabbage, applesauce, Wiener Schnitzel (which is actually a breaded veal cutlet, not a sausage, who knew?) and potato pancakes.

To continue the randomness of this post, I've been really loving the 31 Days of Grace at Chatting at the Sky, and the 31 Days to a Less Messy Nest at The Nester. You should check them out!

To wrap it up I'm trying the PW's Perfect Potatoes au Gratin tonight, with a few of my own modifications (honestly, who always has heavy cream in the fridge?) I'll let you know how it turns out!

18 months!

2010-10-18T13:00:00.005-04:00

Happy 18 month birthday baby Luke! Sometimes we still can't resist calling you baby Luke, because that's what we called you for so long. You're such a big boy now! Giving kisses on the mouth, dancing, mimicking so many words we say, saying 'hey' to everyone you see in public, eating eggplant parmesan, changing the channel on the TV until you find your favorite thing, along with many other big boy activities. We have his 18 month check up on Thursday. Time is flying by but we're so blessed by Joshua Luke and trying to savor every minute of him!

Firetruck!

2010-10-18T10:29:00.004-04:00

Berry Cobbler

2010-10-17T12:30:00.002-04:00

Ya'll! I was just looking through my blog (how silly is this) for a recipe that I make all the time and LOVE and I realized I haven't posted it yet! So it's about time :) This is SUCH an easy cobbler, and it gets rave reviews every time I make it.

Berry Cobbler

-4 cups berries (you can use whatever you like, if no berries are in season I buy the frozen berry medley from the grocery store and it works like a charm)

-2 tablespoons lemon juice

-1 cup flour

-1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

-1 egg

-6 tablespoons melted butter

Dump the berries into a lightly greased baking dish (I use an 8x8). I like using glass because the colors of the berries are really pretty through the glass, but any smallish baking dish would work. Pour the lemon juice over the berries. In a small bowl combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and the egg and mix until the consistency is like a coarse meal. Pour this mixture over your berries and lemon juice. Next top with the melted butter, and then sprinkle the last 2 tablespoons sugar on top of the butter for that extra crunch. Then bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until bubbly. Now some say this should sit for 10 minutes before serving. But really? I just don't know if that's necessary :)

Try it soon, it's delicious!

A List

2010-10-14T10:01:00.006-04:00

- I'm currently mixing up those Pumpkin Eater Muffins, like I said I would. Yum.

-Our trip to Raleigh last weekend was great! We got to hang out with some of our sweet sweet friends. We also got to see the newlyweds Ben and Brittany, whose wedding we just went to in Kentucky. We stayed with Katie and Paul, which was SO much fun. They made us the most amazing French Toast with the Cinnamon Chip bread from Great Harvest. LOVE. Luke now does the Wolfpack howl and tries to make the wolf with his fingers. Adorable.

-My herbs are still alive! I love having them on hand. I've used them over chicken parmigiana, in chicken salad, in vegetable soup, and the list goes on. Have ya'll noticed I'm completely obsessed with Pioneer Woman recipes? No? Ok, good. Backyard to table, so fun!

-I LOVED watching the miners being rescued. I was glued to the live coverage. It was amazing and miraculous and it made my day.

-Almost as much as the Bed Intruder being on the BET Awards looking like a superstar.

-Luke is giving kisses on the mouth and LOVES books, he's almost 18 months old! He's cutting some serious molars right now, and we're surviving. Here he is helping Daddy in the yard :)

-I'm thinking I would LOVE to do a mini-bedroom makeover, with an umm...very small budget. Any ideas for cheap yet dramatic transformation? :)

The Train

2010-10-13T09:49:00.002-04:00

We jumped straight from the Carousel to the Train. At first Luke wasn't so sure. Let's just pretend like he's not trying to pick his nose around his paci in this picture, ok? Thanks.Showing a face of uncertainty. He's thinking, "Mom, are you seriously getting in this teeny tiny train car with me and Mimmy? I think it's supposed to be for kids"
But then he started to warm up.
And began to enjoy the 6 minute train trek through Concord Mills :)
Our great Conductor, who was really into his job. We loved him.
If you're in the area with little ones, you should check out the train at Concord Mills, we give it thumbs up all around.

The Carousel

2010-10-12T10:12:00.002-04:00

Days of Grace

2010-10-08T14:53:00.002-04:00

This is SUCH an encouraging article, I just had to share. My sweet friend Katie shared it with me, and I must return the favor. Go check it out! We're headed up to Raleigh bright and early tomorrow morning for the NCSU vs Boston College football game. We'll be back Sunday afternoon. I have some fun pics from this week's activities that I'll be posting soon. Including a real! live! firetruck! and riding a train AND a carousel inside a mall!

A Taste of Fall

2010-10-08T09:24:00.005-04:00

I love going to my parents house, they always have the best seasonal decorations out and about. Check out the window boxes with straw, mums and pumpkins. Does it get any more seasonally appropriate than that?Cement urns with pumpkins and straw
Luke loved this little setup at the side door
He really wanted to check out that green pumpkin
He loved it enough to stay still beside it for .2 seconds
But just not quite enough to smile, oh well :)

4 Years Ago Today

2010-10-06T09:13:00.000-04:00

We got engaged! At the lovely Cameron Park Inn in Raleigh.

We had The Rose Suite, which had it's own little back entrance, and there was a hot tub for the guests of the Rose Suite in the little building you see on the right. We didn't partake, but it is a nice little perk!

Here we are when we went back with our photographer for our engagement pictures. All decorated for Fall, it is so adorable!

We also went and took a few pictures on campus at NC State.

It was such a great day!

Poppyseeds

2010-10-05T11:28:00.000-04:00

Today I'm going to introduce you to another hidden jewel of Union County. Poppyseeds Bagels. They are guh-ood. According to my husband and his wonderful family New York bagels are better. I've had a couple experiences with what he considers an NY bagel, and I can definitely taste the difference. These are not your average Bruegger's (and I love Bruegger's). It has become our new Saturday morning ritual to make a trip to Poppyseeds. Matt gets the everything bagel with lox and cream cheese. I stick to just the cream cheese :) If you are in or around the area, check it out!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

2010-10-04T09:33:00.000-04:00

This is my version of Create TV's triple chocolate cookies. I modified this slightly, the recipe called for 2 teaspoons of instant coffee, which I left out. I love coffee, but I'd used this before in some chocolate chip bars and they turned out to be very not delicious, so I didn't feel brave enough to risk it :) If you're feeling full of courage, give it a shot.

What you'll need:

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used the individually wrapped 1 oz Baker's chocolate squares)

2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

7 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs (room temp)

1 cup sugar

First: Combine unsweetened chocolate (broken into small pieces), 1/2 cup chocolate chips and unsalted butter and melt over double boiler. I just had a pot with water and a glass bowl over it, worked great. Melt those together about 5 mins. Set aside.

Next: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Then: Mix eggs, and sugar together. Beat on medium high for about four minutes. Until the mixture is thick and pale.

Now: Stir in the vanilla (and instant coffee, if you wish). Then add in the chocolate mixture and stir together (no need to use the mixer, just fold in with a spoon). Then stir in your flour mixture the same way. Now add the rest of the chocolate ships 1&1/2 cups and stir. Now cover your dough with plastic wrap and let it sit out for 30 mins. Your dough will stiffen up and make it easier to scoop. Preheat the oven to 350. Scoop out with a spoon or ice cream scoop onto a baking sheet with parchment paper, or one that's lightly greased. Bake for 9-11 minutes. You want them to appear a little under done when you take them out of the oven. It's kind of hard to gauge since they're chocolate, so be careful not to over bake!

Also: I baked half right after making the dough and scooped the rest out onto a cookie sheet with wax paper and froze them to bake later. It worked great.

And also, I would post a picture but let's be real, they're long gone.

Fall Favorite Things!

2010-10-03T07:47:00.000-04:00

It's been a little while since I posted some of my favorite things, so I thought I'd do a new edition.

Some of my favorite Fall things are Yankee Candles in Fall scents. The two I'm currently alternating between are Harvest and The Great Pumpkin, which is a soy wax candle that I've just learned has been retired. This one I like, the other Yankee soy wax candles I've burned seemed to have a bit of an odd smell to them.

I also really love this one, Pumpkin Pie. I'm eyeing a couple of different Fall wreaths for the front door. Including this one from Target and the one below, which is from Etsy.

Another fun Fall treat is the Toffee Mocha at Starbucks. I'm trying to keep these few and far between, but I love them :) I'm still getting it iced, as we're just starting to ease into Fall.

On another note, my favorite fall nail color is this Sephora by OPI color, 'What a Broad' (silly name, cute color)

This fun tote from The Gap. I think my color is sold out, it's a fun deep purple. I love this bag because it's big enough to hold everything I need for me and Luke. I think this is a fun Fall color as well.

And I'll be sure to be making these yummy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins soon! Happy Fall Everyone!

Washing the Car

2010-10-02T12:48:00.006-04:00

It was such a beautiful day out yesterday, Luke decided he wanted to wash the car. Then he remembered he doesn't know how to wash a car yet. So he decided to have some fun instead.

So he climbed in the bucket of suds. In an instant.
Thought he was hot stuff.

At this point, he must have started rethinking things. It wasn't so hot outside after all. And that hose water was also not hot.

Then he must have realized, it was actually a little difficult to just stand there in a bucket of soapy water. A little slippery, not a lot of freedom, not a good combination for my prone to wander baby man.

So out he got.
Slowly but surely.
And moved on. To other slightly crazy and hilarious activities. Like pretending to vacuum with a giant golf umbrella. Or trying to push his jogging stroller into the neighbor's fence. Or barking at the neighbor's dog.
The End.

Black Bean Chili

2010-10-01T10:19:00.003-04:00

Hello Blog World :) Sorry I have been so totally MIA. I have no excuse, except that I didn't feel like blogging. Which is actually not an excuse at all. But now I wanted to post a yummy recipe. I combined a couple of different recipes to make a Black Bean Chili this week. My sweet friend Lauren was doing a few posts on budget friendly family recipes, and I think this qualifies. I was trying to semi-replicate one of our favorite dishes from Mitch's Tavern in Raleigh. They use sausage, and I had ground turkey, so that's the major difference.

Black Bean Chili

servings: 6ish

1 lb ground turkey

1 whole onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes

3 15 oz cans black beans

1.5 tablespoons chili powder (only 1 if you don't want it a little spicy)

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chicken broth

First dice the onion, mince the garlic and saute them for a minute or so in the olive oil. Then add in the turkey cook until the pink is gone. After that dump in the beans (with all the juice), tomatoes, spices and chicken broth. Stir it all together, cover and simmer on low for at least an hour. You can add more or less chicken broth depending on how you like the consistency. Also, taste it before adding the salt, mine didn't really need it. I also added about a teaspoon of this Southwest Seasoning, just because I had it, but it's not necessary. There you have it, so easy, yummy and afforadable!

I also made Pioneer Woman's 'The Bread' to go with, it was delish! However, I only used HALF the butter she called for and it was plenty. I did have a relatively small french loaf though.

Matt was really happy about this meal, and I even topped it off with these Triple Chocolate Cookies I got the recipe for from Create TV. We love Public Television. We're total dorks :) I couldn't find the recipe online, so I'll try to post it later.

Happy Friday Everyone!

Last Day of Summer

2010-09-21T19:49:00.005-04:00

We ended Summer with a trip to the Dollar Cone. It's one of our favorite local spots. They have soft serve chocolate and vanilla ice cream in a cup or cone for $1 and toppings are free! So fun. I got chocolate with sprinkles, of course. So long Summer, you can take you 91 degrees and GO! :)

Kentucky

2010-09-20T10:38:00.007-04:00

Matt and I went to Kentucky for the weekend. Our good friend from college, Ben Salmon was getting married, and Matt was a groomsman. We had a great trip, but we're glad to be home. We left Luke at home with Matt's parents one day, and my parents one day. We came home to a happy, well fed and very well loved baby. I missed him so much, but I was really glad he did so well. We're so blessed to have our family nearby, who love him so much and are so willing to help. Thank you grandparents, we appreciate you so much! We only took a few pictures. Matt and I before the rehearsal:

The lovely Shelly Moore and I before the rehearsal:
And Matt, while I was trying to figure out the light on the camera :)
so artsy, this was totally not an accident ;)

Luke turned 17 months on Saturday, it's so crazy to believe he's almost 1&1/2! He's running around everywhere, trying to figure everything out and get himself in trouble :) We love him so much and are so blessed to have him in our lives!

Mommy and Baby (or Big Boy)

2010-09-13T08:57:00.005-04:00

I hardly have any pictures of Luke and I, and even fewer of all 3 members of our little family, so I asked Matt to take a few for me last night :) Getting cooperation from everyone involved (Luke) can be a little challenging. He's a wiggle worm.

Kisses from mommy

This may be my favorite
Love this face
And, I'm ready to get down

And I look super silly in the one below, but I love Luke's face

Funny

2010-09-07T11:11:00.001-04:00

Bubbles

2010-09-03T11:01:00.001-04:00

I did it!

2010-08-31T14:20:00.002-04:00

Baked bread! And it actually turned out. I was so proud of myself :)

And we had a little juicing party, too!
And, I planted some herbs. Haven't located any lavender yet, but I'm growing some parsley, mint, rosemary and chives!

The Ball Popper

2010-08-26T09:19:00.003-04:00

Oh, look! It's my favorite new toy from Mimmy!

Oh, wow! (Luke says this now, it's pretty much the cutest thing ever)
Here I go, to push the button
But it's not working

Wonder why?

For you non-toy experts, this toy is designed to pop balls, not goats.

Luke's Memory Box

2010-08-25T15:50:00.005-04:00

I finally finished Luke's memory box! I found everything I was looking for to go in it except this piece of paper with his footprints on it from the hospital when he was born. We're still on the lookout for that, it's got to be somewhere. Anyway, here's the outside of the box (from Target).And the inside, with the cutest little blue and green circle pattern

Envelopes with maternity pictures, baby shower invitations, first haircut picture and a lock of hair, a page from my journal with a prayer for him right after he was born
hospital momentos (minus his little hat that didn't fit in the bag, you can see it in the 3rd pic under this bag)
Special cards from showers and his first year of life
2 photo albums

Last beach trip of the Summer

2010-08-25T10:39:00.006-04:00

Last weekend was my girl's weekend. It was so much fun. Luke did really well at home with Matt, he's in a daddy phase right now. He just loves Matt to pieces, and I love to watch how sweet their relationship is. The girls and I stayed up late talking and laughing, spent a long day at the beach (a long day for a mom who is used to coming in for lunch and naps, anyway) went shopping at the outlets, and went out for a late dinner. What a fun weekend! I'm seriously so blessed to have a husband who practically pushes me out the door to do whatever it is I want to do, joyfully offering to care for Luke by himself. He's pretty great. So, I know some of the girls got some cute pictures of us after dinner. I'm going to be honest and say that this is all I've got:

One of our late nights of laughing and talking included a self-invented (by Jenni, I think) game of taking pictures of various body part's (ear, nostrils, ankles) and trying to guess whose was whose. If that doesn't sound like fun and hilarity to you, I have serious doubts about your sense of humor. Thank you and goodbye.

I see you Fall (cooler weather, come on!)

2010-08-18T08:38:00.009-04:00

Again, I'm a little slack with the updates. I apologize :)

So, we've been doing more of the same. Play dates, pool and summer fun. Matt's had to travel for work overnight a couple of times. We miss him so much when he goes! I don't know how single and military moms do it. I have a new respect and awe for them. I'm headed to the beach with some of my best girlfriends from college this weekend. I've also started keeping a sweet little baby girl a few days a week. She's three months old and adorable!

On my 'want to do list' lately I've got:

-Finish Luke's memory box. I'm slack, I already admitted it once.

-Bake homemade bread. I'm going to try this recipe, I'll let you know how it goes.

-Start growing lavender. I really know nothing about this. Indoors, outdoors, where to buy it. But I hope to learn.

and LOOK! I decided to put ads on my blog! wouldn't it be crazy if I made some money? :) I kinda doubt it...but I was so curious to try it out!

Here are some recent pictures:

From when we had the Stinson's over for dinner, this is the adorable Pearce

Grady came over to play again, he also likes the fireman's hat

I think this is hilarious, and I don't know what they were doing. I think, somehow they both fell at the same time :)
Luke is making the truck noise
Playing with our bud
I love this one, they're almost the same height!

Recent Reads, Music, Projects

2010-08-06T09:30:00.008-04:00

So, I've been quite the read-a-holic this summer. I read those Harry Potter books. You know,all 7 of them, and then those crazy Twilight books. Go ahead and judge me ;) I have to say, Twilight was good (for what it is) but, I LOVE Harry Potter. Such good books! I know, I'm way behind in the craze on these series. But we've had a relaxing summer with several beach trips. And up until about a week ago Luke was still on two naps. So I decided to enjoy that time and read! And it was so wonderful. What is it about summer that makes you want to read? Anyway, I'm now sad they're over and moving on to some other books...any recommendations?

Matt and I also have a favorite album of the summer. Which is, The Medicine by John Mark McMillan. We've been listening to it pretty much non stop. I think my favorite song is either Carbon Ribs or Skeleton Bones, if you care to listen :)

I've also been working on a first year box for Luke. I decided to do this instead of making him baby book. I got the idea from this great craft blog post. I'll post pictures once I'm done. On another project front, we've finally gotten Luke's nursery almost done. It basically looks exactly like it did at our old house. Same wall color, and same everything else: (He's sleeping right now or I'd go take a picture)

Lastly, I just have to mention this for all my friends who are mommies of girls. There is a sale on Zulilly right now with the CUTEST smocked dresses and two piece outfits you have ever seen! I'd be all over it if we had a little girl :) por ejemplo:

LOVE. If you're interested just click here. You'll have to sign up for an account and then under Today's Deals the brand is Mary James.

Sweet Summer

2010-08-06T09:05:00.003-04:00

Now that our closets are all put back together, I guess I need to blog! We've just been enjoying the summer. Having a few playdates. A few with Lauren and adorable Jones

One with Meredith and adorable Grady
And enjoying some more pool time. Also, I would like to note taking Luke to the pool by myself doesn't allow a lot of time for photo snapping, what with his strong tendencies to leap headfirst into the water, not knowing how to swim and all :)

And enjoying some beautiful rainbows following strong afternoon storms

We hope you're enjoying your summer, too!