our new arrival

I am so grateful this little one decided to come 11 days early and I'm so proud that she is my first natural delivery. Andrew has been a huge help with Elliot and Avery so I can enjoy every precious moment. My blessings are overwhelming right now. I'm officially a mother of three!

sewing project - kid aprons

So I got my February sewing project done! After doing such a bad job on Elliot's Christmas apron I've been wanting to make him a new one. I kept to the same pattern as last time with a few adjustments. After trying the aprons on we put them to work immediately by making some cookies. Yum! Elliot especially likes the pocket in the front and I love the floral fabric on Avery's. I almost didn't have enough floral fabric which is why I had sew the bottom part in two pieces.

still learning

Kristy asked me to take some pictures of her family on Sunday while all the Sowards are in town. That's one good looking family! I think the best part about taking these pictures was looking at all the outtakes. Those kids (and some adults) make some hilarious faces! It was a good experience. It taught me that I still don't know anything about my camera. It didn't help that I was using a borrowed lens that I knew nothing about. It was a $2,000 glass lens that Rex checked out from MCC. When I was able to get everything in focus and perfect it worked great! I'm so grateful for my camera and the opportunity I had to use my tripod Andrew gave me for Valentine's Day.

spread the love

Make today memorable!

Share it with those you love.

Serve a little more.

Give more hugs and kisses.

Frost some cookies!

Just have fun and spread the love!

maternity shoot

I'm so excited to be so close to the end! I'm also excited to share these photos. My sister, Julie, took them on my camera and I love how they turned out. I never did a maternity shoot with either of my other pregnancies so this was a lot of fun. I'm glad I convinced Andrew to be a part of this photo shoot. He looks really hot! He's going to adore this little one almost as much as me!

Can I just say I love my new camera?!

So, do you think I'm having a girl or a boy?

When do you think this little one will come?

Andrew really wants the baby to be born on February 14 since Elliot and Avery were both on the 14th as well (Elliot - July 14, Avery - April 14). Avery also happened to be born on our anniversary and Feb. 14 is Valentine's Day (duh) and Andrew's dad's birthday. It's just easy to remember. I told him to not keeps his hopes up. Besides, the baby decides when it's ready to come.

p.s. Thanks Julie! You're a babe!

recipe: chocolate oatmeal cookies

Chocolate Oatmeal cookies:

1 box choc. cake mix

1 1/3 cups oatmeal

1 cup coconut

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

-mix ingredients and bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes

I've been in the mood for white chocolate lately so these just hit the spot. Did you notice there are no eggs? Yep. It was one of those days where we finished off the eggs at breakfast and I forgot so I had to improvise the recipe as I went. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't, but worked this time! The cookies were not the least bit crumbly. The best part is sampling the dough without worries about raw eggs.

The kids really loved them too.

I usually avoid cake box cookie recipes because they never taste as good as from scratch but this recipe tastes great and is quick to make. You should try it out!

a brief lament

Louise, my sister who lives with me, was going to the post office today and offered to save me a trip and mailed a birthday package for my father-in-law (his b-day is on Valentine's Day!) and buy some stamps. Can you believe that a small package of 30 pictures and a birthday card to England cost about $6?! Not only that, but the price for a normal letter to England was raised from 98 cents to $1.05. For real? It only cost 88 cents back when Andrew and I had our long-distance dating relationship! That wasn't that long ago. I don't even want to think about how much shipping baby announcements are going to be.

A few weeks ago I ordered some pijamas for Elliot off amazon and somehow, without realizing it, I accidentally shipped it to Andrew's parent's address. It cost $53 just in shipping. I didn't even notice until the next week. No wonder it was taking so long to ship! I feel so dumb for making such a big mistake. Not only did I pay a fortune to ship them to Andrew's parent's but now they have to pay to ship them to my house (we couldn't get a refund). Those are by far the most expensive pj's I've ever bought! I blame everything on my pregnancy! Have you ever made a mistake like that before? Aren't shipping costs outrageous?!

the last month

Well, it's official! I'm due one month from today. That means in a couple weeks the baby could come basically any day now. At least that's what I hope. Last week after a bad night of pregnancy insomnia all I could think about was all the things I haven't done to get ready for this baby. It was a long list. Needless to say the next day I went to the store and bought some diapers and other essentials. This week my plan is to pack for the hospital. I want to be mentally and physically ready for this baby, whenever it chooses to come. I think not knowing what I'm having has caught me off guard. It's harder to prepare. At least I only have one more month of this belly. Andrew told me a couple weeks ago that he couldn't decide what part of my body her liked best. Last week he decided on my belly. Aren't husbands funny? By the way, check out this cute hair tutorial. It's how I styled my hair below. Happy Monday!

p.s. That's Andrew's hand in the picture above. He said it was awkward to take but I really like that picture. My sister volunteered to take maternity shots of me and I'm dying to get some with Andrew. I love feeling he's involved in this pregnancy in ways other than dealing with my emotional highs and lows.

photo challenge: week 1

A week ago Andrew got me a new camera. He must love me a lot. I love the new camera but there's a big difference between a Fujifilm S2800 and a Canon Rebel T2i. Pretty much I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm excited to learn. This will be an ongoing process. To motivate me to figure out my camera Andrew has given me a photography challenge each day this week. I might make this a regular thing.

This is what he had me do this week:

Monday: flowers

Tuesday: candid shots of the kids

Wednesday: the sky

Thursday: something with different shades of red

Friday: movement

He intentionally kept the challenges open so there was room for interpretation. It's been a lot of fun. Right now I'm mostly using auto and manual mode until I feel more comfortable with the camera. It came with another lens that I haven't even touched yet, but all in time! What photo do you like best?

book review: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is one I've never heard of until recently and I feel like I've been missing out. It received a Newbery Award so you know it's going to be a good read

In summary it's about a girl named Kit who's family die so she's forced to leave her home in Barbados to live with her aunt's family in Connecticut. Set in 1687 everyone in Connecticut are Puritans and she feels like an outsider. She thinks, acts, and even dresses different than everyone which reminds me a little bit of when I moved to England. The difference is that people in the book never let her forget that she's different by constantly dissaproving her actions. When she makes friends with an old women who the Puritans believe to be a witch many people accuse her of the same crime. This causes Kit to choose between her heart and duty.

In the book I like that Kit tries her best to adapt to her new lifestyle but she remains true to herself and her beliefs. About halfway through the book I already predicted the ending but I didn't mind because it's the ending I would have written. All in all, I really enjoyed The Witch of Blackbird Pond.