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?!