Bon Voyage

At the request of my dear friend and current Twilight addict, below I have posted pics of my IKEA purchases in all their space-saving glory. There are very few drawers in my kitchen, so this little item is stuffed with all of the utensils I use on a day to day basis while making mac and cheese, Pasta Roni, PB&J, and well, you know, the usual hearty and healthy meals.



Speaking of mac and cheese (a favorite of mine, especially if it is Annie's Organic-oh, yum.)...in the event you are bored and looking for a way to impress the kids, whip this guy together. A hotdog octopus swimming in a bowl of mac&cheese. It's a classic when I make lunch for kiddos, and they love it! =)



On that note, I must skedaddle, as I am anxiously anticipating eating my entire body weight in cruise cuisine very soon. I hope they have mac & cheese.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama as a way to share imperfections and short comings in a fun and transparent way! This week I'm posting a "Not My Child Monday" featuring this fuzzy little guy:



Don't let the cute wrinkles fool you. I have a ton of dirt on this guy. You are welcome to join in the fun on Mondays at www.mycharmingkids.net and find out what other women (or children, or in my case, puppies) have not been doing this week!

My puppy did not pee all over the ottoman this morning as a repulsive side-effect to his new found fear of shiny, new and incredibly suctiony vacuums. He would never do that on the first day I whip out my new birthday present, consequently putting an end to my vacuuming bliss and causing me to pull out the heavy artillery and spend the better part of an hour scrubbing and spraying and cleaning all the while with my shirt collar pulled up over my nose because it was so gross and for heaven's sake I put in my potty training hours with you last summer when you were only 3 inches off the ground. I've already done my time, dang it!



Not pictured here, but most certainly the recipient of the Most Valuable Player award is the Bissel Spot Bot. Unarguably the life saver of the vacuuming-gone-bad-event that was my morning.



Post Operation Ottoman Clean-Up he did not snag the roll of paper towels I had been using to fix our little fiasco and chew up a good portion of the end before I could get to him. Not my puggle. Never.



I intended to tattle on Opie by going down a list of offenses he's committed lately that rival this morning's incident, but I'm finding that my blogging time is severely cutting into my packing time this morning, and while I'd love to continue to share the woes of puggle-raising, I had better get cracking on my packing list before I'm forced to show up on board with a wad of wrinkly laundry and no swimsuits in tow. Lots and lots to do!

"I think there are ducks in here"

Five days into being 24 and I'm feeling good. =) We had a birthday celebration that spanned the length of a week, to which, of course, I made no objections! I had a bunch of fun unwrapping a few gifts for baby and for our cruise, including, but not limited to, an adorable frame for the ultrasound pictures, an adorable floppy straw hat (!!!!), and a schmattering of cruise scrapbooking materials for me to put to use when we get home and I am looking at piles and piles of photos. So fun! Thanks to my wonderful grandmother, I am now the excited owner of an iHome and no longer have to wake up to the sound of fuzzy ocean waves crashing into the shore from the late 90's. Thank you! And, thanks to my parents, I will no longer have to wash my feet before I go to bed because I haven't vacuumed my floors in I'll-never-admit-how-long due to a broken vacuum cleaner and a newlywed budget. Hooray for the Hoover! It will be gracing my carpets tomorrow morning, and I am quite sure I will never be the same. =)



As mentioned in my previous post, a deal was swung between the hubs and I involving a day trip to Cabela's and IKEA. To sweeten the deal, he threw in a day trip with two of our besties, so there was simply no way I could turn him down. Because I just can't say no to a bestie and a promise of home decor shopping.

Early Saturday we climbed into the car laden with baby-nourishing doughnut holes and Capri Suns. It is hard to pick an early morning snack when you are at the grocery store in the wee hours of the morning due to a zealous family birthday celebration that lasted to the wee hours of the night. So doughnut holes and Capri Suns it was. But fear not, I counter-acted our less-than-great road trip snacks with some raspberry keifer, bananas, and Cheerios before we even left the house. And I stashed a wealth of grapes and string cheese secretly in my purse to share with no one but myself and the baby. Because we get hungry. Real hungry.

I'll spare you the details of how exhausted we were by the time we actually arrived at Cabela's due to a failure in the menfolk's ability to navigate before 12 in the afternoon. I'll also spare you the drama of deciding whether IKEA or Cabela's would be first, and I'll just say that the deal was as follows: "Fine. We won't complain at Cabela's as long as you don't complain at IKEA."

Like I said in the previous post, Saturday was "waterfowl extravaganza something something lots of duck stuff" day at Cabela's. Our first 3 minutes at Cabela's went something like this (remember to pause the music at the bottom of my blog so you can hear the video!):



After being assaulted by various duck calls at various decibels from all angles, we followed the menfolk into the heart of the store. Par for the course, I was overwhelmed at my husband's capacity to sit and stare at camouflage and camouflage related merchandise. We lasted all of 7 minutes before we were forced to vacate the area and head directly for the cafe for fear of violating the truce, and in turn having to suffer complaints from the menfolk throughout our entire IKEA experience. And since it was my first trip to IKEA, violating truce was not something I was willing to sacrifice. We knew the only thing that would bar off the misery was a cone full of roasted almonds and a box full of chocolate fudge. So we spent our life savings at the cafe, moved into the tacky moose embroidered furniture, and made ourselves at home for all of 2 hours while the menfolk "shopped" and attended "duck call seminars."

I'll spare you the pictures we took of the camouflaged women's bathing suits and the rows and rows of guns. You're welcome.

Following Cabela's, we ventured over to IKEA and had a HAY DAY. I have never in my life seen more cute kitchen accessories in one place- not even at Target, which is really saying something. The hubs had to resuscitate me when I realized it was an entire warehouse full of affordable furniture and gadgets and pillowslip covers for only 4 bucks. Unfortunately, I had spent my life savings on fudge in order to accommodate the truce at Cabela's, so my IKEA purchases were limited, however VERY cute. In fact, the hubby just hung one of my kitchen bars with little hook thingys to hold all the spatulas and flippers I own, and I think it is just perfect. I can already smell an IKEA gift card under the Christmas tree because there were several items I saw and whispered "I'll be back for you" to, and I simply can't make them wait too long.



Overall, I consider the Cabela's/IKEA deal a complete win, on account of the fact that we wrapped up the day with a gut busting trip to Mongolian BarBQ and washed it all down with ice cream treats purchased at a shady gas station on the way home. The perfect day.

Uh Oh Thursday

I came across a few uh oh's today, and since I spent most of the day either sleeping or stuffing my face full of string cheese and rasberry keifer, I figured the only relatively amusing thing I have to blog about today are the uh-oh's. Because who wants to read about string cheese and rasberry keifer?

#1- I went to see The Time Travelor's Wife with a friend of mine this afternoon. Now I kinda want to travel back in time. Uh oh. I keep thinking how much I'd like to take back the 15 cents I paid the boys in my neighborhood as a kid to ride on the makeshift "go-cart" they were crowing about. It was a sorry excuse for an automobile, as it was just a bunch of plywood boards primitively hammered together with rusty nails they found in the scrap pile of a house being built on our street, set all catewhompus on a pair of wheels taken from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles skateboard. I should have seen right through their "it's the best ride you'll ever go on, and it only costs 15 cents" charade, but I was only 8, and the prospect of experiencing the best ride I'd ever go on in my very own neighborhood was just too good to pass up. That death trap landed me in the middle of the road with a couple skinned up knees and a bunch of embarassing tears. I'd so like to go and get my money back, dang it.

#2- Following the movie at the mall, my friend and I ventured into Gymboree only to find that everything was 30% off and the clearance racks were full of adorable clothes for babies. Uh oh. It was all I could do to contain myself (and my wallet), and now I am lamenting the fact that I didn't know whether to buy the little ruffled girl swimsuit or the cute denim lobster overalls and won't know until its too late to take advantage of the summer clearance for my baby's summer wardrobe next year. Bummer.

#3- I found some motion-sickness relieving wristbands online and thought they would be the perfect accessory for a pregnant woman cruising the Caribbean in a few weeks. Later today I found the same wristbands at Rite Aid, but they were an ugly black as opposed to the online assortment of colors- rainbow, red with flowers, etc. Now I am torn between the ugly bands at Rite Aid or the cute bands online that will cost me an extra $10 in shipping and handling.



#4- My father-in-law texted the hubs yesterday to let him know that Cabela's is sponsoring a waterfowl-extravaganza/every-hunter's-dream-event or some whosie-whatsit-something-or-other involving enormous amounts of camo and guns this weekend, causing my hubby to con his way into a three month early birthday gift card. It's looking more and more like the hubby is going to talk me into an entire day spent at that camoflagued nightmare. This is how bored I became the last time we spent 4-73 hours at that store:





As painful a prospect as it is, this uh-oh may in fact have a happy ending. In exchange for the endless hours I am almost inevitably guaranteed to spend there, the hubby has offered to take me on my maiden voyage to IKEA on our way home.

I'm thinking...DEAL.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama as a way to share imperfections and short comings in a fun and transparent way! Join in the fun on Mondays at www.mycharmingkids.net and find out what other women have not been doing this week!

Last week I did not go to the beach with my mom and sister instead of doing the 78 pounds of laundry that were piled up in my mudroom.



I also did not already start my baby registry because my mother in law likes to go Christmas shopping early to beat the crowds and I just so happen to have a birthday this week. I did not do that. That would just be beyond a shadow of a doubt jumping the gun. ahem.

Another thing I did not do this week was take a slew of pics with my Keens in them as we were tubing down the river with my fam simply because I was in awe of the fact that they were the hands-down-no-two-ways-about-it-most-definite perfect river tubing footwear choice. Not me! That would be weird.












Seriously. The best river tubing footwear choice.

Last but not least, I have not Googled every other activity I have planned to pursue since I found out I was pregnant in an effort to educate myself as a first-timer, even though I've had a ton of experience with kids and always told myself I would never be a spaz that freaked out about everything. I did not do that because I have worked with kids and babies and been around expectant moms since the first time I read Babysitter's Club back in 4th grade. On principle I would never do that. Ever.



Lucky for me, the ever-insightful internet answered my question with a resolute, "No. Not for 15 years. In fact, your husband should probably do that from now on." Oh, Google. Bless your sweet little heart.

Spring Chicken

How do I even start this post? Hmm...

Once upon a time...



there were two.

In April 2010...



there will be three!

Well, four if we count this guy:



We are praising God for the fourth little member of our family (who is, as of this week, the size of an appleseed, and also an expert at dancing "Thriller" thanks to the wedding last weekend!) We have been abundantly blessed by this news and are in awe of God's goodness!

We had a blast spreading the word this week to family and friends,(we tried to wait a while, but are absolutely terrible at keeping secrets!...and this was one BIG secret!) and we are so looking forward to the months that follow! We are just in awe of God's timing because our little spring chicken is scheduled to make it here just in time for his aunt and uncle's wedding in June- meaning Baby gets to celebrate with us, and I get to go shopping for some adorable zebra print baby clothes to outfit Baby for the zoo wedding! Always love a good excuse to go shopping! =) Speaking of which, I've already put this on my birthday list for this week...



So much fun! We've talked about being parents since we were dating, and we are just thrilled God has blessed us with the opportunity to begin this part of our journey!

Oh, and if you're wondering about the amazing wedding photograph, it was taken by our incredible wedding photographer at www.trudyholtzphotography.com. We love what she did with our wedding and engagement pictures! And the ever-so-artistic shot of the onesies I crafted for the grandmas-to-be? That was my photographic talent at its best, compliments of Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Poor Baby. Mama will have to learn how to use a camera a little better before Baby's big debut! =)

The Sun is Shinin'

Today is a beach day.