Sunday, December 28, 2014

CHRISTMAS MORNING IN THE KITCHEN

This year for Christmas we decided to keep it simple and do the {Something You Want, Something You Need, Something to Wear & Something to Read}.

For the last few months Kensi has been asking where her kitchen is since playing with one at grandma and grandpas over the summer. She already has some play food and appliances, but we both feel she's ready and needs a kitchen. Plus her gentle reminders each day are also helpful, but also very informative as she explains why she in fact needs her very own kitchen.

We started looking for one we loved and of course it had to come from Pottery Barn and cost a freakin arm to buy. As much as I adore the farmhouse three piece kitchen from PBKids there's no way we could swing that this year. So the search continued and we got a phone call from my mom telling us about a one piece kitchen from Costco. It fit our budget, but I just couldn't handle all the color. It would literally drive me insane to look at it and yes I did consider painting it, but I wanted an easier project to work on. That's how we got to the IKEA Play Kitchen. It's adorable and simple. It just needed a little character. I looked to Pinterest for some inspiration and fell madly in love with SniderMoneyPit Blog’s white and gold kitchen makeover. No more looking was needed, this was a done deal.

I really thought this would be a challenge to work on with Kensi around all the time, but since we leave everything until the last minute we did all this the last few nights leading up to Christmas Eve.

For Christmas, Trish and Walt made her a mini Starbucks apron for all the times she plays barista.

We used spray paint for the sink, stove rim and feet; swapped out the handles for real hardware that we also sprayed and added some fun knobs for the stove. We used white spray paint for the body of the kitchen that wasn’t already white and finished the countertop by sanding it down and using leftover stain. Our gold spray paint began chipping and scratching almost immediately, so I would suggest priming those pieces like SniderMoneyPit did to save yourself the pain of having to do it again later.

We set the kitchen up next to the tree on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t handle the excitement of giving this to her. She slept great, I on the other hand could not sleep a wink! When Christmas morning finally came Mike was ready to go with the video camera and captured her reaction. I really thought she would be over the top and just freak out, but it was the complete opposite. Kensi and I came downstiars and checked out the empty plate of cookies, Kensi understood Santa must have come. When we walked over to our tree she calmly walked closer and said, “Oh! My kitchen!” She was very matter of fact, like this is what I wanted and now it’s here sorta thing. She was very excited and immediately started making coffee and cookies for us. Of course Little Miss Protective wouldn't let either one of us touch her kitchen the entire day...not even after we made an awesome Santa pancake....life with a 2 year old, sheesh!

FINN AND FAM

When we found out we were expecting Finnley we knew we wanted to have newborn photos taken, but more importantly we needed something that included family photos. We haven't had any family photos taken of all of us ever, other than something quick on the phone. So now was the time. We chose a photographer who does more lifestyle photography and we just love how they came out!

A huge thanks to Marla of Marla Lynna Photography for taking the time to capture some of our crazy and silly everyday moments, especially with our sassy Kensi girl. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

LITTLE DEER ORNAMENTS

Last year we made homemade Christmas ornaments for our tree and to give as gifts. We used clear bulbs and Kensi filled them with glittered pom poms. They were a huge hit and very easy to do, especially for Kensi babe.

I love homemade ornaments as they give a cozy feeling to a tree. This year we made a deer ornament to go on our trees. I saw a pin last year on Pinterest and knew we could re-create this little gem.

I saved this project for Kensi and I to do after the baby was born. I try and set aside an activity of some sort each day for her and I to do together. I want to try my best to give her some one-on-one attention and not let her feel like she's been replaced by the baby.

Bear with me when it comes to the photos, we did this at night and the lighting was terrible.

Kensi gets so excited for projects and crafts, and this was no different. She felt like such a big girl since we were using the hot glue gun. She thinks it’s a very special project when the glue gun comes out :)

We purchased all of our supplies from Michaels and used tree twigs for our antlers.

We started by making two small dots using white paint for the eyes. You could use googlie eyes if you'd like.

Then we cut our twigs down so they would fit into the hole on top of the spool and hot glued them in.

We used twine to create our looped hanger and also hot glued that into the top.

Lastly, we hot glued our little red noses on, used a black sharpie to finish our eyes and wrote our names and date on the bottom.

These are so simple and cute, but definitely require some adult help with the glue gun. You can make them even more rustic by staining the spools before hand which I wish I had done, but that just gives me more ideas for next year!

After making our ornaments, it reminded us to make our reindeer food. You can find how we make ours here. This time we pulsed it in a small food processor to make the confetti smaller. I was finding sequined Christmas trees in our front yard all summer long!

GRAHAM CRACKER TOFFEE

This is one recipe that is ALWAYS made during the Christmas season. If this isn't made then it just doesn't feel like Christmas. Many people make Saltine Toffee and I have never been much of a fan, because growing up with my mom's graham cracker toffee always took the cake!

I adore this recipe because it's very quick and easy, but I have learned the hard way if you don't follow this recipe exactly you will get a burnt version and it ruins it completely.

Yesterday, Kensi got then opportunity to make this with my mom for the first time. Of course Finn-Man was hungry as well so I didn't get pictures of the whole process, but it was pretty sweet capturing these two in the kitchen together.

Graham Cracker Toffee
Makes 48 pieces

Unsalted Butter, room temperature for greasing the pan

1 box of Nabisco or Honey Maid Graham Crackers

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Nuts such as almonds or pecans, chopped (optional)

3/4 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Use room temperature butter to completely butter the insides (bottom and sides) of a jelly roll pan (10x15x1). Line the entire bottom with graham crackers (then break into ¼ pieces with a knife so that the entire pan, including the corners and sides are lined with graham crackers).

In saucepan combine the 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar. Bring to a boil for EXACTLY 5 minutes. Then, pour over graham crackers, sprinkle with chopped nuts (if using) and bake for EXACTLY 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let it set for about 3-5 minutes and spread melted chocolate over graham crackers.

Let it cool for about and break into random pieces. Keep in an airtight container or bag.

HELLO WORLD

Thursday afternoon we welcomed our second baby into the world. I felt big and knew this baby was solid, often snuggling into a ball that sat low as it threw kicks and punches into my ribs and hip bones. I gained about five pounds more this time around, and expected to have a bigger baby....like around 8.5 pounds or so. That's what we thought.....thought.

We were considered high risk due to a two-vessel cord which had our doctors not wanting us to go to our due date of the 5th. So they set us up for an induction on the 4th....seriously? I was nervous about forcing labor unnaturally, but with awesome prayer warriors my contractions started on their own once we got to the hospital and I was already dilated to 5 which meant no pitocin!! My doctor broke my water, but unfortunately that made everything go rather quickly. Within what seemed to be minutes my contractions were on top of each other. Only about 45 seconds between each one, I was unbelievably exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open. My epidural was ordered too late and didn't have enough time to fully set up and numb me. It was barely 30-45 minutes later since I was given the epidural that I could tell I needed to push. I was devastated because I could still feel every touch on my legs. This baby came so quickly that with only four {very painful and intense} pushes out popped a very BIG baby BOY who instantly peed all over me as soon as I was holding him. After nursing for 40 minutes {super baby, right?} they took his stats that taught us I delivered a whopping 9lb 11oz baby. Amazingly enough, I didn’t tear. I have no idea how I managed not to, but some of the nurses credited yoga. As upset as I was about the stupid epidural and dropping a few choice words as it felt like my insides were being torn from my body, I couldn't believe what I had just done and was now holding this beautiful baby boy who we instantly fell madly in love with. I give those mamas out there who choose to deliver drug free a standing ovation, you are very admirable...but I wouldn't want to feel that much pain again. Nope! Not even an ounce.

We brought Kensington up the next day to meet her little bro. Beforehand our pedi suggested we bring Kensi into the room without me holding the new baby. He said she's really there to see me and may feel replaced seeing mommy holding a new baby. Kensi was excited to see me, but also very excited to see the baby. But more importantly she was excited to get a gift from her new brother, a new baby doll. That was the most exciting thing about the visit to her :) and that's okay because she was happy and not one bit upset.

So today we'd like to introduce our newest bundle to our fam jam.

Finnley Michael

9lbs 11oz

20 3/4 in long

39 WEEKS

This baby is still cooking!

How Far Along: 39 weeks

Weight Gained: 30 lbs

Nausea: None

How Am I Feeling: I've actually felt pretty good except for getting up from a sitting position or even out of bed in the morning. Everything is heavy and sore.

Maternity Clothes: Pajama pants are my jam.

Sleep: I’be felt so much pressure at night, it's making sleeping and moving from side to side very uncomfortable.

Cravings: Fruit, especially oranges. Now that clementines are in season again we go through about a box a week it seems like between Kensi and I.

Food Adversions: Pork and brussle sprouts.

Movement: Baby movements fewer, but we still get some major kicks and punches.

Belly Button In or Out: Out! It popped immediately around 8 weeks.

Gender: Unknown.

Names: We have one girl name that has been standing out for awhile, but we're stl not sure about boy names.

What I'm Looking Forward To: I'm excited to sleep on my stomach again, this whole side sleep business is becoming very uncomfortable.

What's Different With This Pregnancy: This nugget seems to really like it in there. It feels like he/she isn't coming out at all.

What I'm Missing: Still missing my clothes especially now that its getting really cool outside. I feel at the point of not having literally anything to really wear that’s cute and flattering.

How Are We Preparing: Our doctor visit last week told us they would be surprised if we didn't have the baby by Thanksgiving Eve, well...we're still baking away. They've set me up to be induced later this week since being labeled as high risk. I'm nervous, but know it's all in God's hands.

38 WEEKS

How Far Along: 38 weeks

Weight Gained: 27 lbs

Nausea: I felt a little nausea Thursday night.

How Am I Feeling: I almost didn't make it to week 38; Contractions started Thursday night lasting about 2 hours, 10 minutes apart. But everything stopped around 11pm.

Maternity Clothes: Pajama pants are my jam. I’m even wearing them in this photo, thank you Lord for cropping.

Sleep: I’m sleeping well most nights, but to flip from side to side feels like way more of a challenge than it’s worth.

Cravings: After eating cake every single day this past week I've been eating as much fruit and salad as I possibly can.

Food Adversions: Pork and brussle sprouts.

Movement: My belly took the shape of a football quite a few times this week. I can feel the baby grinding its little head very low....not super comfortable.

Belly Button In or Out: Out! It popped immediately around 8 weeks.

Gender: Unknown.

Names: We consolidated our list of names and brought it down to five of each.

What I'm Looking Forward To: I'm excited to meet this little nugget! Any day he or she could make their debut!

What's Different With This Pregnancy: When my contractions started I became really sad thinking about how it won't just be Kensi and I anymore. I'm so excited for the adventure of a new baby and I know Kensi is going to be an incredible big sister, but it's a little bittersweet.

What I'm Missing: A glass of wine sounds soo good right now.

How Are We Preparing: We're trying to get as much stuff done around the house. I'm completely over fall decor so we pulled out all our Christmas decorations and we're slowly putting some up each day.

MY LAST TWENTY

I cried when I turned 20. Yes cried. And it was at work. I was upset leaving my teen years behind, knowing I was being fledged into full adulthood. Not to say my twenties haven't been good, but there's been a lot of highs and lows. Over the weekend we celebrated turning 29, my last twenty. It seems a little weird because for me it was one of those numbers you never really thought would come around, but somehow it's here and it's a little blurry how that happened. My loves made sure my birthday was anything but an ordinary day. I was greeted by Kensi first thing in the morning with 'happy bifday mama, I luv you'. That right there, made it the best twenty-something birthday. After literally rolling out of bed Kensi and Mike had flowers already in a vase, coffee made and a gift from Kensi wrapped. She was so excited for me to open it and insisted I didn't wait a minute longer. While unwrapping the paper our conversation was the sweetest....

Kensi: “Open present Mommy”

Me: “It this from Daddy?”

Kensi: “Noooo Mama! Me!”

Me: “Ohhh, do you know what it is? What is it?”

Kensi: “Ahhhh? Ahhh? Hmmm? I forgot!”

I open it up.

Me: “Kensi, it’s a scarf. It’s so pretty. Look at the beautiful flowers”

Kensi: “Oh, so pretty mama”

Me: “Did you pick this out?”

Kensi: “Ahhh....nope! Daddy did!”

Seriously?!?!?! I think 2 year old conversations are the best!

I was treated with breakfast at our favorite diner downtown, The Dixie Grill. Everything they make is mouth-watering amazing. We kept Kensi entertained by building towers with jelly and creamer. What kid didn't do this at a breakfast joint?

Later, I was completely spoiled with a much needed massage and a surprise dinner and dessert with our friends. The best part was dessert, a tuxedo cake. And not just a slice, an entire cake! This beauty is so scrumptious, it's ridiculous. A layer of chocolate cake, cheesecake and topped with chocolate mousse. Seriously ridiculous! I literally ate a piece every single day for 5 days in a row. Hello scale at the doctor’s office....what’s that gigantic number?

Regardless of my stubbornness of turning 29, I know it's going to be a great year. How couldn't it be after such a great start?

37 WEEKS

How Far Along: 37 weeks....FULL TERM and my birthday week!

Weight Gained: 24 lbs

Nausea: Still dealing with some heartburn, I’m hoping this means the baby will have lots of hair.

How Am I Feeling: Still tired, but trying to move around and walk as much as I can.

Maternity Clothes: Pajama pants are my jam.

Sleep: I’m sleeping well most nights, but to flip from side to side feels like way more of a challenge than it’s worth.

Cravings: Fruit, peanut butter and Blue Bell Ice Cream. It doesn’t help that since been celebrating my birthday I’ve been spoiled with one of the most amazing cakes ever...Lemon-Coconut from our favorite local bakery....I’m pretty sure I died and went to heaven with every bite I took :)

Food Adversions: Pork and brussle sprouts. Chili nearly made the list this week because of the heartburn.

Movement: Baby movements fewer, but we still get some major kicks and punches.

Belly Button In or Out: Out! It popped immediately around 8 weeks.

Gender: Unknown.

Names: We consolidated our list of names and brought it down to five of each.

What I'm Looking Forward To: I'm excited to sleep on my stomach again, this whole side sleep business is becoming very uncomfortable.

What's Different With This Pregnancy: I feel similar to when I carried Kensi, things have just happened a lot quicker. I’m feeling more sore and stiff than I remember the first time around, but the Drs tell me it’s normal for a second pregnancy....is this really true?

What I'm Missing: Still missing my clothes especially now that its getting really cool outside. I feel at the point of not having literally anything to really wear that’s cute and flattering.

How Are We Preparing: The hospital bag is packed! Everything is washed, dried and reassembled. All we need is the baby!

THE CANDY FAIRY

This was the first year Kensi came back with a decent amount of candy from Trick or Treating and in the last week I have eaten waaaay too much, even for being preggo. We needed a way to get rid of it and we came across The Candy Fairy which is a spin off of The Switch Witch.

Found on Hol:Fit

Kensi, Mike and I all picked out a few of our favorites, packed the rest of the candy into a box and put it on the porch. {Mike took it all into work}. Later that same day we did a little swap and Kensi had a package waiting just for her from the Candy Fairy, a trade for all the candy she sent. When the doorbell rang it was the cutest thing ever as Kensi jumped and started shouting 'The Candy Fairy! The Candy Fairy!' She was excited and it took all the leftover candy off our hands.

CRAFT PUMPKIN MAKEOVER

On my {what seems to be} weekly trip to Hobby Lobby I came across orange craft pumpkins in the holiday section in the front of the store all 50% off. Of course I didn't go for pumpkins, but I thought with a little paint they would be great for Thanksgiving.

My original thought was to spray paint them white and gold, but after looking at my leftover paints in the garage I opted for a combo of antique white and taupe. I painted the bottoms first then moved to the tops.

I also decided to paint my larger pumpkins and buy a few more later. I really love having the faux pumpkins on hand since they never rot and they can be used for a few different holidays throughout the fall season.

I arranged the pumpkins on our dining table and our around our fireplace. I love the simplicity of the colors and the fact they can be used all season long.

ON HOLD

Like so many moms out there I've struggled with trying to come up with a schedule for our home and family, stressed about spending enough time with our daughter, worried about not having chores done and asking when is it appropriate to ask for some ‘me' time. I've learned I'm also a people pleaser and I spend way too much time worrying about what the wrong people think and letting them get inside my head and being stuck in a rut of thinking im not good enough or capable. And I'm just tired, actually exhausted.

The hardest part for me is that a lot of this didn't come into realization until my third trimester with this second baby, but it’s been going on for far too long. Looking back I feel like I've wasted so much time worrying and not enough time just enjoying.

A lot of my frustration came from not exactly knowing where to go with my Etsy shop. I can't begin to explain the amount of frustration and lack of motivation I can have with it. I follow several blogger moms who also run shops and the illusion of them seeming to have it all figured out can drive me crazy. Why can’t I figure it out? Why?

I knew I needed to step back and focus on what was really important. My family. Not my parents, my siblings or my nieces or nephews. My little family. To some that may sound harsh, but I don't feel completely supported by everyone and I can't focus on that. That's what started bringing me down. I sew, create, cook and blog because of my little family. All I want to do is make them happy. I cannot worry about all the chores, my shop or the other blogger moms. I had to step away and refocus. I focused on spending time making memories and starting traditions that we wanted to make, not because everyone else was doing so. I don't feel like I have to share it with the world or blog about every minute of our lives.

I've had people ask me why I don't have many items in my shop or why my blog posts have been fewer than normal. I had to take a break and will continue to do so through the rest of this year. I'm not going MIA, just refocusing and prepping for our newest baby on the way. I appreciate all my readers who have continued to follow me and I will still be posting. Just stay tuned....a fresh start is coming.

holiday eves

Every holiday our little family gets so excited. For as long as Mike and I can remember the eve of all holidays have been by far our favorite part of any holiday. Growing up Christmas Eve was and is my favorite day of the entire year. There's something about the anticipation of the actual day that makes Eves so much fun. This year we’re trying to figure out when we want to travel to visit family and both of us agree we most definitely cannot miss Christmas Eve with our little family. We love the anticipation of the holiday, but when the actual day comes we get a little sad knowing it’s all over.

When I was little I was in charge or wrapping all the gifts and I created my very own wrapping station in my parents bedroom. I had the best setup too. A table pushed up I'm front of their door that allowed me to close the door so no one could see all the presents. A variety of paper, ribbon, bows and gift tags to choose from and of course I charged $0.25-0.50 per gift. {Follow my All Wrapped Up Pinterest board for gift wrapping ideas }I still get an excited feeling in my stomach and goosebumps thinking about my shop. I still set up my own little wrapping station every year, but it's just not as cool as it was then. I can't wait to help Kensi set up her own shop someday.

I adore Mike so much because he made my favorite day of the year that much better in 2006 when he proposed. Not only did he know I would love to get engaged on Christmas Eve because of all it's magical festivness, but it was also the night my parents became engaged many many years ago.

We really love spending Christmas Eve relaxing listening to beautiful Christmas music and making a stop at Starbucks to enjoy our favorite peppermint white mochas. It's our time to slow down when the rest of the world is rushing through the stores doing last minute shopping. We usually make Italian wedding soup for dinner and our own Christmas fettuccine. We stole my sister & bro-in-law's Christmas Eve tradition she does with her kids. After Christmas Eve service the kids find a surprise from Santa’s Elves....a brand new pair of jams to sleep in that night. We did this with Kensi last year and even though she was only 6 months old, she loved her penguin jams. Such a fun little tradition especially when Kensi gets a little older and becomes excited to see what was left for her!

This Christmas will be very special for us since this will be the first Christmas we are celebrating on our own. We decided to stay home and do our own thing this year since we are welcoming Baby #2 in December and we wanted to be able to start our traditions in our own home. It stinks we have to choose between us and our family at this point because we live so far away, but the great news is my sister and her fan and my parents are all traveling to be with us a couple days later!

ALL HALLOWS EVE

Our whole day was busy getting ready for our neighborhood party and doing last minute prep work for our costumes. We started with Halloween themed donuts and coffee that Mike was sweet enough to get at the crack of drawn to avoid the morning commuters. It made Kensi’s morning because she is a sugar-aholic and loves donuts. I’m assuming she’s like most other kids and only really enjoys eating the top with the sprinkles.

We finished decorating our front porch with carved pumpkins and cut out black bats hung from the ceiling with fishing line. We actually had a lot of compliments on the bats and I loved how they blew in the breeze. I can’t take credit though, this was all Martha Stewart, my go to for almost all my DIY. Did I mention this was our first year to experience trick or treaters? I think we were a tad bit excited.

We did the bee theme for our costumes. I remember seeing the bee hive hair on Martha Stewart years and years ago. I think it may have been the early 2000’s and fell in love it so I had no doubt about using it this year. Her website also had a cute bee keeper how to for Mike which made for a simple costume to make using painter's coveralls and hot gluing tulle to a hat with bees.

Kensi's costume was kept simple as well by wearing black leggings and a black shirt. We bought the bee wings and headband from Amazon and Michaels. I made her tutu with black tulle and yellow trim and created her striped leg warmers.

Our neighborhood had a Halloween party that included a chili cook off, music, hay ride and fire pit. All the kids had a great time celebrating, showing off their fun costumes and eating way too much candy! At the end of the night they passed our awards and we won best couple/family costume. I'm already brainstorming what theme to do next year!

As much as we love to celebrate the fun of Halloween, we are ready to pack up the decorations, get ready for thanksgiving and even possibly transition into Christmas a little earlier this year. Afterall we do have a lot coming up in the next few weeks :)

35 WEEKS

How Far Along: 35 weeks

Weight Gained: 22 lbs

Nausea: More heartburn, but nothing a couple of Tums can’t take care of.

How Am I Feeling: Tired, tired and more tired.

Maternity Clothes: I feel like I got bigger quicker than I did with Kensi and definitely feel that I’m in the dresses, sweats and oversized t-shirt stage. I really don’t like this part where everything makes you super emotional, especially clothes. I cry because things are too tight and I cry when you finally find something that fits.

Sleep: Sleep is a little better. My back has been sore, but Mike has been a trooper and giving me a massage every single night. Best Husband Award definitely goes to him!

Cravings: Fruit and salad.

Food Adversions: Pork and brussle sprouts

Movement: The movements are slowing down, but they also feel stronger. Little Babe is going back and forth between stretching and curling in a rock solid ball.

Belly Button In or Out: Out! It popped immediately around 8 weeks.

Gender: Unknown.

Names: We consolidated our list of names and brought it down to five of each.

What I'm Looking Forward To: I'm excited to sleep on my stomach again, this whole side sleep business is becoming very uncomfortable.

What's Different With This Pregnancy: I feel similar to when I carried Kensi, things have just happened a lot quicker. Getting Kensi prepared for the new baby and trying to potty train her has been an interesting adventure!

What I'm Missing: Still missing my clothes especially now that its getting really cool outside. I feel at the point of not having literally anything to really wear that’s cute and flattering.

How Are We Preparing: I started packing the hospital bag! We’re also looking for a dresser for the baby’s room. His or her nursery won’t be done until after the new year since we have family coming to visit for Christmas and we’ll be using the babe’s room as a guest room until they leave.

A BATTY HALLOWEEN

This year Kensi is all about bats. We don't really know where the fascination came from, all we know she is obsessed with them so we have bat window clings, bay garland and we'll be hanging bats under our front porch for Halloween. We kept our decor simple with black and white and a few pops of orange.

I really love making different garlands for our home and Halloween is no exception. Using stiff black felt and a template from Martha Stewart {you could also use a cookie cutter} I traced what felt like a million bats. Once I had enough bats for both my projects {scroll down to see project #2} I stitched them together using a straight stitch on my sewing machine. I love pom pom trim for literally everything and picked some up from Hobby Lobby for a mere $1.29 per yard. I love the combo of pom pom and bats together.

Like I said before I try to keep things simple. For above the mantle I created a simple felt banner that hangs from a wooden dowel. You can find the tutorial on A Beautiful Mess. There are many different words or quotes you could use for this project.

Lastly, I had enough stiff felt from my bat garland and decided to make a matching game for Kensi. We’ve been working on numbers and counting and I thought this would be a fun and creative game for her to do. I used a total of 10 bats. I numbered five of the bats 1-5 and on the other five I did corresponding dots. This helps Kensi begin to recognize numbers, counts and match. Of course she does need help especially after the number three, but she’s learning and she finds it fun.

Happy Friday!

DONUTS

Last night was one of the roughest nights of sleep Mike, Kensi and I have had in a very long time. Maybe it's all in preparation for the new babe, or maybe not. What we do know it was all about donuts.

After stopping by the grocery store last night for a few sale items and Kensi picking out some donut holes for the week/weekend we went home and of course Kensi had a meltdown in the entry way of our house because we said she couldn't have a donut. Once she was calm we sat down and discussed that she could have a donut in the morning along with some juice when the sun came back up and she was pleased with this arrangement.

So now let's fast forward about four hours later as Mike and I are going to bed. We stayed up later than usual to watch the Royals play in their second World Series Game. As soon as we get upstairs Kensi is walking out of her room; we settle her back into bed and ask if something was wrong....her response at midnight gave us a combo of hilarity and fear. As wide awake as she was she said 'It's morning mama! Eat two donuts now!' You can imagine how we laughed and thought this was so adorable and then the fear settled in. She thinks it's morning after just 4 hours of sleep....this is going to be a long night. Who knew a two year old could get so excited about eating donut holes for breakfast that it would actually keep them from sleeping.

What we thought was a mission accomplished as Mike put her back to bed ended up being a mama, a dada and a Kensi sharing a queen size bed with pillows all over to support my pregnant belly. Not only did it take her FOREVER to fall back to sleep, but mama and dada slept like junk, Mike was late for work, but we had a plumber stopping by first thing in the morning. Once Kensi woke up in the morning her first response was 'Mama! The sun is up! Two donuts now?!'

I could only laugh :)

Happy Friday Eve

33 WEEKS

How Far Along: 33 weeks

Weight Gained: 20 lbs

Nausea: I started to get heartburn a few nights this week.

How Am I Feeling: The tiredness has officially kicked back in.

Maternity Clothes: Very few of my regular pieces fit the way they should.

Sleep: Sleep is becoming off and on. It been a little more difficult this week because Kensi keeps coming in our room saying there are bats.

Cravings: Fruit and salad, especially apples.

Food Adversions: Pork and brussle sprouts

Movement: The movements are slowing down, but they also feel stronger.

Belly Button In or Out: Out! It popped immediately around 8 weeks.

Gender: Unknown.

Names: This week I'm really stuck on girl names, I'm second guessing what we have picked out so far. It doesn't help that Kensi just wants to name the baby Girl regardless of its gender. One day we made some progress, but she was only willing to call the baby Bear.

What I'm Looking Forward To: I'm excited to sleep on my stomach again, this whole side sleep business is becoming very uncomfortable.

What's Different With This Pregnancy: I've fallen into this weird of place between motivated and unmotivated. We still have quite a bit to do before the babe comes, but part of me keeps saying forget it. We have what we need and enjoy the time with Kensi.

What I'm Missing: My clothes. I'm at the point where I don't want to buy any maternity clothes, but everything is getting tight and uncomfortable.

How Are We Preparing: I made myself pull out Kensi's infant clothes that would be suitable for boy or girl and started washing them. I also began packing the hospital bag, I have a feeling this little babe will be coming sooner rather than later.

BUSY WEEKEND, LAZY SUNDAY

Whew, I am so thankful for lazy, lounging days. This past weekend was fun, but busy busy.

We spent Friday at home as Mike worked on the car and Kensi and I cleaned house. It's shocking how quickly our house gets messy with a two year running around. I absolutely love it, but the cleaning can be exhausting. Although it makes my heart nearly burst and brings a smile to face every time I find Baby Fox taking a nap in the mixing bowl in the kitchen cabinet!

Our friends came over Friday night and we indulged in a fondue night. Which reminds me, I have been terrible lately by not taking photos, what's wrong with me?!!!!? Anyways....Mike and I have never done one {a fondue} ourselves, only in a restaurant. Needless to say there was way too much food, but absolutely delicious. Who wouldn't want to dip food into cheese and chocolate, separately of course.

Saturday we were up before the sun to make the drive to Charlotte. We spent the day shopping and picked up some Christmas gifts for Kensi {post about that will come soon enough!} not to mention by the time we got to the check out they had all their Christmas out and I got super excited! There I spent another 20 minutes just going through every little piece of red and gold heaven.

But there's always some sort of adventure whenever we go anywhere. For this day trip I made sure to pack an extra pair of clothes for Kensi like always, but of course neither Mike or I really thought to bring it with us when we went to the mall. And what do you know, she completely leaked through everything. When we decided to venture back to the car for the extra clothes and saw there was a torrential downpour we both looked at each other said 'buy her new pants?' Yes our two year old was wearing a shirt, diaper and shoes for a good half hour as we stopped in about three stores just looking for a good deal on a pair of pants for her. So if you were at Southpark Mall in Saturday afternoon and saw the crazy couple with the pant-less toddler frantically looking for leggings, but getting distracted by infant clothes at like say....BabyGap, yeah that was us!

So after walking around for endless hours in definitely not the right shoes and my feet sweeping not to the point of visually noticing a difference, but enough to feel my toes touching in places they don't normally touch, today was 'lay on the couch, put your feet up and sleep for as long as you possibly can'. And it was amazing :)

All my plans of today being a productive day to get the last of our Halloween decorations done and up went straight out the door, but it's definitely okay. Being a lazy little family on the couch was completely worth it.

Plus, this pregnant mama was so happy to have the Hubster make dinner. We decided to try the Crack Pull Apart Bread from Pinterest with a salad {gotta have my greens!} and brushetta. Oh my word, it is indeed deviously divine and we highly recommend you try this ASAP! If you love cheese and bread you will not be disappointed.

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Weight Gained: 20 lbs

Nausea: None

How Am I Feeling: The tiredness has officially kicked back in.

Maternity Clothes: Very few of my regular pieces fit the way they should.

Sleep: I've been sleeping well and a lot, but rotating is getting more difficult. Mike has tried to sneak away some of my pillows lately. Only a few more weeks and he can have a couple back.

Cravings: Fruit, sweets, peanut butter. I woke up from a nap on Sunday and was craving tuna.

Food Adversions: Pork and brussle sprouts

Movement: The movements are slowing down, but they also feel stronger.

Belly Button In or Out: Out! It popped immediately around 8 weeks.

Gender: Unknown.

Names: We have a 2-3 names for each gender that we keep coming back to!

What I'm Looking Forward To: We are considered a high risk pregnancy due to a missing artery in the umbilical cord so we have frequent visits to a specialist with ultrasounds. I love being able to see this baby's sweet little face and soon I'll be able to see the baby each week. No major worries about being high risk, the baby is growing great!

What's Different With This Pregnancy: Well I think I did one of dumbest things I could have in the past week and a half. While cooking on the stove I hit my growing belly on a boiling pot and gave myself a nice 3-inch burn line across my belly button. Definitely not my best moment.

What I'm Missing: We recently went to a retirement dinner for one of Mike's co-workers, eating a steak that's medium done is not nearly as good for this Nebraska girl. I'm missing my rare meats and raw seafood.

How Are We Preparing: I don't think I've started nesting for the baby yet, but I am desperately trying to get Kensi's room completely changed over before the babe arrives. I'm still stripping the paint off her spindle bed frame we found. It's taken me forever because it's exhausting trying to take 4 coats of paint off spindles. I'm ready to have someone finish it for me!

BOO!

Last week we made our Boo Kits to deliver to a few neighbors on our street. We've never lived in a house in neighborhood so this whole month will be very exciting for us.

When I worked at Hallmark they would sell Boo Kits, but no one seems to do that anymore because everyone just makes their own {which is easier}. Using the handy dandy Pinterest site, I found an adorable free printable. I made enough copies and put all the pieces into a brown paper bag, added a few Halloween treats and added a few simple decorations with washi tape and ribbon. I can't wait to see how this spreads from door to door down our street!

CARAMEL APPLE SMORES

This weekend was great for our little family as we kicked off our first weekend in October. Although we did some of our usual mundane errands it was exciting and warm to see the grocery shelves filled with pumpkin and Halloween everything along with pumpkins spilling out at every store and farm stand.

Saturday was our home day as we worked on different things around the house. Mike has been collecting pallets and left over lumber from the houses being built in our neighborhood. He spent the day constructing a work bench for the garage. Not bad for using scrap wood, especially when the thing cost literally nothing to build. We ended our night late {yes anything past 10 is late for us} making homemade egg rolls and settling into the couch to watch our Huskers play Michigan State. It was definitely a tough game, but I love the fact that our team never gives up and fights until the very end.

We woke up to a very chilly Sunday morning and it was the first day we could actually get away with wearing scarves and boots! I think everyone around here is more than ready for fall. Which brings me to the whole point of today's post. We took advantage of the cool, chilly temperatures and did a fire pit last night. Of course when there's a fire pit there has to be either beer, cider, hot cocoa or smores. There's no objection to having more than one either and it's actually encouraged to create your own combo :)

Last night was a definite smores night. It may be a little ridiculous how much I really love s'mores. I love the classic combo, but they are so much fun to play with and mix different toppings. For our Christmas in July we made s'mores with peppermint dark chocolate and it was divine. We've also mixed in peanut butter cups, another delish mix up.

For a little fall twist we added an apple slice and caramel....can we just say AH-MAZING??!?? I kid you not, they were absolutely divine and a perfect bite of fall in your mouth!

The possibilities are never-ending and so much fun! I'm dying to try a swap out for the graham, I'm thinking a pumpkin cookie or even a ginger cookie for Christmas! What are some of your favorite smore mix-ups???

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