Our Anniversary

Scott and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary this week on the 29th! 

Some times it seems like yesterday when we got married, other days it seems like light years ago. I feel like we have both done a lot of growing up as individuals and also in our relationship in that time. Lucky for us, not much as changed...still the same job for Scott, same career and school for me as when we got started (after a little break) and we are still living in the same house we were building that summer. We are even driving the same car! The same one that drove us off after the church, brought two babies home from the hospital, will be bringing two MORE babies home hopefully soon and then will take Michael off to college (by then it will be over 20 years old!). 

Our anniversary is always a time of reflection for me. I think often about the vows "for better or for worse" and how you say them when you are so young and naive and never really believe that you will ever go through any "for worses". Scott and I sure have weathered some storms that were for the worse and we are still together, standing strong. It is definitely not easy but worth it when the "for betters" come around. I owe a lot of it to my husband who has put up with my crazy and demonstrated his love for me in many ways- especially ones like cleaning up my cat's poop on a daily basis, always making sure the garbage gets taken out on the right days, and not rolling his eyes at my Disney vacation requests. 

We celebrated last week when Michael was at my parents house with a nice dinner out and a stop at the new Lush store in the mall for some new bath products for me. We are gearing up for our next big adventure in marriage and parenthood with twins and are so excited for our two new "for betters"!! 

Happy Friday! 

It has been a very fast week around here. Michael has been at my parents house all week as well as Scampy who has found a new home. You would think I would be super productive with all this free time but it has just left me more time for watching Netflix and resting! 

The house has been very quiet and it has been weird. I really miss Scampy, who I've had since before Michael was born...that is a lot of years of having a companion in the house! He is a very nice kitty and so loving but he is getting worse and worse at dealing with changes to his environment and I'm not sure he would be happy with the big change of twin babies coming home. His new mommy (my sister in law) seems very happy to have him and that makes me happy as well. I think I will miss him for a long time! :o( 

This is a blurry photo but we put Michael on the floor in our room this past weekend during our full house during my shower. He thought it was absolutely the most fun thing ever! He loved his little nest and kept saying, "this is fun!" as he tossed and turned before falling asleep. It never amazes me how four year olds can think the littlest things are new and exciting! 

With Michael gone this week, I did take an afternoon to make up some more freezer meals. I did four pans of cheesy beef and macaroni, two bags of beef stew, and two bags of chili (I just use the recipe on the back of the seasoning packet- tomatoes, beef, beans). It gives me good peace of mind to know that there are some easy heat and eat meals ready to go for those crazy times of having a newborn at home. I think this makes me pretty much set, I'm just going to shred up some pork and maybe make some baked goods and we'll see how I feel after that.  

I did make it up to school this week also for some work time. I ran into our janitor who is just so happy for me that I am having twins. It was fun to run into someone who kept saying I look great and wow, do I really have two babies in there? (even if it is all flattery). I have a huge pile of things to photocopy but our copier kept jamming up so I was on to plan B for the day and I still got a lot done. I guess I should know this after all my year as a teacher that plan A will probably never go as planned, right? 

We are making strides on the nursery and it is fun to have a space for everything. I am making curtains and bed skirts hopefully today and then I will get stuff put away so I can give you a "tour" at some point in the near future. I still need to find some fun art for the walls but all in due time. 

I had a great appointment this week at the OB and while they were concerned about my blood pressure last time, it was great this week. I have a history of high blood pressure with Michael's pregnancy, but not with Trace's and it can be scary. My doctor keeps telling me how awesome I am doing and to keep up the good work so I am trying hard to take those comments to heart and not worry too much. We are less than 7 weeks away from meeting our sweet girls and I'm afraid that time is going to fly! Eek!

Have a great weekend!

Twin Girls Baby Shower

My lovely sisters in law hosted a wonderful shower for me this past weekend. I felt very blessed that so many friends and family came to help celebrate the arrival of my two sweet girls! 

The menu consisted of: 

-deli sandwiches

-bean and corn salad

-watermelon

-spinach salad with blue cheese, cranberries and nuts

-chips

-cake

-lemonade and iced tea with mint and lemon 

...and it was all lovely! 

I got some cheap flowers from HyVee for centerpieces and I love how long they last. My stargazer lilies also started blooming on Saturday so I tucked a few in- they are beautiful and make the whole house smell wonderful! 

Michael kept hoping that there would be "a special present just for him" and sure enough there was one from his grandma Margie- new Star Wars pillowcases for his new big boy room!! 

We were so blessed with so many wonderful gifts-wow! I can't wait to start doing laundry and putting everything away in its place. It was a lovely day and thank you to everyone for coming to celebrate! :o) 

(also thanks to my friend Shannon for taking so many wonderful photos after I handed my camera off to her with little instruction!)

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Happy Friday, friends!

This has been one of those "holy crap, where has time gone??" weeks! We had my inlaw's big 50th anniversary party last weekend and this weekend is my shower and in between was Michael's week at vacation bible school plus recovery from the weekend and gearing up for the next (plus ready-ing my house for lots of guests). Whew! I will gladly take it as each week means another week checked off of this pregnancy and that my baby girls are safely growing. 

A friend invited us for a park playdate and it was so fun! It is great to catch up with friends and commiserate about our weird husbands that grew up in South Dakota. :o) I'm happy that our boys get along so well and had a fun time! Plus, hurray for 70 degree temps all week which make going outside bearable! 

Michael finished his first week of bible school ever and it just made my heart soar. He had a great time and was happy going every day. It was so cute to hear him retell the stories he learned about and sing snippets of the songs for me. I am so proud of him! 

My plants...slowly taking over my deck! I love it! 

Can you spy the dragonfly we saw while eating supper? 

Cool mornings this week meant I got outside to do a little watering and weeding. It is funny catch a glimpse of my big belly in a reflection- always surprises me! 

My wild and crazy perennial garden that I love! So many fun color layers. 

We had a family pool day at my inlaw's 50th anniversary weekend and it was really fun! I love this photo of Michael and his aunt Susan going down the slide! I enjoyed cooling off by floating in the water a little bit and chatting with my sister in law in the shade. It was a really fun day!

I've started to make one freezer recipe a week to stock my deep freeze. I try and triple a recipe and then I make two full size and two half size (one to eat for that night). So far it seems to work out well and it less overwhelming than trying to do several different meals at once. So far I've made chicken and rice casserole and Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti. They were both pretty similar in that creamy, chicken sort of way so I think I need do something with hamburger or mexican next week. I've also noticed that the half size pans are actually better since it takes us two meals to finish it so that is a good way to stretch freezer meals even further if you are a small family (Michael basically never eats anything we cook at home). I will do a roundup post of all my recipes sometime so they are in once place but I am definitely planning on doing breakfast burritos again, muffins, chili and enchiladas (same as a did last pregnancy). We will also do a zombie-apocalypse-type run of toilet paper, paper towels, soap, and frozen pizza sometime in the near future just in case it is impossible for us to ever leave our house again. :o) 

Have I mentioned we are growing pumpkins? I have fantasies of my front stoop overflowing with tons of pumpkins that I grew in my own garden. So far Michael thinks it is fun to watch them grow and they are growing pretty fast! We planted the seeds pretty late so hopefully we have some pumpkins by fall. 

Have a great weekend! 

37 weeks and 8 to go....

At my last appointment the doctor told me I was measuring 37 weeks...almost as big as a full term single pregnancy! However, I am only 29 weeks along this week so I still have a long 8 weeks to go until my actual 37 week delivery date in early September. 

I am having a variety of feelings on this pregnancy...the first that I am just incredibly blessed, of course. It is very different to be pregnant with two babies and I already can feel their little personalities starting to develop in there. I will never let go of how incredible blessed I am but at the same time, it is hard being pregnant with twins. I keep thinking that if I were really 37 weeks along, I would be okay with the pain when walking and shortness of breath, knowing that delivery was just a few short weeks away. However, knowing that I have hopefully 8 weeks left makes it a totally different ball game. That is a long time! 

Overall, I am trying to stay positive and I think I do generally feel pretty good. I try and count my blessings that I am not on bed rest and can drive myself to where I need to go and still run small errands like getting groceries and working in the yard a little bit. I do notice that it takes me longer to recover from a busy weekend- instead of being able to bounce back it takes me a few days to have my energy level back again. I am having very bad hip pain that makes it hard to walk far but it is usually better in the morning or after a rest in the afternoon. I also have constant, burning heartburn but if I take Zantac daily it seems to be better. I also am just downright exhausted, all the time. Plus I have a hard time falling and staying asleep at night. Just getting me ready for twins, right? 

I'm looking forward to my baby shower this weekend and getting our nursery set up while Michael is away at my parents next week. I am hoping it will make it all seem more real. I have not even bought a single item of girl clothing yet and I have been struggling on making a decision for new curtains and crib skirts for the nursery. It just seems like it was a lifetime ago that I had a new baby in my house and all this seems surreal to me. I am also looking forward to hopefully feeling physically better after delivering the girls....extreme exhaustion and c-section recovery aside, of course. I just pray that things will continue to go smoothly and they will continue to cook as long as they can. At my last appointment both girls had grown 10 oz. in two weeks bringing them up to 2 lb 15 oz and 2 lb 8 oz. --growing well but they still have a lot to do!! 

We attempted to take a "nice" family photo at Scott's parents 50th wedding anniversary this past weekend and you can see we did not succeed! Michael was being very silly but at least it is an accurate representation of the way he is these days and you all can get a good look at my huge belly! :o) You're welcome. 

Our 4th

We had a great 4th of July Holiday! It seems like a small holiday to record what we did but Scott and I had a conversation that consisted of, "What did we do last year? No, that was the year before? Was that the year we did this?"...so I figure I might as well jot it down so I can look back and see what we actually did through the years! 

My parents came and spent the day hanging out with us and Michael while Scott used the nice weather to mow the lawn in the morning. We had a big breakfast and then a big lunch of brats and salads and I kid you not- I was not hungry for the next two days. It was a nice cool day out and we had fun just being together as a family. 

                                       

My parents left in the late afternoon and Scott, Michael and I headed up to Boone for my 4th of July Municipal Band Concert. It was a really fun concert to play in and the audience loved every single song we played- it was really cute. My favorite was, of course, the tribute to Veterans which is fun to play but also so uplifting to see the veterans stand and be honored by the crowd. There were four WWII vets at the concert that night! I know it is a big deal to them and I am happy we could honor them with our music. 

I love the community I teach in but this will probably be the last concert Michael attends due to the naughty kids that were at the playground during the concert. It just makes me sick to my stomach to see the way some kids act and I wish I wasn't busy, you know, performing in a concert so I could tell them how they should be acting. I was up all night sick about it but that is that. I have to keep my kid safe no matter what. 

After the concert (and a loooong wait at DQ for ice cream) we met up with friends and caught the fireworks show in town. I geeked out and brought my tripod and remote with me so I could try and capture some fireworks. I had never done it before and it was fun to get some good shots! I had it on a 1.5 second exposure so it was really hit or miss to see what I could grab- might have been better if the fireworks were coming a little faster (I get it, it's no Disney World fireworks!). 

We had been up late the night before at a neighbor's BBQ and shooting off fireworks and then added another late night on top of it with the 4th of July so needless to say...we spent the next day sleeping in and resting pretty much all day. It was so nice to have the holiday fall on a weekend so we could have lots of time to get things done afterwards around the house and yard! 

I hope you had a great holiday! 

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Happy Friday! Happy 4th of July! 

We are having a low key day here with my parents. It is so nice to have the holiday on a 3 day weekend so Scott can be home with us extra! 

I have my annual 4th of July Municipal Band concert tonight and as a result, I actually pulled out my piccolo to practice the Stars and Stripes part- so embarrassing! Michael asked me, "why do I keep playing the same song?" and "That's loud, please stop Mom!".  Sorry, bud!! I know that it makes people happy and so I try and do a good job and not mess it up too much! 

We've had a very rainy week and so we've been doing lots of snuggling inside watching movies. Michael is still such a snuggler and I love it although his spot on the couch is getting smaller and smaller these days. :o) 

In other news, I'm still trying to truck ahead on my school work for my semester leave. I headed up to school, prepared to stay all day until I realized no one else was there and I had no access to the copy machine. :o( I have soooo much stuff I need copied, just to make me feel prepared about leaving for a sub. Hopefully people will be back next week because I will be there again! I did force myself to stay and worked for about 3 hours getting organized and doing other things. I think things will be fine- it is hard for me to think about the whole big picture but in reality, the sub will take it one day at a time just like I do when I am teaching. 

And since these posts are also turning into my weekly baby updates....

We are 27 weeks this week and I had another good ultrasound (still going every two weeks). Baby A is on the left and Baby B is on the right. A is 2 lbs, 5 oz and B is 1 lb, 15 oz and they are still looking on track for good growth. They are sitting side by side in my tummy and it is usually party time in there- they think they can fool everyone by looking so sweet and innocent in their ultrasound photos. :o) I am still feeling really good although I am taking it pretty easy. I can only do a few errands at a time and shop at the small grocery store where they unload your groceries at the checkout and carry them out to the car for you. I've completely written off the mall or anywhere where I have to walk far to get to my destination! Usually I try and do a few things in the morning and then spend the afternoon resting. I know I am lucky to be able to have this summer off and to have help with Michael so I am trying to take advantage of it and not feel guilty- I know my most important job is to cook two healthy babies as long as I can! 

Have a great holiday and have a great three day weekend! 

Friends Weekend

We had our annual summer friends weekend this past weekend and it was so great to see everyone. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate here in Iowa and all of my nicely laid plans were swept awry. 

I am obviously a control freak by nature and so I struggled with things not going according to plan. I had lots of things planned to spread out the fun instead of just hanging around our house and ultimately we ended up just hanging around our house. I feel very fortunate that we have a beautiful home to share and people like coming over but it ended up being a lot of work for this pregnant mama. In the future...a cleaning lady is in order! I already have one I am calling before my shower weekend in a few weeks. Hopefully I can justify keeping her indefinitely! 

It ended up being pretty nice on Saturday morning and so the girls (the guys were golfing) loaded up the kids and headed to a park in town for some fun. It was nice to get outside for a while since we knew storms were coming that night. The kids all played well together and I think Michael made some new friends with the girls that stayed with us. He keeps asking me when they are coming back and if they can come to his birthday party. It makes me so happy to see him get along so well with others! 

I know I complained about lugging my big camera out to places in my last post but I was really happy I took it with us. The splash park was a good background for photos and I love the kids bright suits and expressions! I was even like, "Oh hey, I remember that this is fun!!". Since then I've also done a family session and I feel like I am getting my photography mojo back again...just in time to meet sweet baby girls soon! 

It was a fun weekend and thank you friends for joining us! We'll do it again for sure next summer although I can't guarantee having as much space in our house as we do now! :o)

Have a great week!