How We Told Our Families

With a great secret like a new grandchild/niece/nephew to spill, I wanted to come up with a fun way to do it. M is more of a straight forward kind of guy and wasn't sure if he wanted to do anything too elaborate. We settled on the scrapbook approach.

I have been dabbling in scrap booking for a few years now and was onto my second album. Only M had seen this one so far. I created the following page to slip in the back of the book. (Now, I am not on the year 2008 yet in my scrap booking, so this page is jumping ahead a bit, but it all worked out.)



Jenny was the first to get the news when she was here visiting. I had put the scrapbook in the living room under a pile of other books and was planning on showing it to her once her kids were in bed. She spotted it before I could show her and I let her page through until she was almost at the end. I told her there was a surprise there. She figured it out right away and even had tears in her eyes as she told me congratulations.
At M's parents, I let his mom finish getting lunch in the oven and then asked if she wanted to see my latest scrapbook. When she got to the end she figured it out pretty quickly and M told his dad why she was so excited about a scrapbook. Unfortunately in all the baby talk that followed M's mom never got around to making the apple crisp for dessert. We'll see if M's dad ever forgives this baby for that. ;o)
When we got to my family's it was almost time for supper, so we all ate and then we were headed to church together. My sister and M's sister were both there, but my sister had to leave early as her choir was singing. Everyone was in one room when I went to get the book. When I came back, everyone was gone. I waited as patiently as I could and finally my mom and M's sister came back. I told them they should look at it together. When they got to the end, mom was still looking at the page before the baby page. M's sister figured it out, looked up and said, "Really?" At that, my mom figured it out, too. I think it took a while for the news to sink in with my mom.
When my dad was looking a few minutes later, he had been looking at the previous page and then his face changed as he figured it out. (I don't know how much any of them got out of the church service that night.)
We showed the book to my sister after the service. I think that she was the most shocked. She even picked me up off the ground when she hugged me. She has been bugging us about making her an aunt for a long time now.
It was so much fun to share our news with everyone and see how happy they were for us. I am glad that we got to do it with so many people in person.

IKEA and Trader Joe's

There are just some stores I will go out of my way to shop at. IKEA and Trader Joe's just happen to be two of my favorites. I am thinking that it is a good thing that there aren't any closer as that could lead to bigger budget issues than we already have. ;o) (Don't worry, M and I are doing fine. I just sometimes struggle under the burden of a budget. In the end I know it is for my good, but that doesn't make it any easier when I am an instant gratification kind of gal that like to shop.)

Our trip last weekend started out with a stop at each of these stores. M had never been to a TJs before and I think the trip converted him. He saw that they have good prices on good food (and wine.) With our TJs bags in hand, we set out to find the items on my list. While we didn't find everything, we did find the majority of what I was looking for.

We were making great time as headed to our next stop, IKEA. Unfortunately we hit some major construction and traffic which didn't leave us much time at IKEA. Thankfully with it being Halloween night, it was really dead and we were able to zip around quickly. We didn't purchase anything big, but we now have our eyes on a few pieces. We loaded our IKEA bags with one recycling bin for under the sink, one Christmas present, one curtain rod, and some Christmas wrapping paper. (Okay so really the only thing that fit in our IKEA bag was the Christmas present, but when you have IKEA bags, you've got to use them.)

Foodie Friday: Chicken and Veggie Pizza

Have no fear, Foodie Friday is here. (And yes, I am reverting to my Sesame Street days with that quote. Do YOU remember who would say that?)

Since we stopped at Trader Joe's on our trip, I was able to pick up one of their pre-made whole wheat pizza crusts. I like using them because they are delicious and reasonably priced. Now if only we didn't have to drive three hours to pick one up. I used that crust for the base of this pizza. Normally I make my own crust from scratch or use a frozen bread loaf.


I started with two diced chicken breast. These were cooked in some olive oil in a saucepan. I diced a variety vegetables: zucchini, spinach, broccoli, green peppers, and onions. These were sauteed in another sauce pan. I mixed one cup of spaghetti sauce with 2 Tablespoons of an olive tapenade, some garlic powder, and some finely chopped sun dried tomato bits. (I am sure diced olives would also work in place of the tapenade.) After spreading the marinara mixture, the chicken and veggies were added. This was topped with shredded Mozzarella.


We baked it for 10-15 minutes at 425. ***Picture Disclaimer*** This picture was taken of a cold piece of pizza as I packed my lunch. (Note the Rubbermaid symbol on the bottom.) I forgot to take one of the pizza fresh out of the oven.


It was delicious and very filling we enjoyed the leftovers in our lunches the rest of the week.


The idea for this recipe came from a Good House Keeping magazine from October 2006. I keep a binder with recipes that I have cut out from magazines or printed off the internet. Maybe I will post about my binders sometime. (If you're lucky. ;o)

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage . . .

Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.

I couldn't be happier to announce that M and I are expecting our first child!! I am currently 13 weeks pregnant with a due date of May 11. So far everything has been going very well. I have only had a bit of nausea and no puking. (That is a relief as I HATE to throw up.) I have been a bit on the tired side. (Afternoon naps have been a good friend to me.)

Here is an ultrasound picture from my first doctor's visit. We were 8 weeks at this point, so not much to see.




I had my second doctor's appointment yesterday and everything checked out well. I got to hear the heartbeat again. (That is music to an expecting mother's ears.)

Here I am today. I haven't switched to maternity clothes yet, but have started buying a few pieces here and there. Everyone says stay in your normal clothes as long as possible, so I am. (They make this neat thing called a Bella Band. Let me tell you, it is helpful for when you can't button your pants anymore.)



We told our families this weekend on our trip. I will fill you in on how we did that later.

Road Trip!

We are headed out of town for the weekend. We will be cramming as much as we can into our quick little trip including, seeing family, seeing friends, and stopping at IKEA and Trader Joe's. There really isn't much more one can ask for in life!

I have been studying up for our IKEA trip. We will have limited time and I want to make the most of it. We don't have much budgeted for home furnishings this month, but a girl can dream, can't she? Here are a few of the items that I have been looking at. (Don't worry, I have narrowed the pictures to a select few items. I think if funds were unlimited and we had a U-Haul, I could finish our entire house. It is a good thing that the nearest IKEA is three hours from here.)



This is a sold as a linen storage cabinet, but I could think of many other wonderful uses for this beauty. While I love the cheery yellow, I wish that it came in some other colors too. We need bar stools for the nibbler bar. I think that these would be perfect. They of course will have to pass the comfort test and the wobble test, but we shall see. The last pieces I could see putting together for our entertainment center in the upstairs living room. I have been wanting taller shelves on each side of the tv and I think that these would work out nicely.