Saturday, July 31, 2010

Surprise Mail!

Last week I received a package in the mail from an old friend. We were really close in high school, but drifted apart once we both moved back here to the States.

Not too long ago we reconnected through Facebook and now we talk often. Well, long story short, she found out I was pregnant and decided to send me something for the baby:

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A crocheted baby blanket, and wow is it beautiful! I am so impressed by how beautifully made it is, and I only wish I was as talented. This friend of mine also made one of these blankets for Zoe when she was born, and I’ll have to be sure to get it out and take some pictures of it…it’s one we use quite often.

She also sent this:

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Sweet, huh?

I’m loving the little outfits and the thoughtful toys…but that blanket!?! I feel so lucky to have a friend who would take her time out to make that for me!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Keeping Cool

Despite the threat of thunderstorms, the kids and I headed up to the pool for a few hours. The first time we got there, we had just parked the car when we heard thunder and were told we’d have to wait half an hour before we could get in…so we headed home to wait out the storm.

We got back to the pool around 2:30 when the storm seemed to be gone and got in about 2 hours of swim time before the next set of thunderstorms rolled in. The kids had a good time playing in the water, and of course, I had to get some pictures!

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Early Morning Crafts

Pretty much this entire summer Landon has slept in until about 10am. He’s kind of a bum. :) Zoe, who was getting up at 8:30-9 at the beginning of the summer has now started sleeping in until 10 (and once even 11am!!) each day. I don’t know how to break it to her that it’s only going to make getting up at 5:30am during the school year that much more difficult. So I won’t.

Anyways, this morning was an exception for Landon. I don’t know what woke him up, but he was up at 8am with me and we went straight into my scrapbook room to finish up some stuff we started working on last night:

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I wanted to make sure to get a few pictures of him creating with me because now that he’s 9 I’m not sure how much longer he’ll be happy to sit and do just that.   

I’ll post photo’s of our finished projects soon!

Baby Blanket Surprise

Zoe’s friend Kelsey made this beautiful baby blanket for us:

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I was so surprised and I think it is just incredibly sweet that she took the time to make this for our new baby…not to mention I am a total sucker for anything crafty/homemade!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Theme Park(s) Tuesday

Yesterday was a busy day for everyone in our family. Zoe was invited to go to Kings Dominion with her friend Kelsey and Tony decided to take the day off of work to take Landon to Six Flags. I couldn’t imagine walking around any park this late in my pregnancy, especially since my feet are pretty much constantly swollen at this point!

I just stayed home and went to my weekly doctor appointment where the doc told me that I wasn’t dilated at all…and I almost cried. This last month feels like it is just dragging on forever! She also told me that baby boy is doing great and everything looks fine, and for that I am thankful…albeit uncomfortable and anxious for his arrival.

Our old neighbors invited us over for dinner last night also, so once Tony and Landon got home they had just enough time to shower and rest for 15 minutes before we headed over to their house. I promised to bring dessert so I made brownies and a Cookies and Cream Cake from this book. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the cake yesterday, but here’s a photo of what’s left of it:

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Dinner was excellent and the boys (they have 3) had a great time playing. It’s always nice to catch up with old friends, and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to have them over once baby #3 shows up.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Dinner Date at Ruth’s Chris

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This past Saturday (7/24/2010) Tony and I treated ourselves to a date night at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Last year for Christmas we bought my parents a gift certificate for Ruth's Chris, and they never got around to using it due to the fact that the gift certificates were only good for the Annapolis location...so, we got lucky and they gave us the certificate! We had been to Morton's Steak House and loved it, but had heard from several people how much better Ruth's Chris was, so we were excited to try it out. We weren't disappointed!

Our reservations were at 6 pm but we got there about 10 minutes early and were whisked off to our table immediately. The restaurant itself was very nicely decorated although it appeared that they were having trouble with their air conditioning because it was extremely warm and I noticed several people fanning themselves.

Our waiter, Javier came to our table almost immediately after we were seated and welcomed us (using our last name, which I found impressive!) and guided us through the menu, pointing out specials and answering questions we had. Tony and I decided on the scallops for our shared appetizer and WOW, they were delicious! I'm pretty sure even Chef Ramsay would have been happy to send them out of the kitchen! We then ordered Ruth's Chop Salad to share, and I think we both agreed that we would return to the restaurant for that salad alone...it was just that good!

The salad:

For the main course I chose the petite filet while Tony ordered the prime rib (which was gigantic) and a lobster tail. I am not the biggest fan of steak so I always order something small when we go out to steakhouses, but this steak was delicious! I'm still glad I only ordered the petite filet though because it was enough, especially with the (1 pound) baked potato and broccoli au gratin Tony and I split between us...not to mention the piece of lobster I begged Tony to share with me!

As if that wasn't enough food already, our waiter brought out the dessert menu. I couldn't decide between the Chocolate Sin Cake and the Cheesecake, but as it turned out I didn't have to. When Tony made our reservations he informed them that we were going to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary (albeit a month late) and they brought out a slice of the Chocolate Sin Cake on the house for us to share. It was incredible and it made my choice that much easier! Tony and I couldn't believe the size of the cheesecake we ordered! It was about the size of a personal pizza or so, and it was excellent! Between the two of us though, we couldn't even eat half because we were so full, so we brought it back to his mom as a thank you for watching the kids while we were out.

Chocolate Sin Cake:

It ended up being a wonderful evening despite the lack of air conditioning and we will hopefully get to go back there again sometime soon!

PS. I don't know if I would say that Ruth's Chris was better than Morton's, but it was fabulous either way!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Just Us 4

I haven’t made a scrapbook page in what feels like forever and it was fun sitting down to work on this one the other day. It’s simple, but marks a significant moment in time…

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The journaling reads:

I wasn’t too excited about going on this vacation initially because we had only just moved into our new house and I was very pregnant which meant I wasn’t going to be able to do everything that I wanted…but once we got there, I changed my tune. Spending time with these 3 wonderful people was just what I needed most. I was able to do plenty and we all had a good time. I just can’t believe this will be the last vacation we’ll take as a family of 4.

Friday, July 23, 2010

38 Weeks

Landon took this picture of me this morning…I look like I swallowed a watermelon.

Any day now baby, any day. 

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Baby Room Tour

Well, the baby’s room has been done for a bit now but for some unknown reason I just haven’t blogged about it yet. So, here is a photo tour of sorts:

We went with a forest animal theme this time round because Tony and I just loved this set we found at Babies R Us. We both thought the little fox and owl were too cute…

The lamp:

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The crib, mobile and bedding:

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The dresser (I love the curviness of this furniture!):

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The changing table:

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The Rocker/Recliner and Window Treatments:

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Painted and Embellished Photo Frames:

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Zoe’s New Digs

While Zoe was off at her Oma’s this week, I did a little work on her room without her knowing.

I’m loving how it all turned out and can’t wait for her to get home to see everything…hopefully she’ll appreciate my efforts!

Homework Central:

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Entertainment Center:

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New Comforter, Curtains, Hanging Paper Lanterns, Photo Frames (that I painted and embellished) + the Obama Poster she helped to create in her art class last year:

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So now I am done with Zoe’s room (except for new blinds, and maybe a little bedside table) and the baby room. I guess it’s time to start working on Landon’s bedroom…I think he’s feeling a little left out.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Gibson Palomino Bistro

This past weekend while we were out doing some shopping, I was meandering down the aisles of Sams Club when I came across these beauties:

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Tony and I have been needing to buy a new set of dishes for awhile now and I really liked the look of these and the price was just unbeatable! (Each box contained 4 place settings and they were only $29.88 a set.)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

And Then There Were Four

Last Thursday Landon had another orthodontist appointment. This one was a bit different from the usual check up as they decided it was time to add a few more braces. So instead of only having two braces, he now has four!

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A Sunday Well Spent

We did some major shopping today. I’m not sure if we got anything we set out to get, but we had fun spending money nonetheless!

One stop we made was at Michaels, and every time we go there Landon wants to get some kind of craft to do. This trip he found a kit with three ceramic piggy banks that he could paint and he decided to use his own money to buy them…not for himself but for the baby! I thought that was really sweet of him! He painted for about an hour before getting tired…so this is how they look as of right now:

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Tony and Landon also picked up this United States quarters map. Once we got home they both dumped out everyone’s wallets and piggy banks looking for quarters. They ended up finding 27 today so they’ve got their work cut out for them.

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Tony also picked up the ingredients he needed to make an Apple Blackberry Pie, and wow does it smell delicious!

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I picked up some wooden letters to spell out the baby’s name as well as a few other goodies that have to remain under wraps for now…hopefully I’ll be able to share all that real soon! And, in case anyone’s wondering where Zoe was when all this fun was happening, she headed down to her Oma’s house this week where she’ll be having all sorts of fun without us… :(

Zoe’s Beau

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Last night I decided that Zoe had been dating Dylan long enough that I should get to terrorize them a little with the camera.

I’m really glad I did because this photo turned out super cute!

Ta-Da!

Here is the final curtain/shelf that we put up in our dining area:

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I am so thrilled with the way it all turned out! I ordered the curtains covering the sliding glass door and they ended up being a perfect match to the material my mom used to sew the other curtains. I chose some of my larger pieces of potter for the shelf up top, but I’m thinking it needs a little work…maybe some smaller pieces up front? I don’t know, but I’ll work on it.

It took my mom’s knowledge (she did something very similar in her last house and helped me to get all the pieces we needed to put it together) and Tony’s muscle (he did the cutting and stapling and hanging) and my determination (I painted the shelf and did a lot of directing) and I think it turned out beautifully!

I’m thinking that once the baby is born I may just try to sand that table down and give it a few coats of white paint…time will tell!

This Just In

Our skylights aren’t tinted after all…they were just filthy! Filthy until Tony got up there and took care of it, anyways!

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The sky is much bluer these days…

Stayin’ Cool

One of the best things about our new neighborhood has to be the pool. My kids LOVE to swim so having a pool that we can walk to is awesome! Since we’ve moved we’ve only been down there a couple times, but I’m thinking next summer when I’m not 9 months pregnant, I’ll be walking down there a lot more often.

This is what I get when I ask Landon and his buddy to come over so I can get a photo:

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Zoe hanging out with me poolside:

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Eventually she got too hot and decided it was better to be in the pool playing with the boys:

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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

It’s the Little Things…

Like hanging Tony’s beautiful paintings on the walls:

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Gorgeous new fans that I chose and Tony installed in the kids’ bedrooms:

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And a super comfy new rocker/recliner that my mom surprised us with for the nursery:

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That are making our house a home. This place just keeps getting better and better…

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Homey

Take a look at these adorable curtains:

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These are the curtains my mom made for me, aren’t they just the cutest? (Bet you woulda never known she made them if I hadn’t blabbed about it!)

I LOVE them!

I’m really happy with the style we went with and the fabrics we chose. Without her, heaven only knows what I would have ended up with!

I’m working on one other (very important, totally adorable) part for this sun room/dining room…I can’t wait to get it done and I’ll be sure to post about it once it’s complete.

April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...