Photos at 34 Weeks

30 Weeks

I am now 30 weeks along and feeling like it.

So far so good. Everything is going perfectly and I have no complaints.

We are getting down to crunch time though. We have a lot of things to get in place before this little one gets here. I have an entire list of things to find and or purchase that the midwife will need us to have in the house on the day of the birth. Suzanne (midwife) will provide all the medical supplies and tools that she might need so that is no issue. I'm referring to things like plastic to cover furniture, extra sets of sheets for the bed in the event of a mess, comfortable changes of clothes set out for me, towels, warm blankets and hats for the new baby, diapers ... etc. All pretty normal stuff that we will need just to make the day go more smoothly.

I think by the end of this month I will post my birth plan for everyone to see. It is my vision in writing of how I would like the day of birth to play out. Reading the rough draft I have already started it sounds very much like an agenda for a big party event. I find it amusing!

Jacob is still super thrilled. Steve treats me like a queen and just grins at me all the time.

Up to this point I have physically been able to perform everyday tasks with no issue at all. Now that we are in the final 10 or so weeks I am starting to act pregnant. Not on purpose. I just can't help it. My body is changing and not telling me ahead of time. Some days I will feel perfectly normal, even a little better than I did before I was pregnant. Then the next day I will feel like a beached whale who needs assistance to be rolled off the couch. My pelvic bones have begun the softening process and I can feel it. I wake up with sore hips and it takes me a while to waddle around to start my day. None of this is bad. It is just all part of the process.

I am pretty sure that this kid has super human hearing. Every time the midwife says what it should be doing at this point it reacts and starts doing it immediately and with much enthusiasm. For example, Suzanne mentioned at our last visit that I needed to start keeping track during the day of how often the baby moved around and how strong the kicks were. The more movement and the stronger the kicks was a good thing and I needed to feel a minimum of about 10 movements during the hours of 8am to 4pm. The time reference was just a way for me to remember to count. Well the baby heard this and has not stopped moving since. Seriously, like clock work the next day at 8am I got the crap kicked out of me. And anytime Jake or Steve talk directly to the baby through my belly it starts dancing around in response. It is really cool!

Steve, Jake and I all have made guesses about what we think the baby's weight will be at birth. Steve said 6lbs 10oz. Jake said 6lbs 5 oz. I think it is going to be 7lbs even. Jake was 6lbs 14oz when he was born and I just have a feeling that this little on will be a little bigger. We'll find out.

That's it for the moment. I'm going to waddle on to something else now! :)

I love Shutterfly!

I have been a huge fan of Shutterfly for over 5 years both for personal use and professional. One of my favorite products are the photo albums, but I also enjoy the greeting cards. Every year I receive at least 2-5 holiday cards from my friends that had them created at Shutterfly. Receiving the Shutterfly created cards is so great because it allows me to have a recent photo of that friend to put into my scrapbook that year.

I am pretty sure that every year since I joined the Shutterfly website I have purchased at least one of the gifts on my Christmas list from them.

The quality of their photo prints is high enough to meet my standards to give to my photography clients and the photo products they offer has been sturdy enough to with stand everyday use in my home. We have mugs, mouse pads and photo books that we use almost everyday and they are still in great shape.

I can't say enough good things about Shutterfly and their products.
They are awesome!

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Please take the time to follow the links below and see what is new this season!
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27 Weeks

There is a little bit of question about my due date so I have decided to put myself at 27 weeks. That is right in between what my midwife thinks and what my last cycle says I am.



I am starting to feel uncomfortable. It is not a bad thing. I am just very aware of how pregnant I am. I will say that during my pregnancy with Jacob I remember being uncomfortable a lot sooner. So I count myself lucky with this one.

I think I finally look pregnant instead of chubby. My belly is definitely getting more round. I had always hoped I would be thin and have a perfect round baby belly the second time around, but that didn't happen. I am just happy that we are getting the baby we wanted and I will work on my body later. Vanity surgery is not out of the question. I will have a flat tummy before I die even if I have to pay for it!

When I was pregnant with Jacob I was working full time and didn't really have much time to think about what was going on. With this pregnancy I have been a stay at home mom and independent business owner which has allowed me time to think. So far my one prominent thought has been "babies take a long time to cook!"

I was doing the math the other day and we only have 13 weeks left before this new little person gets here. AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!! That is a scream of excitement and the realization that I don't have that much time left to get the things done that I want to. That sounds funny for me to say considering my main thought has been how long it is taking. I am trying to have a very laid back attitude. Meaning that whatever I think I need to get done can probably wait. There is no reason to run around like a crazy headless chicken working on random silly projects trying to complete them before the baby is born. This baby doesn't care what is done and what isn't. All the baby cares about is being loved, feed and diapered. There is no reason why the birth should interfere with normal life, okay let me say that at least while the birth is taking place things will be a little more exciting than normal, but then life goes on just with one more person in it. Can you tell that I am trying to convince myself not to stress out. Do you think it is working?

Oh my heavens I have been so emotional with this pregnancy. With Jacob my emotional stability was pretty normal however my libido was through the roof. With this one my libido is normal and I am emotionally unstable. I don't just mean that I am crying at the drop of a hat for no reason. I mean all my emotions are heightened, happiness, love, anger, hate, contentment, frustration, if it is a feeling of any kind it is 10 times stronger right now than normal. Steve jokes that with Jake's pregnancy he got no sleep and was physically drained but with this one he is sleeping but emotionally drained. I bet watching all this from the male perspective is kinda funny. Heck even from my perspective it is funny, but only if I'm in a good mood at the time. HA!

I am putting together a birth plan for the big day. So far it includes cake, ice cream, balloons, finger foods and a guest list. I have decided to have a BIRTH-day party for this new little one. I got the idea from another one of my midwife's clients. I will be at home so I can do whatever I want! I love it!

I have been reading and practicing my Hypnobirthing techniques. I really do feel so much more relaxed and prepared for this birth than I did with Jacob. I wish I could go back in time and do his over I would change everything. But, I can't. So at some time in my future when I am ready I will get over it. It actually bothered Jake one day when I was talking to someone (can't remember who) about my hospital experience and how horrible it was. He said he was sad because he's was done wrong and the new baby's was going to be done right. The only reason he even knew to say that was because of me and the things he had heard me say. So, I have been very careful since then not to talk about his birth in a bad way. Kids are super sensitive to these sorts of things, which is why I generally take the stance that kids don't need to be told everything. They need to think everything is wonderful and rose colored in their world until they are older and can process the information correctly.

Any who, things are going well. This baby is growing and being very cooperative. I have my 28 week checkup with the midwife next week and then things start to get fun. I think we start our every 2 week visits after that.

The holidays are coming up and time is going to fly by. I am very thankful that both of my pregnancies were timed such that I was at my biggest during the winter. I love this time of year!

23 Weeks

Baby Lewis is now 23 weeks gestation. WOO HOO

Things are going great! This pregnancy has been different then Jakes. I wouldn't say better just different. I have been able to eat anything I want, however the nausea in the first trimester was horrible. I never actually vomited but the feeling was there constantly for several weeks. That has passed, thankfully and now everything feels very normal. There are even days when I question if there is anything actually going on in there.

I have been going to the gym with Sephie and walking about 5 miles a week for the past 6 weeks. I feel great. I have lost 10lbs already!! Which is fine even with the baby. I was overweight so it's all good. Starting this week Steve has begun to go to the gym with me on different days then I go with Sephie so now I am getting a full 10 miles a week. I am going to be so HOT when this kid is born! :)

I have another appointment with my midwife tomorrow. Jake and Steve are usually here when she is and that is cool.

We still do not know the gender, but everyone has their own very strong hunches. Even Suzanne(midwife)thinks she knows.

Two of my friends, Stacie and Jennifer have provided me with an abundance of maternity clothes. Which I am so thankful for. It is getting to cold outside to go naked.

Steve and I are also going to get our room ready for the birth and life after this little one gets here. We already have a changing table/6 drawer dresser that we are going to refurbish. It will go in our room for the first year at least. We are going to try to keep things simple. We hardly ever used Jake's crib so we are not even going to bother getting one this time. Unless this baby asked for one. You never know, each kid is different. We are just going to be super flexible and go with the flow.

In November I am going to write up my birth plan and start getting things finalized for the big day. I have a clear vision of how I want things to happen and I need to get in down on paper ... or computer. I am super excited both for the arrival of this little person and the actual event of the birth! I really think this experience is going to be awesome! I won't go into it but the only thing good about Jake's birth was Jake. This birth however will be much different and amazing!

Jake is excited about the new baby and still tells everyone we come in contact with that I am pregnant. He has even felt the baby move! He thinks it is very cool. He is still not sure if he wants to see the actual birth, but I have a feeling he will. He is super curious just like I am so I don't think he will be able to resist.

Well that's it for now. Things are great and going smoothly!

We are so excited and couldn't be happier!!

Toothless

Early last week Jacob made a personal discovery.
He had a loose tooth.
He wiggled that tooth all week.
He wiggled it for everyone he came in contact with.
Soon the tooth had been wiggled so much that it was barely hanging on.
During primary class at church last Sunday it finally had been wiggled enough.
Jacob had lost his first tooth and was very surprised and excited!

Even though I have been trying to explain the true meaning behind all the childhood beliefs such as The Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny and so on ... children want so much to believe in magic. Jake has informed me with each historic story I tell him that I am wrong and that the magical legendary characters do indeed exist. I have not given up in my explanations of the history behind the characters, however I still play along to a certain degree.

The night after he lost his tooth he carefully placed it under his pillow waiting excitedly for the Tooth Fairy to leave him something. I could not disappoint him. So, when he woke up the next morning he rushed into my room to wake me to show me what he had found under his pillow. Instead of his tooth he found two brand new quarters! He is not even the slightest bit worried about where his tooth went. To him that is just how this all works.

Jake is very proud to announce that he already has an adult tooth growing in the empty space left behind by his missing baby tooth. Below is a picture of his new smile! :)

Our little man is not so little anymore!

Today Was Not So Bad.

Even though my hands and forearms still look like something you would see on an acid burn victim in a budget horror film, I have managed to get the pain and itching under control. Which is a good thing.

I am no longer as cranky and I have lost the desire to throw myself from the roof. Not that I ever would have, but when you are this allergic to ivy, you have those kinds of thoughts.

So today was not so bad and I am sure that tomorrow will be even better.

Poison Ivy Sucks

I am 14 weeks pregnant and I have a raging case of poison ivy.

Life is no good right now.

The last time I got poison ivy this bad it just kept getting worse to the point that I had to go to the ER and get steroid shots.

I am not in a happy place right now.

If I was not pregnant I would have gotten a shot already. But I can't because of the baby. I'm not upset about the baby i am just freakin miserable and want to jump off the roof.

Lets hope this ends in the 7-10 days that it is supposed to or their will be hell to pay.

It's in there!

I had my first appointment with my midwife last week.

She used a doppler to listen to the heartbeat and we confirmed that there is a baby in here! She comes to the house for all my visits and I don't have every single nurse or doctor that seems me trying to stick their hand up my stuff. Having a midwife is awesome!

I am trying to be patient, but I can hardly wait to meet this little person!

This is all very exciting!

We Are Pregnant!

Steve and I have been trying to naturally conceive baby #2 for the past five years. We finally did it! (ha)

I had completely given up hope that it was ever going to happen and in November of last year I had finally given away all the baby stuff that I had saved of Jacob's.

We are so excited!!

We have chosen a midwife team and are going to have a wonderful home birth!

Jacob already knows and he is excited to tell everybody that he is going to be a big brother. He is also excited to be here during the birth. One of his first questions was "Do I get to be here when the baby is born?".

The new baby is due February 1st of 2011. I am 11 weeks along as of today.

The sex of the baby will most likely be a complete surprise because I will not have any medical intervention including an ultra sound. My midwife does offer the option to get an ultrasound, I just haven't decided on that yet.

I think this will all finally seem real in about 6 more weeks when I can actually feel the baby moving and I start to get the big belly! I am looking forward to that part! So far the first trimester has been a little rough. I'm fine I just feel very "ugh". Which is what Steve now so loving refers to the new baby as ... Ugh. He said to Jake today "Don't jump on mommy, Ugh doesn't like it".

I am trying to embrace every part of this pregnancy even the "ugh" so I can fully enjoy the experience. This will be our last and we are so thankful for this amazing opportunity to have one more child!

Jake's 6th Birthday!

This year we celebrated Jake's 6th birthday at Mercury Gymnastics. It was so much fun. The kids got to free play on the equipment for a full hour and then we opened gifts and had cake and ice cream!

Here is an image of all the kids, minus Katie & Kyle (3 year olds)they were getting a diaper change.



The party was Transformer themed this year, and as always Nana baked a great tasting cake. We printed the Transformer symbols and created our own stencils. We dusted coco powder to create the images on the cake. It turned out pretty good.





Nana had the brilliant idea for traveling with the ice cream. The night before the party we scooped out individual servings into over sized cupcake liners that were placed on a cookie sheet. We placed them back into the freezer over night. As we were getting ready to head to the party we placed a block of dry ice into the bottom of our larger cooler and then set the cookie sheets with the ice cream on top. Even after the travel time and then the hour of the kids playing the ice cream was still perfect when it came time to serve it. Having it in the individual liners was such a huge time saver not to mention it prevented the hassle and mess of trying to dish out ice cream to crazy wound up party children. As I quickly cut the cake another adult place the ice cream cups on to the plates and handed to children. It was so easy and fast. I will be doing that for every birthday from now on! I should have taken a picture ... sorry.

Even though Transformers was the party theme the gift theme was Star Wars Legos. This kid made out like a bandit. He was very pleased with everything he received, even the Hairdryer from Aunt Elaine. I'll explain that in a minute.



There was lots of jumping, swinging and even some resting.



Followed by more swinging, running and more jumping.



The kids all had a great time and so did the adults. It was a short sweet and active party, well worth the money spent!

Now about the hairdryer ...



During our Christmas visit to Aunt Elaine's house a funny thing happened. As Jake was opening his gifts he had pulled back the wrapping paper to reveal a hairdryer box. When he saw the image on the box his eyes lite up and he exclaimed "A hairdryer, how cool, my very own hair dryer!" It took all the adults a minute to catch our breath long enough to break the bad news to him. Aunt Elaine had recycled the box and placed a different gift in it. He was only disappointed for a moment and then was excited about the toy that was in the box. I can't even remember what it was. The sound of joy and the look on his face when he thought he was getting a hairdryer was hilarious! Which is why Aunt Elaine sent him his very own hairdryer for his birthday. Another funny thing is that he remembered that he had not gotten one at Christmas and was super excited again when he got this one. This boy cracks me up. By the way he does use his hairdryer.

Thank you to everyone for making Jake's 6th birthday a great one!

Jake's first slumber party!

Jake was so excited to hear that The Cantwell boys , all 4 of them, were going to stay with us for the night! Todd and Kara the boys parents needed to take a trip over night and asked if I would watch the boys. I just told Jake is was a slumber party.

There was lots of role playing and there was not a single moment without something being shot, something being used to shoot something, or someone suffering from a shot wound. The death scenes were emmy worthy I'm positive.

Below is an image of one of the first epic battles fought that evening.



The battle resulted in the need to use the force to heal the near death Jedi Jacob.



After 5 baths and 5 pajama shirts were matched with 5 pajama bottoms we all settled down for the usually first slumber party activities, snacks and a late movie! We couldn't find Alex's pj bottoms so he had to wear a pair of mine. We had to roll them and pin them to get them to stay up. It was pretty funny.



The movie of choice was of course ... if you'll look closely at the image on the tv you may have already guessed it, Star Wars Episode V.



The boys all slept on a bed of blankets on the floor of Jakes room. They had a great night! :)

Subway Cured the Crazies

2010 did not start so well for me. I have been having an extremely hard time with a great deal of things over the past few months. I am not going to detail them for you. Let's just say the inner struggle I have been fighting to stay positive and focused has exhausted me both mentally and physically. I'm done.

Please don't feel bad for me and for heavens sake please don't call me asking if I'm okay. I'm fine.

However, as Steve and I were working to remodel the garage Sunday he asked me a question that made me think. I was telling him about my view of some things and just generally talking while we worked. All the sudden he said in a shocked kind of voice "Wow babe, where did all this hate come from?"

Hate ... I'm not a hateful person. Apparently my ability to control my strong emotions is not as honed as it once was. My restraint against negativity and my strong positive will are slowly crumbling under the weight of frustration and anger. I was being very short tempered and sharp tongued. I wasn't really being mean, but I wasn't being nice either.

We continued to work and talk.

As I mentioned it was a Sunday. Which is not one of my favorite days of the week and that didn't help matters much. I had sent Jake to church with Nana, and had chosen to stay home and work. Although Steve and I did make an appearance to see Jacob not give his talk in primary (Sunday school).

I'm not really sure at what exact moment I lost it, but it was obvious that my body was there but my sanity had left the building.

Steve and I had to make a stop at Lowes for something, garage stuff I think, and I was barely hanging on. Now I don't mean that I was weeping uncontrollably in the aisles of the mega home improvement store. I mean my focus was gone. I couldn't think straight. I was irritable and snippy for no reason. I almost ripped the head off of an extremely uneducated Lowes employee. Steve and I almost got into an argument over lawn treatment styles ... really, come on. I managed to maintain what little sanity I had left and we came to a compromise. Which meant that I was now going to be picking thousands of weeds with my bare hands, but at least we weren't going to end up with three eyed grand-babies because we used chemicals on the lawn where Jake plays.

So we left the store and in the parking lot we decided we needed to eat. Steve and I have learned over the years to make our decisions about where we are going before the vehicle moves. Otherwise we end up at home with nothing. Steve has a homing beacon that has a default setting for home. If he doesn't have a destination when the vehicle starts moving then his body automatically drives home. It is actually quite funny.

Anyway, as we sat in the parking lot Steve was silently thinking. I assumed it was just about where to eat. I would learn later that there was more to it. I of course continued rambling :
"What are you in the mood for? We could just go home and find left overs. Should we go get Jake and take him with? No, he needs to stay there. Should we get something and take it home for Jake and Nana? I don't want to hear about it if we don't bring something home. No ... they will be fine. Do you want to dine in or carry out? The house is a wreck I don't even have any clean dishes for us to eat on. Oh crap, I don't care, you decide."

Steve did not say a word through all of that. I never shut up long enough. After I was finished he finally spoke. "How about Subway?"

That actually sounded good. I felt good about that, there were no issues. I responded "Yeah, Subway that sounds great." And off we went.

We walked into the sub shop and I immediately felt calmer. I knew that no matter what I ordered off the menu I would like it. There was nothing to think about. Now at the time I still wasn't in full control of my emotions but things were getting better. We ordered our food and sat in the shop to eat.

As we ate we talked. Part way into the conversation Steve asked me "Do you feel better?"

"A little, why do you ask?" I replied.

This is when he explained to me what he had been thinking about in the truck just a little bit earlier. As we had been sitting there in the truck and I was rambling, he was remembering back to a time when I had acted like this before. It had been almost 6.5 years earlier when I was pregnant with Jacob. When I would get irrationally crazy and lose the ability to make decisions without feeling like I was losing my mind. Steve had actually taken the time to think about what he needed to do to correct the situation. How could he help me stop this crazy state that I couldn't seem to get myself out of and that seemed to be getting worse as the day went on. He said that as he thought it dawned on him, Subway. It had always worked before, maybe it would work now. Subway was always the answer. No matter what, Subway made me happy. For more then 3 months of my pregnancy Subway was the only thing I could eat that didn't make me nauseous. I fell in love with Subway. Well it worked. He said that almost immediately my demeanor changed and I began to show signs of calming.

Subway had once again cured the crazies.

Yes, I give credit to Subway for making one of my favorite foods and allowing me to have peace of mind when I walk in the store knowing I will be satisfied with anything I order. I know I don't have to think about anything, there are no bad decisions ... it is very freeing. Thank you Subway.

Most importantly though I need to give credit to my now almost perfect husband. I'm not sure that it is possible to love someone more then I love this man. Instead of feeding into the craziness with his own frustration in reaction to mine he remained calm. He thought before he spoke and he restrained his instincts to react in retaliation to my snippy sharp edged comments. He thought of me and how he could help. He was willing to do whatever it took to make me happy. Thank goodness it was as simple as a sandwich.

The Bread Machine

I have always gazed in envious wonder at other peoples bread machines.

How do they work?
Does the bread taste good?
Do you really just put the ingredients in, push the buttons and at some later time bread comes out?
How amazing is that!!

After mentioning my secret desire to have a bread machine to a friend of mine she arrived at my door a week or so later with one just for me! She had found hers at a thriftstore and I had said that I would love to find one too. I am a very thrifty shopper and I have no problem using items from a second hand store.

So ... ta da! She had found me a perfectly wonderful clean working bread machine at a thriftstore for almost nothing. She is great and so is the machine.



Below is an image of the dough in the bread machine before baking. Sephie, the friend who gave me the machine uses hers mostly for making dough. She then shapes and bakes the dough herself in the oven. I have decided that I like that too. Although, I am going to try at least once to make a full loaf in the machine, just to see what happens.



It really is as simple as placing the ingredients into the machine and pressing a button. I set the machine to the dough setting and walk away. In about an hour and a half the beeper goes off and the dough is ready. Then I take it out of the machine, place it on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 30 seconds while shaping it into whatever shape I want. The below image is of the first hearth loaf I made with my new machine. The entire ball of dough is placed on a floured baking sheet, and given an egg wash before going into the oven.



This size of a loaf takes about 45 minutes to bake. It came out of the oven perfect! Notice the little spikes at the top of the loaf. That was because I cut an x shape in the dough before baking. It looks kinda like a volcano. HA. The next loaf I made I decided to cut three parallel slices in the top of the dough and it looked more like the style of bread you would get from a bakery. Much less like a volcano. The below image is of the volcano inspired hearth loaf.



The bread tasted great, smelled wonderful and looked beautiful. Aside from the wait time while the dough was in the machine and of course the 45 minute bake time, my physical involvement was only about 10 minutes. I was able to go do other things while the dough was being created. Then it was just a few minutes to get the dough into the oven. I went and did other things again while it was baking. This is so easy. I love it and so does the family.

Thanks Sephie!

Christmas 2009

This Christmas we did the all of our traditional things.

For Christmas Eve we always have a light dinner of sandwiches. We had roast beef & provolone served on pumpernickel & rye bread with all the trimmings and accompanied by our favorite chips. Everyone has a different favorite flavor so we get one bag of each. After dinner we drive around to look at the neighborhood lights. Later in the evening everyone is allowed to open one gift and we usually watch a movie while sipping hot cocoa or eggnog. This year the weather prevented us from diving around but that's okay. Our neighborhood was well lite starting the 1st of December and we were able to enjoy seeing all the beautiful decorations every time we left the house.

Steve's parents were scheduled to travel up from their home, however the threat of bad weather made us all change our minds about traveling. For safety, we all decided that they shouldn't come up. We are going to spend a weekend with them this month to make up for it.

On Christmas day we all got the white Christmas we were looking for. It was a great day at our house. Steve and I enjoy sleeping in and lazily starting our day on holidays, well most days actually. Nana was able to keep Jacob occupied until 10am and then he just couldn't take it anymore. She let him come in and wake us up.

We finally made it down stairs and got ourselves a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Then we all gathered around the tree to open gifts. Since Jacob learned to walk we have been letting him hand out all the gifts. Every year he happily hands out all the gifts until there are none left under the tree. Once they are all stacked around each person then we are allowed to start opening them.

There are a few themes in our gift giving that have developed over the years.

Steve likes to collect Pepsi items. So of course this year he received more Pepsi glasses to add to his collection. Pepsi stuff is not as easy to find as Coke. You can't just go to the store and pick out what you want. You have to find it in thrift or antique stores and garage sales or estate sales. I found these three glasses at a thrift store several months ago and hid them. We have a tin plate with the same image as the woman on the center glass.



I love to be barefoot. When I have to wear shoes I wear flip flops. No matter what the weather is like outside, you can usually find me in flip flops or without shoes at all. I received three very fun pairs of flip flops. As soon as the snow melts I am positive that I will find a perfect outfit to wear each pair with.



Jacob is very much into Transformers right now. He loves them! So of course we made sure that he got the Scorponox Transformer that he has specifically been asking for. He was so excited when he opened it that he even gave a fist pump and a "Yessssss".



At some point all the gift bows decided to attack Jacob.



Nana needs to ... I mean enjoys relaxing, so Steve and I got her an electric massage chair. It is very cool and works really well. Steve and I both tested it at the store to make sure we ... I mean she would like it. I'm pretty sure that is actual joy on her face as she peeled back the paper. She has it set up downstairs and uses it often. She says it works great.



We all received a few other things and have been enjoying them.

After lunch we decided to go out and play in the snow. Of course we bundled up first. I just can't help myself, I think kids bundled up to go play in the snow are just cute ... so of course I have to take a picture.



Jake wasted no time and leapt from the porch into the snow.



Nana stayed inside and watched from the window.



When she did sneak out to see how deep the snow had gotten around her car she was attacked with snowballs. She barely made it back in the house before she was covered in snow. Jake has good aim!



Have you ever pointed a camera at someone while they were not looking then called their name and just as they turned to look at you, you take the picture. HA HA HA ... I love doing that to Steve. This is one of those pictures! It cracks me up every time.



This next set of pictures explain themselves. Can you follow the story they tell?






Snow angels and lots of other random snowy fun was had before we went back inside to get warm and have our traditional dinner.

This year we had a spiral cut ham and all the usual sides: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes - some candied and some mashed, bread stuffing, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce. I think that was it.

For dessert we had pecan pie, cheese cake and pumpkin pie. Holy Moley they were good this year.



The pecan pie was amazing. I have never had one that tasted better. The cheese cake was thick creamy and flawless and the pumpkin was just right for Jake. I would have preferred it a little sweeter, but Nana cut the sugar on purpose for Jake and I'm okay with that.

The rest of the evening we watched some tv, played some video games and just general did nothing, together. It was great!

Here the boys are playing the new Indiana Jones DS game that we got for Steve ... I mean Jake. Notice the game case placement. That was not staged by me, he totally did that one his own.



We had a great Christmas this year and we hope all of you did too!

Let it Snow

The first snow of the season Jake and I were cozy in our PJ's watching some Food Network when we realized what the weather was doing outside.



Then the snow melted and life went back to normal. We weren't sure if Missouri was going to get a white Christmas or not. As all of you know that was a silly worry this year. We did get a white Christmas and much more. It is still white outside and not showing any signs of melting any time soon.

Steve's Table

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I was able to find Steve a pool table and that we were going to set it up in the family room of the new house.

Just in case I forgot something, here is a recap of Steve's history with the pool table.

Steve had a pool table when we meet.
He loves to play pool.
We got married and moved to Kansas.
The pool table was dismantled and put into storage with the intent of being reassembled after we settled into a house.
We moved several more times.
The pool table did too and eventually got damaged beyond repair.

So, 12.5 years later and finally in a home with enough room for a pool table I was lucky enough to find an old friend from high school who was getting rid of one. Isn't Facebook great! Thanks Jason!

Well now Steve has a pool table again and is very happy about it. The felt needs to be replaced and the rails also, but the frame and the slate are in great condition. We are going to order new felt and new rails in a few months. I just have to work that expense into the budget.

Jake of course had to be in the middle of the whole process as we set the table up. I mean that literally as you can see below.



It took myself and 4 other men to move the large 4.5 by 7.5 foot solid piece of slate from our old house into the new house. Our friends Jared & Sephie helped us move the entire pool table out of Jason's garage with Jason's help as well. This thing took a lot of people to get set up. After getting all the pieces into the house our friend Dan came over to help Steve put the slate in place and get it leveled.



Steve was so patient as he waited the 8 days it took for the glue to set on the rails. The wood veneer was pulling up on several of the top edge pieces and we had to glue and then clamp each one. We only had one set of clamps large enough so we had to do one at a time and then wait 48 hours to do the next one.



Jacob was not as patient. The minute the slate was in place he had to try the table out. It just so happened that Steve already had a pool stick that is just the right length for Jake.



This is what Steve is saying to me in this picture: "Woman, why do you have the camera out. Do you really need a picture of this?" And my answer was "Man, Yes I do. What other woman do you know would give up her large family room with a fireplace in order to set up a pool table, hmmmm? You love me and you know it, so say cheese!"



We are all very happy to have the pool table. I don't even mind that there is a large green table in what is supposed to be the family room. We as a family enjoy playing together so it is perfect for us!