Trying out our green thumbs

 Since this year has held so many firsts for us, we figured why not add another! 

 Our first garden! 

If we are successful, When our garden comes up we will have: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, okra, squash, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, and sweet corn! Hopefully Mahlon's farming and greenhouse background will come in handy-I'll keep ya posted on the progress :) 

Happy Anniversary

 Happy Anniversary to me :)

Handy Husband bought me these 5, yes 5 charms for my bracelet for our anniversary

Does he rock or what! 

Don't worry- Handy Husband was not forgotten :) 

I did sort of cheat and combine both anniversary and up-coming Fathers Day into one gift and got Mahlon this.....

He loved it ! So I guess that means I rock too :)

In the past year....

In the past year we have.....

Got married

Cruised around Central America

Taken a weekend trip to Panama City Beach

Spent our first Holiday season together as a married couple

Found out we were expecting our first child

 Bought our first house

Found out that our baby will be a boy 

Celebrated 1 very blessed year of marriage

I am so very thankful for the many blessings God has sent our way this year and can not wait to see what the next year has in store for us! 

No, this is not a flash back!

I promise we are not back in the 70's rockin' tie-dye shirts and bell bottom jeans like this guy

 We are just preparing for an educational and fun filled Kindergarten field trip! 

Instead of wasting much needed money from our education budget to buy t-shirts for our field trip, we thrifty Kindergarten teachers decided to make tie-dye shirts for our students to wear on our trip. (Matching shirts always make the group easy to find!) Thrifty and fun! 

Here are the shirts hanging to dry after I brought them home and rinsed them with the water hose outside to get rid of all the excess dye. 

Reason # 12 I love teaching Kindergarten :) 

Mmmm Mmmm Good

 Ice Cream

 plus home grown strawberries

 plus blender

equals yummy strawberry milkshakes! 

What a great way to end a day :) 

24 Weeks

How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain: 15 pounds.

Maternity clothes? My awesome maternity jeans and the all too handy Belly Band that makes wearing my dress pants all the more comfortable! 

Sleep: Charlie Horses and hip pain are the ones to blame for my sleepless nights these days.

Best moment this week: Seeing my belly move for the first time :)

Movement: Like a little Ninja!  

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Sleeping all night. 

Weekly Wisdom: Join Amazon Moms! It's free and you get free 2 day shipping on anything you buy on Amazon plus 30% off all kinds of baby stuff! 

Milestones: His skin begins to gain pigment- becoming less translucent, his brain is quickly developing and his lungs are developing branches and air sacs that will help him breath when he enters the world! 

 

Mother's Day Gift

My first Mother's Day gift ever. From my sweet husband :) 

The Guardian Willow Tree.

I LOVE IT! 

 

It  fits in perfectly with the other Willow Tree figurines he has given me. 

He rocks!

And They're Off!

 So, we may not have been able to make it to the official Kentucky Derby, but we did put on a Derby of our own in Kindergarten this year!

We made stick horses our of donated yard sticks from Lowe's, socks, recycled news paper, felt, yarn and of course googley eyes! Each student decorated and named their own race horse for the Warren Elementary Derby!

We lined up in the gym and raced in heats until we had 10 final horses competing for the roses- which we made out of a red lei and fake roses :)

And who can have Derby without a Derby Hat?? Not us! We also made and decorated our own derby hats to wear to our race!
The students had a blast and were able to learn about the history and traditions of the Kentucky Derby in the process. Reason 11 why I love teaching Kindergarten!

Wordless Wednesday

22 Weeks

How far along? 22 weeks

Total weight gain: 13 pounds.

Maternity clothes? My wonderful husband did take me to get a pair of maternity jeans on Sunday- which I am very grateful for!

Sleep: Fairly well- only the occasional charlie horse keeps me up lately. 

Best moment this week: Ummm is it bad to say getting maternity jeans? Lol!

Movement: I can definitely tell he is getting bigger and stronger! The movements have become more frequent and much stronger over the past 2 weeks.  

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Laying on my stomach in the floor

Weekly Wisdom: Start stocking up on baby items now as you see them on sale!

Milestones: He has started growing taste buds and can taste flavors in the amniotic fluid- wonder if he likes chips and salsa? Haha!

In baby's empty room :)

One big happy family

So, its obvious that Mahlon and I are excited to be in our new home. We have spent the majority of the past week unpacking, organizing and landscaping. There was only one thing missing to make this new home complete (for now that is until baby arrives!)

Orson!

Orson (who is by far the worst photographing dog ever! He tries to play with the camera every time I go to take his picture) is our 3 year old Blue Heeler/ Australian Shepard mix that Mahlon and I adopted from the Humane Society our senior year in college.

This is how tiny he was when we first got him....

which made for the perfect sized indoor dog. However, he grew pretty quick and soon needed much more room to romp than our tiny one bedroom apartment could provide- which is when he went to live with Nana! 

Orson, and my mom even though she does not like to admit it, have both enjoyed his time at Nana's- but I am glad to have him back with us again!