Truthful Tuesday: Cooking Confessions

I have a few confessions to make.
Here goes.
Ahem....

1) In the summer time I let handy husband, also known as the grill master, take over most of the meals.
I mean why not?! He has this super duper grill that his awesome wife bought him for a wedding gift, the weather is nice and grill food is oh so yummy!

2)I will not attempt to cook anything that does not have a picture to go along with it in the cook book!
I truly believe that it's for the best interest of everyone involved :) A little visual aide never hurts!
Last night was a perfect example of both of these confessions.
Here is the recipe from last nights dinner- take note of the picture :-)

 

It's not easy to read the recipe so here it is:

Pork Packets:

2 Bone in pork chops

Onion soup mix

2 potatoes

1/2 cups of frozen peas

1/2 cups of frozen carrots

Butter, salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Place pork chops on doubled foil. Top with potato, carrot and peas. Sprinkle with soup mix. Seal foil tightly. Grill for 30-35 minutes turning occasionally.

As the grill master was preparing our oh so yummy pork packets outside on the grill I did at least prepare the side dishes (corn on the cob and mac & cheese). 

This is how the pork packets turned out.

Pretty much exactly like the picture-minus the carrots that we did not add. 

Yummo! He did a great job :)

One final confession. 

3) I did buy a package of cookie dough yesterday with the intentions of making cookies today. However, instead of baking the cookies, I ate 1/2 of the package of dough. 

Drats!  

He Looks Like.....

Who does our unborn child favor?

Hmmmm, lets see!

Mahlon's newborn picture:

(It cracks me up how much he still looks like this!)

Baby at 29 weeks

My newborn picture:

(with absolutely no hair!)

You can be the judge. I think he's pretty stinking cute either way :)

29 week update

How far along: 29 weeks 3 days

Total weight gain: 22 pounds

Maternity clothes: Sun dresses are my new favorite thing to wear right now.

Sleep: Pretty good. I will occasionally wake up and my arm or leg be asleep, but other than that no complaints!

Best moment this week: I can't choose! Here are 3.

1. Completing the nursery. I feel much more at ease now.

2. 3D/4D ultrasound. I just loved seeing his chubby little cheeks!

3. Starting a baby registry. There is so much cool stuff!

Movement: Tons! The ultrasound tech asked me "Does he always move around this much for you?" haha!

Gender: Ultrasound tech confirmed that he is still a boy :)

Labor signs: None

Belly Button in or out?  Still in, but quickly closing the gap on becoming flat!

Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy being pregnant! Do not get sidetracked by the minor discomforts but rather delight in the fact that you are experiencing these symptoms because there is a sweet little person growing inside of you.  

Milestones: At our doctors visit this week they estimated his weight to be 3 lbs 8oz :) That puts him in the 70% for his age. His head is getting bigger to support his growing brain. He looses much of the lanugo that has covered his body (tiny tiny hairs) in order to regulate body temperature, his brain and sensory organs are developed enough to do this on their own now. 

A post on parenthood

Parenting:

*Something we know nothing about just yet. 

*Something many others who already have children have shared their opinions, perspectives and advice with us on.

 Among the typical, and some negative, perspectives that have been shared with us regarding parenthood,there has been one very insightful and uplifting perspective that has truly made me smile :).

Last week while Mahlon was at camp, a fellow member of our church family shared this perspective on parenting with him.
" I like to say, before the baby, your life has been like a black and white movie. As soon as this baby gets here, your life will be in color. And color is a good thing. Like movies. Some black and white movies are great. There are the classics that you never get tired of watching. And, not all color movies are wonderful. But, over all, life is better in color."

I found this to be such a unique and positive way to look at the change that is about to occur in our lives.
There are the black and white memories that Mahlon and I will always have of our time together as "just the two of us". We have shared many fun times together and have endless black and white memories for the scrapbooks. However, we can not wait for this precious baby to arrive and splash some color into our lives!
Thank you church family, for sharing this point of view with us!

Wordless Wednesday: The View From Here.

29 weeks 2 days

Hello Somebody

We got another package in the mail today!
Nope, it wasn't something for the baby.....

These are our new Hello Somebody watches.
What is a Hello Somebody watch you ask, well let me tell ya!

"Hello Somebody is a non-profit brand that exists to impact and change the world through love, passion and creativity. Our purpose is simple: feed the hungry around the globe. 
Every day, people are sacrificially giving of themselves to feed, clothe, educate and medicate people worldwide through Hello Somebody.
You have the ability and the means to impact hundreds of hungry people by simply sacrificing a few dollars and spreading the word. Join the movement. Will you be a partner to bring positive change our world so desperately needs? HELLO SOMEBODY!

***Purchasing just one watch feeds 125 people. A donation of $25 feeds an orphan child for an entire year. A business contribution of thousands can build a feeding station in an impoverished area. Every dollar is essential and necessary to save a life"

This is a great ministry that God has provided for us to be able to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
Check out their website by following this link.

Handy Husband rockin the watch while playing video games

Me :)

Stephanie supporting the cause with her awesome pink watch!

Project Nursery: Days 4 & 5

We got a little carried away working in the nursery and I did failed to blog the progress! So here is an update on what all has been going on.

Day 4's agenda included:
 *removing the tape from the painting of the first stripe
 *applying tape for the two remaining stripes
 *painting remaining two stripes

Day 4= success.

The agenda for day 5 included only one important task:
Assemble nursery furniture!
Upon his return from camp, Handy Husband did just that!

Day 5= Major success!! 

Here is the view when you first walk in the door. 

We still have some decorating to do ( like deciding where to put all these way cute wall clings)

but all the major work is done with roughly 10 weeks to spare!

Shew!  

Friday's Top 5

So this week I have come to the conclusion that I would make a terrible military wife! I have an all new respect for these women! Handy Husband has be away at church camp with the youth group since Monday morning at 6:00 AM ( a mere 5 days) and I have missed him something awful!

 Here are the top 5 things I have missed the most this week:

5.Our conversations
With rambunctiousness 7th and 8th graders to look after all week, there has been little time for conversation! I didn't realize how much I enjoyed our pointless little conversations until this week. Just having someone to talk with late at night as you are falling asleep or first thing in the morning is a luxury I did not realize I was taking for granted.

4. Having someone to eat dinner with.
Yep. Eating alone is utterly boring and very dull. I mean, what's the point in making a yummy meal if you are the only one going to eat it? However, in all seriousness I have missed my dinners with Husband this week. Dinner time at our house usually goes a little like this
Me: " Husband, what do you want for dinner"
Mahlon "I don't care, whatever you do"
Me: " Well, we can have (insert long list of options here)"
Mahlon: " Ummmm any of that is fine"
Me: "Uggh! Ok."
I can not wait to ask Mahlon what he wants for dinner tomorrow and hear him say that he does not care what we have!

3. His company.
My husband is the best company I could ever ask for. It does not matter what it is we are doing, I just love having him around. Now, once again, I did not realize how much this meant to me until this week. Whether it's riding in the car together, attending church, watching movies on the couch, eating dinner, doing chores or simply doing nothing I enjoy it.

2. Having my very own handy man
Only one day into Mahlon being gone this week, I discovered a mystery puddle of water in the laundry room. I immediately thought to myself "This house will flood and float away before I figure out what to do about a water leak". However, I gathered my thoughts and soon found the ever so slow leak and simply turned the water to the washer off because I had no idea how to fix what was wrong! It was not fixed- only stopped. Handy Husband would have had that fixed in a jiffy!

1. Laughing.
My husband is always making me laugh! If you know him at all, you know that he says some of the craziest things that often times make you think or even ask "where did you come up with that???" For example, when I told Mahlon that I was going to sit out on the deck and get a tan, his response was "No! You will cook our baby!!" after trying to convince him that it would not cook the baby his response was "Ok fine, but if our baby comes out and swims in circles it's all your fault!" Seriously! Where do you come up with that! I laughed for about 5 minutes uncontrollably!

On the flip side:
 I know that Husband has truly enjoyed his time at camp. From the few short conversations we have been able to have I understand that God has truly been at work in the lives of the students at camp this week and for that I am very thankful. I love to hear how God is working in their young lives. I am also very thankful that Mahlon was able to have the opportunity to serve as a mentor to some of the boys at camp this week. I know he has truly enjoyed it :)

Project Nursery: Day 3

Day 2 was a success! 

Everyone needs a kitchen chair in the nursery, right? Haha!

We  now have a very green nursery! 

I do think it matches the bedding very well though :)

Ready for Day 3!

Here are the must have supplies for today:

On the to-do list for today:

*Measure and mark off sections to be painted

*Tape off sections

*Paint one of the sections. 

Project Nursery; Day 2

All of the items on the to do list from yesterday have been accomplished! 

Nail holes have been patched

Outlet covers were removed and a coat of primer was applied to the walls! 

Progress is being made!

Here is the to-do list for today:

* Apply first coat of green paint to the walls*

Yep-that's it- only one thing on the to-do list for today.

 Well, the nursery to-do list that is anyway :)

Project Nursery; Day 1

With the bedding finally being purchased we can now start on the nursery!
Yesterday Handy Husband and I purchased all the necessary supplies to begin painting the nursery.

Here is what it looks like right now. 

Please do not mind the paint smears on the walls- we were trying out the paint colors :)

Plans for Day 1 include:

* Patching nail holes in the walls

,*Removing all outlet covers 

*applying a coat of primer to the walls.

Better get to work!  

Baby Bedding

You may remember the post from a few months back titled  Decisions, Decisions where husband and I were trying to decided on which baby bedding to purchase to go along with the Jungle theme we had decided on for the nursery.
Well our decision has been made.

We chose this set, Tiddliwinks Safari Friends,which was not even on the original list- however is very similar to option #1!
Go figure :)
However, we love it!
 We purchased it in store last weekend. The only draw back was that the story did not stock the entire collection, so we had to come back home and order/register for the remaining pieces from the website.

When I checked the mail this morning, this lovely package had been delivered!! What could it be.......

The valance and bed skirt to match!

 I did get a little over excited and go ahead and hand the valance just to see what it would look like-even though it is going to have to come right back down so we can paint :)

I'm so excited!!

Meet Myla's Kittens!

So the last time I visited my mom's, the kittens were too small to crawl out of their nice and cozy home (an old milk jug of all places to have your kittens). Today however, was a totally different story.

 All 3 kittens have their eyes open and are now doing their best to wag their little fat selves around the patio :)

Which is hard work!

They spent their afternoon doing what I suppose all kittens do.

Enjoying sibling rivalry 

 getting baths

catching some rays

and of course the must needed cat nap!

Life as a kitten sure is rough!