Weekend news...

Does it mean you are getting old when it is Sunday night and you can't remember what you did Friday night? Geesh! I'm sitting here trying to recall my weekend and ...
OH, seriously, it just came to me. I went grocery shopping. I'm not that old yet!!! :-)
Hold on...Levi wants to say hi:

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Ok. Anyways, after grocery shopping, my parents stopped by for a visit. Levi loves when his Grammy & Papa are here.

Saturday was a piddle day. Eric & Paul worked in the basement and got two big beams put up!! (THANKS, PAUL!!!!!!!) Eric finished framing the last wall in the basement and we are now ready for drywall. It's moving along so quickly. Eric is going to call and order the drywall this week. Exciting!!

Saturday evening, my sister and our two friends, Jill & Jill went out. We did a girls night dinner at Kansai - YUM! - and some shopping around Target. We had lots of fun and this party animal was home by 8pm! Yes, 8pm. Wowza...

Today was such a wonderful day of worship at church. I am so thankful for my church family. This was my Sunday for serving in Preschool (That's a whole other story in itself......OH MY!!) so we'll just say I was thankful to come home to my quiet home and take a nice Sunday afternoon nap! :-) Tonight, Levi and I are chilling at home together while Eric went to a movie with some guys. It's nice to have a weekend where we can spend some quality time together as a family but still get out a little with good friends.

My ultrasound is tomorrow (Monday) at 2:30. I'm praying for good results and can't wait to see this little baby girl moving around again!! God has her wrapped tightly in his perfect will. Not long until we meet her...how exciting!

Levi wants to sign us off:
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cold weather + soup = GOOD!

My Grandmother always made the best homemade potato soup! Over the years, my sister and I have come up with a few little changes to make it easier to prepare. Grandmother always peeled and cut her own potatoes, but it’s quicker to use the frozen diced potatoes (in the freezer section).

Loaded Potato Soup

1 bag of frozen southern style potatoes
3 Chicken flavored bullion cubes
Velveeta Cheese
Milk (2% is best)
Shredded cheese of your choice
Bacon pieces
(add some onion if you desire)

Put potatoes in large pot and fill with just enough water to cover ¼ of the potatoes. Add bullion cubes and cook on medium/low until the potatoes just start to get tender. Add enough milk to cover the potatoes (and maybe a little more…I like my soup “juicy”). Dice the Velveeta cheese and add to the soup. Keep stirring until all the cheese is melted. The potatoes will continue to cook some. Grandmother would sometimes use a little cornstarch/milk mixture to thicken the soup. Salt & pepper to taste.
Serve with bacon pieces and shredded cheese.

It's easy schmeasy! And sooo good :-) I made this for Eric and me Tuesday night and we're still having left overs. YUM!

Men!

A salesman came into our office last week to give us some quotes. Never met the man before. Here was our conversation.

Hello, how are you?

Hi there! Daaaang, girl, when are you due? You look like you’re gonna pop!

Oh, um, I’m due May 11.

Maaaay??? Holy cow! Are you having twins?

No, no. They assured me there is only one baby. (still trying to smile sweetly)


~Secretly, I was hoping he would go home and sit on a tack that day.

Our weekend

Didn’t do a whole lot this weekend. I’m thankful these days for weekends that are low key! On Saturday, my mom and I headed out for some shopping at the outlet mall. We were planning on taking Levi with us, but my sister insisted he come play at her house for the day. Thanks, Tricia! He had fun – more fun than spending time shopping with me, I’m sure. :) Got a few good deals…some clothes (marked way down!) for Levi for next winter and some rain boots. Mom got the kids coats for next year – they are cute! At 70% off, she couldn’t pass up the deal!!

Yesterday, after church, we went to lunch with the fam and then went home for naps. Around 3:00, there was some kind of football game on…guess it was kind of important. Something the announcer said about THE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS MAKING A TRIP TO MIAMI TO PLAY IN THE SUPERBOWL ON FEBRUARY 7TH. Woo hoo!!!!!!! I’m so proud of “my” Colts!!!!! The last time the Colts headed to the Super Bowl, Levi looked like this:

Adorable!
GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!! Make us proud (not that we aren't already!!!) :-)

Challenges???

Okay, so I haven't been great at updating on the Love Dare. It's harder than I thought to keep up with it on a daily basis!!!!! So, I'm making a new rule (see...I can do that, because it's my blog!)... I'll try to focus on two or three challenges throughout the week and do those really well!! Lame? Maybe, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Today (and the rest of the weekend), I will focus on this:

• Begin Praying for your spouse’s heart. Pray for three specific areas where you desire for God to work in your spouse’s life and in your marriage.

This is something that challenged me! I pray for Eric on a daily basis, but when I sit down and really think about it, how often do I REALLY pray for specific areas in his life? Keep him healthy, guide his daily walk...those are wonderful things, but God wants so much more of us than that. So, for now I'm praying for God to show me how specifically to pray for Eric's heart and the areas of our marriage that HE desires for me to pray for.

day 14

• Purposefully neglect an activity you would normally do so you can spend quality time with your spouse. Do something he or she would love to do or a project they’d really like to work on. Just to be together.

I guess I wasn't very loving this weekend since I forgot about the Love Dare! :O So, we'll start fresh with today's challenge. Since we are working on finishing the basement, I will purposefully neglect my activity I normally do (watch TV or piddle around the house) so I can help Eric in the basement a little tonight. Don't worry...I won't be framing up walls or hanging drywall! I will just help clean up some of the mess and try to box up some things for him. Although, re-runs of King of Queens sure sound good! ;)

And the winner is...

Thanks for all your comments on a middle name for Maggie! We've gotten lots of suggestions...some really cute and some where you just smile and politely say "thank you!" We've decide that our baby girl's name will be Maggie May :-) ~May~ is Eric's mom's middle name and I think she's tickled pink that Maggie will be named after her.

GNO

Saturday was Girls' Night Out and what a GREAT evening!!! We started with dinner at The Melting Pot. I'd never been there, but heard such good things about it. Jami & I were a "couple" for the evening and split the Big Night Out for couples. ;)

Jami & Me
Melanie & Gretchen

Our meal consisted of four courses: 1st was the yummy cheese fondue appetizer - WOW! Cheese is good on almost anything!! 2nd was salad. I had a great house salad.

3rd was our "feast"...shrimp, fillet Mignon, strip, chicken, ravioli, brats...

...that you got to cook in a special seasoning... OH SO GOOD!!!

Melanie ordered a little cocktail right before dessert. The Yin and the Yang.

And, in my opinion (and probably everyone else's!), the best part of the meal:

Chocolate fondue where you got to dip all of this:

Simply delicious!

Dinner took about 2 1/2 hours and it was just nice to sit and visit the whole time. A wonderful atmosphere!!! After dinner, we headed back to Indiana to watch the COLTS STOMP THE RAVENS in the playoffs. Melanie was going to run to WalMart to get a magazine so we could pick out a hair style for her. She was gone quite a while and I told Gretchen she probably got stuff for us to do a craft!!! LOL (Melanie is a craft guru and I wouldn't put it past her!) When she walked in, she had markers and poster board!! So funny. She was working on something for church.

Good food, good football, great friends - what a wonderful night out!! Thanks girls! Looking forward to next time. :) Love you guys.

Sometimes it is scary...

...how much Levi is like his Daddy!

He loves to make a drum set and beat the heck out of it for what seems like hours - just like Eric did as a child...
When he plays, he sticks his tongue out to the side - just like Eric does!

And, they both demand the bowl & spoons so they can clean up the batter!

Like Father, like Son!!! :-)

Pregnancy moment

I'm not sure why I have been more emotional with this pregnancy than with Levi. Because it's a girl?? IDK...I don't put much stock in that reason. I feel so much more thankful to God in this season of my life - thankful for my wonderful husband who loves me despite my FLAWS!!! Thankful for my sweet & loving little boy. Thankful for my family; and for God's answer to my fervent prayers that he would give me wonderful, Godly, friends who would love me unconditionally! I'm so blessed!!


Okay, back to the emotional part...

It was quiet in our house last night. Levi was fast asleep and Eric was gone to a business meeting. I'm flipping through the, IDK, 900 channels trying to find something good to watch on tv. I came across Pretty Woman. Love.That.Movie. It was halfway thru, but I didn’t care! I was excited to watch it again. I must mention that it was the 20th anniversary for the movie. 20 years. Yikes, grab my cane and my “special salve” for my aches and pains! I feel old! Remember the big, square cell phone with the 8 inch antenna? The bedroom in the penthouse with mauve carpet, mauve walls and a mauve bedspread? Love it!

Sorry, I digress…
So, we’re nearing the end of the movie and it happens. I start getting choked up. Then the chokes turn to tears. Then the tears seriously turned into the ugly cry. I’m talking the kind of cry where you have to put your head between your knees so you can breathe. I was hysterical while watching Pretty Woman. Then, I started to laugh at myself because I was crying so hard. I was a mess. A complete mess. I gathered myself together and calmed down. Eric walked in a few minutes later and just stared at me. His response was priceless “Again?”

Oh my.

challenge 10

• Do something out of the ordinary today for your spouse --- something that proves (to you and to them) that your love is based on your choice and nothing else. Wash her car. Clean the kitchen. Buy his favorite dessert. Fold the laundry. Demonstrate love to them for the sheer joy of being their partner in marriage.

challenges 8-9

• Determine to become your spouse’s biggest fan and to reject any thoughts of jealousy. To help set your heart on your spouse and focus on their achievements, take yesterday’s list of negative attributes and discreetly burn it. Then share with your spouse how glad you are about a success he or she recently enjoyed.
• Think of a specific way you’d like to greet your spouse today. Do it with a smile and with enthusiasm. Then determine to change your greeting to reflect your love for them.

Ok, since I put my positive/negative lists on the computer, I will "delete" my negative list instead of burning it!! :-)

Hmmmm...a fun way to greet my spouse. I'll have to think on that one!

The Name Game

Remember how I said we were 99.9% sure the baby's name would be Tori? Well, thank goodness for the .1% way out! :-)

The new name: Maggie

Now, let me tell you how we arrived at this!!
I've loved Maggie from the very beginning. I have loved it for years. My Granddaddy's initials were M.A.G. and his co-workers called him Maggie as a nick name. I asked Eric about using Maggie for a girl name in memory of Granddaddy. He kind of crossed that name off the list!! So, we went back to the drawing board for more names. Tori was one we both liked. The other day, we're getting ready for work and he comes in the bathroom and says "What about Maggie? What middle name would you use?" Well, this is his little way of saying "Ok, I finally give in. I like Maggie; let's use it!" (At least, that's what I heard in my head!!) The last few days, we've been referring to Baby Reid as little Maggie. It just makes me smile! There is no agreement to a middle name yet, so throw us some suggestions! One option is Maggie Anne (Anne after my Mom's oldest sister). I've already tried Maggie Grace, but Eric won't go for that. I'm sure we'll stick with Maggie...but I guess we won't know for sure until it's on the birth certificate! Ha :-)

challenge 7

For today’s dare, get two sheets of paper. On the first one, spend a few minutes writing out positive things about your spouse. Then do the same with negative things on the second sheet. Place both sheets in a secret place for another day. There is a different purpose and plan for each. At some point during the remainder of the day, pick a positive attribute from the first list and thank your spouse for having this characteristic.

If there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8 NKJV)

challenge 6

• Choose today to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Begin by making a list of areas where you need to add margin to your schedule. Then list any wrong motivations that you need to release from your life.

Well, this is just silly!! I'm sure none of us react to tough circumstances with irritation. Never!

challenges 4 & 5

• Contact your spouse sometime today and just ask how he/she is doing and if there is anything you can do for them.
• Ask your spouse to tell you three things that cause him or her to be uncomfortable or irritated with you. You must do so without attacking them or justifying your behavior. This is from their perspective only.

Oui, this second one could be hard for me today! I LOVE to justify myself to the very end!!!
Eric and I both have been blessed that Levi has shared his nasty cold with us. :-) We woke up today and both felt like we were dying. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, not say anything negative to him, but now I have to ask him what 3 things I do that cause him to be irritated by me. Thanks, God!! :-)

Baby it's cold outside

Last night, on a whim, we invited my family over for tacos & sledding! My sister ended up getting a stomach bug, so they couldn't come, but, Travis & Jenny, the kids & my parents all came over. We had some yummy tacos (if I do say so myself!) and then bundled the kids up and headed out to sled. It got dark on us pretty quickly, but like Jenny said, the moon reflected off the snow and it was perfect!

The stranger in the mask again & me (notice my coat will not close any longer...makes for nice built-in air conditioning! Brrrr!!)
Eric, Dad & Trav helping the kids sled

Race time! Sled 1: Jenny & Griffin; Sled 2: Eric & Levi; Sled 3: Travis & Emily

Such a fun evening just hanging with the family! I'm so blessed to have all of them. After we came inside to un-thaw, we watched America's Funniest Home Videos...SO FUNNY!!

Thanks for making the snow so much fun for Levi, guys!!! We love you.

day 3 challenge

As well as not saying anything negative to your spouse, today you should buy them something that says "I'm thinking about you".

I bought Eric a pack of Starburst :-)

Is this excessive??

A 3 year old: A coat, gloves, 2 toboggans, a hoodie sweatshirt, fleece pajamas, nylon pants, snow bib overalls, 2 pair of socks, shoes, chapstick on his lips, cheeks, chin and forehead. Nah, that's not excessive! Ok, maybe I shouldn't have put chapstick on his forehead, but I didn't want it to get chapped! :)

The snow has arrived!!!!!!!!! Yippie!

Not sure who the sexy masked man is! ;)

A close up...

Look at those rosy cheeks! Is that from the cold or because Daddy was making him tired from shoveling so much??

G-Man turns 5!!!

Our nephew, Griffin, turned 5 years old on Monday. Man how time flies!!! We celebrated his birthday at SIGS on Saturday afternoon. The kids had a blast and wore off lots of energy jumping & bouncing & swinging & running & bouncing & rolling & screaming & bouncing.....
So much fun!

Levi in the foam pit
On the rings

Griffin's SCARY dinosaur cake...ROAR...

Levi & Griffin chomping on some yummy dinosaur :)

After the party, the family headed back to Travis & Jenny's for some INCREDIBLY AWESOME homemade chicken & dumplins. Jen, they were awesome!! I know you say they are easy, but I don't think I can replicate them. :)

Lil' cowboy

Thanks, guys for a great night! I'm so glad the kids all have fun playing while the adults visit.

Happy Birthday, Griffin!!

LOVE DARE

I usually flip through radio channels on my way to work. This morning, I was listening to K Love and they put out this challenge. It's called The Love Dare: a 40 day challenge from Jan. 6 to Valentine's Day. I was intrigued!! The challenge started yesterday and encouraged you to say nothing negative to your spouse all day. (I think I already messed that one up! LOL) Today's challenge: In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness. What a great challenge!!

Maybe some of you will try this challenge with me! I'll do my best to keep posting about it.

January!!

I feel like it's confession time. Forgive me, I have sinned. I haven't been a good blogger. I've enjoyed doing little updates over the holidays, but now I hope to start blogging again about the daily grind. Today is my first day back to work in what feels like ages! It was a wonderful break, but now I'm ready to get going again and get some stuff finalized before I go on maternity leave. It's January. JANUARY people! That means I have about 4 good months until this little baby girl arrives! She is due early in May and I have a lot to accomplish!

A few blog-worthy highlights:

~Eric has been working on finishing our basement. What a feat! He's doing a great job. He has most of the basement framed and ready for drywall. I think he said he has two walls left to frame. We have someone lined up to come in and do the electrical work and someone to hang drywall and do the ceilings. Once the toy room is done, we'll start moving Levi's toys downstairs and start painting the baby's room.

~I've been feeling Tori move a lot. Tori. It looks weird to type her name! We've been calling the baby Victoria, Tori for short. I still don't think we're 100% sure, but I'll give it a good 99.9%!! :) Little baby Tori...I can't wait to meet her. Hold her. Kiss her. See Levi hold her. See her wrap her hand around her Daddy's pinky. I really want to just soak in this time - waiting for her arrival and spending time loving on Levi. Oh, by the way, he is now excited about a baby sister!! Shew!

~Let's see, some fun facts: I've been craving chips and salsa or queso!! Yummy! Still craving sour candies. I have my follow up ultrasound and my 26 week appointment on Feb. 1st. I've only gained 1 pound (don't see how that is remotely possible!!!) so we'll see if that has changed!

I guess that's all for now! I have Bunco tonight and always look forward to time with the girls! It's pajama night and "bring your fave breakfast food"!! That's my kind of night!