A picture says it all

If I were to choose one picture to sum up our Thanksgiving Day...this would have to be it. With a tummy full of turkey and other goodies, these two kicked back in an easy chair and slept the afternoon away. I did a horrible job of taking pictures while we were in Kansas. We did a little shopping and surprised my cousin at work on Friday, and went down to the Plaza on Saturday. There were games of Scrabble, Checkers, and Mad Gab...which I'm still not so sure about some of the words that were being put down for Scrabble. Emily chased her new favorite person, Braden, around the house as his shadow. Whenever he disappeared, or hid from her, she would shout his name as loud as she could trying to find him. She liked Max, the Scotty, and Sam, the fish. She even liked Grandma's chocolate chip cookies, imagine that! It was a great time spent with family...some of which Emily and I had never met until now.

My cousin, Shawna, and her husband are opening up a coffeehouse across from Mid-America Nazarene University. It's called Blue Stem Coffeehouse...named after a body of water that used to exist on MNU's campus, but has since been turned into a huge pile of dirt. They are keeping that history alive in the name of their shop. We spent a couple of hours with them checking out their new facility. It's going to be really cool. If you're in the Olathe area, Blue Stem will be opening sometime in February. Keep your eyes peeled for the Grand Opening!

We arrived home last night and crashed. Emily was SO happy to be home. She had a spring in her step as soon as it hit the dining room floor. It was a great Thanksgiving weekend. Now bring on Christmas!

We're making progress...

Here we have been working on this house since we moved in last July...and we're still working on it! We have made some huge strides, though. Here is a look at some progress we've made just in the last couple of weeks. Just last night Nate put the shelves in my new linen closet. It was such a happy moment. We still have spackling and painting to do, but the hard part is finished. And since I can't paint, being pregnant, I guess it's more like Nate has more spackling and painting to do. Sorry, honey!

So much has happened since I last blogged. The Miersma's had Asher a week ago Sunday. He passed away two days after he was born. The visitation was last Friday...one of the hardest things I've had to experience. I had never seen an infant casket before that day. They had a scrapbook of pictures they took of him while he was at Riley Children's Hospital. He was truly a beautiful baby boy. Some people just say that to make the parents feel good...but he was the real deal. Aaron, Angie, Quinn, and Esther could still use your prayers. This holiday season will be difficult.

Emily has catapulted into the world of Strawberry Shortcake. Someone gave us a SS DVD when she was born, and I pulled it out a few weeks ago to see if she liked it. Oh my goodness! She is turning into a strawberry monster! All she can talk about is pupcake...the dog. We have searched hi and low and found a pupcake for Christmas. Shhh. Don't tell her that, though. It's a surprise.

We're driving to Kansas on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. Nathan's Grandparents, Uncle, Aunt, and cousins live in Olathe, a suburb of Kansas City. I have family there also, so we'll get to do double duty! That will be fun. It has turned frigidly cold here, so hopefully snow will stay far away while we're on the road. We had our first snowfall earlier this week. Brrr! I think it's time to bust out the homemade hot chocolate.

Bah-Boo free!

We have officially survived four days of being pacifier free! I vowed to never have a 2 year old that used a pacifier. We agreed not to introduce one to Emily before she was born, but the nurse working in the hospital nursery thought otherwise. They brought her to us after a test of some sort with a huge blue/green pacifier hanging out of her mouth. She was instantly attached from that point on. The pacifiers have all mysteriously disappeared from her sight and whenever she says the words "Bah-Boo" we act like we didn't hear it. The only difficulty we've encountered by weaning her this week is that she's getting a molar. It broke through this morning. We had a few rocky moments today, but she's becoming a big girl. Our baby is growing up too fast!!

Oh, and to Ken, thanks for that lengthy visit! =o)

Detroit Trip

We had a great time in Detroit over the weekend. I promised pictures, although I don't have any of Uncle Dave. He and Nate were at the church almost the entire time working in the rafters. They didn't get home until 1:30am Sunday morning from working all day Saturday. Emily had a lot of fun playing with Allie's toys. Allie is their beagle. You can see the toy bone that Emily is holding. That is just one of many dog toys that Emily found entertaining.

This weekend is more work on the house. We get to tear out another wall to make a closet! How fun! I say we, but Nate will be doing the demo. I can't breathe all the drywall dust. We'll post pictures when that project comes to a close. I guess I have some catching up to do on pictures from our other projects. We'll get them up this weekend, promise!

Video - Mattress Shopping

Germans make great cars but I'm not so sure about their mattresses...click here.

-Nate

I'm so dizzy, my head is spinnin'

Tuesday our assistant pastor and youth pastor came over for our weekly lunch meeting. I was trying to get lunch finished when everything started to look fuzzy. It was my first dizzy moment of this pregnancy. I knew I couldn't make it to the couch, so I just laid down in front of the stove for a few minutes until I knew I could stand up again. Once I stood up, it started all over again so I made it to the couch this time. Emily kissed my forehead, which of course made it all better! I had a glass of sweet tea to get some sugar in my system. That seemed to make all the difference. I haven't had another dizzy spell since Tuesday, and wouldn't mind if I didn't have another one at all. We're finishing up prego week 11. It won't be too long before I have to pull out my box of maternity clothes and say goodbye to my regular wardrobe. sniff. sniff.

We're driving up to Detroit this weekend to spend time with David and Melissa. We haven't seen them in a long time. They do a Christmas Dinner Theater at their church, and we have volunteered to help with whatever they need. This weekend is prep for the program. We will have pictures to post when we get back! Have a great weekend everyone!