Heading North

So Melissa and I headed north, leaving at 11 PM because her cousin's husband Dennis was coming up with us and he is a night driver. This was great news though because it really makes the trip go faster... especially those big cities.

Our big excitement though was not long after we started. Dennis had to swerve quick to not completely run over a huge tire that had busted in the middle of the road. As it was, we still hit part of it. We didn't think too much of it though and kept on going. It wasn't about a half hour later the oil light came on and the car was smoking. We pulled over and sure enough... we had a bad oil leak. Unsure what was wrong without a good flashlight, we limped to a close gas station where thankfully! there was a police officer... Praise the Lord! He let us borrow his flashlight and Dennis was able to determine that there was a hole in the oil filter. That was excellent news! Easily fixed. The cop was ever so nice to drive Dennis to the nearest Walmart (about 1o minutes away) while Melissa and I sat in the car and waited. It wasn't long and we were back on our way.

We were however thankful for our wise husbands and a faithful God who knew that we would need Dennis along.... and a cop not far away :O) Who knows if we would have been able to figure it out on our own as we joke... neither one of us even knows how to change a tire :O)

~Olive


P.S. The rest of the trip went fast and we made it safely there!

Cutie Pie!!!

This is the darling boy that I now baby sit for a couple times a week. I've only watched him twice so far but I was sooooo sad to see him go. His mom had me take his 7 1/2 month pictures (which is why I have photos of him) but he is such a doll. He smiles almost all the time and that's doing pretty good when you have teefers growing!!! He's such a snuggler too. He loves to bury his face down into your shoulder/neck, especially right after he wakes up. I told Popeye if our little boy is just half as cute.... we're in great shape!


~Olive

It's A Boy!!!!

So we found out that out spunky little one is a boy! There is definitely no doubt about it from the sonogram photos.

The baby is bigger than expected and the new approximate due date is Feb. 14.

The sonogram was super cute. The baby yawned and waved its arm. Despite the orange juice I drank and the piece of candy I ate, his arm was behind his head and the lady said that it looked like he was getting ready to take a nap. Hopefully that's a sign that our baby will be able to sleep through about anything.... :O)

-Olive

Making Bread

I was on a mission last week to make bread. I was going to do it from scratch. From helping my in-laws it surely didn't seem that difficult-- in fact, I was very impressed out easy it was. So I thought, we'll save money and just make our own. hmmm..... my in-laws must have that special touch.

After trying to make a honey wheat bread twice and it not rising an inch, I was about ready to give up. I had decided after the first attempt that maybe it would still bake okay-- not wonderful, but edible. So I tried. Popeye and I joked, but in all seriousness it was like Veronica from the Archie Comic Books had cooked. It literally was a rock after they cooled. We should have taken the opportunity to play some baseball outside. My second attempt I did not bother baking them.



My third attempt was cinnamon rolls. A completely different recipe and new hope. They didn't look anything like cinnamon rolls. These things are globs of cinnamon, sugar, and dough in a pan. It kept sticking (and I did use a ton of flour!!!) to my counter top. They did end up tasty but looking horribly.

In all my days of baby expecting, I never thought once that I'd get weepy over bread. It wasn't working. It wasn't working at all. Three attempts in two days.... wayyyyy too many dishes I had to wash, wayyyyyy to much flour and yeast used. I called Matthew. WE NEED A BREAD MACHINE. He wasn't so sure.

Still determined and less weepy I went to the local consignment shop the next day where I had seen a bread machine. I didn't want to spend a lot if it wasn't going to work. We had a little bit of a store credit there anyway.

God was good. The bread machine I had seen was originally $20 only the week before but apparently it wasn't selling. They marked it down to $8. I don't know a thing about bread machines but this one came with instructions and recipes so I bought it. :O)

I love my bread machine! I only use it to make the dough and then I do the rest, but its been great!!! We've had Honey Wheat Bread, Cinnamon Rolls, and as I type French Bread is being kneaded for supper. :O) yummy.

20 Weeks Along

Funny story : last night I was laying on the couch and decided to poke at 'the stomach' and see if anything would happen. (Baby movement is still somewhat random but becoming more and more active as the weeks go on. I poked, poked for a little bit and waited... nothing happened. About a minute later, having given up on my experiment, I feel a hard kick/jab right back to me. I sincerely doubt that the baby knew that that particular kick was going to be located somewhere around my bladder and make me have to use the little girl's room but I still had to laugh.... Our baby is a spunky one.

Tomorrow is the big day when we find out boy or girl!!! We're so excited. Since we're so far away I figured I should have my picture taken.... no bare stomach though for those who were willing to 'show me theirs in exchange ;o)' (you know who I'm talking to!). (picture is at 19 weeks.)

Grocery Shopping

Due to the end of the end of the month, my grocery budget was extremely low. However, the bright side is that I'm stockpiled in many areas... including meat, eggs, cheese. So this week's challenge was less than $15.00 for the week on good deals.

My total : $14.01

While Mom's Away....

Cupcakes in Ice Cream Cones :O)

Mom L, Han., and B. went up to see the new baby (J&B's) and help while Beth. recovers from everything. Because of that, Popeye and I stayed out at mom and dad's house to watch the kids. We were there for a little over a week. Lyd and I definitely agree that it took both of us to do mom's job and we were still exhausted! We sure were glad when she came back :O)

We're Expecting (a baby)!!!!

I'm pretty sure that everyone who follows this already knows but it makes it a little bit more official to put it in print. Popeye and I are expecting a baby boy or girl (we won't know for sure until next month) on Feb. 22nd, or whenever God sees fit.

We tried to keep it pretty much a secret until we were sure the 'little lemon' as we affectionately call it this week, is planning on sticking around but.... I'm running low on shirt options and not all my skirts/pants fit at the moment (not to mention both of our parents have been asked directly if we were pregnant!), so we decided to spill the beans.

I should post a picture sometime.... we'll see.



~Olive

Fish Fry

So my bro at home had his fish fry. While not everyone in the family was able to make it, we had a blast. My grandpa and grandma took my cousin KJ. and I on in the marble game- a family tradition game. I can't remember who won, but it really didn't matter.... the most amusing part was trying to get grandpa to focus on the game while we put napkins on his head and he ate his homemade ice cream. :O) That poor guy certainly gets picked on by his grandkids - (but secretly, we all know he loves it ;o). Everyone stayed till past 11, which is super late for family get togethers but we were leaving the next day and it was sad to say goodbye to everyone! It's pretty sad to be back home now.... we're hoping for another visit soon!!

Chi-Town

We met some of our friends in Chi-Town for the day. It was definitely an interesting trip. Popeye and I had a miscommunication that I thought he knew how to get around, which he didn't. On top of that, we had a pick-up and while Popeye loved driving the pick-up the whole trip.... Chi-Town wasn't made for anything but Bugs and BMWs I truly believe. We eventually found a parking spot, said a pleading prayer that nothing happened the the pickup while we were gone and started walking. I love Chi-Town for the exercise. You can take the sub/bus, but for some reason we almost always end up walking when I'm there. We visited a museum, ate some ice cream and watched the little kids play in the water.... it was GREAT seeing our friends though!!!! Next time we want to go out on a certain someone's new boat ;o)

Baby Shower

Popeye's brother and sis-in-law are expecting in August so while visiting his family, we had a baby shower for her. There were quite a few people there and I think it went really well. They received a lot of nice things that will definitely come in handy once the baby is born! As our other sis-in-law said (paraphrasing), 'you never realize how much stuff such a small person needs until you have your first baby!'. Isn't that the truth!!!! Well, they are now well on their way :O)



My little cupcake helper!!! She put the pacifiers on each of the cupcakes after I iced them. Instead of doing a real cake we did cupcakes... no silverware for the whole meal!!!



Instead of having a real cake, we did a diaper cake.... this is great for when the baby comes she can take it apart and use the diapers :O) We found the idea on the web and thought it was a GREAT idea!!!

Field Work

Also while with my fam, my bro at home was putting up straw. This is second year in that enterprise and he needed helpers. We put Popeye's brother to work and Popeye even helped out a bit at the end. They got it done pretty quick though. Thankfully the weather is unseasonably cool.

The Big Catch

So while with my family, we fished quite a bit. My bro at home was trying to get enough to have the family over for a fish fry- which he did succeed while we were there.

We went over at about 9 most nights and stayed until around 10ish and it was too dark to fish. The first night we went, my two less-than 1lb fishies was nothing compared to my little sis's 5 lb bass!!!!!! I think the guys were all a little bummed it wasn't them, but they got a lot of fish from that thing for the fish fry!!

Baby Z Pictures

M&L came for a visit about the same time as baptisms and it was about that time that baby-Z was one month old. I got to take her one month photos and boy was she CUTE!!! She did so well for being one month and having like a zillion pictures taken. The thing with babies... no matter how cute... is the strange faces that they make. Had to make sure that somewhere admist all the pictures, there was one that would work. I think they turned out very cute. Here's an example or two. :O)






~Olive

Agorama

The L. family went to Agorama as a field trip on one of their last days of school and invited me along. Agorama is a little town-like setup with actively running mills, blacksmith, etc. You can basically go through and learn of the area from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. It was really interesting and thankfully, a beautiful day out to walk around the place.

We even got to take a tour of the home that started the area up and eat ice cream from the 'soda shop'. Yummy!

~Olive

Grandpa's Hammock

At the baby shower/good-bye party, my grandpa found a hammock. In a moment, he decided that he wanted to try out this hammock... despite the fact there were several people around. My cousin K and I couldn't help but get a picture!!!!! Sorry, grandpa. This is what happens when you try something like this in public :O) Though, we're all thankful he did NOT fall out!






~Olive

Goodbye Visit

Since my bro and sis-in-law and soon to be niece/nephew were moving to Hawaii, I headed home for several good-bye parties and a baby shower. It wasn't all sadness though as I got to see special people and even go to Alisha's track meet. I was there for about two and a half weeks, which is THE longest Popeye and I have ever been away from each other. It made it easier since I was with my fam. I hold that it was a prep period for the upcoming weeks of him traveling for work. God was faithful though and we communicated by phone daily and I had a grand time with the family.

Much to my dismay, my leaving fell on the same day they left for Hawaii. Not good timing right?! Nope. We took them to the airport and saw them off, and then stuck around until my plane was ready to go. They were in a decent state when I left but I can't vouch for the ride home. Poor mom and dad. They both always wanted all their kids to grow up and stay around the area, so far, that hasn't happened. I have a feeling, though, the Lord's going to use this for something good and that in the end.... we might just end up not toooooo far away :O) but then there's a lot closer than Hawaii and here right? :O)

~Olive

The Front Yard Gets a Facelift

So while my parents were here, they helped me beautify the front yard. We had pulled most of the grassy plants and put in more flowering items that would bloom at different times from spring to fall. Hopefully they get big and fill in around the trees. Much to my father's dismay (though he was a good sport and helped out!! :O) I wanted to enlarge a soon-to-be mulched area around a tree so sure enough, we had to tear up the sod. Thankfully, we have some weird viney grass that was easy to cut through but by halfway through the size I was going to dig up, definitely shrunk :O)

I am so thankful it was beautiful weather (even if gardening a lot in the rain :O)
Right now it is WAY too hot to do any gardening. Can anyone say 103 degrees! Don't ask me how much humidity. I really try to stay inside and not think about it!


~Olive

Spring Break

My family visited for spring break which was a lot of fun. My grandparents came down and stayed for a few days and then headed to beachier places while my poor family got stuck with Tville. I think we had regardless. We did end up heading to a semi-beach one day.

It was a very difficult task not to have them clean. They were determined to help fix the house up but to be quite honest I was the one ready for a break. I really did appreciate their help though.


The biggest chore was cleaning the blinds, window, and screens... a task I was completely avoiding. They wiped it out in one morning however and I was VERY excited. The screens had been left up during the demolition and putting back together so..... let's just say it didn't matter how clean those window got, I would never have been able to see the outdoors and the sunshine!

Garage Sale

It wasn't too long after moving in that a garage sale was much needed. Popeye's mom and sisters were more than willing to pitch in and help so we had our first garage sale... then our second. Hoping for a final one when the weather cools down a bit. It feels great to purge, especially because I realized how much stuff we had when we had to place it in a storage facility for almost a year! You really begin to understand what you miss and what you can get rid of...... unfortunetely for Popeye, the shoes I missed but, knowing I have way too many, I decided to get ride of a few for our closet floor's sake! :O)

Books was another major one for us. We had five very big boxes of books (ugh they were heavy!) and its so very difficult to part with them ... either though there are MANY that haven't been read. It's always just hard to get rid of them.

Overall the garage sale was a success. L. even found a new outfit to take home with her :O) VERY stylish!


~Olive