It Snows Here Too...

Yes, I had already shoveled a path only 1 1/2 hrs. prior.

Who would have thought moving south would have zero effect on our winter snowfall? All this snow is fresh today.

Peaceful for now.  I'll report back on the commute tomorrow...

Quick Hits from the Week Past

So it's approximately 11 p.m. and I realize I have been delinquent in posting pictures from the past few days. To what do I attribute the late hour?  Try: The Middle, Modern Family, Psych, Community, 30 Rock, and The Office. (Yes, our DVR was a bit full).  I promise we did leave the couch to let the dog out, do the dishes, and switch some laundry--it's not like we're that All-American.  Anyway, some quick hits from the past few days.

Friday - we invested in a new rug.  Toby's thankful for the traction.

Then it snowed...a lot.

On Saturday, we braved the snow and cold for our first Real Family Christmas Tree 

We're smiling through the freeze. 

The reindeer added a nice touch, and the place even provided a sled in which we could drag our freshly cut Christmas tree.  As you can see, it also got to come home inside the car.

Jath did most of the arranging. I helped by making coffee for myself and then offering words of encouragement. 

Smells like Christmas.

On Tuesday, Jath's small group came over for our monthly dinner.  Since it was December, the party was appropriately Christmas themed.  Activities included Christmas Pictionary, Christmas cookie decorating, and watching Toby try to process playing with a 14 month old and 2 1/2 year old.

Missing from the picture: 3 parents and one dog owner, perhaps watching over 3 children and one dog?

The Small Group (this is actually one of my "pre-pictures", which always turn out better than the real ones).

This coming weekend is our last before family and friends begin to come for Christmas.  I can't believe we're already this far into December.  On the agenda? Christmas shopping, getting a haircut, getting an oil change, and raking the last of the leaves.

Remember November

November is already coming to a close and it feels like we sprinted here. A lot of things have happened these last couple weeks and I struggle to remember them all, but here are the highlights (or what we took pictures of so that I could remember they happened…)

The triple plus two got together for one last meal before one of us skipped town for the next 3 months. Amy and Scott are off to St. Croix for vacation work so we spent an evening in Greensburg, IN at a Chili’s for dinner reminiscing and discussing (albeit loosely) future plans. We ended the night at a Dairy Queen and took one last picture together before going our separate ways for a while.

the Dairy Queen background kind of makes it look like
we're at a kids/Amy's birthday party

Groby turned 34 weeks…2 weeks ago…here are the pics.

Robin got a car and it’s gorgeous!

it was really dark...

Thanksgiving! Around 38 people convened in Marion for one giant never ending meal along with some games, stories and home videos. I also Skyped into a baby shower that was thrown for me in New York by my extended family. It was a really fun day.

All the first cousins

Dad carving one of many Turkeys

Early brother-sister Christmas! On Black Friday we chose to stay in and pretend it was Christmas. We got up earlyish and gathered around Dad’s silver tree to exchange gifts with all the brothers and sisters minus one. It was followed by breakfast and a day full of Christmas like activities concluding with delicious hot chocolate paired with some Elf.

we neglected to take a picture all together so I had to get creative.
Aaron and Scott gave to each other, Lauren gave to Alli, Jordan gave
to Lauren, Alli gave to me, I gave to Mark and Mark gave to Jordan.

Aaron’s golden birthday was Saturday and he got to celebrate it just the way he wanted. It started with some thoughtful gifts, followed by a visit from favorite friends, lots of game playing, a family dinner of turkey and frozen egg-noodles and Mom’s chocolate-chocolate birthday cake. He had a great day.

Amy this one’s for you. Unfortunately all the fun of the last week or two took a toll on my feet, lending them to some significant swelling. Enter Amy’s club-foot look where I had to wear a tight shoe on my right foot to keep the swelling down with no shoe needed on the left. Classy.

It’s been a fun November and I can’t wait to enjoy all the fun that December promises to bring.

Toby's true feelings about the baby revealed.

10 Things I Like About the Next 6 Weeks

The Holidays are finally upon us. Step aside, Columbus Day, you were so October. It's late November, which means a whirlwind of decorating, undecorating, redecorating and finally, depression. But wait! Before the trail of frozen tears --also known as January 2-April 1--arrives, here are ten things that make the next six weeks completely worth 0 degrees Celsius.

(10)

The Peppermint Mocha

An old friend "returns" to Starbucks. I say "returns" only because I'm 65% sure they have peppermint syrup year round. Regardless, once it hits your lips, it's so good.

(9)

Real Christmas Trees

Growing up, we would make the annual post-Thanksgiving trek to Helt's Pines to seek out the perfect Christmas tree. After cutting it down ourselves, riding a hay wagon back to the parking lot, and bungeeing the thing to our family van, Christmas would officially start. Since Jath and I have been apartment dwellers for the last several years, however, we've been unable to carry on the tradition, instead opting for a lovely and lasting $50 "douglas fir" from Target. This year? It's real tree time.

(8)

Feasting

When else can you eat a 3,000 calorie lunch in one sitting, take a nap, and then decide to eat the same food between two slices of bread and call it dinner? And of course, Dec. 1-Dec. 25 = "I should probably buy two; they don't make these holiday-themed ____ year round, ya know. "

(7)

Vacation Days

Of course I am grateful for my job and the intellectual challenge (also, income) it provides. I'm just also very grateful for paid holidays.

(6)

Layering

I've always been a cold weather dresser, although with some limitations (it is possible to wear too many collared pieces of clothing at once). Now I finally have an excuse to break out the sweater vest and blazer...eat your heart out Virginia.

(5)

Christmas Music

Timing is everything here. Two radio stations in town have already begun round the clock Christmas music. In my family, we don't let Kenny Rogers out of his CD case until we've got a tree strapped to the roof of our car.

(4)

Holiday Movies

A list within a list: holiday films I will watch this year--including some against my will: It's A Wonderful Life (no one remembers the first 3/4 of this movie), Elf (Baby, it's cold outside), Charlie Brown Christmas (have you ever sung the word "loo" before?), Christmas Vacation (mainly for the gift-wrapped cat), and A Muppet Christmas Carol (because the 12 prior version weren't enough?)

(3)

Snow???

Snow in Indiana = hitting my face at 25 mph (i.e., it's windy). Snow in Virginia = shut this state down. Snow in Cleveland = it must not be June, July, or August. Snow here? Only time will tell.

(2)

Family!

(Alli was with us in spirit...and in the West Wing DVDs she got me).

We love them a lot and wish they all lived closer. This time of year, however, they all seem a little closer than normal.

(1)

Having a Baby!

Six weeks might be a bit optimistic for the first one but we're holding out hope that baby [we're not telling] will at least get here before the New Year. In truth, we'll take him whenever he wants to get here, even if it's in the middle of my fourth dinner roll.

!!Happy Thanksgiving!!

dreaming in vapo

Sleep. 


I've been feeling like I can never have enough these days, so when severe pregnancy-related congestion started infringing on the sleep I was getting it wasn't pretty. After a few days of miserable nights being unable to breathe or rest I knew something had to be done.


Enter the Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier with a little vapo rub steam on the side. Needless to say my nights haven't been the same since. I can breathe easy all night long which means I can almost pull an all nighter* save for those trips to the bathroom. 

warm steam in progress

the only downside: the morning disassembly and nightly reassembly
 in order to keep it clean and functioning properly

even Toby enjoys the warm Vicks laced air

*(my pastor uses this term to describe the kind of night he has when he doesn't have to get up to use the bathroom)

Maintaining a Home

Last weekend was a rare one for serial renters like us--a weekend filled with home maintenance. Basically, we've spent the last three years wishing we had nice landscaping. Since we've moved into our place here, however, we've quickly changed our minds.

For example, the backyard bamboo, the side yard ivy, and--most troubling--the front yard giant grass bushes, all are a bit more maintenance than I would sign up for again. Nevertheless, here we are and with one of the last nice weekends of the year, I decided to do a little good ol' fashioned yard work.

The end result? A front-lawn so well manicured that Robin nearly drove by our house because she didn't recognize it. I realize that likely says more about the state of the landscaping before I started than it does about how great of a job I did, but any victory is one worth celebrating. I'm also particularly proud that I dug up the gladiola bulbs and prepped them for winter storage, as opposed to letting them freeze in the mulch bed. Such good tenants.

In other upkeep activities, we got the glass "storm panes" in on the windows around the house, cleaned the roman blinds in the baby's room, and stopped using the giant fan to blow cool air up to the second floor. Theoretically, we should have done this a few weeks ago, but the weather has been so unpredictably hot/cold that we didn't want to winterize too early.

The week ahead offers a bit more down time than usual: a potential movie premiere, community group dinner, and no Lamaze class (that's right, we graduated). Given that we only have 7-8 weeks before "our lives are forever changed", we'll take some relaxation.

"Ringing" in November

Happy November!
And welcome to the eighth month of pregnancy.
Thankfully, of the many distasteful pregnancy symptoms that I've been experiencing, unsightly and outrageously uncomfortable swelling has not been one of them...yet. I have however become a little "puffy" over the last several weeks as initially indicated by the increasing difficulty I was having taking off my wedding ring. I usually only take off my ring to put on lotion which depending on how dry my hands are happens 0-2 times a day. Normally it just slips right off but as the days have been getting colder and my hands dryer my ring finger was becoming less and less forgiving. Here is a picture of the last time I was able to wear my ring.

very real and wonderful ring signifying an
undying love and commitment 

It's not the clearest picture but perhaps you can see the "puffiness" that seems to surround the ring on either side. Once I finally got the ring off (a little soap and tugging) the sore, red imprint it left behind was a sign that I may have waited just a little too long to remove it. 


Not being able to wear my ring for the next 2-3 months is not something I was excited about, which is probably why I waited so long to take it off. So to keep my finger from feeling "naked" and my paranoia that no one will think I'm married abated, I brought out my replacement ring. I originally bought this ring to wear after we got engaged and had to wait for my ring to be sized. Ironically my real ring was a size 7 that had to be sized down to a 4.5, and the fake replacement ring I bought was a size 7 that I had to wrap string around so it would stay on. Well no need for the string anymore. The replacement size 7 ring fits perfectly right now and hopefully my hands won't get any bigger or I might have to get a back-up for my replacement. Maybe my next ring will come with a gumball...

not so real 9.99 ring signifying my vanity and insecurity
that I should ever be seen in public again as "unmarried"