thankful for family

I just returned from a week long trip to see various family members- it was so nice. My sister Julia and her husband Will, and daughter Flora came to MD on Friday the 15th- we had a super busy weekend of cookouts and parties- it was great.
Monday morning we headed out for New Rochelle- to see my dad's mom Nana and two sisters, Aunt Joan & Aunt Liz. We headed out for some fun- but the amusement park we headed for was closed.... but that's ok, b/c we got to go to Walters Hot Dog stand- VERY good! We had a great night of talking, walking the dog, just spending time together. It is always cool to be in my dad's childhood home and to recall my own memories of going there while we were growing up.

Tuesday morning we were off (after I slept in till 8am!) to LaFayette- Grandma's house (mom's mom). That was about a 5-6 hour drive (broken up by cracker barrell for lunch..... ummmm!). We found grandma in the barn tending to her unbelievable garlic harvest. This woman is incredible. We stayed w/ an Aunt & Uncle (mark & melissa) who live a few miles down the road in a beautiful timber framed house overlooking fields & forests. It is so quiet out there and peaceful. I'm not a fan of the winter- but I'd love to be up during a snow. By the time the weekend came tons of aunts and uncles & cousins came to town to be together- I was so thankful to be able to get away and spend time continuing to get to know my relatives.



Highlights of the week away:

- not being the driver! was able to sit back & relax!

- Hot dogs from walters :)

- walking to the park and talking about my parents w/ Julia & Liz

- listening to my nana talk about how she recently took the train to the city (nyc) and just had a great time walking around.

- seeing a wonderful picture I hadn't seen before of my parents while they were in college

- having my picture taken w/ Derek- I know there must be one from growing up, but I needed another one. Derek is worthy of having his own post one day.

-sleeping till noon one day while everyone else was at work or sightseeing!

-not watching hardly any tv

- seeing a cousin's daughter eat cotton candy for the first time at the NY State Fair

-wearing a dress that my mom made while she was pregnant with me and wearing it for "the hen party" (baby shower w/ my relatives at grandma's house)

- getting to spend some time w/ a girlfriend from high school who goes to the same college my parents went to (and getting excited about our high school reunion coming up!)

- going to Knoxie's (the bar that you drive by everyday but have never been in)

- seeing my 84 year old grandmother with her twin sister- and not always being able to tell them apart! They need to write a book!

- going to the cemetary where my dad lies & my mom and brother are remembered. Seeing two fawns run away as we leave from there- and just feeling close to them.

- fried green tomatoes at the Dinosaur BBQ

- everything else we ate at the Dinosaur BBQ for that matter (mac & cheese, wings, pork egg rolls..... we had the bbq the day before at the state fair!)

- reading and relaxing



Things that I could have done without:

- the cd selection in the car (sorry will......but I do agree 100% that the driver picks the music!)

- a week without my husband

- going to the cemetary.....first time since the burial. It was good in a hard way.

- a week without my kitty!

- not feeling Charlie move as much- but I swear as soon as we crossed the MD state line at midnight she got back to kicking..... but it did make me paranoid all week that she wasn't moving a lot!

- some hurtful conversations and not being able to ask my mom what to do!

- the hardness of the water in new york state- it just smelled funny!

- random food at random times- glad I took the jumbo sized tums bottle......

Ukraniane Catholic Cemetary in Syracuse, NY.

Derek & me. Is Derek technically my uncle? Not sure!

-

A VERY happy pregnant girl w/ some of the best food in the country!

Julia, Grandma & me- ready to go home, but not ready to leave!

Grandma's homegrown garlic. Amazing!

Fabulous Birthday!

It's the week of Sylvia..... :)

No, last night we had my birthday dinner at the Melting Pot- I was very suprised to have flowers & balloons waiting at the table when we got there- thank you husband! We had never been there before so had fun picking things out. Makes me want a fondue pot!

This morning went to work to come in to this:

My boss Kelly is THE most creative, fun, generous person! I've been so blessed to have worked for her for two years! Each baggie had a little thing for Charlie- shoes, hat, blanket, shirt...... all pink, green, & brown polka dots. This little one is in for it! :)
Had a very productive day at work, lots of hugs- VERY tired.

I was supposed to teach a middle school bible study tonight for a group of girls, but had to back out. Feeling too exauhsted, and these days I know when to listen to my body. So we've just had a relaxing night- napping with Kitty, looking forward to gymnastics.

28 is wonderful so far! Although it's 8:30 & I'm ready for bed!

The crazy week continues......

My feet are disappearing!

Growing

Here we are at 25 weeks..... it's scary to think I'll only get bigger! Just bought new tennis shoes (I only had the other ones for three years..... can you tell how much I exercise!) to absorb the weight better. :) We had a sonogram last week and she was hiding- hands in front of her face- she was doubled up so her feet were in front of her face too! She must have stretched out again, because she's kicking away.

Looking forward to having my sister in town this weekend- then we head to see both sides of our family in New York.

It's a crazy week- but I just cleaned and organized the pantry- I feel very productive today! :)

Get the Door.....

It's Dominos! How many of you already knew that was coming?
So on dominos.com your whole order is tracked and they tell you exactly what they're doing with your pizza!
"Joshua put your order in the oven at 5:50."
For whatever reason, I think this is really cool! It's almost as if they have a "daycare camera" so you can follow every step of the way.
And then there's the "fact-o-meter."- the average american eats 46 slices of pizza a year. Am I above average? Not sure. Probably.
OK- this is more believeable- American's eat 100 acres of pizza a day- thats 350 slices per second. Cool but gross!

OK enough facts- I'm hungry! Uh-oh- my pizza baked for 8 minutes- it's now in the heatwave bag at 5:58. How long will it take for the delivery man to leave?
Did I not have enough excitement in my day? It was very productive! And tomorrow we get to see Charlie again at a sonogram appointment! I can't believe we're creeping up on mid-august.
Oh wow, domino's drivers drive 9 million miles each week! That's 37.5 round trips to the moon! Makes me feel lazy! OK- what are they waiting for???

We have a low key weekend this weekend, then the craziness begins. Then I'll be in New York, then in NC, back for a couple weeks, then back to NC for my 10 year high school reunion! Then back, finish my career at Bay Area- back to NC for a wedding. Then home to nesting, resting, and trying to prepare for Charlie. Time is going to fly!
OK- going on 10 minutes and my dinner is just sitting there! I should have put on the notes that I am a hungry, pregnant woman!
Alright, I lied, it wasn't 10 minutes. "Our delivery expert, Nicolay, left the store with your order at 6:05pm. God Bless Nicolay!
I don't think ordering pizza has ever been this fun! Now to prepare a healthy salad to go along with the greasiness.
Bon Appetite!

6:32pm- pizza in hand

7:20pm: ate too much, feeling gross now! Time for a walk!

Fun Day!

What a great day!
Wake up- work on a fundraiser we're involved with (more info on that later).
Jason talks me into taking him out for breakfast so I suggest a new (to us) place.
Head out to Grumps on Forest Dr- it was awesome! We loved it! Looking forward to going back for burgers!
Did a couple errands- Jason tried to off road it in his car yesterday (well, just drove down a muddy dirt road- lots of brown on a black car) so we went to the fun car wash (the one near the harbour center with the awesome gift shop).
Had a baby appointment- yay! Saw a wonderful doctor, asked great questions, heard Charlies heartbeat- what a miracle. I'm right on target at 24.5 weeks. Made all my appointment through my due date of November 2r3d! Crazy! Time seems to be flying by!
Then we did errands- which we rarely do together, so that was fun! Drove through Davidsonville to get home- by the way of 711 where we got slurpies..... ummm!
Came home and enjoyed the backyard with the sun. Went over and enjoyed the neighbors backyard in the pool for a little while! :)
Came home and got talked into watching a dudeflick- Superbad...... sophmoric humor at it's best.
Cooked a great dinner, took a walk around the neighborhood, finished watching the movie.
Watched John & Kate Plus 8.
And now am being challenged to a game of checkers. I'm pretty sure I'll win.

Mondays are great!

tired

whew- something (someone?) is wiping me out this week!

Last night was the first time (in almost 6 months, I think that's pretty good) that I sent Jason out for ice cream. My loving husband was willing and joyfully went and got it. Thanks honey!

I'm sitting at home watching all my DVR'd shows trying to get some rest. Starting to get a little boring. Now I think I'm craving a smoothie......