What I Learned-February

I had so much fun writing last months “What I learned” that I thought I would jump on board again this time!  February really felt like a short month and yet I definitely feel like there were a lot of big learning curves as well as fun things to learn too!

1. The Olympics are my favorite, but I learned that I do have a limit of watching…I eventually hit the: “We need to do something else!” stage!  But all in all, I loved being able to see the athletes and the competition.  Plus, my husband likes them too! Even Boaz loved all the times he got to either “watch” or sleep on us.

Boaz is so high maintenance.

2. There are SO many baby options for everything. I’ve started bookmarking a few things and my Pinterest page is growing!

3. This baby loves to move and I am in love with baby feet.  One of my favorite ultrasound pictures definitely was the one with cute little feet.  Not too surprising because I have always taken feet pictures wherever I travel.

Speaking of, I’m ready to be back in Africa… 🙂

4. I definitely have a bump and people have noticed. Maternity clothes are around the corner.  Not yet, but definitely soon!

Oh and how cute is this picture with my husband.

5. My limit of handling winter is getting shorter.  I am longing for walks and runs outside.

6. It’s okay to spend money to take care of me (even when I’d rather spend the money elsewhere!) and to do things afraid. I definitely had to be open to making this decision and to God’s promptings.

7. Downton Abbey turned into a perfect thing to watch while on the treadmill with Boaz! And I will say that I was thankful for a “happier” ending than last season.

8. Communication is ever a learning process, but worth the hard work.

9. Even though February is a “short” month, we totally used all of our grocery budget to make good food early in the month.  Next month, I might need to spread things out a bit!

10. This salad dressing is delicious. 

11. The book of Numbers hasn’t been nearly as hard to read as I thought it would be this time around and I am loving reading Romans this month.  (I’ve been using this plan since I think July last year and have been more or less reading a day or two or three at a time.  I love getting to read out of 4 different books each day.)

12. Baby names are hard to pick!  But I am loving all the potential names and options…I may or may not be a name hoarder.

What did you learn this month?

Friday Fun!

This week has flown by and I feel like I’m still playing catch up. We have been busy too which has added to the fast pace. I am thankful it’s Friday though!

Highlights from the week include:

•Finally getting to have our ultrasound!! Our little baby was moving like crazy (seems to be a trend!).  Found out mostly good news!  We “get” to have another ultrasound at 34 weeks.  🙂 And nope we didn’t find out if we are having a boy or girl. Still a surprise! Just less than 19 weeks to go. Summer come soon.

•We are well into CORE Kids and I am loving digging into James. Chapter 2 was this week and I worked on the sheet for Chapter 3. Oh and I love the potluck before CORE.  Food=happy.

•Warmer weather for a few days meant that I got to take Boaz on a few walks this week! We are working our way back into running more too!

•I have absolutely loved the Sacred Sacred series over at Momastery. Life is brutiful.

Celebrate

This past weekend was full of fun {mostly}.   Valentine’s day got pushed back a few days to feeling icky and sleeping most of Friday, but when we did celebrate, we certainly had a blast.  Yep, I love my husband and I love that he loves good food just as much as I do.  Not to mention that he’s all about trying new things.

We had these the day after because we were too full…but they were delicious! Blackberry Izze with vanilla bean ice cream…perfect kind of ice cream float!

Our fruit for the fondue! Bananas, strawberries, and blackberries!  The husband didn’t think he’d ever really eaten a blackberry without it being in something…so we definitely added those! Plus, they were on sale and just ripe!

Focaccia bread!!! We went the easy route and bought this instead of making it from scratch since our Sundays are usually a little full with church. 

Oh and who doesn’t love the idea of dipping cheese & garlic tortellini in fondue?! Next time, we want to try toasted tortellini! 

There’s the tasty pesto fondue! We loosely followed this recipe.

Hello white chocolate fondue…my favorite! We didn’t do anything crazy to make this.  We had thought about trying bananas fosters fondue, but didn’t quite have all the ingredients.  This was more than satisfying still. Oh and check out this adorable little fondue pot.  We got it for Christmas from sweet friends and it’s so cute!  It even worked well too!

Oh and who can resist sprinkles! 

and last but not least..a little bump picture.  This is from right after taking some time to walk/run on the treadmill!  There’s no denying there’s a bump.  On the upside we are OVER halfway to meeting this little baby. Ultrasound got pushed back because of a silly blizzard that snowed in our driveway…so that’s coming soon!
In other news…I hear that the weather *might* warm up.  I’m hoping so!

Catch-All

 

Forgive me for the picture overload…but here’s my catch-all post of all the fun things that have been going on lately.  This week has felt like a nice breath of fresh hair and we have our 20 week ultrasound tomorrow!!  So hello getting to see baby again.  We definitely have been a little spoiled in getting to see this baby at 12 weeks and a full detailed ultrasound at 14 weeks too.  I am definitely in denial that we’re halfway there!

Confession.  I don’t think I’ve ever actually made full on homemade lasagna before, but now I can say that I have!  Above is a nice little mixture of ricotta cheese, mozzarella, spinach, and some eggs.  Not sure why they added eggs…maybe to keep it together? I’d definitely try it without for fun if I ever make this again!  Below was the even more fun part of actually putting the lasagna together!  I totally made WAY too many noodles, but oh well.

Hello baby bump.  Whether I want it or not, this little baby is making an appearance on the outside now too.  People who know me are noticing. Ek!  I’m a little in denial about this too. I can’t say I’ve ever been one of those people who have looked forward to having a baby bump.  Maybe it’ll grow on me.  This is at least one of my fave pictures so far.  Plus, I do love feeling the little baby moving and pushing in there!  This little baby seems to love music (well assuming the baby can hear the music! “They” say he/she can on all those crazy baby apps…) or the other alternative is that he/she just doesn’t like when I have my seat warmer on when I’m in the car and is trying to get away from the heat! Ha.

Olympics!!! Boaz is just as into these Olympic games as we are.  Well he’s either watching with full attention or he’s sleeping on us. This is how we’re spending most evenings lately…

These two are my favorite.  And don’t let Boaz fool you…he’s getting ready to try to lick Ryan.  He’s just so kind like that. 

Hello baked chimichangas.  So delicious.  Guacamole is my favorite too.  I’m SO glad I can eat tomatoes again and that the little baby isn’t revolting every time I do.  That was definitely a not so fun part of the first trimester.  I love some good Mexican food. 

Here’s another bump picture.  Don’t mind all the nail polish–adds character 🙂

I’ve spent the last week or two devouring my grandmother’s journal and I’ve loved it!  This little note from her mother/aunt (she lived with her aunt and uncle and called them mother and father) was such a perfect reminder to make moments glorious.  

Oh and another Boaz one where he’s camped out at the end of the couch sleeping with his head on the table.  He’s been extra cuddly and sleepy this week.  I’m loving it.  We sit and read the Bible, read books, journal, write, and generally enjoy our slow mornings.  We’ll see what this looks in like 4 and a half months!  For now, I’m soaking it up!

Yep. He’s cute. 

This little baby is so loved.  Already getting Valentine’s day cards.So there you have my crazy catch-all post with all sorts of randomness.  I recently found my “Love your life” journal that I hadn’t finished from 2012 (the year of celebrate!) and I started writing in there again so in a way this post was just an overflow from there.  I love looking back see all that the Lord has done.  So much faithfulness even in the midst of pain, heartache, hurt, and frustration.  The Lord is good.

Friday Write

I haven’t joined in on one of these for quite a while so I figured today would be a good day!  The Olympics have started, Friday is finally here, the puppy is sleepy, and my fingers are ready to write.  Here’s the deal…I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo (she loves Africa too) and the “rules” include writing for 5 minutes without extreme editing or worrying about being perfect.  The prompt…

Write

One of my aunts recently shared my grandmother’s little journal with my dad.  I quickly asked if I could take the journal first.  This is the grandmother that I really only knew through pictures and stories.  She died when I was 2.  But oh did she go out with a story.  She just happened to die while walking down (or was it up?) some steps of a cathedral in Spain.  She has always intrigued me.  This mother of three who traveled and who now I know wrote.  She even included pictures within her journal, which I absolutely adore.  She was specific and real in the bits and pieces I’ve read.  Her mother died when she was young and she went to live with her aunt and uncle.  Yet, she made a point even in her journal to say that they were both mom and dad and aunt and uncle to her.  I’ve barely dug into this little treasure, but I’m excited to discover the world she lived in and the words she chose.  This little journal makes me wonder what I would think if someone opened up one of the countless journals on my shelf.  Would they find my stories of Africa tucked in the pages or the questions I have for God?  Would they see my heart and hear my hurt?   There’s so much to be found in writing.  So much to be shared.

He Knows

Even on a regular Tuesday in the beginning of February, God knows.  He knows our hurts, our triumphs, the tears we cry, the people we love, the prayers we pray or don’t pray, and even the frustration we have sometimes with Him.  While we’re following Him, sometimes he leads us off the edge of a cliff into the water.

That’s when I put on my breaks and say, “No way.”  There are a multitude of practical and realistic reasons why I wouldn’t want to follow Him there.  My cliffs are sometimes being willing to forgive or confront or apologize or be vulnerable.  He knows them all.  Yet, He asks me to follow Him and to trust His ways.  Thankfully, He is patient while I pace on the top of the cliff for far too long.

He knows me well.

All About the Food

The one thing I love about Super Bowl parties is the food.  The football…eh, it’s okay.  The commercials…sometimes funny.  But, the food…yes, please!  I took the semi easy route this year and decided to make two dishes that I was craving/would want to eat if they didn’t get eaten at the party.  I made the second one last year too for the Super Bowl and loved it!  I haven’t made it since then so I figured why not go for it again.

This one was super yummy…I didn’t find ripe and good looking avocados so that layer was missing unfortunately.  Otherwise, I also combined the black beans and salsa into one layer since I like them better mixed together. I went the non-healthy route and kept it as sour cream rather than greek yogurt or anything of the like.  Changed up the lettuce layer to a torn up spinach layer and topped it all with cheddar cheese, mozzarella, and some pepper jack cheese.  Oh and lots of cumin mixed into the salsa.

Next up is the…Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip

This is just about as healthy as it sounds (not very!), but even more delicious tasting than it sounds!  Lots of peanut butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, and reese’s peanut butter cups!  Here’s the recipe for you too! Easy and pretty quick, which was a bonus.

Beyond these…I totally got to eat some yummy mac n cheese, puppy chow, cheesecake, kettle corn, and lemonade! My husband gladly indulged in all sorts of meat 🙂

Yep. All about the food.

Do you have any favorite Super Bowl food?