This Little Piggy Went to the Market

It started out as a walk that turned into dinner for two three. Wishing those "take them a meal" deals lasted forever we were stuck with either beans and rice at home or spending money by going out. Beans and rice didn't sound appetizing and spending $20 on a meal when we knew we had food at home didn't sit well with our wallets. As we strolled along the Greenway with the Charlotte skyline behind us we noticed the Farmer's Market was selling pumpkins. As we got closer we were excited to see they were selling their usual fruits and veggies as well. The Farmer's Market open on a Sunday?! 

Wahoooo!  

Rows and rows of pumpkins just waiting to be carved!

And they even had pumpkins the perfect size for Anna!

They had the coolest selection of gourds and a very colorful array of pumpkins.

After perusing the fruits and veggies and agreeing we just had to buy some we decided our dinner wasn't going to be beans and rice nor was it going to be wasted on an overpriced meal. We were going to buy fresh fruits and veggies and cook our own farmer's market dinner! We picked out 4 delicious looking ears of corn, a few potatoes to mash, and we completed our meal with salted ham that the market was also selling. We couldn't walk away without buying a basket of very plump blackberries and a bag of apples, making sure to choose the apples we'd never heard of before, like Nittany apples and black mountain apples. I always thought the Farmer's Market was expensive but we left only spending $16! We had our meal for the evening plus fresh fruit for the week!

King's Drive Farmer's Market, with your luscious fruits, delectable vegetables, and prices that can't be beat, believe you me, we shall meet again and hopefully sooner rather than later! 

False Alarm

Imagine the night before Christmas and the feelings you felt as a child: excitement (ohh, presents!!), anxiousness (have I really been a good girl/boy?), eagerness to get the cookies and milk set out, and as you lay in bed sugarplums aren't really dancing in your head because you can't sleep with your heart pounding!

Now imagine waking up Christmas morning to find that Santa never came, no presents are under the tree, and someone tells you Christmas won't be coming this year, you'll have to wait another 365 days!

Haha, very funny, but seriously, what happened to Christmas? That's how Travis and I felt this morning...

It all started last evening around 5 pm. We were headed out to celebrate my birthday a week early. My birthday isn't until this Friday, the 21st (mark that on your calendars :) Our hope is that Juice Drop will be here before my birthday so we thought we should go ahead and celebrate. We went to the mall first to walk around, you know, trying to naturally induce labor. Well, it actually worked! As we were walking I began to notice I was having contractions every 20 minutes or so. We had forgotten the mall closes at 6 on Sundays so as we were rushed out by the mall employees, we continued counting contractions and they seemed to be pretty regular and averaging 15-20 minutes apart. Since we knew it wasn't really anything to write home about just yet we decided to stick with the plan of eating out so we headed over to Mama Ricotta's for an amazing Italian meal (if you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE Italian even though I don't have an ounce of Italian in me). Throughout the meal the contractions continued. Our entire dinner revolved around this baby and ohmygosh is this really happening? We could have a baby by tomorrow!!! After we finished we walked around the river walk to see if the contractions would go away; I had read that if they were false contractions then they'd go away if you walked. Sure enough, they kept on coming, some contractions 8-10 minutes apart! Ohmygosh this really IS happening! We're about to meet our baby girl! We rushed home so we could straighten the house a bit and pack our bags. After we realized we probably wouldn't be heading to the hospital that night, we took our time getting ready, continued counting contractions while I sat on an exercise ball, and called our family to prepare them for what was to come. Around 9:30 pm, my contractions got down between 7-10 minutes for an hour! As I finally laid down for bed around 10:30 I couldn't contain my excitement, I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as if my heart jumped into my head, and I knew I needed Travis to pray for me. As Travis prayed I felt a peace rush over me, I felt God more present than ever and Him telling me that He will be there in the delivery room just as real as Travis and my OB and nurses will be. I imagined holding my baby girl for the first time and experiencing a love like no other. I felt so much peace and I thought I'd have an amazing night of sleep. Well, I was wrong. I couldn't fall asleep because I realized the contractions were dying down. They weren't as strong and weren't coming as frequently. I would stay awake just so I could feel the next one come. I went in and out of sleep throughout the night and when I woke this morning my heart was deflated knowing that I was not in real labor. I was so upset, discouraged, frustrated, disappointed, and hopeless like labor will never come and I'll just be pregnant forever (can that really happen?!) Christmas was taken away from us and now this rainy day is calling me back to bed. Yes, it's noon; yes, I should go get groceries for the week; yes, I should go about my day like usual. But when you have it in your mind that today you're supposed to be in the hospital having a baby it's kind of hard to get motivated.

Don't worry about us, we'll get out of this funk in a few hours. Pity party will be over, I'll continue my day like usual and go get groceries remembering that God is in control:

"But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently" Romans 8:25. Thank you, Lord, for always knowing what's best for us and being in control of all things! You are the creator, I am not, and am so thankful for the beautiful gift you have blessed us with! Our baby girl must be happy as a clam in there because she's still moving like crazy this morning. Our anticipation of meeting her is almost more than we can take! Christmas morning will come soon, I know it will!

Ramblings

A lot has happened over the last week and it's been difficult for me to find time and sit down to document it all...eh, who am I kidding?! I have all the time in the world now that I'm just watching the clock, waiting for Juice Drop to arrive. Let's just be honest, I've been lazy and haven't had the will to get on here and post anything. Now that I'm ready, I have too many pictures to add to just one post so I may have to break it up a bit and add pictures here and there over the next few weeks, or until Juice Drop arrives and she takes up this entire blog because her cuteness is too much to contain!

Anyway, Travis' birthday weekend was awesome--despite a few mishaps! We enjoyed a Friday night out at the Bonefish Grill (a new place for us). We try to enjoy date nights free from baby talk but alas, with the only thing on our minds lately being Juice Drop it's kind of difficult to talk about anything else. Saturday was great. Emily and her roommate and bestie, Sammie went with us to Strike City (an entire bar and grill devoted to The Ohio State Buckeyes!) and watched the Buckeyes whoop up on some University of Miami tail. Sunday night was supposed to be thee birthday dinner where I was supposed to be the best wife in the world and take him to enjoy his favorite meal: pad thai. As we pull into Thai Taste we noticed it was kind of empty and there on the door read "Closed Sundays". So what does one do when your birthday dinner is pretty much ruined? You head to McAllister's and ponder your options over a tall glass of Arnold Palmer (well, at least Travis does; I get a lemonade). He finally decided he wanted Donatos Pizza (a place new to the Charlotte area but nostalgic to us Ohio folk). As we head to Donatos we pass a restaurant that catches Travis' eye. He's all about the appearance of places so when he saw wooden slats across the entire front of the restaurant he had to stop and see what they were serving. (In the end, I don't think it really mattered what they were serving, he just liked the feel of the place!) Leroy Fox ended up being an amazing restaurant featuring world famous fried chicken and delicious southern sides (no where in the north can you find fried zucchini fries!) We had an wonderful time eating and enjoying one another's company--and guess what?! No baby talk! Monday was Travis' actual birthday and we were really hoping Juice Drop would make her debut, but as you can clearly see, she did not. I made him his favorite french toast breakfast and, we enjoyed the afternoon walking around the park, but not before heading to Chick-fil-a for Travis' favorite dessert: a peach shake...and what do you know? the ice cream machine is down! Mishap #2. So what's close but no cigar to Chick-fil-a's peach shake? The Cookout. 'Nuf said. The evening ended with a labor day dinner with some dear friends complete with a dance lesson from Miss Pat and Azavion (the wobble) and mint oreo chocolate cupcakes for the Birthday Boy! Like I said, a few mishaps and nothing too exciting, but Birthday Boy says it was an amazing weekend and he feels very loved...success!

The Albemarle Urban Eagles soccer season has officially begun! Along with Thursday evening soccer practices and Saturday morning games, we've added an evening for dinner, fellowship, and bible study. While it may seem like 18 boys in one tiny apartment is crazy, it's been a blast to have them all in our home learning about Jesus and His love for them. And yes, somehow we plan on continuing this Monday evening get together after Juice Drop arrives--she and I will hide out upstairs :) Praise God for an amazing start to the season! I can't wait to see all that God has in store for these boys.

Let's talk about naturally inducing labor...it's not working! I've been walking, doing prenatal pilates and yoga, house work, dancing the night away at a wedding this past weekend, amongst other things that can be left to the imagination :) Juice Drop must be comfy and cozy in there because nothing is persuading her to meet her Mama and Daddy. We try and tell her that inside of me she's not able to get all the cuddling and kisses she'll love once she's in our arms. We must have a stubborn one on our hands (hmm...sounds like her Mama and Daddy). I guess we still do have 9 days until the due date. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing and hope and pray she comes sooner rather than later! :)

Take a peek at what our past week looked like:

The Birthday Boy's cupcake...the progression of the next few pictures crack me up!

I do have to say that these cupcakes were to die for, and it was my first time making icing! I found the recipe here.

Monday evening bible study with the soccer boys...

 

 

 

 

 Boys first game...

Dancing the night away at our dear friends' wedding on Saturday night...

Our Sunday afternoon at the park...Bliss!

Enjoy your week!

Our First DIY Project

We did it! We completed our first ever DIY home project, and I'd have to say it came out a success! Travis loves anything that allows him to be creative, whether it's designing, drawing, building, and even decorating, yes, decorating :) He made our first bed frame and headboard as a wedding gift, which was then sold at a yard sale a few years later--still a little bitter, let's not talk about it. But this project, this was our first that we did together! Ok, maybe he did most of the work along with a few kids from the neighborhood, and I was there for moral support and to hold the pieces of wood together while he drilled. Travis had been wanting to make a dining table for a long time. He was so excited to create and build a center piece where so many people gather to fellowship and eat. He knew exactly what he wanted it to look like and couldn't wait to begin. Once all the materials were bought, it only took us a weekend to complete--pretty impressive for us!

What we used:

*Wood (spruce) planks from Lumberyard (two pieces of 2" x 10" x 16' boards): $24
           -we cut each 16' board to make two 6' pieces and used the extra 4' for shelves

*Smaller wood planks from Lumberyard (two pieces of 1" x 4" x 36"): $8
           -these boards were cut to 27" and are used to hold the four top pieces together

*Legs from Ikea: $12 (at $3 each)

*Black paint: $4

*Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane: $12

*2" Wood Screws: $3

*Power sander or hand sander

*Fine Sanding Block

*Mineral Spirits

*Power drill

*Not that this is required to make a table but we got our chairs from Ikea for $14 each

How much we spent: around $65

How long it took: 3-4 hours (not including waiting for polyurethane to dry)

How we did it:

Travis hand sanded (poor guy) the the boards.

He applied polyurethane to keep the natural look of the wood and painted the smaller boards black.

We screwed the legs into the two outside pieces (on the bottom--do I really have to clarify that? lol).

We laid the four boards together side by side (top of table facing down).  The two black smaller boards were placed at each end perpendicular to the large boards (not quite touching the legs).

We drilled the smaller boards to the large boards with four screws per large board to secure.

We flipped the table over and ...

Blim Blam! We have ourselves a dining table!

Who's ready for dinner? :)

Dinner with Friends

Usually when you invite friends over for dinner there is the assumption that one language that is understood by both parties will be spoken. That was not the case for our dinner last night and it was beautiful! Jeremy and Caitlin invited a family from Birchcroft over for dinner and graciously asked us to join. Biak, McKenzie, Dat, David, and their mother are from Burma and have only been in the US for 2 years. While Biak and her younger sisters can understand and speak English pretty well, their mother still needs the help from her daughters to communicate. Dinner, made up of chicken and veggie skewers and rice was delicious and dessert was a smorgasbord of cupcakes, brownies, ice cream, and donuts. What could be better than finishing up the evening with Biak and Travis leading us with "You Raise Me Up"?

Travis combined all the dessert options:
a brownie, cupcake, ice cream, and donut

David loved the music!