Drumroll please!

We're so thrilled to be turning to the next chapter of our lives as a married couple to...... PARENTHOOD! TA-DA!

Baby Braden is 19 weeks along and doing just fine. I had an ultrasound yesterday afternoon, so we got to see our little 10 ouncer and (wow!) it was AMAZING! :) I can't wait to meet our little one sometime at the end of November (due date is Nov. 23rd.)!I've had a relatively easy pregnancy so far...just the usual tiredness and nausea. But it's been smooth sailing since I've hit the 2nd trimester...and my tummy is just starting to pop out a bit. Here's me at 7 weeks:

11 weeks:

15 weeks:17 weeks:

19 weeks

I know you're dying to know if we're having a boy or a girl, but just for fun...

WE'RE NOT FINDING OUT!!! :)

24

Braden spoiled me SO SO much yesterday on my Birthday. He had everything secretly planned out and when he got home from work at UPS he revealed everything that we were going to do.

*My special day started out with lunch at Huber's.
*Then off to my scheduled appointment for a massage!

*Next we saw UP (which I've been wanting to see since it came out).

*Then it was time for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants.

So, I guess being 24 isn't so bad...but 25, yeah, I'd like to skip that one...haha! :)

Wedding Weekend!

Back to St. Louis this past weekend for Tommy and Julie's wedding. It was at a beautiful winery in Defiance, MO called Chandler Hill Vineyards. Here's a picture of the view (the ceremony was held by the lake where you can see the white chairs set up):Ceremony:Julie and Tommy saying their vows:

Braden, Brad, and Reeder after the ceremony:

B and me:Groomsmen:B and me with the newlyweds:

Button Frame

I got the idea to do this one day as I was shopping at local antique/consignment shops: I had quite a few spare buttons that I will not be using anytime soon...other than gathering dust in my little collection jar. They are mostly the extras that come in those little baggies when you purchase clothes.


The frame is from Ikea (I LOVE IKEA!) and I basically just sewed the buttons to a piece of cute patterned paper that I cut to fit the size of the frame. It was really easy and I think it turned out adorable. What do you think?


Off to find a place to hang it! :)

Wave Blanket

Here is my latest work in progress...it's a blanket I am crocheting out of a rainbow of colors:Someday it will fit on a twin-full size bed, but I have alot of work to do on it first.

I slowly work on it as I feel like it and hope that someday our kids will use it :)

You can find the pattern that I used for this blanket here .

Dishcloths too!

Recently I've been able to finish up some projects I've been working on for a while. One such project that I completed is knitting some dishcloths with cotton yarn. Here's what they look like: If you're a knitter, these are really simple to knit and they're pretty quick too. The pattern for these classic ballband dishcloths can be found here.

New Earrings!

Aren't these fun?

I made them from old buttons (the kind with the button hole on the back), just snip the back off and hot glue to earring studs and you have yourself a pair of lovely earrings! I painted the plain pink and red pairs since they were plain white.

Make your own, or buy them from my etsy shop.

Vacation

Braden had a week of vacation starting the last weekend in May so we headed home to St. Louis.

We started the weekend out right with a suprise 50th Birthday party for my mom. My dad and I had been (trying) to plan the thing for months but when it got down to the last few weeks until the party, we were scrambling. Thankfully my mom's girlfriends were there to help us otherwise I'm not entirely sure we would have pulled the "suprise" part of the party off.

So picture a garage FULL of people waiting for the Birthday girl to get to the house:

When mom arrived she was totally suprised (she didn't really want a party in the first place, but come on! You HAVE to have a party when you turn 50!):We had a BBQ feast and everyone brought a side dish:Oh! And I can't forget to mention the obstacle course!!! The guys all dressed up in work-out gear (Richard Simmons would be proud)....so that explains the short shorts and shirts:Here's mom with the birthday cake:

Then on Sunday, Braden and I took off to the Lake of the Ozarks for 5 days with Braden's parents and brothers.

We celebrated Diane's Birthday. Here's a picture of her and the boys:

The rest of the time we were out in the sun or shopping at the outlets:When we got back from the lake we had a wedding to go to and I had a couple of wedding showers too.

Oh! And I got to see my bestest friend Kristen who now lives in Arkansas with her husband...that was a rare treat for sure! :)

So! That's what we've been up to lately...makes me tired just thinking about all of the stuff we crammed into that week....seems like I always need a vacation after vacation! Whew! :)

Memorial Weekend trip to Cincy

Yay for 3 day weekends!

We made another trip up to Cincinnati after Braden got off work at Panera on Saturday afternoon. We just like to get away every once in a while and have some fun exploring new places. Some highlights were that we got to go to IKEA! We didn't get anything noteworthy, just a few household items and a few deals that couldn't be passed up! :)

And Braden found some half price tickets for a Cincinnati Reds baseball game on Memorial Day. Here's a few pictures right outside the stadium.

Our seats were great! Right down the first base line. Braden is the best deal finder! :)It did end up raining and the game got delayed...but it didn't spoil our fun. We stayed dry with our rain ponchos:

So, even though we weren't with our families or having a BBQ, we had a great Memorial Weekend, just the two of us. :)