Santa

(I stole this pic from my SIL)

We've been having lots of fun...

Oh, Baby!

That's right, Eric and I are expecting our first baby in June! We are VERY excited! We were VERY shocked at first, but now that the shock has worn off we are SO SUPER excited! Baby is due June 27th. We will be finding out if it's a boy or girl at the end of January, so stay tuned for that post!

So far I haven't felt great, but that's all part of being pregnant, I guess. I was highly disappointed to not be able to participate in the Thanksgiving feast. I think all I could manage to get down was a roll. WHAT A FEAST! A WHOLE ROLL! I am feeling much better now, but still am dealing with a little sickness, only in the morning though, and not all day anymore. Phew!

My pants are all too tight, and so I have to rubber band them. I bought a "b-band" but it did not work for me, it just kept rolling up and not staying where it should. Anyone else have that problem with those things? Anyway, I wear a lot of dresses. Good thing I love all my boots, because I get to show them all off each at work.

The baby is doing great! He/She is growing like it's supposed to. We saw baby a little over a month ago at our first ultrasound, and then we heard his/her heartbeat last week. That seems to make it feel more real.

That's all for now! I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and are enjoying the holidays! This is my favorite time of year!

The Blind Side.

I LOVE going to the movies! However, living on a tight budget, that's about to get even tighter, keeps us from going a lot. BUT...we're really lucky to live in a city that has a lot of pre-screenings for FREE!! Eric's co-worker, Justin, is an avid site checker for free movies, and often tips Eric off to the good ones. So, last night we got to see a pre-screening of "The Blind Side" for FREE!

Honestly, after seeing it, I would have totally paid the $20 for both eric and I. It was really good. Call me a sucker for motherly love, football, the south, adoption, etc. But I had to hold back the tears pratically the whole movie. The release date is November 20th, and I would say you should DEFINITELY see this one!

26.2 (take #2)

He did it! He made it 26.2 miles and I couldn't have been more proud! I, honestly, don't think our bodies were really created to run that far, but after all the time and training he put into it he did it!

Here he is at about mile 11! Almost 1/2 way and look'n good!


This is about mile 25! I got to cheer him on and say just ONE MORE MILE!!



Here he comes, on the home stretch!




Crossing the finish line!!


Saying "hi" right after he crossed the finish line!




Putting the sticker on the car! He was really so excited about this! Too bad it's the car I drive around most of the time! I'm ok with people thinking I'm a marathoner! :)


Celebration dinner at Montgomery Inn!

Adeline Elizabeth Norris

She joined us October 31st at 11:44pm and weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz 21 inches long. She is so sweet and her big sister already loves giving her kisses! I am so excited to have another niece!

26.2

This weekend we're headed to Columbus (Eric's home). He's been training for MONTHS and it's finally time for him to run 26.2 MILES!! What!?! I think he's insane, but he's very excited/really ready for it to be over with!

It will be 32 degrees race day, so I just hope he doesn't get really sick next week! :)

If you think about it, pray for him!

Carmel Corn and Cheese Biscuits.

Last Friday night we went to a "Welcome Fall" party hosted by my friend Emily. A few of us brought some goodies to share and I made caramel corn and cheese biscuets, both SO delicious, and both SO bad for you! But they're great treats to welcome the fall!

Caramel Corn:





2 bags of microwaved popcorn
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F(150 degrees C).

Mix sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt into a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture starts to boil. Continue cooking for 5 minutes without stirring.

Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over the popped popcorn. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from pan and put into a large bowl to cool.

You can also add in any extras you like (peanuts, m&ms, etc.)

This won't last long! Eric and I could down a whole bowl by OURSELVES (AH!)!

Cheese Biscuets:




2 stick of butter
8 oz. package of sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
2 cups self rising flour

Preheat your oven to 375.

Melt butter. Add cheese, sour cream and flour. (I like to do these in a mini-muffin pan, esp. for a party!) Fill each 2/3's full. Cook for 10-12 minutes

Eat 'em up!

sewing

I've been sewing a lot lately. Mainly because my sister told me Campbell was running out of warmer clothes that fit her...not to worry!...AUNT LELE TO THE RESCUE!

So far I've made her two little dresses, one cute peasant top, bought her 3 pairs of leggings, and a couple of long sleeved shirts to go underneath. This girl is cute. I wish I had pictures of her in the outfits, but she hadn't had a nap when I saw her last Saturday, and that meant she was REALLY grumpy, and NOT in the mood for aunt Lele to play dress up.



(sorry this was taken with my iphone= not a good picture)

The other dress is this same pattern, only in baby red and white check with green ribbons. We also had it monogrammed with a green "C". It's her Christmas dress!

In other sewing news, my friend, Sarah, came over one night last week and we made aprons (thanks to Darby)! They turned out really cute! It was Sarah's first sewing experience and she did a GREAT job! I'll post those pictures soon!

Mommy.

I'm in Montgomery for a few days hanging out with my Mommy. I'm helping her pack up her house because she BOUGHT a new one and we're SO excited for her! Today we went to the new house and I took some pictures and we measured some rooms so she can start working on how to place her furniture.

House.


Kitchen.


Master Bath.


Bedroom for all the MANY grandbabies.

More pictures to come...

Crafting.

Recently, I've picked up a new hobby...sewing. I love it! It's imperative for my own sanity (and Eric's) that I am able to get my creative juices flowing and MAKE things! There's so much reward in using your hands to create something, that before was just a piece of fabric.

My super creative friend, Caitlin, has also participated in the funness of crafting, and we've started to have a "craft day" at least once a month.

At the last craft day we made little zipper pouches (this tutorial suggests using mid-weight woven non-fusible interfacing, but I've had better luck with using a heavy-weight, it helps, especially the larger ones, hold their shape better). I've made several of them in different sizes; I have one for my lip gloss and such that I throw in my purse; Another that houses all my make-up; and another that is really too big to figure out what to use it for, so it's sitting on a shelf in my bathroom! :) I've also made several more for friends and family.





We'll have our next craft day in a couple of weeks and we're so excited! We'll be making a few things, but the main thing I'm planning on making is an apron. If you've found any good apron tutorials shoot them my way, I've been searching!

We finally did it.

We purchased a big girl/boy camera. I'm very excited!

I ordered this camera body...



And I'm going to order a couple of lenses.

So far I'm definitely set on this one...



And I'm trying to decide between a couple, and haven't made my final choice yet. I'll get it in a few days, so I'll let you know how much I'm loving it, or not loving it.

So long...

To all my one reader(s) (Mom!), I haven't been able to blog lately because we no longer have internet.

We're trying to cut back, and that was one of the easiest things to let go, however we are both very sad about it. We keep picking up the computer and thinking we can sign on...but oh no, we can't.

On another note, I ran my first 10k this weekend! It was a lot of fun! I think I might try to run another one soon!

I'll post pics soon!

Windy City.

We're headed to the windy city tomorrow morning! I'm so excited for this little vacation!

I'll post LOTS of pictures when we get back!

Five Favorites

1. Las Maracas- Favorite mexican in town! I love it! Especially the fajitas.

2.
Urban Outfitters. Check it. $68. Lots of colors!

3. Ahh..the scent of lilies in your house! It fills your home up! I love them! Especially these...


4. Favorite design blog- DesignSponge. My favorites are the "befores & afters".

5. When Cottage Living had to stop their magazine, I had to find a new favorite. I'm still searching, but Martha Stewart Living is slowly creeping to the top. I love this idea she had in her latest issue.


Happy Weekend, Y'all!

Five Favorites on Friday!

TGIF, right?!?! I mean, has it been the SLOWEST week for anyone else? Because we were in Columbus over the weekend, I didn't work on Monday, and yet I thought Friday would never get here!

Round 2 of FFOF:

1. So I have this thing for finding old pieces of furniture and giving them new life. Be it with a coat of paint, new hardware, whatever. (one day I'd like to make a living doing this :)) So one of my favorite things is this piece of hardware!

2. Krave. 10 calories per ounce. Good for you toppings. The perfect tangy sweet taste. If you live in Nashville, stop what you're doing, get in your car, drive to Green Hills and try this NOW!



3. SYTYCD (for those of you who don't do abreve's it's "So you think you can dance?") Every summer I'm searching my TV to find something good to watch. Maybe I should turn off the tube and pick up a book, BUT I still would like to have a couple of good shows to veg out to after a long days work! This one does it for me! So good! If you haven't seen it you should check out this from Wednesday night's episode. Had me in tears!

4. Swoozie's monogrammed picnic basket. This is the perfect throw any last minute items, snacks, cell phone chargers, books, magazines, etc. when you're headed on a road trip. OR you can actually use it for what it was meant for, a picnic basket! This one is my mom's. I have a yellow one!



5. Monogrammed stickers. I love these things to stick on my gifts, or a little cellophane bag of cookies. They make all gifts cuter!



Happy weekend!

C-bus

This past weekend we went to Columbus, OH. This is where Eric grew up and all of his family lives. While we were there we had a lot of fun and I got to see a place where Eric loves....

Grandma Em's farm. Even though Eric's grandma is hanging out with Jesus, she's really left such a legacy. Eric loved his "grandma em" and begs me daily to name our first daughter after her, Emaline. We'll see. ;) His aunt Bonnie and her husband now live on the farm. They have lots of this....

and several of these...

We also took a hike up the hill.

It was well worth the extra hour to go to Chilocothe and see where lots of Eric's sweetest memories were.

On our way to the farm Eric made us stop at the "farmer dairy". It's really called "Allen's Pharmacy", but for some reason growing up Eric called it the "farmer dairy" and it stuck! His whole family calls it that now! It's a really charming old shop with a soda shop inside!




Overall we had a great weekend with the fam! I'm very fortunate to have such wonderful inlaws, that always make me feel so welcomed!

Five Favorite Things Fridays

In order to keep myself blogging, I thought I would start a new tradition. It's a list of five of my favorite things!

1. Amy Butler fabric. Love it! Love all her colors, patterns, love it!


2. These blogs! (I'm such a blog stalker) I ready them every day! Check them out! Darby and Erika.

3. Toms. I've been wanting a pair for a while, but I just can't ever decide on which pair, so I keep putting it off. I like these, but in the end might choose a more classic color.



4. Anthropologie dresses. My favorite clothing item (dresses) from my favorite store.



5. And rounding out the top five this week is my favorite summer color! Put this pretty little coral/peachey/pink on your fingers and toes!


OPI "My Chihuahua Bites"