It’s a…

It’s a…GIRL!

Reese (our niece) is pretty excited about having two baby girls to hold next year (one her baby sister and one her baby cousin). The baby girls will be about six weeks apart so we pretty much are already betting they will be BFFs.

Drew and I are also very excited and we were actually both surprised, because we both thought the baby would be a boy…. due to dreams of having a boy and being sick so much. But on the inside I was hoping for a girl and Drew was hoping for a boy, but we are most thankful for healthy baby.

We found out at 15 weeks (last Saturday) because we went to an early gender ultrasound and 3d appointment. A lot of people claim that you can’t tell gender 100% at that point, but with the added 3D, us and the ultrasound tech are able to see full on what’s happening down there. Our tech said she was 100% certain it was a girl because of the way she was positioned and the fact that she was moving so we got a full view of everything. But just in case, we have our normal anatomy scan appointment coming up on January 17 (18w6d), so we’ll confirm it’s  a girl, but we feel very confident in what we and the tech saw.

I keep telling Drew at least Eddy is a boy… but maybe next time!

Eating for Two – Thanksgiving 2013

eating-for-two

Sooo excited to finally share this secret we’ve been keeping…this Thanksgiving I’ll be eating for two! Drew will probably also be eating for two, but he just likes to eat a lot 🙂

Today our little baby is 11 weeks and 5 days. Last week, we had our first ultrasound, so here he/she is at 10 week 4 days. It was so surreal to see it wiggle its little body all around while the tech took a million measurements. We also got to hear the strong heartbeat.

ultrasound 10 weeks

It’s also fun to be pregnant at the same time my sister is. I’m able to text her about every little question like… does it hurt when you sneeze and so on. Our little kids are going to be bffs.

Drew and I are pretty excited and still hasn’t hit us 100% that we’ll be parents, but we’re looking forward to the next 6 months and years to come!

Fall Family Day 2013

Each fall, Drew and I made it a tradition to do a “fall date day” – while we haven’t quite found the time yet to do our own, since my sister, brother-in-law and niece were in town, we wanted to take Reese to the pumpkin farm to experience fall traditions.

We went to Elegant Farmer (East Troy, WI) where they have pick your own apples, pumpkins, a corn maze and hayride – the perfect fall trifecta + 1 (not sure what you call an awesome group of four?). It was a bit chilly, but she didn’t mind and had a great time! We were just missing Drew, Ben, and Jess.

Since I’m the person that takes all the photos in our family, my dad was kind to be the purse holder for me.

This is the only part I like about fall – now that we took some photos with some pumpkins, we can skip ahead to spring if you asked me.

Fourth of July 2013

This past four day weekend has been perfect! We celebrated by having everyone (parents, sisters, brothers-in-laws, niece and grandparents) over on the fourth for a cookout! We also hit up the Pewaukee Parade and fireworks since they were literally an 8-minute walk down the road – can’t beat that! Unfortunatly, since I was the host this time, I didn’t get the chance to take any photos. Thankfully, instagram exists and my sisters are not shy!

Re-live our weekend via these photos…


PS, yes we were in the parade for our church. We handed out free water bottles! 

Reese’s First Birthday Party

Can’t believe it’s been over a full year since my beautiful niece came into this world – where did the time go? It’s been so fun watching her grow up over this past year!

This past weekend we all traveled to Joliet, IL for her birthday party – and it was basically the party of the century for Reese. My sister went all out (as you’ll be able to see in the photos), but that’s what you do when you see how special this little girl is. Being an aunt is the most fun job right now, and I love it!!

First the diva had to eat some lunch before her guests came….

All ready to party! First up… family photos!

If only she was able to eat some of this… poor girl!

It was so fun to have everyone there, I love my family!It was also our great grandma’s 95th birthday – doesn’t she look great?  For Reese, birthday cake can make you go thru so many different emotions within a short amount of time. First she hated it, then she loved it, then she hated it again.

She was also very into opening all of her gifts, she loved pulling out the tissue paper and seeing what was inside! She loving it!

 

Birthday Recap: Giving Back

So catching up on blogging here… my bad!

Last week (April 1) I celebrated my 24th birthday and for some reason 24 seems crazy old! I know it’s not, but it just seems like wow, just the other day I was still a kid, still eating Chef Boyardee and Lunchables… nevermind, that still occurs on a regular basis in my life.

To celebrate, both Drew and I took the day off, so it started with sleeping in. We didn’t really have plans for the day, and that is usually what I like best. Since my sister, niece and brother-in-law were in town, I decided to take the opportunity to spend most of the day with my sister, niece and mom. Drew wasn’t opposed to playing video games with Josh either – win win. We just hung out, went for a Target shopping trip and visited Yo Mama for a birthday treat. It was also Reese’s first time!

After Drew and I went to Olive Garden and enjoyed some delicious food – then came home and caught up on a bunch of Mad Men episodes to get ready for the season premiere which was Sunday.

When asked what I wanted for my birthday this year… from Drew, my parents and his parents, It was a challenge to think of things I really needed. There was definitely things I wanted, but it just sometimes seems so silly to just get things just because you want them when there is so much that other people in the word need. So this year I made it a goal to make my birthday gifts about giving back. From Drew I asked for these floral TOMS – I knew that TOMS gives a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair you buy, so I figured this was a good start – and these are super cute for spring!

Next, I asked Drew for this 31bits necklace. 31bits is a company that sells jewelry made by  women in Africa. It provides them a way to make an income without selling their bodies in order to support their families. Plus, all their jewelry is made from paper (how cool!?) and they have awesome designs.

Last but not least, with the money I got from my parents and Drew’s family I was originally going to purchase stools for our kitchen when we remodel this summer. However, I just kept thinking about how I really didn’t need those now and decided that part of the money I was going to give towards an IheartLC need – which would use the money to really help someone in need around our city or world and meet a need now, instead of a want I wanted later. The other part of the money I got from family will be going towards a new roof for our house this summer. Obviously, it is also important to take care of our own things God has blessed us with.

So there is my birthday of giving back – instead of making it about myself, I really wanted to think of others and bless them. Hopefully it inspires you to give back in someway whether in our city or somewhere in the world.

Reese Easter Fest

It’s time.. time to all bore you to death while I rave about how cute my little niece is. But seriously, she is.

So this past weekend my sister, brother-in-law and my niece came to visit for the weekend and I basically made it a point to spend every possible second with them – I even spent the night at my parents house (where they were staying). I just love her and after seeing her little personality shine more and more each day makes me more sad each day that we miss out on it.

Anyways, we took the opportunity to take her 10 month photos, as well as some easter themed photos and then a few shots with family… Josh was at his class and missed the opportunity, that is why he isn’t in any. So… enjoy this Reese Fest for a few moments! PS she is totally in the uncontrollable drooling stage as her teeth come thru – so don’t mind all the drool everywhere… even in one of the photos I took with her it’s all over my hand. Craziness I tell you!

She is just my absolute favorite – love her and her all her cuteness.

Christmas with the Family

I know I say this every holiday, but I seriously have been blessed with an awesome family. I absolutely love hanging out with them! This Christmas was no different.

To kick things off, we had Christmas with Drew’s Mom, sister Stephanie and brother Eric on Sunday the 23rd. We had kabobs on the grill and enjoyed opening presents.

On Christmas Eve, both Drew and I had off – we enjoyed relaxing in the morning and then headed to Life Church’s Christmas Eve service with Scott, Kathy and the kids. Following, everyone came to our house to open gifts and watch “A Christmas Story”.

Christmas day, Drew and I woke up early to open our gifts from each other. As usual we both got some clothes, Drew got a video game and I got a large leaning mirror. Then, we headed over to Drew’s dads house to celebrate with his family again. We had brunch and opened gifts. Following, we headed to my parents house to spend the remainder of the day with them and my extended family.

Why are there only a few holidays a year, I could go for one holiday a month where we get to get together with family. We finished off Christmas with Drew’s extended family today (Saturday) and did a fun gift exchange and played this strategy game called “The Resistance.”

We hope you had a great Christmas!

Reese – 6 Months

How in the world is this little lady six months old already? She’s growing up so fast, but her littler personality is shining and is stinkin’ cute, she is almost always laughing or making us laugh.

Thanksgiving 2012

I absolutely LOVE my family and I love spending the holidays with them. We can completely be ourselves and we have to like each other no matter what. I’m so thankful that we all get along and have fun together and there is no drama. Drew and I don’t do drama. Seems like each year our family is growing as is the traditional photo grows – due to marriage and babies.

It also seems like they get crazier and crazier. For the first part of Thanksgiving, we headed on over to Drew’s aunt to do thanksgiving with them, then we headed over to my parents house to continue the holiday and thankful we could eat a little at both! If you don’t believe me that it’s crazy as all get out at our holidays, check out the photos 🙂