The Munchkin'

Most of you are well aware that I'm preggers. Right now I am 13 weeks 4 days. I vow to try reeeeeeally hard to keep you all posted on how things are going!

Here we go. Round 1. When we first found out it, was Thanksgiving break. I randomly took a pregnancy test because I was sooooo tired the whole break. Then... the line(s)! I immediately YELLED for Cade. When Cade came and checked out the test, we both (with out a doubt) convinced ourselves that the test was wrong. For and about week and 7 pregnancy tests later Cade and I figured out... that we were in fact pregnant. :) YAY!

The first 4 weeks are scary... its a lot of uncertainty and wondering until you see your doctor. We had some problems early on so we got to see peanut at 7 weeks. Eeek! So cool! And thank the Lord, our problems faded soon. I did have a 3 week bout of morning sickness... which totally owned me and all I did was lay in bed and cry (sometimes). BUT- the silver lining is that it was the three weeks we had off for Christmas break so I didn't have to work! I was able to eat after about 6 pm every night so I made up for lost time. :)

Here is our kido at our 8 week appointment. We found out that our little one is due August 3rd.

How far along? 13 Weeks, 5 Days

Total weight gain: 2 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Actually, yes! I bought some pants last weekend... best decision ever. I realize that I'm not really showing but geez, regular pants hurt my belly!

Sleep: Doing great. Cade is having dreams that it's a boy already. Not me though!

Best Moment This Week: Those a-mazing maternity pants. :)

Miss Anything? Dear Lord, I really want a COLD turkey sandwich but I've scared myself out of eating one.

Movement: Nope. Just gas. Yum. :)

Food Craving: Bean Burrito's from Taco Bell and anything with mustard.

Anything making you queasy? Not this week.

Gender: 50/50. I feel like a boy some days and a girl others.

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: A little cramping here and there when I first wake up.

Wedding rings? On

Happy or Moody? I'm feeling great this week. I have a cold, so I'm fighting a runny nose.

Looking Forward To: Looking pregnant, not just like I over ate at lunch. :)

13 weeks

12 Week Sonogram

As always, Olivia says hello AND that she's excited to be a big sister!

The New Year

Hi Everyone!

My FAVORITE holiday is Christmas. Hands down. Because of this fact, I always go into a few weeks morning when its all over and my husband forces me to take our decorations down. Humph... but, alas, the new year always brings new adventures. I'm excited about 2012. Wooo! I have no goals or dietary plans for the new year- I just want to stay healthy and happy with my hubby and Olivia.

I finished more grad school in the fall. I've got 18 hours below my belt. I'm about half way there. I. AM. READY. TO. GRADUATE. That is all.

I hope everyone has a great new year. Take it easy and hopefully we'll all talk soon! :)

As always, Olivia says hello!

- Amanda

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

HOLY SMOKES black Friday was absolutely crazy this year... more on that in a minute. My sister turned 22 this year and we celebrated by eating Italian and being with family. So much fun- it was a nice start to the Thanksgiving break!

The birthday girl!

Opening gifts. :)

Cade and Me

Megan and Tony

Mom and Dad :)

Thanksgiving was at our Mom's house this year. It is always really nice to see the whole family together and listening to the stories they tell. It makes my heart happy.

My Aunt and my Grandma

Everyone at the table!

YUM. All the food!!

Yes, I am one of those crazies that you talk about. We go out on black Friday every year. This year all the stores opened early (which- even though I went, I do not agree with!) so our whole crew showed up to Wal-Mart promptly at 8:45 on Thanksgiving night. After hitting up every store in a thirty mile radius, I finally ran out of juice at around 6:45 a.m. OH.MY.GOSH. Beat down doesn't even describe it. After all, it's not Christmas until you've seen a woman get tased for fighting for sheets... right??

We all wore matching shirts that said 'Wild about Santa'. :)

Megan and I waiting in line to eat at cracker barrel!

Mom and Megan

Waiting in line at Best Buy

It wouldn't be Black Friday if we didn't try to get a 'jumping in the air' picture... due to the fact we'd been up for about 10 hours at this point... this is as close as we got. :) Haha

The whole crew!!

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I hope everyone got a chance to relax and spend time with family over Thanksgiving. Now, get started decorating for Christmas. :) Oh and as always, Olivia (and me) say yo...

Is it already November?

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving, almost! I can tell you with out doubt that I am in desperate need of the holidays. I need some down time. Life has been very busy with graduate school and teaching. Every year is different and this year has had its challenges. ANYWAY.

I'm looking forward to visiting with my family next week. I just love Thanksgiving. The food is always out of this world! :) My sisters birthday is on Wednesday!! We went to Cowboys last night and had a GREAT time! Turns out country dancin' can be a hoot! Here we are-

Hope everyone has a marvelous Thanksgiving. RELAX people- we have such a hard time doing that sometimes. :)

As always, Olivia says 'yo'.

Daughter's Cupcakes

Holy cupcakes, we did it! My sister and I finally got all our cupcakes in a row and opened up a teeny tiny business. This weekend was Daughter's Cupcakes 'grand opening' and we had a booth at the Denison Fall Festival. We stayed up HOURS making cupcakes and ended up with about 450 ish. We sold EVERY last one of those dad-gum cupcakes. Except for the few cupcake life's lost on the way to the festival. Moment of silence please...

We had a great time getting to know people and already have a few events lined up. I'm so happy it all worked out! As tired as we were, I won't ever forget my sister and I standing in the kitchen in the middle of the night laughing trying to ice cupcakes. Everyone starts somewhere, right?

We owe a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped us. You probably don't even know that you did but we are soooooo grateful. THANK YOU: Megan, for doing everything to get us set up. We'd have been lost with out you running around taking care of stuff! Christy Robbins, I totally used 2 of your recipes. You are an amazing baker, crafty lady, and teacher. Mom, we completely ransacked your kitchen and you helped with too much to even list here. THANK YOU!! Dad, thanks for giving us extension cords, the canopy, and pretty much everything we need to actually set our booth up. :) Cade, thanks for listening to me freak out the entire week before the festival. :) Taylor Bua, we got soooo many compliments on our booth's decorations... thank you for helping us look so cute. You need to go into business with your crafts and I mean it.

From Megan and I both, thank everyone for coming to see us and helping us get started!

When we first got there... 107, that's us!

The booth! :)

Megan and me, sorry for the weird light.

:)

Our table

Special thank you to Taylor for this AMAZING sign!

Thank you Bakerella!

http://www.bakerella.com/snickerdoodle-duo/

Thank you Christy!

http://christyrobbins.blogspot.com/

Thank you pintrest!

The back of our shirts! :)

Well, I'm tired. Talk with yall soon! :) As always, Olivia says "yo".

Camilla Rose Pilcher

On September 15th Camilla Rose Pilcher, our niece, was born! We are so happy for Rosanna and Jeremy. She is absolutely stunning and all of us aunts and uncles are pleased as pie to have finally met her. :)

:)

Momma and Daddy

Happy grandparents. :)

Cade, Camilla, and me

Cade and Camilla

Anything stuffed is HEAVEN!

Soooooo my friend Kim Vacante (who is a domestic wonder woman) gave me the idea to make casseroles on Sunday for next week so that when I'm BEAT after work, I'll stop bringing home take out and be a good wife. :) One of the casseroles I made this week I got from this great website: http://www.makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.com/

I made the stuffed shells with rotisserie chicken. YUM! It looks wonderful in my freezer... can't wait to grub down! Here it is:

Sorry about the brown junk on the edge of the pan... its clean I swear!

Stuffed Shells with Rotisserie Chicken

Ingredients

10 oz. bag spinach
1 or 2 rotisserie chickens
12 oz. jumbo shells

Cheese Filling
2 lbs. ricotta cheese, part-skim
2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black ground pepper

Sauce
2 pints heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon chicken bouillion powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups Italian cheese, shredded
salt & pepper, to taste
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (for the topping)

Directions

1. Cover and boil the spinach in one inch of water until completely wilted. Drain well and set aside.

2. Remove the meat from the chicken(s) and set aside.

3. Cook the jumbo shells according to the directions. (Be sure to remove them before they split.) Drain the shells and place them on wax paper to dry.

4. In a large bowl, combine the cheese filling ingredients. Fill the shells with the cheese filling using a decorating bag or spoon. Place the stuffed shells in two 13 x 9-inch baking dishes. Add the chicken and spinach to the dish, so that it is evenly distributed around the shells. Set aside.

5. Heat the cream in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the boullion powder, garlic, Italian cheese, and salt & pepper. Stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is heated through.

6. Pour the sauce evenly over the shells, chicken and spinach. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top.

7. Bake at 350 degrees F until bubbly and the cheese is golden brown about 30 – 40 minutes.

Serves 8 – 9.

Freezing Directions

I recommend freezing this meal in disposable aluminum baking tins. Prepare this recipe through step # 6; cover and cool in the refrigerator. When completely cool, cover and wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Label the meal and include the cooking directions. Freeze up to 2 months.

To reheat, simply remove the foil and plastic wrap and place in the oven (frozen). Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees F until bubbly and heated through.

Cade went to a Rangers game tonight so I had some time to waste. I have been wanting to make these key chain things. I finally got a chance to do them! They are really simple and easy to make. I'll post exact directions later but here they are:

Well grad school starts back tomorrow... nooooooooooooooooooooooooo... that plea hasn't been working and I doubt it's going to start but I just want more vacation! At the same time, I am ready to be done so I'll bite the bullet. Week two starts tomorrow. My kidos are very different from last year but fun too. I'm excited for us to get in the swing of things- to be a family. :) Have a good week everyone.

- Amanda