Big News!

It IS what you're thinking...we're going to be parents! Baby T is due to arrive on June 29th :) We are SO excited! I've been feeling good so far and I'm so thankful. I'll be 16 weeks on Friday and it's hard to believe a month from now will be halfway through! I've been taking some belly shots and I promise I will share soon :)

PS - Do you recognize our sign? You might if you came to our wedding!



xo

Happy New Year!

Hello blog friends! Happy New Year!




Did you make resolutions? We did - I'll share at some point soon :)

I've been away from the blog for a long while...we went to Virginia for Christmas and then on a trip with my family to sunny Florida! It was hard to tear myself away from the warmth and head back to winter in Vermont but it feels good to be home. I'll get the Florida pics together at some point to show you.

I didn't take too many pics in Virginia this time. Our trip was short, but we did manage to squeeze in some time with both family and friends.

Kate had a Christmas brunch so I was able to snuggle my baby Worth some more. I'm a bit selfish with my baby holding time but he's just too cute to give up!

Will had fun at her grandparents' house...they also kept her for 6 days while we were in Florida and we're so thankful for that!

Hoping to sneak some Christmas breakfast...

The only other pics I took were of Ben trying on his Santa suit for the Christmas Eve party - the pics don't begin show how hilarious it was.

We were totally spoiled this year at Christmas with gifts for our house (lucky me to have an interior decorator as my mother-in-law so everything coordinates...although she claims I'm her hardest free client...perhaps my resolution should be to be more decisive) and a big vacation!

I'll be back....

xoxo

Christmas Decorating

School was released early today. It was the first time since I started working there and quite a shock...it's 35 and raining! Apparently an ice storm was on the way. I've driven through feet of snow on my commute to and from this school and they haven't blinked an eye - they simply put the chains on the bus tires. Anyway, no complaints here. I've already finished all my "evening chores" (e.g. running with Willow, packing my lunch, thinking about dinner, etc.) and I'm sitting on the couch with time to blog!

I'm also staring at my Christmas decorations...ones I've been enjoying for a few weeks now.

I'll let you look for yourself. Let's start outside - I froze my buns off and drove myself a bit crazy with several broken light strands trying to get all those fence lights up after Thanksgiving. It was worth it - the neighbors like them :)

Next year I'd like to add something to the windows, but ran out of energy this time.

My mom and sister weren't home at Thanksgiving to make our annual boxwood wreath (so sad), so I picked this one up at the Christmas tree place.

Moving inside...I struggled a bit with the mantle as our ceilings in this house are so much higher than my past ones...I do love my pointy santas and that I could hang my stockings this year though.

You've seen the tree...

The sugar mold got a little spiced up.

As did my maple sugar taps that John made me last year :)

Happy Wednesday - Christmas is almost here!

xo!

The Tree!

A few weeks ago, Matt and I headed here to pick out our Christmas tree :)

The place is so cute...

They give out free candy canes and hot chocolate after you cut down your tree.

AND they have a sweet furry friend to welcome everyone.

They didn't have enough large trees this year (not sure why) so they trucked in some extras! No way was I going for that though!

Our December has been pretty mild with very little snow (I haven't been complaining because we woke up this morning to 15 degrees and I know the snow will come at some point...). So - we had a nice day to walk around and pick out our tree!

I did LOTS of looking (poor Matt).

At least he had a great view in the background to entertain him!

I finally picked one....

And Matt got to work.

Hooray!

She's the perfect size :)

xo!

Thanksgiving

I did do something on my trip home besides snuggle with babies. We spent Thanksgiving with Matt's family and it was wonderful! We had a really short visit this time and tried to squeeze lots in, but we spent Thanksgiving day at home relaxing :)

La'Turkenisha made another appearance....

She was quite popular and everyone wanted to have their picture taken with her!

I'm happy to report Willow warmed up to her this year, unlike what happened last time.

It's a good thing because her presence was requested in the first family photo...

We enjoyed a fried turkey this year. Have you ever had a fried turkey? They are quite delicious!

Willow stuck close to John for the day, hoping for some scraps.

She was rewarded for her patient and persistent begging...

Father and daughter :)

We feasted at a beautiful table...

On some delicious food!

We did have another family photo session where I had a bit more control of the light and shadow situation - I think they turned out well!

Matt and I usually get to see both sets of our parents at the holidays since we are from the same hometown. This time my parents went to visit my sister in Georgia and my brother was working down in Florida so I didn't get a chance to see them. Thank goodness for iphones and Facetime so I didn't feel totally disconnected :)

Happy Tuesday!

xoxo

FINALLY!

Over Thanksgiving I finally had the chance to meet my babies. I've posted about the big baby shower on the blog before but as a reminder three of my best friends from college had babies this fall. I had the chance to meet two my new favorite people - a surrogate neice and nephew :) I apologize that I haven't edited these pics but if I wait until I have time for that I'll never post them so here you go...

Worth belongs to my friend Kate and was the most precious boy ever. Just take one look at him. He makes the cutest faces and I loved watching him take in the world.

Kate is looking so fabulous - you would never know she had a baby 5 weeks ago!

Me, on the other hand, not so fab looking but I had to document our first meeting :)

Baby legs :)

I had the chance to see Worth over several days - lucky me. We enjoyed going out to lunch twice and were joined on the second day by Lizzie who drove down to spend the afternoon with us. Love you Lizzie and thanks for making the trip!

We drove to Richmond to meet baby Katherine on Saturday - so perfect and adorable! I couldn't get my fill of looking at her either and only had 5 hours to see her (it was so hard to pull myself away). Sarah is looking equally as amazing, but wouldn't pose for me take her pic :)

K was decked out in her game day attire cheering on UVA looking adorable. It didn't help us win but she played her part - even giving a little cheer as she was falling asleep!

She had the most adorable fingers so I took some extra pics of those :)

I mean, come on, this is the ultimate in cuteness!

It's so amazing to see my friends in their new role as parents - they are naturals. These are some lucky babes to be surrounded by so much love :) I didn't get nearly enough time with either new mom and am so missing living close to them right now!