St Patricks Day and Arkansas

After our trip to Florida, the boys and I came home to unpack, get packed again, and got in the car to head to Nana and Pop's house.  Nathan and I were traveling to Arkansas for a potential job, and the boys were staying with Nana and Pop for a few days.  They had a wonderful time and got lots of loving!  They got to see their new cousin, Emma, and Nana had lots of fun adventures planned for them!  No, we arent moving to Arkansas, though we had a nice visit and enjoyed a lovely church.  It was a nice weekend with just Nathan to reflect on how wonderful our last 2 years in Austin have been!  Here is some evidence of all the fun the boys had-

 

Aunt Libby!

I'm glad I accidentally packed green shirts for the boys!

 

Kisses for Emma!

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Nana and Pop took the boys to ride on a REAL train!

Florida Fun

My college roommate, Sarah, got married a few months ago, so the boys and I packed up and headed to Florida.  My bestie, Kelli, came with too, which was a tremendous help with the boys!  Though I politely declined to be in the wedding since I am massively with child, it was a gorgeous wedding and a great time with family.  Owen and Caleb got spoiled rotten by grandma and grandpa, I got some time to myself, and we did lots of fun things with the fam. The boys got to visit the beach, lots of parks, and the zoo.  Here are a few pics from the fun long weekend!

 

Feeding the giraffes, always a favorite!

 

Grandpa and his look alike.

 

My all time favorite pic!

 

Love from Aunt Sissy!

Cute Boys

Im realizing more and more that if Im going to remember all of the silly things my boys say, I need to write them down more!  And since I am treating this blog as a sort of journal/memory book, I figure it's the best place to do it.  So, here is a glimpse into a conversation from last night.

Owen- Im hungry.
Me- Dinner is in the oven!
Owen- What is it?
Me- Meatloaf!
Owen- I dont like meatloaf.
Me- How do you know? You havent tried it.
Owen- Its kinda like cantaloupe.
Me- Ooook. Yeah you definitely havent tried it.

It took us a while to get him to take his first bite, but he enjoyed it and ate all of his dinner! He is so picky.  Caleb, on the other hand, is anything but picky.  He had 2 servings of meatloaf and we finished the entire thing!  Usually we have leftovers!  After dinner, I asked Nathan if we are just going to have to make 2 meatloaves when all the boys get older, and he responded- "probably 3." What have I gotten myself into?!

Pregnancy

I love being pregnant.  I love the belly, the stretchy clothes, and old ladies giving me big smiles every time they spot my massive belly.  My pregnancies are always relatively easy and fun.  So, let me take one blog to complain about this one! ha.

Im exhausted.  I know I know, I have 2 little boys that I have to keep up with.  But I'm telling ya, I'm more exhausted than I expected to be.  Even on days when I get a full nights rest and a nap in the middle of the day, I still struggle. 

Im sicker than usual.  The first few months were the worst EVER, with constant vomiting and nausea.  I felt pukey with my first 2 pregnancies, but never actually threw up.  With this pregnancy, I STILL feel a bit nauseous if I dont eat enough.  Therefore, I eat all the time and have gained weight faster.  Ya win some, ya lose some, right?

Im just READY! I start my 25th week today, and normally Id be thrilled to be in this stage of pregnancy.  Im thankful, thats for sure.  I understand what a blessing it is from the Lord to have a healthy baby and normal  pregnancy.  But I would be fine if my due date were tomorrow.  Maybe 3 babies in 4 years has pushed me past the joy of a long 9 month pregnancy.

Im excited, thankful, THRILLED to have this sweet baby boy in my tummy.  Its just funny how different it has been the 3rd time around!

One and only time I'll complain, I promise.  We cant wait to meet baby boy Sherman #3!

And for your viewing enjoyment- my baby boys in a bubble bath!

Adventures in Pinterest

I love Pinterest.  I'm not super crafty, so I dont use it to the extreme that lots of other ladies do.  However, it's a perfect way to find and store recipes, and Im loving it!  I just wanted to blog about a few of the things I have tried, since I havent been disappointed with any of them.


First, these chicken roll ups. Very easy, very yummy!  Had to cook longer because the dough was still soft, but they were a fun changeup for dinner!

Next, an easy crock pot recipe for a chicken/sauce to put on top of pasta.  Nathan really liked it, and I bought the ingredients to make again this week.  It's definitely going in the recipe rotation.

We had a little super bowl party, and 2 Pinterest snacks were tried out- 1. Simply putting  chocolate chips inside of raspberries.  Easy and cute!

And these taco cupcakes. Sounds funny, but it was just a fun variety of taco ingredients on top of wonton wrappers, baked in cupcake trays.  Lots of compliments, but not sure I'll make them again.

We tried these pepperoni rolls for dinner a few weeks ago- easy and yummy!

 

We also did this frito chili pie (per nathans request), and it was great!

And last one, I promise.  This is an easy appetizer that is served with baguette slices.  SO good. Just tomatoes, green onion, and feta mixed with olive oil. Im actually taking it to a recipe exchange party this afternoon!

Im not much of a chef, so it's been fun to try new things.  This week I'm trying a baked spaghetti recipe too.  YAY for Pinterest! :)

NEW YORK CITY!!!

My mom blessed me and my sister this Christmas with a mother/daughter trip to New York City.  I had never been before, and it was SO much fun!!!  We had a fabulous 3 days in the city, taking it all in and fitting as much in as possible!  I thought Id try to document our trip so I wont forget anything!  Here goes-

Saturday-
-flew in around 11.  Took forever to figure out how to get to Manhattan by subway.  My first experience on a NY subway... very interesting!
-Lunch at a local pizza place, delish!
-Walked Times Square for the first time- INCREDIBLE! Went to the M&M store, looked at all the shops, took it all in :)
-Dinner at Stardust Diner.  Our waitress was awesome and the servers (all aspiring Broadway performers) put on quite the show! We watched the Broncos game then walked back to the hotel.

Sunday-
-Chai at Starbucks 1 block away (this is how we started every morning, of course!)
-Stood in line at TKTS for 2 hours to get broadway tickets to Memphis. SOOOOO cold, the coldest day in NYC so far this winter. 15 degrees.... but worth it!
-Taxi to Century 21 for lots of shopping! Tons of designer stuff for cheeeeap.
-Lunch at Nanoosh, a little organic Mediterranean place we found.  Hummus and pitas, so good.
-Taxi to the 3:00 show of Memphis.  It won a Tony in 2010 for best music- it was incredible! Loved it.  Loved the tiny Broadway theaters!
-Dinner at Carnegie Deli- yum!  Split a hamburger with sis and had the best cheesecake I have ever had!
-Walked through Times Square again (sis is slightly obsessed!)

Monday-
-Starbucks, of course.
-Subway to the 9-11 Memorial, maybe my favorite part of the trip.  There is still a ton of construction, but it was amazing.  The pools they have built were awesome, and seeing the future museum/memorial was just overwhelming.  There were videos of people talking who lost their loved ones and a really neat time line of the events of 9-11.  Very cool. Very sad.
-More shopping at the Century 21 further downtown :)
-Subway back uptown, put our names on the list at Serendipity, then had lunch.  Went back to Serendipity and waited another hour (2 and 1/2 hour total!! reservations next time!) to be seated.  Had the BEST frozen hot chocolate in the world!
-Shopped at H&M, FAO Schwartz, and walked the 5th street area.
-Went back to Carnegie Deli to get Nathan a cheesecake as a souvenir. They freeze them solid and they last forever!
-Taxi to the airport, sad to be leaving such a fun city!

SO MUCH FUN! It was definitely a fun place to be, but being there with my mom and sister is really what made it the best.  Lots of fun memories, thats for sure. I tried not to post too many pics, but its hard to choose!

Tribute to Trains

I just want to mention real quick that having a fun train set for the boys has CHANGED MY LIFE!! I absolutely love it!  The boys got a phenomenal train set and table from grandma and grandpa for Christmas, and it has been such a blessing.  The set is really detailed and has lots of fun helicopters, planes, trucks, a fire fighter building, taxis, bridges, trains, etc.  The boys will spend HOURS playing on it, and its so great!  If I need to cook dinner for 30 minutes without interruption, Ill just remind them about the train and they go running upstairs!  Ah, 30 minutes of uninterrupted time in my house is priceless, and Ill take it!! I highly recommend a train set for any family with boys :)