Saturday, December 25, 2010

a merry little christmas

it all started with a tree.















































 and some sleepy dogs
hey, whacha  you looking at?

and then some naughty little dogs that couldn't wait until christmas
 some Christmas goodies for the neighbors and new friends

and now, as if we weren't lucky enough, we get family.

airport runs on christmas eve

 she is smiling at the all-spandex outfit i wore so she could really see the baby bump.


family sitting in our living room, living large and passing on traditions
the dogs were on their best behavior because santa brought them beggin' strips
 and, as if the fact that we are all together at Christmas wasn't enough, santa really came through this year and brought us some pretty white stuff.

  hallelujah! 

Merry Christmas,


from snowy south carolina


cheers!
 .

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Thursday, December 2, 2010

thankful

it is after thanksgiving and i had to go back and edit this post that i started weeks ago because the first sentence said something like -i can't believe that thanksgiving is next week.

jeezum, i'm a slacker.

i do have a few excuses.

i'm pretty sure that my body has hit a new level of exhaustion and i'm struggling trying to adapt to a new work routine with long hours on my feet.  my mind is constantly trying to separate work from home and sleep and rest and prenatal vitamins and what combinations of food to eat that won't send me running into the bathroom gagging until i laugh because this is all wonderfully ridiculous.  just yesterday when i spent nearly the entire day in bed and then part of the night looking into the toilet, i had to smile and think, that yes, this part sucks, but it is so worth it.  it's the season to be thankful.

and i'm thankful

:for my health and this little peanut inside me


































:for a job that i do love.  it's busy and hectic, but i learn everyday and i snuggle and feed and help sick kids, so really, what could be any better.



:for fall hiking









and this little boy carried his stick the whole way back

:for a great hubby

funny story.  so a few weekends ago (more like a month ago now),  the whiny part of me took over and i told mike that we had to go to the orchard to get apples and pumpkins and that i didn't want to just go to lowes - that didn't seem right.  eventually, after i agreed to make apple crisp that night, we left and drove to sky top orchard.

it was beautiful


but apparently because of our warm fall temperatures all the apples had fallen or were already picked, so there was no apple picking.  and i guess since this is located at the top of a mountain they only take cash or check...  so we retreated back to the car to rummage around for change, under seats and at the bottom of my purse.  i think between the two of us we found about nine dollars, some old fries, an open tube of lip gloss and a few quarters stuck between some old trident gum..  we were able to get a small bag of apples, two apple spiced donuts and one apple cider slushy.  needless to say, we went to lowes on the way home and i still had to make apple crisp that night.



but it was fun, and i'm pretty sure mike is able to laugh about it now :)

we created these cute little pumpkins

while this little lady sunbathed

spoooooky

i had high hopes for fall.  lots of hiking and running over fallen leaves with the pooches, but so much has changed.

and despite the unrelenting nausea that has me darting into the clean utility room at work so that my patients won't see me gagging up a storm, or the fact that i can't brush my teeth with out feeling like i'm going to lose my breakfast, lunch and dinner....i feel so thankful and blessed at this moment 

it's disgustingly perfect and i wouldn't have it any other way, because i'm happy and healthy and tired.  and i have so much to look forward to.  i love the fact that our home is going to be filled with family this season. i can already picture air mattresses blown up, i can smell the coffee that stays warm all day and i predict lots of couch snuggling and twinkle lights and i'm sure a few belly rubs here and there. oh yes, it gonna be good.  it will be our family's first christmas away from maine, away from snow; we won't have a white christmas, but we will have each other.

we had a little pre-cursor last weekend when mike's brother and girlfriend came up for thanksgiving.  and even though i worked, mike recorded the parade and we celebrated on friday.


 


we stuffed our faces and then and cozied up around the fire.  
 and this little belle rested on my belly
and even though our holiday lacked the extra siblings and parental units, i was happy to see these two brothers together.
 and to officially get me into to the chirstmas spirit, last weekend i had the privilege of snapping some holiday pics of sweet little reagan

i'll be decorating for christmas and researching tree farms (because we can't just go to lowes to get our tree :) if you need me.  see most of you very soon!
hehe, bru is so not thrilled with his antlers.