So, I bought this purse this summer (after lots of trips to the store which Brad loved:). I had to have the perfect bag. This was before I knew we were pregnant and this was just gonna be my big mom bag. You can see it wasn't really big enough, the top never zipped shut, but it had some niceties to it and now...it's broken. I've never needed/wanted a bag so bad. Never had a diaper bag with the last two so I guess I will be buying a sweet diaper bag for this little person.

1. C-section finally scheduled. I am 2nd on the list because they dragged their feet scheduling me.

2. Amazingly 3 good people watched Chloe and EZ while I had to go to not 1 but 2 doctors offices to complete one appointment. It was a snowy day too.

3. I am 34 and 1/2 weeks today and Chloe and I looked at her baby book. I was so cute and tiny being pregnant with her. Holy cow this baby has taken over my body. I am large and in charge. That's for sure. But My Brad loves me and encourages me and compliments me so couldn't ask for more.

4. We've decided if you want to find out what the baby is, upon delivery, then you have to actually call us. No texts. This baby deserves more than that! And if no one calls maybe we will keep it's gender concealed until it's 5 like some crazies did in the UK.

This inspires me. See if you can pick out where it's from in one of the next few pictures.  I love the colors, the shapes, the scatterings.

Before EZ was born we went on a little getaway to St. Louis as a little family of 3. This time we went on a little getaway to Bloomington. We stayed in a hotel, ate at a restaurant, swam, played at the Children's museum, visited some terrific friends, and finished with Beauty and the Beast on the big screen. Which was "magical" according to Bluebird. I can't believe we will be a family of 5 soon.

 This little guy loves his trains.

 She loves to play pretend in every way.

 Discovering the camera.

 He loves the water too.

 I have this same picture of Chloe when she is 2. Oh, Discovery Children's Museum of Bloomington. We love you. You have seen us/me through moving to B town through EZ's birth and numerous afternoons of getting the energy out.

 Oh Yes, I am pregnant and beautiful.

 Seems like I only get comments when I post food. So...look at this delicious go-to soup.
I can make this one off the top of my head so it's a winner for everyone.
Homemade Chicken Noodle with homemade super easy noodles.

The recipe:
Cook about 2-3 chicken breast in about 4 cups boiling water add 1 chicken cube. (I use reduced salt) My mom's delicious chicken seasoning trick is sprinkle poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, a little celery salt, and some dried onion in there. Makes great broth and very flavorful chicken.
Shred the Chicken. (I had done this step earlier in the week and used the chicken for 2 recipes.win.win
Strain the chicken broth
Bring the broth to a boil. Add 1 more cup of water with a boulion cube or a can of chicken stock.
Add 3-4 cut up carrots
Add 3-4 stalks celery
Cook till tender.
In a saucepan, make a rue using about 1/4 cup butter melted, add 1/4 cup flour, then add about 1-2 cups milk till thick. Add to the broth. Stir. At this point add some salt, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1 Tbsp dried onion, and pepper. (if it's not thick enough add some cornstarch mixed with water till you get it the way you like)
Meanwhile,
Noodles:
2 cups flour
3 eggs
2 TBSP milk
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of baking powder.
Mix to form a dough. Flour your hands and knead the dough till it's not sticky (keep adding a little flour) These noodles are so fool proof! Roll out with a rolling pin on a very floured surface to prevent stickage later. Slice noodles with a rolling pin. The recipes say to let dry but really, who has time for that, when you want chicken noodle soup you want it now. So...let them dry while the other stuff cooks or prepare them earlier. These noodles cook immediately when you put them in the soup. If you let them dry they retain their noodle shape. If you have to stickily put them into the hot soup they still cook fine and add some funky shapes and dumplingesque quality to the soup.
Once you add the noodles the soup is ready to go in about 5-8 minutes.
Try this...it's really good.

Amazing..

Something about a red, red grapefruit inspires my creativity. I will paint this.

And this too...
It's January 11th in this photo...January 11!! Stay please. If there are no mountains I'd prefer no snow. Though, I have to confess, I do love winter once it's here in full force. These teaser days are confusing.
And, why not make some homemade donuts. These actually turned out really good and they look pretty good.
I halved the recipe, thank goodness. Brad is out of town and we did our fair share of eating donuts. Here is the recipe if you want to give 'em a try:

Here is the full recipe:

4 1/2 cup to 5 cup flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 eggs beaten

Combine all of the above

In another bowl:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup canola oil

2 Tbsp. Orange Juice (I used a fresh orange)

4 tsp. grated orange peel (I thought it would be better with maple so I just used 1 tsp. maple flavor and 1 tsp vanilla flavor. If you were doing the full recipe you would need to double that)

Mix the wet into the dry and add just enough of the remaining 1/2 cup flour to make a soft dough. Sit in fridge for 1 hour covered.

Take out and roll on a very floured surface. Use a donut cutter or, if you're like me, just cut a circle out and then a littler circle out to make a no brainer donut shape.

Oil for deep frying. I used a combo of peanut oil and smart balance canola oil. Cause if you're having donuts why not fry them in something partially "healthy". Yeah right.

We topped with a maple glaze, powdered sugar, and a chocolate ganache type deliciousness. Next time I am certain the sprinkles will make their appearance.

Give these a try. Easy and delicious.

Happy 8 years.

We were married 8 years ago!

Tonight we celebrated with the kids. Brad and I ate by candlelight while the kids ate at their little table. They were eating at "steak and shake" and Brad and I at a much better "pretend" restaurant. I made romantic red velvet cupcakes with this amazing cooked cinnamon buttercream frosting which was delicious. We just talked and talked and acted like we were on a real date. It was awesome. Afterward, we all sat down and watched our wedding video which we hadn't done, really, for about 6 years. Chloe was mesmorized. This was a very special anniversary. One to remember.

The best part of the anniversary, though, is probably that Brad is upstairs getting them ready for bed. Finally, 31 days of nightfloat December are OVER!!! Man, I have not liked night float and am very grateful that he won't ever have a job where he'll be there nights. Thank you internal medicine clinic:)

It's been a terrific 8 years with lots and lots of UPs!

Love you My Brad.

Santa

An unknown fact about Brad: He's really really good at those claw games where you play for 50 cents and try and catch a prize in the bin below. When we were at Steak and Shake he won this little guy for the kids. The prizes are usually ugly in those bins but this was the cutest one in there and he got it. He cheered, outloud, for himself and said, "I just won." Well, this little guy has been in EZ's bed ever since. One night I heard EZ saying "santa diaper" as clear as day. So I went upstairs to see what he needed. Sure enough, he was holding his santa while hanging over the edge of his crib and pointing to the diapers. So, I had to lay Santa down and proceed to put a diaper on him. EZ was satisfied though I'm not sure Santa was:)

Dreams come true for one 4 year old

Okay, the title of the post is a little dramatic. But she has been wanting to go iceskating for quite sometime and I may or may not have been "promising" her we would go. So finally, Brad had the day off and she and I went on a little date iceskating.

She loved every.single.second. of the time there. After every fall she'd just get right back up and laugh and keep going. She really only fell those first couple of times around. She was quite a natural. I went with the anticipation of making it maybe 1 or 2 times around. We made it around about 10 times and with each time she got better and more confident. I taught her "if you're gonna fall grab the wall". And that the wall is "stinky and not your friend" when you're trying to skate around. Kind of contradictory but once she let go of the wall and just held my hand she dominated.

I did get plenty of stares. Who's the way pregnant lady out there on the ice with that cute 4 year old??
Hockey? Figure skating? Recreational activity? who knows but it gives me hope that she will like skiing one day!

A happy Christmas

Brad decided that we should have a new tradition of going out to breakfast Christmas Eve. No complaints here. It was fun to be together as a family just relaxing.

This skillet was delicious and huge. Look at the cake (pancakes!) next to Brad. My meal was equally as large and delicious.

Bowling with some friends. A Nelson tradition continues.

Our delicious meal. To heck with the ham. This is our second year of meatballs, bacon wrapped goodness, jello salad and eating by candlelight.

We made time for the gingerbread house. Have you ever just left the gingerbread house on your table while you play games or eat your next meals and then start picking away at it? Is that what gingerbread houses were originally designed for. Well, this one came with actual tasty candy and by day 3 it only had a few colors left on it.

Christmas morning. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the excitement and magic of Christmas and with 2 little ones it's even better. We started our morning at 6:15. We tried to get Chloe to just snuggle with us and she did till she jumped out of bed and barely made it to the toilet to throw up. She was kind of sick all day, but it got us out of bed and going:)

The pregnant mama and Bluie after church.

The doll house. It turned out really cute.
Ezra running straight for his Thomas train. He rode it around the kitchen while we opened presents.
Big D with his new shirt.
I think they're gonna like these beanbags.

Do we really have to wait 363 more days??

My loves.

How lucky I am to wake up and start each day with these smiles. After breakfast they go upstairs and play play play together. This is how I found them the other day. My heart just happily dances at these little faces.

And this is what is growing in my tummy. 29 weeks. The doctor said we're on the (Chloe) 8lb12oz track rather than the (Ezra) 7lb9oz track. When we had one of these 3D ultrasounds with Chloe the image was slightly (I can say it now cause she is sooo cute) horrifying. The tech was going on and on about how "cute" the baby looked and Brad and I were just trying not to laugh and we just wanted to look away. So technology has come a long way-this baby looks like a chunk of love.
And these....Oh man. They were sitting in the kitchen and I had to really will-power myself to not go in and eat. This is what i've been missing everytime I snub mirainge? (how to you spell that word?) They were so easy to make and so good. Try them out.

Chocolate Covered snowpeaks

4 egg whites

1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. cream of tarter

Put all but the sugar in a blender and start it mixing.

Slowly add the sugar.

Let the mixer just blend, blend, blend until it looks thick and white. When you lift the blender attachment it should create a pick.

I put the mix into a ziploc bag, cut off a tip, and made the rounds.

Heat in an over for 1 hour at 225.

Let cool then dip in chocolate. (the kids loved helping with the dipping)

Next time I will definitely dip in graham crackers (i'm such a sucker for smores) or dip in nuts. I love texture.

Enjoy these little treats.