EXCITING NEWS!!!

READY TO LOSE 5 POUNDS DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST?

Let me HELP YOU! I AM OFFICIALLY A BEACHBODY COACH!!!

You all know I love health, fitness and nutrition. I obviously love trying new recipes and sharing them with you as you can tell by this blog and by my Facebook page and Twitter feed, and well, by talking to me! I've always loved working out thanks to volleyball and my upbringing. These things bundled together are what make me tick and SHINE. I am 100% HAPPY when I get to be active, I'm in shape, feeling good, eating well and spending time with those I love. I can FEEL the light radiating off me after I get a quick run in or I played an awesome game of volleyball. 

I think HEALTH is the MOST IMPORTANT aspect in our lives. Without it, we have VERY little, if anything. 

Think about it. 

I also think Health encompasses many things, not just our bodies as they look on the outside. We could look incredible but could be an emotional mess on the inside, or could be smoking 3-packs a day, or could be drowning in credit card debt or stress or fear. I'm talking the whole package here when I talk about our HEALTH. 

So yeah, I don't mind sharing my struggles with life, motherhood, health and wellness, and pretty much EVERYTHING in this blog (I am human!) or even how much I weigh right now at 27 weeks pregnant. It's weird for me to be gaining and coaching but that's what happens when you create life:) If you're curious... At 27 weeks, I weigh as much as I did in college. What does that tell you about my diet back then? (Hello beer and pizza!) I have come a LONG way. I have learned A LOT about exercise and nutrition. 

I also don't mind sharing my frustrations... like the fact I have veins popping up all over my legs from the extra weight. For the record though, the average weight gain around 27 weeks is about 23 pounds. I'm at 24 pounds. The average weight gain for an entire pregnancy (depending on where you're at when you start) is about 25-35 pounds. I gained 39 pounds with Jackson (my son). My goal was to NOT hit 200 pounds. If it helps...I'm 5'10.

  

Anyway, I'm officially a Beachbody coach. Yay! I couldn't be MORE excited about this! Why? Well, THIS IS MY PASSION. I get to HELP people GET healthy. HELLO!!! Is this NOT me?? I've been doing it for years, but now I'm held accountable and I get to see RESULTS and I can see how FAR I can go with MY OWN BUSINESS in the health and wellness field. FINALLY!!!! I will get to see firsthand the healthy difference I am making in people's lives. This makes me so excited I can barely sleep at night! I can't wait to get going. I can't wait to CHANGE THE WORLD.

I met Meg a few years back when she was getting into the Beachbody business. She's been VERY OPEN and HONEST and REAL - three qualities I ADORE in people. She asked if I was interested then in Beachbody because she knew how important working out and eating healthy was to me. The timing felt off. I thought I was too busy. Baaahahaha. If I only knew... I basically hopped back into my comfort zone.

Basically the past few weeks, Beachbody has been popping into my head a ton. Although the timing feels a little off being pregnant and getting ready for life with TWO (I have NO idea how I'm going to manage the insanity that's about to hit) and just moving into a new house, when ideas or people pop in my head more than a few times, I truly believe God is working in us and through us. 

We've all heard of P90X and Insanity .Right?  I have friends who SWEAR by it. I've seen tons of posts about Shakeology too, especially in a lot of the "healthy mom blogs" I follow. They are these incredible shakes with ALL NATURAL ingredients that aide in weight loss and toning up muscles. Beachbody also PROMOTES and SWEARS by CLEAN eating. I do too. I can't stand all the foods out there that have a million ingredients in them that I can't even pronounce. I think by eating clean, I was able to drop a bunch of weight around our wedding (5 years ago) and keep it off...even going through (almost) two pregnancies. 

You ARE what you EAT!

My goal is to HELP others like YOU live out HEALTHY lifestyles by giving you ALL THE RIGHT TOOLS you need. Sick of being tired? Sick of the same ol' routine?? Sick of not fitting in your clothes? Sick of the same ol' food or not knowing what you should be eating? Sick of always thinking about who you could be but don't know how to change? Or are you just sick of being sick? I get it. I was there. Oh man, I was SO there!!! 

So here's the deal!!!!!! 

MY FIRST CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starting Aug. 4, Meg and I are running a GET HEALTHY KICK-OFF challenge. I have 10 spots open for anyone who wants to lose 5 pounds in the month of August.  It's time to feel ALIVE and healthy again! You will GET results. You will TONE up. You WILL be held accountable. And best of all you will have a BLAST!!! 

We are having an AWESOME prize too!!! We are giving the person who loses the most inches over the 30-day period, a FREE Polar FT40 Heart Rate Watch. You are able to track calories during your workouts. I have one and IT IS AWESOME!!!!!  

PRIZE

Imagine this on your wrist when you work out!!

You will be introduced and challenged into a new healthy way of living. That is the best part. Good things happen when you fuel your body and fill your life with GOOD! You can already be a healthy person too and sign up! Heck...I'm PREGNANT and I'm going to participate too!!! I want to be RIGHT next to you through this all, cheering you on! Why? Cuz I know YOU CAN DO IT. I KNOW YOU will feel AWESOME and realize life is WAITING for you to shine, to be THE BEST YOU!

To read more about Shakeology visit my site!

To join my challenge group, sign up on my site!

Interested in hearing more about this challenge? Email me at christie.koester@gmail.com or message me below!!! I can't wait to get started!

It's going to be GREAT! You're going to BE GREAT!

Tweet

Read More

House Projects and Hand Foot and Mouth

FAST WEEKENDS

Anyone ever notice how the weekends go SO fast? I have Fridays off (I am SO grateful for this!) and the weekends STILL feel extremely fast! Having Fridays off truly save me/us. I'm able to get all the housework done (and save on a cleaning lady...not sure how I feel about that!) and get us a little more organized. I also put Jackson to work! 

Before I steamed our floor

After. Can you even tell? The SHARK vacuum!

But before any of this started, the DREADED NOTE was on the door at Daycare. One case of Hand, Foot and Mouth in Jackson's classroom. OH NO. I just KNEW...KNEW...it was coming our way. We have a finger sucker. How could it not? It's going around like wildfire right now.

This weekend J was acting a little punk. I noticed he was sleepier than usual before his nap on Friday. We kept busy though, even stopping at a nursery down the way. We scooped up fresh green beans and Jackson munched on those (JUST LIKE ME!!) instead of his beloved fruit snacks. I loved this. I spent WAY too much on flowers and veggies, but couldn't resist! I was too excited to go home and get planting.

Some extra pots from our town home dying for some flowers!

DONE! 

Have you ever planted anything with a toddler? Whoa. I'm lucky I didn't get a shovel to the head or had Jackson popping the fertilizer like Pez. Jeez! This kid. I did have dirt all over my lap, feet and hair. It's OK. We survived! And it was fun. 

Love these beautiful flowers in our backyard!

Love this little dude!

Got us some Tiki torches! Those bugs are BAD!

I had to finish planting the veggies and I knew the Schwan's Man was coming AND I had a conference call coming through. I thought for SURE Jackson would take longer than an hour nap. NOPE. Wow. Juggling takes on a whole new level. But again...found a way and survived. Little J-man felt hot to me and was acting SUPER crabby. I chalked it up to little sleep.

My veggie garden. We'll see what happens this year since these are SO late. They were 50% off...

Saturday came and I was getting the same clingy, crabby Jackson. What gives? I gave him plenty of chores to do. One was making mommy and daddy coffee. He loved this. I didn't even mind that half the grounds ended up on the floor. But still. We had a family reunion to go to. He napped MAYBE 15 minutes in the car and we were off running around at the park. He was quite the pistol for us the remainder of the day. 

Homemade salsa I made for the reunion. ALL garden fresh veggies!

When J woke up on Sunday, he felt warm. He ate a pretty good breakfast but then was off. He wasn't running around. He was sitting on my lap when I was weeding. He was sitting down on his picnic bench. He was whining and crying and rubbing his eyes. He wanted to be held. What on earth? Then he got HOT. VERY HOT. Like 103 temp. I immediately gave him fluids. Maybe too many because he soaked his bed during nap and then at night too. 

I was able to get through one area of weeding this weekend!

The rest of the day he just wanted the couch. That is CRAZY. We have NEVER EVER seen him like this. He kept telling me, "fever, mommy!" Poor dude. But then he'd tell me his tooth hurt or his cheek. So after bath, I took a look with a flashlight. Sure enough...red spots and speckles in the back of his throat, side of cheeks...roof of mouth. Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAND FOOT AND MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tickling dad

Helping dad with bricks so he can sit on his picnic table without getting muddy feet!

Looks like he'll be hanging out with us the rest of the week! Poor dude. I pray for a FAST recovery. This stuff is terrible. Yuck! 

Tweet

Read More

26 Weeks Pregnant

Hello! It's me at 26-Weeks Pregnant

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about 1 2/3 pounds and measures 14 inches (about the size of a scallion) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take two to three days.

26-week's pregnant and officially the weight I was in college. 

Tons of kicking going on right now. I love it. And the weather has been great. Next week it heats up, so we'll see where I'm at with all that humidity. I can't imagine being pregnant in the summer in the deep south. Woof.

I don't know what happened last night but I was completely and totally wiped out. To the point I had to sit down a few times as I made dinner. I fell asleep on the couch while Karl gave Jackson a bath too. This NEVER happens. So after I read and prayed with Jackson, I put myself to bed and tried to crash for the night. Didn't work that well, but that's OK. My mind is always racing.

The good thing is I found time to make it to the gym last week. YAY! Yep, felt like a new person once again. So I'm carving out time this week too and am super excited for this "me" sweat-time. I did stair stepper for 25 minutes at level 8. Not bad for being away from the gym since mid-May. I swear moving into a new house was my workout the past two month. If you only saw the sets of stairs we had in the town home, you'd understand.

NO leg cramps this past week!!! (Knock on wood.) I have been drinking TONS of water and eating TONS of fruit and more walnuts this week. Is this doing the trick?? Something must be working. I also have been really focused on making and buying HEALTHY meals for the family.

Breakfast:
I switch days.
One morning is oatmeal and Malt-O-Meal mixed together with flaxseed, walnuts, fresh fruit, 2% milk and a little brown sugar and maybe 4 oz of coffee
Or else it'll be eggs with organic uncured Canadian bacon, sweet peppers and cheese and two of Karl's HEALTHY pancakes topped with flaxseed, fresh fruit and organic syrup

Snack:
The days I have oatmeal for b-fast, I have a boiled egg and a banana for my snack
The days I have eggs for b-fast, I have walnuts and a peach for my snack

Lunch:
LEFTOVERS in glass containers (not plastic) and yogurt

Dinner:
A lean meat, lots of veggies, fresh fruit. And I make enough that we have leftovers for lunch. I make the QUICK stuff. I have to. And then we EAT OUTSIDE! Oh...and sometimes I'll slip in an ice cream sandwich or a freezy!! Jackson loves these:) Me too! I forgot how good these are.

I have been feeling pretty good. I must be in the nesting stage - getting a ton of house stuff done. I get tired though. I still pee at least two times a night and wake up around 4:30/5. I try to go back to bed, but my brain won't let me.

I had my mole appointment yesterday and the skin doctor said she wasn't going to remove the five suspicious moles a volunteer doctor spotted. She said she is learning my skin and moles and gave me TWO to watch. If they grow at all, I have to get in ASAP. If not, I can wait another year. I was naked, under lights, scanners - they took notes and read my results from the moles I had removed last year. I felt good about it. Whew!!!!!!!

I weigh now what I weighed in college. 169 pounds. There you have it. Gulp. And I'm at 26 weeks. So yeah...I could push 200 pounds this time around. I cringe when I see that number. I am 5'10 and maybe have bigger bones but still.... We will see. I KNOW I'm being healthy though. It's the portions. I eat BIG BIG healthy portions. And loads of dark chocolate. Oh man.... It's OK. It'll all come off.

I keep thinking we're having a boy. A feeling came over me on this one over the weekend. I think it might have been when Jackson dropped his shorts and undies and ran around all proud, yelling..."Jackson nakens!!!"

I feel boy all of a sudden. We will see:) Our house will be HIGH ENERGY for sure. I also think I'm carrying the same again.

Thanks for reading! See you at 27 weeks!

Tweet

Read More

Skin Cancer Prevention - Mole Removal Take III

Preventing Skin Cancer
Early Detection

Here I am again - a year and five more moles later - and more skin carving. Fun stuff. This is my mole/skin post from last year. This will also link you to my mole/skin post from the year before that!

The moles we don't like this year

This past May, I went to the annual skin clinic sponsored by Park Nicollet with my friend Jenna again. (TOTALLY FREE during skin awareness month!) Thinking I might actually be in the clear this year, I instead left with a sheet that looked more like a PeeWee Herman connect-the-dots game and instructions to get in with a skin doctor as soon as I could to get my moles looked at further and cut off. Shoot!

So here I am about to go in and get sliced and diced. Our poor Health Savings Account. But this is why we have insurance, right? This is what that account is for... That, and the delivery of another baby. It'll be an expensive year for us. New car, house, baby, medical costs. Am I missing anything? Why not throw it all together in a nice neat package?

Yes, I do realize moles do change during pregnancy. However, I also know I am my best advocate and because of my awesome friend Erin who is fighting Stage 4 Melanoma, I don't take my moles or my skin lightly anymore. Not one bit. She if fighting for her life every single day. SHE was the one who saved herself!!

I know all the moles that were marked as suspicious very well. They were the exact moles I'd been watching because each one of them grew in size in a year's time. You know when you get that little voice inside you telling you something isn't right? Yeah. I'd get that voice with all these moles. Is it weird that the volunteer doctor picked them out too?

Mole growth is one of the early signs of skin cancer. They are small now (smaller than a pencil eraser), but are a lot bigger than they were last year. I decided to choose piece of mind over worry. (Come on, like I have time to worry about another thing). Once these are gone, I should have nothing to worry about until the next year when five more moles come off. :)

And for your enjoyment, here are the moles coming off! I couldn't get a photo of the two on my upper back and was going to ask Karl to take the photos but the All-Star game was in Minnesota and his favorite baseball player was involved (Pat Neshek). I knew what that meant!!! DO NOT DISTURB.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the results! Do me a favor though - PLEASE get your skin checked today.

Leg

back of arm

Front of leg

Upper thigh

Tweet

Read More

House Happenings

AWESOME MINNESOTA WEATHER

I know this weather is a little on the chilly side for July (50s and 60s) but I’m not complaining. I love it. Especially when right now the weather seems to have a large part in determining my mood. When it’s hot and sticky, I’m not the greatest person to be around. I’m dragging, tired and crabby. Bloated. 26 weeks preggers now.

LOVING this weather!

But Sunday came and the humidity dropped. I felt like a new person. We spent all day outside! So great! I love weekends like these.

Cute little WELCOME mat:) 

At 26 week’s preggers, I washed my car (with Jackson’s help), cleaned out all the big pots from our town house and got them ready to plant lots of BEAUTIFUL flowers in.  I washed the inside and outside of the first level windows in our house. I realize the screens are the really dirty part of the windows now. What a difference a squeegee makes on windows. Whoa. Jackson and I took all the chairs out from the garage and scrubbed them down. I think Jackson enjoyed controlling the hose.

BEFORE (WTF happened here, people?!?!?! Take care of your stuff!)

AFTER! LOVE IT! THANKS, DAD!

I weeded with Jackson in the backyard and put new mulch down. We caught a ton of frogs too. Big ones and little tiny ones. I cleaned up around Jackson's swing set area and can't wait to put some bricks down so he can enjoy his little picnic area without getting too muddy! I fertilized our hanging baskets. I hit up the grocery store and made some really healthy, good lunches and dinners that we ENJOYED OUTSIDE!!! I love love love this part. I love being able to sit outside. I organized our file cabinets with all the new house bills we’ve been getting and told Karl where I wanted a few more pictures hung in the house.

Weeds be gone! And new mulch!

Karl picked up a couple bird feeders and set them up with Jackson. We’re pretty excited about this because it sounds like a jungle in our backyard already and maybe we’ll bring in even more beautiful music. The yard is looking so great. Karl has been mowing and weed whacking after I pull whatever I can without getting attacked by mosquitoes. Man, the bugs are NASTY this year! Things are really coming together though.

The bird feeder was DUMPED out when we got home from work and all the squirrels, chipmunks and bunnies were fighting over the seeds. Jackson got a kick out of that! He kept saying, "GO AWAY, BUNNY!"

The day before, Karl and I had to run over to the town home to clean up a couple more things and drop off keys and garage door openers. This is getting real! Renter moved TUESDAY! I was so proud of myself. Our association told us if we took initiative we could get some of the windows replaced in the town home that were fogging up. If not, we’d start incurring a $100 monthly charge. I jumped right on this. For $25, I received a new window for our Bay window and installed it ALL BY MYSELF. I know. I know. EASY. But it’s the little things. I like being self-sufficient. I like being able to figure out challenging things and doing them. Makes me feel like I can do just about anything that comes my way. Or at least I can TRY and figure it out.

Put in this window all by myself!!! PROUD!

We tried working on the garage. VERY HARD to do with a toddler getting into EVERYTHING. I have realized I can’t do as much as I used to. The boxes are WAY too heavy now. That part is hard, but I tried to focus on putting things in the right place. Karl didn’t have as much time to go through everything before he packed them up, so I’m doing that for him now. Ufdah. 

I also made my VERY first pie EVER! Rhubarb strawberry. Not bad! Not bad. Never been a pie person but my mom left us with strawberries and rhubarb. What's a girl to do? Karl devoured almost ALL of it! We're in trouble!

My first pie!

Just a quick look at how every cabinet looked like when I opened them. I didn't realize there was this secret drawer until this week. Of course...DIRTY. More cleaning to be had!

 

It's good this is blurry, but do you see the gunk stuck to the wood? UGH! WHY?

And then Mr. Cute Man. Love this dude to pieces. Love his smiles and cuddles in the morning this week. My parents left him with a nice surprise when he got home from daycare. He loved this! A tower topped with a garbage truck! AWESOME.

Having fun at the park! ALWAYS.

Until next time! 

Tweet

Read More

25 Weeks Pregnant (Leg cramps and Tantrums)

25 Weeks

Head to heel, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

The dreaded night-time leg cramps are BACK.  NOOOO!

I almost forgot how PAINFUL these are. I drank EXTRA water yesterday to avoid these cramps at ALL COST and was OK last night, but the night before was brutal. 3 a.m. and they came on STRONG. I couldn’t get them to go away. The only thing that seemed to work was chugging tons and tons of water (which means I was up even MORE peeing). My foot literally froze and I couldn’t move it. My entire shin muscle hardens, grows into a ball and then I roar.

Well then, around 4 Jackson stood at the edge of the bed and stared at me. Bad dream? Scared of the dark? The smoke detector? 

I promise I wasn’t screaming from the leg cramps loud enough to wake anyone else. Karl barely knows what’s going on half the time when I’m up stretching and hobbling around and screaming into the pillows.

I pulled Jackson into our bed. He did the same last night, but I put him back into his bed. I don’t want this to become a habit.

But now I’ve been reminded how getting up multiple times throughout the night makes me VERY tired and makes for some LONG hard days. So of course, I’m freaking myself out remembering how tough those first few months really are. Wondering how I'm going to do it? And this time I have another little person to give a lot of attention to. Akkk.

Jackson had a full on tantrum this morning too. Whining is hard for me. I don’t like it. Who does? His daycare has been wonderful with giving us tips on how to handle this behavior. He decided he wanted cereal this morning. Great. A decision!!! I like to give him a choice. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea anymore. He spilled because he refuses to be pushed in closer to the table. So he threw his spoon. Milk went everywhere. I TRIED to ignore. I TRIED to be patient. Then he decided he wanted pancakes. So I heated up those. 

Then he was mad he couldn’t fork a piece of the pancake so the fork flew across the room. And he sobbed. I again ignored. I brought him back his fork. He then pushed me over the edge by jabbing the fork and leaving all these little holes in our BRAND NEW TABLE over and over and over again. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I yelled. Told him "no". He bawled and bawled. I went in the next room and finished folding laundry. I needed to breathe. I was so mad. What happened to our happy mornings? I’m already giving him away to someone else to watch so I cherish our mornings together and I feel so guilty when they aren’t good mornings. He carried on for quite a while. I told him I’d talk to him when he was done crying and whining. He didn’t stop. He was a basket case. I took him out of his seat and marched upstairs. He was now gasping for air. Saying he’d listen. I was still so mad. SO what did I do? I bawled my eyes out. Lovely. I just couldn’t take it anymore. PLUS, I’m hormonal and tired and feel HUGE.

ANYWAY, before I left for work I sat down with him and explained why I was so upset and we hugged and made up. But holy hell. Please tell me this won’t be an every morning deal? Part of me thinks he’s overtired! He’s been up later and up earlier. He’s in his big boy bed. He’s getting up during the night. Now he keeps telling me “No baby!” So I think he knows… MORE change is coming.

He’s a smart kid. He is.

So there’s where we are at 25 weeks. I’m pretty exhausted. But this morning I threw my workout clothes in my bag. I HAVE TO GO. I haven’t been since May. I know working out seems to exhaust me even more, but I need to do this FOR ME. This seems to be the only "ME TIME" I get right now.  I need to RELAX and working out is the one thing that seems to do that for me. So we'll see how this goes. 

Here's to a better week next week...

Tweet

Read More

A Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July!

Summer love! So sweet.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL 4th!!!! What an awesome weather and family and friend-packed weekend! Ahhhh! SUMMER. How I love you.

We are all moved in! So what does that mean? Family visited us!!! They helped hang pictures and vanity cabinets, cleaned out gutters and installed a new slop sink. We of course fed them for all their hard work:)

It's nice to see that progress is being made on the house. All our new toilets are installed and things are finding homes, or else I'm donating. Karl has been busy putting in a new sump pump, tending to the lawn, putting in a dehumidifier, hanging things for me and doing all kinds of things. I'm pretty sure he'll go nuts on me any day. We tend to move at different speeds. There are a few more updates that need to be made yet, but for the most part I feel much more settled. MUCH more!!! Every day gets better:)

Tot (my sis in law) and Jackson playing! SO great to see these guys!

Always on the go! Jackson loves to walk and run.

Jackson hanging with his best bud, Kacey. He even sang happy birthday to her!

BUBBLES!!!!!

HUGE thank you to my mom and dad and my brother and sister in law for all their help!!!!

For now, I'm ready to take it easy!!!! Everything else can wait. Even the sink faucet knobs that turn the opposite way... They can wait. Well, maybe....

AWESOME! At Costco! $13.00. Take a pack (comes with two) and stick in oven for 15 minutes. Chop up into pieces and you have STEAK fajitas!!!!!!!! Chop some bell peppers and onions (fry in olive oil), cook up black beans, avocado, tomatoes...DONE! YUM!

HUGE pregnancy craving. THESE ARE GOOD!!!!! Costco too:) 

My projects before baby #2 comes:
1. Weed and landscape outside as much as I can (the bugs are BAD though!). [And here is some of the BEST SMELLING bug spray you can get that works AWESOME.] This weeding stuff is kind of fun. I didn't realize how therapeutic it can be. Jackson gets to run around outside while I pull weeds and dig up worms. Then he comes running over and sits on my lap to see what other bugs we can uncover.

2. Wash windows and blow off screens. These are driving me NUTS. They are SO dirty. I'm ready to tackle this project, but just haven't had the time, nor am I sure I know what I'm doing. I read something about using Dawn dish soap. Might have to try this!

3. Clean out the garage. There are a few more boxes (maybe 12 or so?) to unpack and bins to move to their correct home, but for the most part, we have broken down and recycled a ton of the boxes and are having a friend pick up the awesome moving boxes. That will be NICE once those are out. Same with the old toilets. Be gone!!! Then Karl can set up his Keg-O-Rator and take the big keg out of the extra fridge and put it in that! Ahhh! More room. And we have a deep freezer that needs to be set up that holds all the deer meat.

4. SET UP BABY'S NURSERY! I walk by this room a lot since it's right outside our master bedroom. It's pink. Karl and I both think we're having another boy now. What do do? What to do? It shouldn't take TOO long to set up, but for the most part, I think we need to decide if we're keeping the pink or if we wait...

Anyway, my younger brother and sister-in-law and their dog Kacey came up on Friday. We hung out and had a fun time! Lots of YUMMY food! Homemade pizza, steak fajitas, brats and kraut on the grill all weekend long. Cookies! Rhubarb banana muffins! WATERMELON. YUMMY!  They had a wedding and dropped Kacey with us on Saturday. We had a 5-year-old birthday party to go to later that night and my parents were also coming up for the rest of weekend too! So it all worked out.

Family dinner!

The bday party was SO much fun! I think Jackson is in love. SO SO SO adorable! We LOVE this family. LOVE.

First kiss. Jackson and Eleanor. So precious. 

Jackson and Lidia. Buds for LIFE!

Sweet Jenna and her kids! Chuck turned 5!!! Man, time flies! Chuck was SO awesome and gave Jackson his beloved garbage truck toy! Jackson is in heaven. 

As much as I love having family up, it is a lot of work too. I think Karl and I are both in need of a night where we have a little normalcy... maybe a little Wheel of Fortune or a night of reading magazines in bed. Or a DATE NIGHT?? SOMETHING. We are SIMPLE people. I promise! Right now we've been up late, up early and busy busy busy with projects. Fireworks were going all night long all weekend so I think we're both pretty tired. We're not talking baby fireworks either. We're talking cannons and the big doggers at 3 a.m. Ufdah.

Time for rest. 25 weeks tomorrow!!! And busting out of my normal clothes. I REALLY have to get some maternity clothes bought. All the ones I have are for the winter...

Naughty Papa!!!!

Tweet

Read More