It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Saturday after Thanksgiving has become our day to put up Christmas decor. We both have been looking forward to having the Christmas tree up in our house for weeks. We have been playing Christmas music since right after Halloween so you can imagine the excitement when we finally were able to put the tree up.

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving morning Mr. G pulled a muscle in his back working out so he wasn't feeling very good all day today. And I have been dealing with a bad case of morning sickness yesterday and today so I wasn't feeling great either. In fact, I took a nap from 11 to 3 in the afternoon and I woke up still tired and feeling nauseous. Mr. G and I then played a game of rummy and he killed me, which didn't make me feel any better.

Then I made supper. I made myself a healthy veggie omelet with all organic vegetables and eggs. Then I made Mr. G an egg burrito with his cheese, jalapenos, and sour cream. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the sour cream expired in June of 2010, but I told him it should be okay. I guess it tasted pretty sour so that didn't make him feel much better.

But then the big moment came after supper. We put on "Polar Express" and started assembling the Christmas tree.

After the tree we put out all our Christmas decor. There is something about a house filled with Christmas stuff. It just feels more homey. It was especially exciting putting the Christmas stuff up this year since this is our first Christmas without the wall in the center of our house. Plus, this is our first Christmas with Marley. He walked around while we were putting everything up investigating everything. Then he turned and looked at us as if to say, "You guys are crazy." But I am sure he will love Christmas when he gets his special Christmas bone Christmas morning.

Well, now that our house screams Christmas I have sat down to blog about it and Mr. G is lying on the couch with a heating pad on his back. Every now and again I will hear him moan and I will realize that the heating pad has fallen off, so I will go and reposition it for him. It is amazing how old we are already getting.

One more exciting thing about this Christmas is thinking about next Christmas when our lil one is here, God willing. Oh what a wonderful Christmas that will be. Until then Mr. G and Marley and I .....and Mickey when he gets the chance to come over....will enjoy this wonderful time of the year.

Baby on the Way!!!

The day has finally come when I can tell you that Mr. G and I are expecting our first child. I can't tell you what joy it gives me to be able to say that. I have waited for this day for so long and finally the day is here and Mr. G and I could not be happier.

Back in August Mr. G and I decided to start trying for children. September I took a pregnancy test at 4:00 in the morning and it came back positive. I had a feeling that I was pregnant but I didn't know if my mind was playing with me or if it was for real, so once I saw the positive test I knew I was right. I am pregnant. I waited to tell Mr. G until after he got off work that day. We went for a picnic at our favorite spot on the shores of Rend Lake. It was the same spot that Mr. G first said he loved me and where he proposed to me. We sat on the back of his truck talking and eating our lunch when I turned to him and said, "This place is where you first said you loved me, where you proposed to me, and where I told you that you are going to be a daddy."

At first Mr. G just smiled and then he looked at me confused and said, "What did you said." I then I told him that I am pregnant. He was so happy. He hugged me so tight with tears in his eyes and then kissed me ever so gently. It was the perfect moment. We spent the rest of the day telling family.

Now that I am 11 weeks and 1 day along I believe that it is time to finally tell you guys. In fact, today I went to the doctor and we were able to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It was the most amazing experience I have ever had. To hear a living being inside of me brought tears to my eyes. I will never forget that sound.



"Thank you, Lord, for this precious gift that you gave us. We know that this is a blessing straight from you and we will do our best to honor you with this child every day of our lives. We know that you have a purpose for this child and we look forward to being a part of your wonderful plan. I pray you bless the remainder of this pregnancy and bless this child as he/she grows into who you want them to be."



Mr. G took a short video of us at the doctor today. It isn't very long but in the background you can hear the faint sounds of a lil heartbeat.....our lil baby's heartbeat.

Youth Soccer

These pictures were taken back during the end of summer when youth soccer was still going on for the YMCA. Now I must say that there were a lot of really cute kids and they were fun to watch, but there was one person who really stood out more than all the others. Doesn't my hubby look cute out there playing? He was the MVP of youth soccer!!! Actually he was the ref and the director of the whole soccer program, but he had just as much fun as those kids.

At this point he still doesn't notice that I am there watching him and so I can't get him to look my way. He is just too focused on his job, I guess that is why he is the best. But it sure would make me feel special if he would just throw a smile my direction.

One thing that is amazing about all these programs that Mr. G puts together for the YMCA is the turn out. There are so many kids that play and many families that come to watch. You always love the times when you see a kid stop during the game and turn toward the crowd and say, "Hi mom." Or when a team gets a goal because the goalie gets caught picking his nose. Or when you have a pile up and 10 kids go home crying from a scratched knee.

Of course the best would be if my husband would finally turn and notice that I am here. What ever happened to having that sixth sense when you are married that tells you to turn around and look at your spouse?

Oh well....I guess I see him enough at home.

Cleaning the Gutters

I have a quick question for everyone. Nothing hard....I just want you to think back to what your husband looked like after he cleaned the gutters.
I remember my husband cleaning the gutters last year. I remember him climbing up on the roof with gloves on and taking all the gunk out of the gutters by hand and throwing it on the ground. I remember it was kind of messy but nothing terrible. But this time my husband asked to borrow something from our neighbors to clean our gutters. It made it so my husband didn't have to use a ladder or get on the roof. But it sure did cause a mess. He realized afterwards that he probably shouldn't of used the machine right after it rained, but he noticed our neighbor watching him so he felt like he should keep going despite the mud spraying falling all over him.

One amazing thing about this hubby of mine is he can still smile even when something doesn't quite go his way. He makes life so much fun.

Little House on the Prairie

Is anybody else a huge "Little House on the Prairie" fan like me? I have always enjoyed watching and reading all about Laura Ingalls Wilder and my interest in the show has grown with age. I love the simple life style and the strong family bonds. Everybody has a faith in God to some degree and they all work together. It is like a little piece of heaven. Well, Mr. G and I were blessed to have a chance to visit the real little house on the prairie and all the buildings that Laura lived near. My brother who just moved to Kansas was our tour guide. The bad part was we went on a Sunday so all the buildings were closed but we still enjoyed what we saw.

This is Sunny Side School house and what was used for the church building on Sundays. Unfortunately, the front door was locked so we were unable to see inside.

But my crafty husband found that the back door was unlocked so we slipped inside and took a few pictures. I know what your thinking......first you go to church in the morning and then commit a crime in the afternoon. I admit we are hypocrites but I am glad we did it. The school room was absolutely amazing.

This was the post office. We couldn't find any unlocked doors to it, so we just took a quick picture and moved on. One thing that was really neat about the area was the open plains. There was one hill off in the distance but other than that it was pretty flat. And my brother reminded me that we are seeing the exact same landscape that Laura saw growing up. How neat is that?

Now, I am not for sure if this is the real wagon that Charles Ingalls rode on, but it was similar. I can't imagine the aches and pains you would get from riding on one of these for a couple hours. But, it was fun to look at.

I found it important to take a picture of the outhouse. What you can't see in this picture is the brand new bathrooms in the brick building right next to it.

This well is very special because it is the actual well that Charles Ingalls built and almost died while building when Laura was a lil girl. It talks about this well in one of her books.

This was a house but I don't know what it was from or who lived there. I am thinking it is the house for the people who own the land now and work it.

This was where Laura Ingalls lived. This was the house that Charles Ingalls built for his family. I would've loved to seen inside.

And here is the person that caused the whole trip, my brother. This was Sunday morning after he finished preaching. We chose to go visit him this particular weekend so we could hear him preach and he did a great job. There was actually a line waiting to talk to him after he spoke, but I got a picture of the last couple. Unfortunately, the picture was blurry.