Marching into March

Well its official that I am now a quarter of a century old. My 25th birthday came and went on the 27th. It just doesn't seem as exciting anymore to turn a year older.... sigh....

However on a happy note I have officially entered trimester three when I hit week 27 on Tuesday. I guess 27 seems to be working for me :). I'm so excited to be so close to the end of this pregnancy. I saw my doctor and she told me that my belly is a bit big in measurements which is so depressing. But she said it may be due to where the baby was positioned that day. Fingers crossed. Well but on the upside I'm getting to be a mom through this whole experience.

We are currently in the process of decluttering, organizing, and cleaning our apartment. We've decided to stay here to be able to save money for the future. Smart decision but man we have a lot of junk. My goal is to have everything clean prior to the start of Spring Break. Because this marks the beginning of baby showers which is so exciting but it also means more stuff!

Now as Matt's birthday approaches I must think of a great gift for him... hmmmm....

Kats, A Camel, and my Tigers

Ok I need to start updating more frequently so I don't have to combine so much randomness! However my delays have all been because of my fancy new camera and the missing USB cord. But good news! Its been found and now I can chronicle my life again. So here we go since the last post...
   Matthew and I traveled to Frisco, Texas to cheer on our Bearkats! Unfortunately the game did not go in our favor but it was still fantastic to see amazing old friends and witness history as SHSU played in its first National Championship. Pretty amazing. I did get to see my bestie Melody who was creepily/casually holding onto my arm during tailgate. I also let her touch my belly and for those of you who know this is not in my comfort zone at all! But we saw tons of other amazing friends and I couldn't be more blessed to have my degree from such a fantastic university :)                 

Pictured here is the beautiful presentation of the flags by a guy who jumped from a plan with the flags attached to him. So they just floated down to the field so beautifully. Totally unexpected!


 Needless to say I love SHSU and I couldn't be more proud to be a Bearkat. Hopefully we return next year for another chance to win the championship!

Last weekend Matthew and I met up with our amazing friends, Jon and Stephanie who are just too far from us! I love having that couple who we just mesh so well with and I wish they didn't live quite so far away! But anyways... we traveled to Medina, Texas. Here is why.

Last April my husband called me and said he had exciting news. He was elected to the board of directors for his fraternity. Big deal for Matt. The exciting news for me was that in January I could travel to this mysterious place with him. One of the alumni for his fraternity owns this amazing ranch in Medina and Matt is so excited to attend the reunion held there every April. Before we got married he informed me that he would be attending every year and if this was an issue our marriage would not work. So to actually see this place that makes him so happy I believe made me help to understand him more.  When we arrived we first saw kangaroos, exotic deer and a bison. Then we rounded the driveway to his house and I thought I saw a moose. But after talking to the owner we were soon told it was just an elk. He told us that his elk was not quite so people-friendly yet but that if he put his head down to just walk away. He also shared with us that recently this new elk had dug his horns into someone's suburban... made me feel great since we drove my car. But luckily we survived with no incidents. We also were greeted by the guard dogs AKA his new turkeys.

 The turkeys definitely protected the yard. We saw so many amazing animals but the most famous hid the first day and then came out to play on the second day. I finally got to see RJ the famous camel who has appeared in so many alumni composites. I had such an amazing weekend and met so many great alumni and their wives. We enjoyed so much great food too! I tried duck for the first time (yummy) and had amazing crawfish bisque. So much more than I was expecting. When I asked Matt for the itinerary for the weekend he said "well we will get there, have dinner, have breakfast in the morning, lunch, another big dinner, breakfast and then we will leave". But after having the amazing food I can see why his focus was on the food. I'm posting more pictures of the beautiful animals on Facebook :)

My last update was traveling to Galveston this weekend with my FCCLA students. Last year I took ten girls and had such an amazing trip. This year I traveled with two other advisors, 23 female students, 1 male student, his dad, and a bus driver. Even though the number of people was almost tripled I still had such a great trip. It makes my day to see my students so successful and be able to share their successes with them. I am so proud to come from such an amazing school district who supports their students and loves to see them compete. We came home with an Attendance Award, 11 gold medals, 2 silver medals, 2 first places, 3 second places and a 3rd place. I cannot complain! I am one happy lady!

ITS A GIRL! Crafts & a Name :)

Yes I know I'm like a week late on this post but with family and friends visiting and ringing in the new year... o and of course crafting, I just haven't had the time to sit down and blog!

We found out Tuesday, Dec. 27 that we are having a baby girl due on May 30! Woo! We were so excited. The ultrasound process was very long and unexpected. I've always thought I just would go in and they'd say boy or girl. But of course I was wrong, they had to take a bunch of measurements for my doctor. Well our beautiful bundle of joy is apparently not the most cooperative and made the technician work for her pictures. We did not get a DVD because she would not stay still long enough to really see much. I think she may be camera shy. So since we have found out its a girl I of course had to get straight to work...

 Sorry these pictures our sideways! I got a new camera for Christmas (YEAH!) and I haven't quite figured everything out once I transfer the images.

Here is my first attempt at embellishing a onesie! Pretty proud! I even used the scraps to make a fabric flower. Love the colors!

 Outfit #2 I think it looks kinda like prairie-esque. This is another embellished onesie with an added skirt. I used the scraps from this outfit to make a fabric bow with an added button to match the outfit. I'm in love! I'm going to have to continue making these this afternooon :) We are going to have one fabulous little girl!

 Here is our "Greeter Deterrent". I got the idea from Cluck Cluck Sew. This is basically a lightweight car seat cover to hinder strangers from wanting to touch your baby. I think that is slightly important. I made my a little different by making it into a quilt like style because I had a bunch of fabric squares already cut and waiting for a project. Now I just need a car seat so I can attach the straps. But its more fun to sew than to buy the big necessities.

Last Show-N-Tell I promise. Well at least for today! This is the Petal Pillow also from Cluck Cluck Sew . She has some awesome tutorials! This is for our baby girl's room. I thought it would be super cute in a glider. We are doing her room in a fuchsia/grey/pearl/black combo. Fuchsia is such a difficult color to find the exact shade I want. Still working on finding the right color for the crib bedding.




Ok thats all I have to show off today! But I still have plenty of vacation to craft! No work until January 9th! I love being a teacher! O and of course the most important news other than that we are having a girl is her name! We've decided on Paisley Jaiden :)

Holidays are Coming!

 I ADORE Christmas time! It is my favorite time of the year. I love family time, decorations, vacation, and celebrating the reason for the season.

So I told my students about my obsession with Christmas and having everything match with a theme of colors. Last year we had a Cowboys themed tree. This year upon Matt's request I included a smaller mini tree that was Mavericks themed. My students thought I was insane as I explained that only matching ornaments can go on the big tree and all other family, gift, etc. ornaments must go on the smaller tree. I think it works for me and it makes me happy which is most important! I also have always had a small obsession with having solid brown wrapping paper. Matt says it looks like cardboard. I say its gorgeous. But then a few days ago we ran out and apparently everyone in town agreed that brown is beautiful because it

 was all sold out! Frustrating so we had to add solid white wrapping paper. Its okay...


This is not the best picture but my awesome mother-in-law gifted to me this pair of salt & pepper shakers. She received a set and so she wanted to pass on the tradition. I love them because they are so darn cute!

 So Matt is not a huge Christmas fan. Which is why I compromise on the sports themed Christmas trees. He does however love Nutcrackers and Snowglobes. So he has started a small collection of Nutcrackers and it wouldn't be in Matt style if they were German and Irish Nutcrackers. Of course...

I did have a student gift me a snow globe this year! It was a little snowmen family. I was so excited!

This is my show-and-tell time! My co-workers have been making these sprocket pillows and I have been itching to go to the fabric store to make some! SO as soon as school was released I rushed to the quilt store and found this adorable Sock Monkey Santa print. The side is brown and looks knit. So adorable! Anyways I'm just pretty proud! I have a few other projects in the works so hopefully I can finish and show them off soon!

Most Bright, Most Famous

Who knew my name was from a Latin origin and meant "Most Bright and Most Famous" made popular by a novel written in 1748. I know I certainly did not. But these are the things I'm learning as I search for names for our little avocado. I am loving this process... but I'm also feeling a bit overwhelmed. Not quite sure what direction to go in... classic, unique, or something in between. I can't wait until we find out boy or girl so I can get some serious crafting done this holiday break :) It is all I can think about because it is quickly approaching!

Pitter Patter

Friday I went to the doctor and heard the heartbeat for the first time! I was so nervous because it seemed to take FOREVER for the doctor to find it... but then when she did it was the most precious sound :) I'm 15 weeks today and as my belly continues to grow so does my excitement. Now we just wait until Dec.27th until we find out the sex. :)

Update!

So I have definitely been M.I.A. from my blog! Life has just been so crazy. We found out right after our trip to Louisiana that we were expecting our first baby. Yeah! We are so incredibly excited. So between all of the excitement, doctor's appointments and work my blog has gotten neglected. But I am back and I hope to make this a weekly post... or at least until the little one arrives. Then some priority may be given to he/she.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving. And OF COURSE I forget my camera so I have nothing to show for all of my hard work. But it was beautiful and tasty. Matt fried a turkey for the first time and it came out so much better than I expected. I also made his family's Chestnut Sausage Dressing which was so yummy! I was so impressed with myself for the first time to make it! And who knew chestnuts were so difficult to find. But for future reference I now know its best to order them in advance. My dad also came to visit and stayed for several days. He brought homemade tamales compliments of my stepmom. She is supposed to come in December to teach me how to make tamales... Matt couldn't be more hopeful.

Well that is it for this post because Matt is making me dinner and I'm salivating at the thought of eating.... its so weird how quickly everything changes. But I love every second and I am so grateful that we have this blessing in our lives. I will update soon to show off my Christmas decor skills in our tiny apartment!