The Opposite of Nesting

This is my house right now:




We have started a bit of a house renovation project that I'll share with you over the next couple of weeks, but this means lots of mess around here! We had to empty our closet, back hallway, desk area, laundry room, and the list goes on.

This is definitely the OPPOSITE of nesting and getting the house organized before we add to our family. Oh well. It'll all go back...eventually! And I'll bet Max won't ever even know...or care.

This Week

I have been pretty busy this past week, but it just seems like nothing exciting enough to blog about. But...when has that ever stopped me??

Last Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary, and we spent the day doing some of our favorite things: going to the movies, going to Target (for me) and Best Buy (for Mike), and eating large quantities of steak. Since we had already traveled to St. Louis for our big anniversary celebration, it was fun just to relax and hang out together. We are counting down the days when we can just pick up and go see a movie whenever we want!

In other news, because I know you are on the edge of your seat waiting, the donut store is opening tomorrow! At least, we think they are. They are kinda tricky, so I'll believe it when I see it. I don't plan on going, because I have had my quota of donuts for the year...or at least until Friday. Some very very sweet neighbors left a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts on our front door step on Saturday, and I can't even tell you how many of them I ate. It was less than all of them, so that's a start. Things are about to get very messy around this house in a couple of days, so I'm sure I'll need a donut soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, the emergency sirens just started going off outside, so I should probably stop blogging and get off the couch and see what that's all about. It's not even raining, but I'm sure there's a good chance we're being invaded. You just never know.

Texas Showers Bring...

Mike and I got to take a quick trip to Texas last weekend, and it was fabulous! We got to see our families, friends, and (of course) eat some great foods that we miss. We didn't really go anywhere fancy, but you don't realize how much you miss simple places like Chicken Express and La Madeleine until you can't have them anymore. The day I got to have french onion soup again was a good day!

The main reason we came into town was for a baby shower. It was amazing, and I am still blown away by what amazing and generous family and friends we have. We had a great time visiting with everyone and celebrating Mr. Max!

The fabulous hostesses: Kristin, Lindsay, Katie, Jessica, Me, Amy, and Holly.
I can't tell you how much I love all of these girls!

The yummy dessert table. Kristin brought her chocolate fountain on a plane...that's dedication right there!

The super cute diaper cake Kristin made...and brought on the airplane!

Hailey (my sister) and me

Mom (soon-to-be Mimi) and me

Love the cute Max banner Jess made!

The delicious cake. Almond extract...yum!

Jessica and me. The shower was at her house, and she made everything look great! I've been waiting a long time for us to be mommies together, and I can't believe it's almost here!

My Nana and Hailey

The Big Six. These are my roommates and best friends from Baylor. We don't always get to see each other a whole lot, but I know that we'll still be getting together when we are old and gray...

I don't know...

Holly (my best friend from high school) and her sweet new baby Hadley.


After the shower. Amy and I are watching Jess' son Caleb do something. I have to post this picture, because it's the only one where Amy isn't trying to not get in the picture! I'll have to show you what she got Max (well...really me) later! Oh, and the food was delicious, Amy!

More after the shower pics:

Mike... I am apparently only going to put up strange pictures of him from now on.

Mike and Heidi. Heidi is Jessica's mom, and Mike and Amy grew up with their family.

Mike and Seth (Jess' husband). Don't they look so excited to be there?

Donut Time...maybe?

We got back late Saturday night from a quick and fabulous trip to the Lone Star state, which I will have to blog about very soon. In the meantime, I thought you might want to know that the donut-show did not go on without me. I saw this on my way to church yesterday:


Apparently things are on hold at the ol' donut shoppe. In the meantime, I ate donuts both mornings I was in Texas, so I'm good. Just waiting for the day when I pass by and see the open sign in the window!

Foto Friday

Just a few more Max pics. As you can see, he's a big fan of posing with his hands. Will he have disco fever? Or is he just too cool to take a normal photo like his dad? Who knows...

Donut Time!

Moving to a different state can be pretty hard. But nothing prepared me for what I would find in Mississippi. Or what I wouldn't find. I think I wrote about it back in the fall, but we have a serious lack of donut stores around here. Especially when you compare it to the donut mecca that is the DFW metroplex. Now, really, this isn't a horrible thing when you consider how donuts aren't super great for you. Luckily, I don't really like to think about such things.

So...imagine my euphoria when a sign popped up a few months ago announcing a donut store was coming to our town! It was perfect timing, because I figured there's no time to eat donuts like when you're pregnant! I think there's some flawed thinking in there somewhere, but I'm good with it.

I have waited...and waited...and waited. And finally it happened. This sign went up:


That's tomorrow people! Once again: euphoria. And then: depression. Because I won't be here. I will miss the grand opening. What if they give away donuts and I miss it? The thought is too much to bear. I'll be back, donuts. I'll be back.

More Max and Weekend Fun

We had a another fun weekend here in Mississippi! We started off the weekend by going to a Memphis Redbirds game with our Sunday school class. It was raining when we got there, but it turned out to be a fun (although stifling) night. I stole these pictures off of Kim's facebook. Thanks Kim!

Kim and me

Patrick, Mike, and Chris. I don't know why Mike feels the need to be so strange.

Corey and Shauna...the soon to be married couple!

Misty, Ian, Amber, and Jonathan

Mike and I left the game a little early to meet my mom at the airport. We had our 4d sonogram Saturday morning, so she flew in to go with us. It was so neat! Mr. Max was a bit of a stinker and kept his feet and hands up by his face the whole time. (That was hands AND feet...a talent that is pretty impressive). Even so, we got some fun shots of him, and it was great to get to see that all is well and he's just hanging out in there. They said he's measuring about 3.5 pounds, and the sonographer showed us that he already has a bunch of hair. So...I'm ready for a big, hairy baby...ha!

I haven't scanned in the pictures yet, but here's one I pulled off the video. It's not the best, but you can see he's clearly going to have a great karate chop. I promise I'll post more when I get them scanned.

Mike and me at On the Border after the sonogram. Have I ever mentioned that it's the closest thing to Tex Mex we have around here? I do miss me some Tex Mex food!

My mom and me

After lunch we did some shopping (okay a lot of shopping) and came back and hung out around the house. A perfect ending to a really fun day!

And just because...here are just a few 29 weeks pictures:

St. Louis, Part the Last

The rest of our weekend in St. Louis was full of fun! Saturday we left our hotel room at 9:30 in the morning and didn't get back until 11:30 that night. It was a blast, but we were exhausted.

We started the day at Union Station, which was a major railroad hub "back in the day." Then we made our way to the Science Center, and it was a blast. A lot of sections are free, but you can pay extra for special exhibits. We spent a lot of time in the "Pirates" exhibit, and then we went to the planetarium. Yes, you heard me right. The planetarium. It was pretty much like being on an elementary school field trip, except we didn't have teachers telling us to be quiet when we laughed. Not that we would do such a thing. But if we did we would have been very quiet about it. Next it was on to the St. Louis Galleria, where there was shopping and eating to be had. And a movie of course. Because no weekend is complete without seeing Jacob and Edward fight over Bella.

Union Station

Mike getting excited about science!

No pictures in the pirates exhibit, but it was really neat. A lot cooler than I thought it would be. Just FYI: cooler is a relative term when you are talking to a librarian.

The planetarium is across the highway, so you take a bridge over. It's really neat, and it has cutouts where kids can watch the cars pass under their feet. And people like me who took a ridiculous amount of pictures trying to catch a car passing underneath.

It didn't work.

It's Mike. And a dinosaur.

Sunday we went to the COOLEST museum ever, the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. I couldn't do most of it, like the 10 story slide, but I did manage to get lost in the enchanted caves. And let me tell you, enchanted caves can get mighty warm. I can't wait to go back when our kids get closer to preschool and elementary age. There are secret tunnels they can crawl through underground, random slides everywhere, and iron work that creates a system of tunnels that leads virtually everywhere. They can literally climb the walls...even the ceiling...and it is all built to be fun and safe.

On the roof at the city museum. You could pay a little extra to go up there, and you could ride the ferris wheel, slide, and climb all over the place. Somehow riding the ferris wheel 10 stories above downtown frightened me.

Mike sliding.

Stuck!

This was one of the places you could climb. If you are brave enough, you can climb up the walls, across the roof, and into a spire on the top top of the building to look around. I think there's a slide up there too. Like I said...no climbing for me!

A quick stop at the arch. They had vendors, airshows, and concerts all weekend before the fireworks shows, but it was so super hot outside. So...we ate a corny dog, I sprayed my dress with mustard, and then we went back to our hotel.

One of the best parts of the trip was the fireworks show over the arch. Our hotel room looked out over the arch and river, so we could see the whole thing from our hotel room. And since we were on the 10th floor we could see all the other fireworks in the area too. Unfortunately, fireworks don't photograph so well from behind glass.

Monday we got up, went to the FREE and super nice zoo, and then headed back to Mississippi. It was a great weekend, and I can't wait to go back!