Halloween Picture Reel

It was a nice night, with welcomed beautiful weather, and tons of kids on my mom's street. It was estimated that we had about 300-500 kids. As Mr. Hunt said, it felt like we were in a Disney movie (or Disney World!) with such a crowded street. I love it.

Family memories in the making!! Love them...

Adorable nieces...(Rob's sister's daughters)

Cuties growing up so fast...

Love this pic of them...

Me and baby boy...last minute created the little "pumpkin" by cutting out the face pattern in felt and sticking it on me with double-sided tape...

I hope you all had a nice evening, whether chaotic or calm. Can you believe it's now November?????

Nautical and Whimsy Art

Ah, I want to start this by saying that I'm so happy that I'm done with this piece. And I'm also so happy that when I finished the piece, I still actually like it. It's really the biggest bummer whenever you put so much time into something, and then in the end, you want to chuck it out the window.

For baby boy's room, I'm feeling pretty good about the direction of art. I'm trying to keep my motivation going as the months are dwindling down.

I knew I wanted to draw a city along a coast, with a boat and a hot air balloon. Lol, it's so nice that I didn't have to search Etsy for something that specific. Here's the preliminary drawing...

Anyway, the city part is very special to me. I've been drawing these city's since I was 12? or something. My mom has a huge show board in the attic with my first city drawing that was inspired by a New York t-shirt of mine. Most of my handmade cards that I make, have a city on the back (mimicking the Hallmark crown) and signed Leemark. So original. :)

I drew one of these cities for Lar and gave it to her at our rehearsal dinner.

Sadly, I learned that markers (even the fancy Prismacolor ones) don't hold when colored on a canvas...makes sense, but I didn't think of it then, so that picture faded incredibly.

So this time I used colored pencils and a sharpie marker outline on a presentation board (that's white on one side, black on the other) You've probably already scrolled to the end result, so there's really no reason for me to keep rambling. :)

Here it is all nice and framed...

I'm trying not to let the bad lighting and contrast in these photos bother me...I didn't have the patience to go outside and do some natural lighting shots. Breathe, and letting it go...

ANYWAY, I'm loving it and it's looking so good with all the other things that will be going in his room. Only three more small art pieces to figure out!

Pregnancy Emotions & Expectations...Ya Know, Fun Stuff!

I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of my emotions throughout this pregnancy. It's definitely been a roller coaster...from shock, to fear, to anxiety, to joy, to love, to anticipation, back to fear and shock. All over the place.

While I would've imagined finding out would have been a blissful event with Rob hugging me and spinning me around, in reality when Rob and I first found out, pardon my language, but the first words out of my mouth were "oh shit!". It was said with a smile, but also said with wide eyes and a clearly shocked face. We did hug and laugh about it, but oh my, what shock. Until you get pregnant for the first time, it's obviously always someone else getting pregnant and having the babies. It's never been me.

A lot of the early fear was just the fear of being sick all the time...I truly was just not looking forward to going through that. Well, who would? I realized that pregnancy is letting go of the control you have (or think you have) over your body...it's a very uncomfortable place originally if you like to be in control.

Week 6 of Rob and I finding out and then telling our family was THE longest pregnancy week ever, lol. We had plans of telling our family and friends in real creative ways, but because I just needed to get it off my chest, I just practically blurted it out. There were some hives involved as well. Lol, just like the first time they appeared while I was walking down the aisle to Rob. (I was clueless and didn't even feel that nervous!)

As the weeks went on, and friends and family were let in on the news, the joy and thankfulness started to fill my heart. Even though our first appointment was rocky (and I almost passed out...I'm a lil heat sensitive) the appointments afterward got better and better. A confidence in me that I can do this filled me up.

I've also been trying to stay in prayer about everything. Any concern that comes to mind, I try to leave it with God. Key word, try. His peace and comfort has truly been amazing through this process. Even though I'll think to myself, "people go through much worse, Lee, this is just pregnancy!" I know that God still cares, just have to keep reminding myself. Each person has to face their own things, right?

Well here I am, over 30 weeks and still in unbelief. I try not to overly anticipate the day of labor...trying to just tell myself that it's only one day and that I can do this. I should mention that when doing something strenuous, mentally I tend to not be very strong. Like when it comes to running or working out...I so easily feel like I'm going to die (hello heat sensitivity! lol) and will just stop. So I just find myself saying, "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, yeah, I've never been in the hospital since I was born, but I can do this."

I've also felt a huge release this past week to not feel like everything in the house needs to be ready. The basics, yes, but I don't need to furnish and decorate our extra living space and stress about that...more money in savings would be better. Thankful for that wisdom that has pierced my mind to just take it easy. There's stuff to do and we will get to it...but I don't need to be actively thinking about it all the time.

Then all the thoughts surrounding parenting, and the expectations we or just our culture inadvertently have. You can easily overwhelm yourself with advice. We're trying to approach things simply. Rob and I have been talking parenting for years, not that it'll go as we plan or anything, but knowing we're on the same page is a good start.

Speaking of Rob and I, a friend of mine sent me this article speaking of redefining your marriage after having a child and things to watch out for. I won't rehash it, but it's really good. Has some great wisdom in there.

Well, all this rambling, but just wanted to document all the random emotions that have gone through this brain. I just remember the comfort I felt from hearing other's experiences, so maybe someone can relate...maybe not.

Feel free to share your experiences as well! Would love to hear. :)

Bump update!

How far along? 30 weeks (wowzers)

Total weight gain/loss: I think like 19 pounds or something...crazy that I don't really feel it

Maternity clothes? Oh yes!

Stretch marks? No

Symptoms: Still feeling really good. Noticing that I'm getting a little more tired and slower, and bending to pick something up is becoming a chore, but still feeling great.

Sleep: Still sleeping great...since I'm getting a little more tired, I'm falling asleep rather quickly. Definitely appreciating this sleep while I have it.

Best moments this week: Celebrating Larsen's life with her family and friends. Also, our weather has been quite beautiful this week, and next week it's going to be even cooler...I'm so excited about a non-sweaty Halloween.

Movement: Yes, yes, and yes. He's definitely moving. Love watching my whole belly shake from a good kick that I'll feel on both sides at the same time. I'm sure he's getting cramped in there. :)

Cravings: Nope

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: Noticed that I'll feel a tightening on my whole belly that makes it feel like a rock, I'm wondering if that might be a braxton hicks contraction...I'm keeping an eye on it.

Belly Button in or out? Still in!

What I miss: Bending over with ease

What I am looking forward to: Well the shower is in less than two weeks now, crazy, crazy. I'm really looking forward to that and seeing lots of friends and family.

Weekly Wisdom: I've finally accepted the wisdom that not everything on my mental list needs to be done before baby boy comes. It felt like a huge burden was taken off of me when I really accepted that and let go of a few things that I had on my priority list that are really not a necessary priority.

Milestones: 30 weeks sounds like quite a milestone to me! My goodness. Also, my appointments are now going to be every two weeks since we're getting close. My, oh my, this is getting real.

Dance With Me

In honor of Lar's passing two years ago today, I wanted to share a favorite worship song of hers that I recorded last year. I remember her coming home from camp and excited to share this new song with me. I can see it all so clearly...me sitting on the floor of her bedroom as she sang and played it for me on her guitar. The song has grown to bless me in numerous ways, so I wanted to share it on this blog as it may be a blessing to some of you.

Dance With Me

Love you always, Lar. You're forever in our hearts.

Oreo Truffles

Let me start out this post by giving a shout out to the recipe, found here on Chef-In-Training.

I found this recipe last year and have made it numerous times. I truly make it for Rob's enjoyment as this man has described his experience with these truffles as "an indescribable experience that makes him want to cry" I guess with joy, because he loves them. :)

Best part about this recipe is that it only requires 3 ingredients. Double stuffed oreos, cream cheese and dipping chocolate.

First starting with the oreos...

I dumped the whole bag into a large ziplock bag...

And then mashed the cookies with my hands/fists/elbows until they looked like this...definitely burned some calories in the process. (if you have fancy kitchen gadgets like a food processor, that definitely works)

Then I dumped the contents into a mixing bowl. I should mention that if you mash the cookies in a bag, you have to scrape the bag a bit to get all of the cream off of it. The cream is very important for the consistency.

Added about 3 1/2 oz of cream cheese (recipe calls for 4 oz, however for Rob, 4 oz was a tad too cream-cheesey) Then got to mixing...with my hands...

Then I rolled the mixture into about 1-1 1/2 inch balls, and placed them on a wax paper covered tray.

Oh yeah, sportin the sweats. I then placed the tray in the freezer for about 15 minutes and got to melting my white chocolate.

The recipe calls to immerse the truffles in the chocolate, but for Rob that was too much chocolate, so I ended up just dipping the tops of them in the chocolate...it was way too late to try to be more creative.

Found these at Target for $2.50...and sprinkled them on the white chocolate...

And ta-da!

Oreo truffles with a Halloween-y twist. I thought later it could be fun to make these truffles look like eyeballs...however, it was just a nice thought. Maybe next year...and maybe if I hadn't started these at 10:30pm. Eek.

I should also mention that I doubled the recipe. This is how many truffles come out of two bags of double stuffed oreos, just to give you an idea of the serving size.

Happy mid-week everyone!

Whaley The Whale, Part Two

Well...whaley just wasn't sitting right with me. Not that he didn't look good, but the whole look I'm going for Finn's room has its specifics. So here's what whaley was looking like before...

I think I figured out what was bothering me about him. I think the stripes were feeling a little too babyish for what I'm going for in his room. I'm totally into stripes, but for some reason it just wasn't cuttin it for me.

So, I did a bit of that. Cuttin, that is...

Yep. After all that time of coloring those stripes and measuring them...it's now just scraps. Lol, but I think I got what I wanted now.

I found some brown paper behind Rob's desk and crinkled it up real good to add some texture. Then secured whaley to that...and here she blows, part two...

Simple, but definitely more up my alley...or shall I say galley. Nautical puns are getting too easy. :) I think this shall be the last and final part of the whaley chronicles.

Overwhelmed by the response to the post about Larsen, but shouldn't be surprised. She touched many lives, and continues to.

Love to you all!