Baby Shower for BFF

Last weekend I got to partake in not one but two baby showers for my best friend, Hannah!  Hannah and her hubby, Andrew, moved to TX this past summer and I miss her so so much!  Now they are pregnant and expecting an adorable baby girl in July.  Hannah flew back to MD for a week and had two baby showers thrown for her.  The first one was given by her mother-in-law.  At the shower we played some games, such as tasting baby food and identifying the ingredients, Hot Baby (played like Hot Potato) and a guessing games with the gifts.

Me and my best friend, Hannah!

Someone made a fruit baby for the party.  How cute is that!

Aunt Lyndsey loves Baby Girl Beach!

College friends!  Heidi, Lindsay, Hannah, and Me

The next day, I traveled to the Eastern Shore to attend a baby shower thrown by Hannah's mother and grandmother.    She got some great gifts...this little girl is going to be the best dressed baby in Texas!

Bekah, Hannah's sister, lives in California but was able to make the baby shower via FaceTime!  Gotta love technology

Another childhood friend, Kaitlyn.

"Daddy Makes Me Smile"

How adorable is this dress?!?

This is what I gave Hannah and Baby Girl.  Hannah is a nurse and when I found this adorable onesie with a stethoscope on it, I HAD to get it for her!  Future nurse in the making!

Hannah with her mom and two grandmothers.

Hannah with her mom and mother-in-law.

My best friend is having a baby!!

College friends!

More pictures!

Hi friends and family!  Here are a few updated pictures of the house!  I took these with my iPhone this past Sunday and will hopefully have more to share when we go back to see it sometime this weekend!

Here is our garage, all filled in and ready for concrete!

Another picture of the garage.

Here is the basement with some pipes in it.  We think one of them is the radon pipes but other then that I have no idea what they are for.

And to leave you with a funny picture....see if you can find Riley....

Last weekend, Riley really wanted to be by the sliding glass door to lay in the sunshine (who can blame her, it was a gorgeous day!) but all of the packed boxes were stacked there.  So she somehow managed to hop down between the boxes and door to lay in the sunshine.  All that was good until she realized she couldn't get out!  It was pretty funny to watch her try to nose and scratch her way through the pile.  I ended up having to help her get out.  She hasn't tried to go back since then.

Happy Friday!

House House House!!!

Good morning friends and family!  It is currently snowing here in MD and schools are closed.  In fact, a lot of businesses and places are closed even though it's not that bad (in my opinion).  And I am NOT happy to be off!  I'd rather spend my days off in the summer when it is toasty and warm.  Also, snow delays our house!!!!  But the one good thing about a snow day is it allows me a day to pack since we are moving in 2 weeks, wrap presents for two birthdays and a baby shower, and bake!

In case you didn't know, Ben and I are having a house built in Howard County!  We are super excited about it!  We decided on the house back in October and the permits took awhile to go through.  They broke ground in January and (back then) they are saying it will be done in mid to late June, which would be perfect for school being out.  We'll see if it is actually done by then, fingers crossed.  Until June, Ben, Riley, and I will be moving in with Ben's parents until the house is done.  We are so lucky and blessed to have them close by and be willing to open their home to us for a few months.  I really think they are doing it just so they can have Riley for a few months ; )  Our lease is up the end of March so we decided to save some money by moving in with them.  Which means, we are packing!!!  It's hard to figure out what goes into storage and what we will need in the next 3 months.  And we have to do it all in two weeks!  Somehow, it will get done.  Maybe that's why God gave me a snow day!

Here are some first pictures of our house!

Here are some materials for something!  I have no idea though...I think it was for the basement walls.

The dirt is all dug up!  You can sort of see the layout.

Next we have basement walls!

This picture was sent to us by the sales manager.  The model home is next door so I think he went to the 2nd floor to take this one.  

Since the last few pictures, the basement walls have been poured, the garage has been filled in with dirt, and they have started laying the pipes and stuff before doing the basement floor.  I don't have pictures of these things because it was dark when we went to see it.  

Keep coming back for more updated pictures over the next few months!

Habitat for Humanity

Hello friends and family!  Yesterday, Ben and I spent our Saturday serving with our small group for Habitat for Humanity Chesapeake.  If you don't know about Habitat, it is an organization that has been around since the 1970's that builds affordable housing for families in need.  Habitat for Humanity Chesapeake has been around since 1982 and serves the Chesapeake Bay area.  It is a great organization and you should definitely check out the chapter near you!

Ben and I joined another couple from our small group, Todd and Lindsey (check out their awesome blog here for amazing recipes and DIY tutorials!) in Baltimore to serve Habitat.  The other couple in our group, David & Melissa, were supposed to come but unfortunately were too sick :(  Just means we will have to do it again!  We served in the Brooklyn area of Baltimore with some other volunteers, two Americorp volunteers, and the guy who was in charge of Habitat for the area.  We broke off into three groups to work on the three houses.  In Baltimore, Habitat mostly does rehabbing the inside of houses instead of building them from the ground up.

Our project was working on installing laminate flooring in the bedrooms of the house.  Thankfully it was an inside job!  Laying floor was hard work!  Most of the flooring was already installed except for the edges and corners of the room.  We also worked on repairing some floor pieces that were installed improperly.  We worked from about 9am-3pm with a lunch break and it looked like we didn't do much!  Most of the time was spent measuring, cutting, fitting, and then redoing it all when it didn't quite fit.  Lots of trial and error with the floor boards!  But our Americorp volunteer said we did a great job and was really pleased with our work so I guess it was productive!  I'd love to go back sometime, especially when it is a bit warmer!

Check out your local Habitat for Humanity and see how you can help!  There are plenty of options other than construction in case that's not for you.  And don't forget to check out our friends' blog, Todd & Lindsey!

Happy Thanksgiving & Getting Caught Up!

Apparently this post never got posted...oops!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  We have so much to be thankful for this year!  Today we are going to celebrate with Ben's family and then tomorrow, we are heading to the shore to celebrate with my family.

But before I talk about Thanksgiving, I need to get us all caught up!  My birthday was this past Tuesday and there was a lot of pre-birthday celebrating going on!  About 2 weeks ago, my parents, grandparents, brother & girlfriend, and Ben and I went to this AMAZING restaurant in Baltimore called Fogo de Chao.  This is a Brazilian steakhouse and what happens is when you sit down, they give you a coaster that is red on one side and green on the other.  When you are ready to eat, you turn your coaster to green and the waiters are immediately there with different kinds and cuts of meat!  They simply slice you off a section and move on, only to be replaced by another waiter.  They don't stop coming until you turn your coaster back to red.  It was a great birthday dinner and we all went home sooooo full!  It is definitely worth it because the food was fantastic.  I even got a free dessert since it was my birthday!!!  My family gave me some wonderful gifts such as some cute shoes, a new Redskins jersey to wear and tickets to the Redskins vs. Eagles game, some money, and other goodies.

  This past Saturday, Ben and I started the day off with having breakfast with his family for my birthday celebration part 2!!!  We went to Mimi's Cafe which was really yummy.  I had a Mardi Gras omelet which was sooo good, I highly recommend it if you ever go there.  His family also gave me wonderful gifts, like a beautiful shirt, pretty scarf, and an Amazon gift card!!!!  I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people wish me a happy birthday!!!

After all that birthday celebrating, Ben and I participated in the Dazzle Dash with two of our good friends, David and Melissa Saturday night.  Every year, the Howard County General Hospital puts on a light show called the Symphony of Lights. It is at Merriweather Post Pavilion and you pay to drive through with your family to see all the Christmas lights.  All of the proceeds go to the Howard County Hospital.  Well, the weekend before it opens to the driving, they have a race event and a walking event through the lights.  We did the race event and it was so much fun!  Besides the race, there are a lot of vendors with free food and activities!  It was a lot of fun and it was great to help out the hospital.  We even got a free shirt!