just about there.

2 days shy of 40 weeks.

So I recently realized that I've been posting baby bump pictures on my Facebook (and in my journal for Elijah), but not here.  So before this little guy shows his face, here's one for the Bry & Sar Graden family history.

After an emotional roller coaster with Alex being late, I've decided to just prepare mentally for this little guy being late.  So here we are less than 2 days away from the due date and I'm fine that there isn't much going on in the contraction department.  Once my Mom gets here (Saturday afternoon) and Dr. Smith is back in town (Monday)...bring it on ;0)  However, we do have a lot of February family birthdays, so I'm secretly fine if he's born in March.  Like March 1st would be a cool birth date... 3.1.13 don't you think? ;0)  In any case, he'd share a birth month with my Mom.  But who knows, babies have their own time tables.  So for now I'll keep playing the role of ticking time bomb, and one of these days a post devoted to our very own Elijah will be up :0)

Pjs, Pizza Hut and Princess Bride.

This year we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a little differently.  We set up a formal dinner for just the kiddos (well as formal as you can be with paper plates, plastic ware and our "kids' menu").  Hotdogs, french fries, fruit cocktail, fruit punch and chocolate pudding--don't worry, this is not a typical menu ;0)  Bry and I were the servers and referred to Brie and Alex as Miss and Mr. Graden.  Brie spoke in her "grown up" voice, used her napkin and tried to be polite...Alex on the other hand dug right in and was covered with pudding by the end of the meal!  We cleared their plates, brought them requested items, wiped up spilled juice here and spilled pudding there, and danced in the kitchen while they ate.

After dinner we piled in the van and headed over to Ted Drewe's for Strawberry Oreo concretes.  YUM!  Thanks Mom & Dad for treating us, long distance :0)

When we got home we got the kids ready for bed, our $10 Pizza Hut meal was delivered, we hooked up my computer monitor to Bry's laptop in our room, changed into PJs, put our sparkling cider on ice and watched "Princess Bride" in bed.  It was so laid back and relaxing...the perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day 9 months pregnant.  

I sure enjoyed celebrating the day with my little family.  I love them buckets and buckets and buckets.

Treasure Hunting, take 4.

The other day (9 Feb) Bry listened for Alex while Brie, Tiffany, Laura, Meghann and I headed over to the Outlet.  We had a great time treasure hunting for ourselves and for each other.  Here are my treasures for this round:

1 pair brown leather boots

1 brown Liz Claiborne belt

1 pair of red leather woven shoes

1 striped button up shirt

1 pair of red workout/lounge capris

1 pillowcase

1 {NEW} mini leather photo album

1 mini dump truck

1 toddler toy tool bench

1 heart belt for Brie

--------------------------

$5.84  TOTAL

New boots and new belt...and my 38 week baby bump ;0)

Hearts all Around.

I LOVE the month of February with all the pink and hearts and love that abounds.  Here have been some of the highlights so far:

Designing Valentine postcards * making heart-shaped food * leaving Bry love notes on his lunch tupperware (dry erase marker) * making valentine's with Brie (pixie stix on cutout hearts) and walking around with her & Alex to pass them out to friends in the complex * designing a notepad (from the desk of Bryan Graden) and t-shirts for Bry's Valentine's Day present * making heart-shaped cranberry orange muffins with Bry for the families we home & visit teach * a CUTE valentine's package from Grauntie Elaine (she is so thoughtful to send us something for just about every special occasion!) * putting together "valentine packages" for each of the employees at Dr. Smith's office AND especially delivering them with my little cupid assistant Brie (they LOVED them and it was SO fun seeing the smiles that Brie brought to their faces as she handed them out :0)) * Bry & some sweet friends helping our neighborhood potluck turn out to be fun even though it bombed in the neighbor department (thank heavens sweet Elizabeth dropped in!!) * the "Valentine's Fairy" leaving a trail of heart and suckers for Brie and Alex * Em sending us the CUTEST, most thoughtful homemade valentines * sweet Azhar dropping off a waffle bowl of chocolate ice cream & strawberries as a valentine's treat * Mom & Dad giving us money to go to Ted Drewe's * Bry giving me a much wanted digital clock (and picture frame) *

An official Valentine's Day post is up next!

Sending LOTS of love...

 

...your way.  Happy Valentine's Day! :0)

the Big 30!

 

 

{The Sunday before my birthday I commented on an adorable little birthday banner at my friend, Melissa's house.  Well Melissa, I mean a little bird told Cara (who was the mastermind behind the banner) ;0).  So guess who came home to her very own birthday banner? delivered on her birthday and everything?!  WOW.  Can we say thoughtful?! I'm sure it will forevermore be our family's birthday banner-- it's WAY better than the Dollar Tree version I've been hanging up every year :0)}

On Ground Hog Day (2 Feb.) Rach and I turned 30!  It feels weird to leave behind the twenties, but it's honestly nice to see how much has happened and far I've come in the last decade.  And I'm excited to see what life and the Lord has in store for me these next ten years.

A quick rundown of my birthday must include: Bry & Brie making me a peach and raspberry streusel cake for breakfast * family snuggle time * Laura dropping off ground hog pudding cups :0) * officially 37 weeks AND full term * family outing to the Dollar Tree (Valentine's for Dr. Smith's office) * having lunch at Steak & Shake (the poor server-in-training dumping our waters ALL over us, but then 5 servers coming out with a chocolate chip cookie and "Happy Birthday" written in whipped cream, singing me Happy Birthday!) * getting pedicures with Laura (SO lovely!) * Bry & Brie doing a birthday present scavenger hunt for me * going to Cyrano's for dinner and connecting with my Sweetie * a SWEET card from Bry, listing out 30 of the reasons why he loves me * all the calls, cards, gifts, packages, voice mails, Facebook messages and texts that I got throughout the day * ground hog trifle with friends the following day *

Thank you to all of you who made my birthday SO special!  I'm excited to be 30 and for this next year ahead, and feel so blessed for the dear family and friends that I've been blessed with.  You make life worth living!

Little Elijah's Corner.

Back in January Brie and I got Elijah's* corner ready for him.  (The sailboat theme was inspired by a cute bumper I had gotten at the Goodwill Outlet last Fall.   I purchased a few things for his corner: the little plates and blue & white striped box were on clearance at Michaels, and the little sailboat photo book {also a clearance item, from Target} was his Christmas present.  The rest were give away "garage sale" finds, given to us by friends, recycled from other projects or made from paper.)  Just two weeks left til his due date!  Can't wait til his IN his little corner :0)

*We've officially decided on Elijah for his first name, but are still working on his middle name.  With Brie and Alex we had their names picked out so much sooner than this.  Maybe his name will actually be decided at the hospital...that'd be a new one for us ;0)

Brie: the Big Sister.

 Brie often picks out outfits for Alex to wear.  She had this one picked out and I was saving it for Sunday, but Sunday wasn't soon enough.  One afternoon she came down wearing it...pants {looking like capris} and all.  Love it!

An outfit that she got for Christmas.  

Had to do a mini photo shoot, she looked so darn cute.

Even though we have LOTS of handmedowns for our little guy to wear, I wanted to buy him a new outfit specifically for him.  Shortly after Brie and I found one at Costco she suggested that we wrap it and give it to him on his birthday.  What a cute idea.  We decided to write a card too.  She wanted to write "THANKS for coming!" on the back.  Can't wait for her to give it to her little brother at the hospital on his birthday :0)  SHE can't wait for her little brother to make his début!

 Since we surrendered nap time and turned it into quiet time we've ironically had a lot more naps around here.  I love to see where she falls asleep.

 A CUTE little purse & dog that Brie's Grauntie Elaine gave her for Christmas.

 Often during "quiet time" I am busy working on my own projects or exhausted and taking a nap, but I try to fit in some "Mom & Brie" time when I can.  How could I turn down this adorable little tea party that she got all set up for us?  That sweet girl. 

 Speaking of "quiet time"...the last few weeks Brie has requested that I {Dr. Graden} assist her in "giving birth" to her "baby" {Miss Bunny}.  I think Miss Bunny has been born four or five times now ;0)  You can tell that babies and birth and hospitals are on all of our minds right now.  

 Another outfit that she got for Christmas.

 Doesn't she look like Hermione {from Harry Potter} here?!

 That's my Brie, sporting Alex's sun glasses ;0)

 Oh man, I had to snap a shot of Brie dressed up for church
{in this sweet pink dress from Layan.  Thanks!}...she looked like a little ballerina.

 Coming in from the COLD!  (Bry took the kids out with him to the van while he got the sliding doors unfrozen.  Gotta love that freezing rain.)

 While I was making dinner on Sunday Brie fell asleep in the toy box.

 A book that we recently checked out from the library, "Sometimes."  A sweet little story about a {sick} sister and her little brother.  It reminded me a lot of her & Alex and how sweet she often is with him.  (The pretzel "glasses" were part of our after story snack.)

And for our grand finale...Brie apparently wanted to have a sleepover with Alex.  I had heard extra giggling that particular night.  Once things quieted down Bry and I went in and sure enough...both were sound asleep in the crib.  This was the next morning.  She was SO excited to tell us about her sleepover with Alex!  Oh those two :0)

Shoo Shoo Baby.

For the Ward Talent Show me and three other girls sang, "Shoo Shoo Baby," a cute little "war time" number from the 40's. (If you want to see a YouTube video of us performing, click here or here.)  We all decided to dress up for our number and I attempted doing victory rolls with my hair.  Harder than the youtube video made it look, but was fun to try.  It reminded me of a secret dream to someday be in a musical.  One with minimal acting..more dancing and singing...and more singing then dancing ;0)  I was an Indian in my high school's performance of "Peter Pan" and loved the dressing up and all that jazz.  Maybe someday...me and Bry?  One can dream :0)

Getting ready with Brie before the show.  The picture on the far left is my hair after the show.  I love how you can barely tell my hair was ever curled.   Gotta love the stick straight.

 

 

 

Me, Melissa, Dayna and Laura.

(I adjusted the settings on my camera then handed it to a friend to take pictures of our act.  I forgot to compensate for the spotlight we'd be under.  So these are a bit blown out, but make them look more vintage, right? ;0)

Speaking of Shoo Shoo Baby...I had to add a few pictures from Bry's act.  He could have been thinking "Shoo shoo kiddos!" but said that having the kids on stage with him actually put him at ease.  I was relieved to hear that!!  And just to reiterate that Brie and Alex going on stage was cute, but NOT planned.  It was really just me wanting to save myself the embarrassment of running up there and trying to corral Alex on stage ;0)  Plus, how could I not sit there and snap pictures of cute Bry handling the whole thing like a pro? :0) 

 

 Love this picture with the MC coming to grab a ever-squirming Alex.

 Me and my Rag Time Man ;0)

 Us and our little Show Stoppers :0)

I'm so glad that we finally participated in our ward talent show.  Bry did an excellent job, and I was proud of myself for dressing up and performing 9 months pregnant.  It definitely was out of my comfort zone and was an accomplishment.  Plus, Laura, Melissa and Dayna were so fun to practice and perform with!  Good times.

As a side note, the last few weeks I've listened to "Shoo Shoo Baby" dozens of times trying to learn my part.  Didn't realize that Brie and Alex were learning it too ;0)  By the time the talent show came around Brie practically had the whole thing memorized and when Alex heard either of us singing it he would chime in with "shoo shoo baby."  It's too cute! We joked about performing it next year as a family.

"Wow, that's HUGE!"

The other day we were getting in the car to drive somewhere when Brie suggested that we go get ice cream.  I mentioned that we weren't going to, but that maybe on my birthday we could go get some.  She got all excited and said that SHE could take ME out for ice cream then said, "But don't think about it...don't even dream about it, it's going to be a surprise!"  Haha, love it!  As we continued down the road she asked how old I would be turning.  I told her 30 and she responded, "Wow, that's HUGE!"  She cracks me up.  Sure love that girl! :0)

sneaking up on stage...

...and stealing the show!

Tonight at our Ward Talent Show Bry played Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag."  I was in the audience recording it when I hear Brie suggest to Alex that they go up on stage to see Dad, and before I know it Alex is crawling up on stage and Brie is following suite.  I was considering running my 9 month pregnant self up there to grab them, but Bry seemed to carry on without missing a beat and it was too cute!  Oh those two...and what a talented husband ;0)  Nicely done!

Skiff of Snow.

Ironically, yesterday as I was finishing up the post about Brie's Winter Wonderland birthday party, Brie was looking out the window at the first snow that we've seen in St. Louis this year.  She was anxious to go outside in the snow!  Alex was sleeping and I had other things I wanted to get done, but how could I turn down a chance to enjoy a true Winter Wonderland with Brie?!  We got bundled up and headed outside to enjoy the snow.  Brie insisted that we bring our "snow puppies" along...that cute girl.  I showed her how to catch snowflakes on her tongue, she tried it a few times then decided to just taste some of the snow from the grass.  I snapped a few pictures as she started to head down the walk...she said that she wanted "Big Mama steps" next to her little ones.  (I love that she sometimes refers to me as Big Mama ;0))  Brie made a few snow angels, then we went inside to warm up with hot chocolate (stirred with candy cane sticks).  It was such a fun little outing.  Glad that I didn't pass it up.

 My "Big Mama steps" next to hers.

 

the "Snow Puppies"

Once upon a time...

**I wasn't planning on writing this post like a Fairy Tale,

 it just came out that way.  Enjoy the cheesiness ;0)**

 ...there were two young Princesses who were going to be celebrating birthdays.  Their Mothers decided to invite all of the other young Princesses to a winter wonderland dinner to celebrate.  Over the next few months little projects were done as they planned and prepared for the special occasion. 

As the Twelfth of January drew closer, invitations were delivered
 throughout the kingdom to announce the event.

The day of the party arrived.  The dining room was set, the candles lit, the snowflakes hung from the walls and ceiling and every other little detail was in place waiting for the arrival of each Princess.

(quote and picture from Pinterest)

 

 When the Princesses arrived in their beautiful gowns their nails were painted as they watched "Cinderella."  Next they took turns picking out jewels to wear.  Then off to the dining room they went.  Their special snowflake crowns were worn as they enjoyed their dinner (veggies, cheese and dip, pasta, pink jello, and water with strawberry ice cubes).  Oh how they were all so polite. 

 

 

Princesses from Left to Right: Lillian, Briana, Anna, 

Hannah, Brinley, Eveylnn, Julianne and Isabella.

Before the evening was over the two Princesses, Hannah & Brie, opened their gifts and then dainty little cupcakes were decorated as all eight sipped on strawberry lemonade.  When their Parents arrived off they went with Sugar Cookies & Kisses in hand.

 

P.S. Although I think the girls really enjoyed themselves, planning this party was just as magical for me.  I'm such a little girly girl at heart and loved all the pink, glitter and sparkly lights ;0)