Thanksgiving, etc.

Ron and I at the Homestead Fest :)

Making apple cider

cute little goat :)

Friends from church (and I teach Madee, on the left, karate). They went to Homestead Fest with us, and we found that there are so many more fun activities for kids than we knew! We're getting one!! Someday we'll get to do all the fun activities because we have a kid :)

Thanksgiving day

Natalie and Pierre

Ron carved the *delicious* turkey

Pierre and Ron admiring the turkey before it goes in the oven...

In other news, it snowed on Friday! Just a little bit, but they were big soft fluffy flakes. I haven't seen it snow in Texas yet, and since we weren't home last year it's been a while since I've seen snow falling at all. Looking forward to being in Wisconsin this Christmas, and hoping for lots of snow falls. I took a poll on my karate bus, and four of the kids had never seen it snow before that! And two of them were 8 or 9. It was interesting, even listening to their conversation about snow. It was so different from Wisconsin kids! I don't know what these Texans would actually do if there was a big blizzard or something! 

Also, and this is sweet... Ron felt the baby kick yesterday for the first time. He had been trying to feel it kick for a little bit, because it feels like big kicks to me! Then at the doctor's the other day she said he wouldn't feel it for another 2-4 weeks. So last night when I said he was kicking, Ron put his hand on my stomach and even said "well, even though I won't be able to feel him kick..." and then he did! 

I hope this kid is not abnormally large or something! He already wakes me up sometimes. But at least it's still quiet :)

thinking of thanksgiving...

Today begins my 5 day weekend. ah... I'm just doing some last pre-Thanksgiving errands today and enjoying myself. I have already been out scouting the shops, getting ready to buy some things on black Friday, which is my birthday this year, too :) I have never been shopping on Black Friday, and for pretty good reason, I'm sure. But we're not going to go early, and no one is allowed to push me. I've heard some pretty awful stories about that notorious shopping day, so I'm going to be careful, and Ron will shield me and the kid if need be. I feel silly even saying that, because people should behave themselves... ah, but I always want to give people more credit than some of them deserve perhaps. 

Please share your own Black Friday stories if you've ever gone shopping that day, I'd be curious to hear your impressions. 

We're also having Thanksgiving here at our home this year. Natalie and Pierre are coming down from Dallas (yay!!) and a girl from my work might be joining us, too. Ron asked several bachelors at his job, but they are heading home for the holiday. It's good when people can go see family. I am used to being away from Wisconsin for holidays, but having Nat and Pierre here will be family to me. Then I get to go home and see everyone for Christmas, so I couldn't ask for more! 

This year Ron has decided he will be in charge of the turkey. Neither one of us has ever roasted a turkey before, but I know that Ron will take care of the bird quite well. He can be very fastidious when he wants to be. I have some basic instructions I found online, but we do welcome any advice for the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. (or at least edible, if it comes to that). ah, but we'll have fun! oh, also welcoming any gravy tips :) 

Homestead Fest is this weekend, and if anyone has been hanging around me... this year... they might know that I have been looking forward to Homestead Fest since we discovered it last year. I love watching bees make honey and some guy make a chair from scratch and learning how to make cheese... and they have the best food, all made from scratch! it's so fun, and gives a good look at the simple life. It's also the time when their kids display and sell their artwork and crafts (all top quality) that they've worked on throughout the year. Having been homeschooled and appreciating that part of my past, I always get excited for the kids, knowing that this weekend is so big for them! We recently went up to their shops that are open throughout the year because I wanted to scout out a rocking chair (I'm looking for a good wooden traditional one), and I knew they'd have something. I figured it would be a little pricey, but after rocking a minute in the perfect chair, I looked at the price tag. $4000!! wow, I have good taste. will keep looking... This year we're going to take some friends from church who have two little kids, so it will be even more fun!

I have been baking lately, and feeling quite domestic. I am going to wait another week or so before starting Christmas cookies, but that will be fun. I tried some date pinwheels the other day and they turned out really well. This year I have to avoid eating the batter, though... That will save me plenty of calories, I'm sure! 

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day and is able to spend it with family. I am thankful for many things this year. Jesus. My Ron, my new baby growing bigger every day. My family far away, and glad Natalie is close by. I will be thinking especially of my family at home this year, though. I know that this year will be particularly hard not having Doug around. Know that I love you all, and beyond that I don't really have words. I have some tears and plenty of good memories. God bless.  

decisions and musings

Well, I'm trying to decide if I will be continuing with ceramics next semester. Today is my last day at ceramics class to make new and possibly useless pots and trinkets. I have so enjoyed it, though, and feel like I just started to scratch the surface of my creativity and would like more time to learn and do more. However, since I'll be having a kid in April, I'm not sure if it would be entirely worth it. I think it might, though. What I would love someday is a wheel and a kiln at home. Ceramics is one of those artistic endeavors that requires a lot of effort and input and money just to get set up, and I know that after this class it won't happen at home for a while! So that's what I'm thinking about this morning.  

Also, I will report that the house is very very clean right now, as we have finished our bedroom painting project and we feel like we're staying in a new place :) My motto now is "maintenance"... How hard does that become when you start having kids? tehe. 

I am also feeling the baby kicking a lot more, it even kind of woke me up as I was drifting off to sleep last night :) It feels like a little secret message, and makes me happy to be his mom :)  

big news!

Well, overseas family... we thought you should know that we're having a BOY!

The ultrasound was so fun to watch and he was so cute and tiny, though sooo much bigger than when we first saw him, of course. He has little fingers and toes now!! We watched him try to suck his thumb once but he kept missing (must be mama's lack of coordination coming through). Ah, but we won't fault him he has plenty of time to learn! 

I had the day off work and got some extra ceramics time in and Ron got off early to join me for the ultrasound, then we took a nice fall walk and went out to dinner together :) It was such a nice Monday :)

ron's mug

This was my first project in my ceramics class. We all had to make a mug. Mine ended up very large and too heavy to really hold comfortably with the handle! I'm in good company, however, because Ron thinks the mug represents all that is man. He loves to drink his hot chocolate out of it and has made me feel better by appreciating the big clunky thing I brought home from school :) 

baby bump

getting bigger every day... trying to get a nice picture with the trees in the background, but we also through in our redneck random boards laying against our fence... I'll be bigger yet come Christmas and am looking forward to family talking to my belly :) 

thinking out loud.

Last night when we went to church it was the first time that I felt like I looked pregnant, not just fat. In the past week even, I think my belly has made vast improvements in this area. I will be excited when I'm even further past the "is she pregnant or not?" stage.

Already looking forward to Christmas. I'm getting in the spirit of things because I'm putting together a package for the overseas family, and wish I could be there instead. Also, I will be quitting my job in December, right before Christmas. It worked out that way because I didn't want to fight with my boss about Christmas vacation (since we're coming to Wisconsin this year!) and it's about the time I will really not want to do karate anymore anyway. I already feel out of the loop there because I'm not training for my next belt. Can't fall, can't train. But that's ok. I've learned a lot there, and I have a better understanding and appreciation for self defense, and while I've enjoyed my previous training (for the most part) is was my job not my hobby. I will miss the little kids the most, and will go back to visit them sometimes. I will be glad to be done with the office politics (it's everywhere, I'm still amazed by this) and, frankly, the ego trips of a man with an art named after his family that means "the powerful way of Bainton" (his last name). There's some stories there, but I have been grateful for the job and enjoyed it a lot of the time, my boss can be really nice and I have to respect authority. Enough said. 

So, I'm looking forward to Christmas. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life after Christmas until the baby gets here, and here is what I've come up with. Enjoy sleeping my full 8 hours every night. Design! Feel smart again! Get back into photography and really learn more about it. Take some classes that are offered at my church. Volunteer more. Cook good dinners for my loving husband. Write. Keep up with my exercise. Keep reading. Be better about cleaning the house more often... like folding laundry when it comes out of the dryer... Get the baby room ready! And I'm going to enjoy some time to myself. Oh... and finally put together some photo albums.

I'm open to suggestions. At present I am enjoying my ceramics class, feeling good about being able to express my creativity in some way. I feel like people could look at what I've been doing this year and a half and think I was selling myself short. And to be honest, I feel very unintellectually stimulated most days. Oh, I'll whip out a sudoku (had to look up how to spell that) or listen to NPR. I have enjoyed working with the kids, and won't regret that. I've always known that I would want to be a stay-at-home mom, and after growing up I feel blessed that it's actually an option for me. While I don't begrudge working mothers anything, I hope they won't begrudge me. I want to be with my kids, to watch them grow up, to know their everyday little lives. I want to have the time to nurture and be fun and take care of a household. This isn't meant to be some debate on the merits of working moms vs. stay-at-home moms, of course. More power to you if you can work full time and still be a great mom, as most are. A simple little fact is that you can't have it all. I want the time with my kids. I want to teach a simpler life, family oriented and slower paced. I think a lot of the things I want are not entirely respected these days by society in general. But that's ok because Ron and I are on the same page. I also want to challenge myself intellectually and physically during my days at home. If there is one thing I've learned from my older brother and sister it's that kids shouldn't stop you from doing anything! Travel with the baby, camp with the baby, they're pretty good troopers. And I can still make some time for designing/art. 

Just thinking out loud here, really. 

I will get some pictures up someday. Ron has our digital camera at work with him all the time, and he doesn't bring it home and my scanner is down, and I don't develop film well anyway because I am a Burchell. 

belly pictures soon :)