Christmas celebrations...

We had our annual Christmas party with our friends from college last night. We had a raclette party for dinner. (It's the idea of fondue where your food cooks in the center of the table, except it's with the broiler and grill...) We had two raclette makers and 11 people and it made for an incredible dinner and conversation time. The Warks did an amazing job hosting this event!

Also, our friend Chris is back from South Africa for a few months and we had not seen him in almost 10 months. It was so good to connect with him.

These are friends that have definitely become family to us and we just love that they are in our lives. We look forward to many more Christmas' together.

She's Ours!

This post is a little on the late side but we have been so excited that I forgot to actually blog about it...

November 23, 2009, while at the reception for my grandpa's memorial service, we got the news that we passed court in Ethiopia and that our baby is ours!

We can't wait to get that little munch here.

(...and yes, I said OURS! My emotional boundaries are very fuzzy when it comes to stuff like this. Fuzzy, barely there, whatever!)

Kit and I feel like WE passed court and could not be happier!

We will keep you posted...

We found it!

We found fabric that we love for Ryder's room! We are so excited about it, that we just had to show you...

I can't wait to show you how we tie it all in together. It is all coming together and we are having so much planning for our little man's arrival. We are 22 weeks today!

Stay tuned for my sewing skills, (or lack there of...)

Thanks Mama Manifesto!

I love the blog Mama Manifesto. It is so good! I have had so much fun following it. What amazing women! Well, last night I made a recipe that I had gotten from their blog and it turned out to be a HUGE hit with Kit.

(He's not picky, but when he loves something, that means a lot to me...)

So here is the recipe... Enjoy!

Spaghetti Carbonara

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, minced
3 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick strips
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons lowfat sour cream
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup pasta water
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
2. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat and add onion. Sauté for 2 minutes, add bacon, and cook another 8-10 minutes until bacon and onion are well-browned. Transfer mixture to a paper towel and let cool while pasta cooks.
3. Add pasta to water and cook according to package directions, reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water.
4. While pasta is cooking, whisk together cheese, egg yolks, sour cream, vinegar and onion mixture. In a separate small bowl, when pasta is nearly done, whisk together a tablespoon of the egg mixture with a tablespoon of pasta water and pour back into the egg mixture. Whisk remaining 3 tablespoons pasta water into the egg mixture.
5. Drain pasta and return it to the pot. Toss with the egg mixture and parsley and serve immediately.

Christmas trees and family traditions...

This Christmas will be the 6th that Kit and I have shared as a married couple and we always have so much fun with this time of year, making it special for our family specifically.

Here are some of the traditions that we have done over the last few years that involve decorating our tree.

We were given special hand blown ornaments for our wedding, which was January 4th. One is a box of ornaments that each have a special meaning and we talk about each one as we place it on our tree.

We then have a special ornament that was given to us that has a special note from my aunt and uncle. It always tops our tree. The note says that as we get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus, to take time to thank the Lord for each other, for another year together and all the blessings in our lives. I cry each time we read it.

Then we have special ornaments from Kit's family that remind him of his childhood. We have fun putting those up, too.

When we were engaged, I made laminated cards of the Christmas story and we read them before we put them on our tree. I have this hope that we will use them with Ryder as we set up our nativity scene, and then they will go on the tree.

We laugh every year as we decorate our tree. This year Kit was very much in the holiday spirit. I made a special dinner before we went to get our tree. After we got our tree, we went and looked at Christmas lights in Fullerton, which is always so fun. There is a home that coordinates it's lights with a radio station and there is a whole show. We have so much fun watching it! Then we headed home to decorate the tree while Kit had two glasses of eggnog, his holiday favorite, non alcoholic, mixed with milk.

We would love to hear the special traditions that you have with your family, too!

Happy Holidays!

Beanies!

I recently learned how to make beanies and have become a little bit addicted to it. I can make child, adult and newborn sizes and being that I have TWO guys to make them for now, I have taken full advantage of it.

(For those that know my Kit, he does NOT like to match me, not like I dress us the same, but when I pulled out these caps, he was ecstatic!)

So here is the finished product.

I know that Ryder will not be in the newborn hat for long, but never fear, that is when the child's size comes in...

Changing tables and belly shots...

We have been working on our little man's room and the most recent project has been the changing table. We will be converting a tv hutch that we bought when we were first married into more storage and a changing table. We are pretty excited about it. We took the doors off so we wouldn't impale ourselves or Ryder during those midnight diaper changes, plus a number of people made the joke that if he was acting up, we could could just close him IN the hutch. Those people have been removed from the babysitting list...

There are lots of fun touches that we plan to do but I wanted you to see it as a work in progress. It is coming together!

And for those that are interested...

Here is Ryder, growing like crazy!

The upside is both Kit and I have felt him move and it has been exciting to think of him growing healthy and strong.

And the downside... who am I kidding, there is no downside. I love being pregnant!