Happy 25th Anniversary!

Today my parents celebrated 25 years of marriage!

So this weekend we surprised them by inviting family and close friends to come celebrate with them!

We all went out to Zio's for an early dinner where we had this interesting waitress.

Lon announced the reason for our celebration and her response was,

"Wow 25 years! I can't even make it 6 months."

 Enough said about her. The picture below was when she was making her Happy Anniversary speech which was just as interesting as her previous comment.

Anyway, after dinner we went back to the house and celebrated with the best cake I've ever eaten!

And I think the cutest too!

If you are in the Tulsa area and needing a cake please look up Jennifer Loveland!

 Anyway, we had a great time celebrating with my parents and seeing the family too! Mom and dad are actually celebrating their anniversary with a trip to Boston and New York in October, but we are glad that the family got to celebrate with them too! They are the best parents I could have ever gotten and they set an  example of what a Godly marriage looks like. I'm so thankful for their love and support as Ryan and I have married and started our family! Here is to many many more!
Love you Mom and Dad!

One of my students favorite things to say is this: "Next month is October and that's Halloween." I must hear this said at least once or twice everyday since the beginning of September. And now that it's actually almost October I'm sure I will hear it even more! So thanks to my sweet students I decided I would show you this! If Hudson was going to be here before Halloween he would be sporting this adorable costume from Old Navy. I have never been a huge fan of this holiday (I think it just makes me think of the scary costumes like ghosts and witches and all of that which I don't like) but these baby costumes are absolutely the most precious things! So I hope that all of you moms of little ones take the opportunity to dress them up really cute!

Stuffed Pork Chops

6-8 pork chops
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. water
1 box Stove Top stuffing (any flavor upi want, I use Cornbread)
Salt
Pepper

Brown pork chops. Place in 13"x9" baking pan. Make stuffing as indicated on box. Place a mound of stuffing on top of each pork chop. Mix cream of mushroom soup with 1/2 cup water and pour evenly over each pork chop. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until pork chops are cooked (depends on thickness of chops).

These are delicious! The pork chops are tender and the stuffing and mushroom soup add great flavor! We usually eat them with mashed potatoes and rolls and it makes a great fall meal. Enjoy!

24 Weeks

Ok, so I"m looking super ginormous in this picture but oh well!

I am now 24 weeks pregnant and Hudson is about a foot long, the length of this celery!

He also weighs just over a pound.

Biggest changes and things I have noticed: He is moving ALL the time! It used to be just around certain times of the day I feel him kick the most. Now it is sporadic and a lot more often! I never know how soon I will feel him next. We have been seeing my belly move a lot and Ryan is feeling him kick too! The most interesting thing I have noticed is that he apparently loves the warmth of a blanket. Anytime I put a blanket over my belly he starts moving away. I have talked to other people who have experienced the same thing and I think it's fascinating.

Other baby milestones: The room is painted (the background color at least) and the crib is put together! We still have to add our designs and decorate and get the bedding and furniture but it is great progress! I am so thankful to my sweet husband for painting while I was out of town earlier this week! He rocks!Here is Ryan putting the crib together!

This is what the crib looks like all put together! His name letters have to be painted and they will hang higher on the wall, but I wanted to see how they would look above his crib! I'm getting more and more excited as we keep making progress! I can't wait to meet this little guy and bring him home to his cute room (once it's finished of course)!

It's supposed to be Recipe Thursday, but this post is extremely long! Maybe you will see recipe Friday?!

P.S. For any mom's out there The Bump is hosting a mommy blogging contest! You could win $1000 or a $100 Pottery Barn Kids gift card! I'm not big on entering contests and trying to promote myself but who couldn't use a little extra baby spending money? Visit the badge on the right side of my blog for more info!

Fall is here!

Fall is my favorite season! So in honor of the first day of fall I thought I would share some of my favorite things about this lovely season!

1. Football! I love going to Cowboy football games, watching Ryan march, or taking Sunday afternoon naps while the football games are on TV.
2. Sweaters and warm clothes-I love snuggling up in lots of layers and cute sweaters to stay warm with the cool wind.
3. Thanksgiving-it's one of the best holidays and I love it! The food, family, fellowship! It's wonderful!
4. The colors:- love the colors of the leaves that fall off the trees. This picture is really old, but I just love the colors in the backgroud so I thought it would be a great visual!
5. The decoration- the pumpkins, the leaves and anything fall colors! I love it!

So here is to another great fall! I hope you enjoy this beautiful season, it's definitely my favorite!

On My Heart

Today I have been thinking, pondering, and appreciating a lot of things in life. I thought I would just be really honest and share them with the world, because some of them I need to be held accountable to. So here goes....

• Church today was one of the best services I have ever been to. For me it started in worship when the worship leader read these verses:

14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

• Every song we sang today seemed to contain these words and kept jumping out at me. We have been talking a lot about this in Lifegroup and for me I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go about letting my light shine. What is it that I am going to do for the kingdom of God so that other's see my light? Yes, I do my best to show it everyday by the way I live but there is something more out there than that. It's also about what I do to reach others for Him. And right now I need to figure out how I am going to do that. There is a song I hear played on the radio several times a week and one of the lines says "lead me to your heart" and everytime I have been hearing it for the last several weeks I have really been thinking God that's my plea to you. Show me your heart, what it is you have in store for me. I want to know the heart of Jesus and share it, but how?
• Sort of changing subjects but another thing that has been on my mind and of course my heart is how much I respect and appreciate all that my husband does. Sometimes I like to be selfish and wish I could have more of him to myself, but then I realize that what he does isn't just for himself and for our family but a lot for others and he doesn't get enough credit. He was nominated for Regional Employee of the Month and he totally deserves it. Thank you Leslie for writing a sweet paragraph about him, I think it made him feel good and he needed it. She talked about how he works at his job 35 hours a week, is a full-time student, a member of the Cowboy Marching band, and has a baby on the way yet he is completely devoted to the success and well being of the customers and the employees. He offers his valuable time and resources to do his best and go out of his way to help the store and others do their best. He pretty much is amazing and I don't think he ever gets enough credit. I love and adore him!
• I'm thankful for our sweet friends who always look out for us. I don't know what I would do without them. God knew what kind of people I needed surrounding me as we went through a huge change in our life. He truely knows best. I'm thankful for their friendship, fellowship, and laughter.
• The bigger my belly gets the more and more I think about this little guy inside of me. I know I said this the other day, but I am truely blown away by how much I love and care for this little guy that I haven't even met yet. Everyday brings new conversations, worries, and thoughts about his little life. I'm excited to see what the future holds for him. I can't wait to experience a lot of "firsts" with him and show him how to grow up to be a man of God. I truely love him and want what's best for him and pray for that each day. I'm so anticipating January and all of the goodness God's gift of life is going to bring.

I hope everyone has a blessed and productive week! I know I have a busy one ahead of me and will be traveling! Praying that you have a peaceful week in Christ and let your light shine for him!

Three Cheese Manacotti

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package manicotti shells
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 egg
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 (26 ounce) jars pasta sauce

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
In a bowl, mix 3 cups mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, garlic, egg, and basil. Stuff uncooked manicotti with the mixture.
Spread about 2 cups pasta sauce over the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange stuffed manicotti in the dish, and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
Bake about 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan, and continue baking 10 minutes, until mozzarella is melted and bubbly.

We are trying this recipe tonight. I haven't tried this specific one before but it sounds delicous!
This makes about 16 shells so we are freezing some and saving them for later! Getting a few meals out of one makes it worth it! But if you want to freeze them make sure you cook the manacotti first and then stuff them!

Also for you meat lovers out there another good idea is to add a pound of cooked ground sausage to the sauce before spreading it over the manacotti. Adds an extra taste and protein!

Tulsa Tuesday Pt. 2

While in Owasso/Tulsa Ryan got a few of his baby items from his mom.

Check out this tiny little thing that he wore!

I told him that I would love to see if Hudson could fit into it but it just doesn't seem possible because it's so little. So I decided to compare it with this NB onesie that Abby bought him.

I think he would need super short legs to be able to wear this!

A special thanks to Abby though for this precious outfit! He will definitely be sporting this soon after birth! I know he is going to be our "Prince Charming"

I'm already loving this little guy and I haven't even met him yet! Hearing his little heartbeat at the doctor's office just melts my heart!

Doesn't that make you just think how amazing God is that he has created women to carry a child inside of her and already feel such a bond before you ever even meet them?

It's one of those moments when you just think "It's a God thing"

Indescribable and unexplainable! He is totally awesome!

13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14

Tulsa Tuesday Pt. 1

Tuesday evenings we get to spend in Tulsa-Ryan has class so I go to see family!

It's volleyball season so that means I get to watch my sister play when I go!

This Tuesday was special because it was Senior Night!

I can't believe my baby sister is old enough to be a senior!

Here she is with mom getting introduced! I'm not sure what they were laughing about!

This is the board my other sister made with pictures of Abby.

Here are the six seniors and thier cake!

I didn't eat any but I'm sure it was delicious!

Senior Gifts! I love this cute bad and the wrapping paper....

which was hiding these cute polka dot pj's!

I love my sister and am so proud of her! She is getting old which means I am too!

She's awesome at pretty much everything she does!

I know she has a great future ahead of her!

LOVE YOU ABBY!

I am so thankful to my sweet grandparents for this lovely gift!

They purchased this for us and we are so excited to pick it up and put it together!

We found such a great deal on this crib and it's convertible so it will last Hudson for a long time!

So thank you again Grandma and Grandpa!

God has blessed us with a wonderfully supportive family through this pregnancy and they are so sweet and blessing us in so many ways!

Hudson will greatly appreciate this beautiful crib in his room!

Sending love and appreciation to my grandparents!

Pawnee Fair

Everyday is a new adventure in Kindergarten and yesterday was no exception. Our adventure was a big trip to the Pawnee Fair! This is not exactly like any other fair I have ever been to. There are no rides, no fried foods, and no giant crowds of people. This fair is contained in only 3 buildings! One for the contests like the kids art, food, quilts, photography, etc. The other 2 are for the animals-one big building for all the animals and another small one where some cows were being housed! The kids loved it! They loved seeing all the animals and getting to touch some of them!

This is one of my students with his goat. His dad was showing it there and he was so excited to go check on them! He told me about it for days before we went!
If Marley and Rylee were goats this would be them. They were the only ones making a lot of noise and trying to get out of their cage. Everyone else sat in their cages so nicely!

Bad hair day anyone?

This was right after he crowed for us!

The kids saw this egg being laid! They were so excited that it really happened!

Pork Chops & Pregnancy

Last Friday night I tried a new pork chop recipe and it was delicious so I thought I would share...

4 pork chops
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 teaspoon garlic
The recipe calls for the pork chops to marinade overnight but I was not prepared enough in advance for that! I let them marinade in the refrigerator just before cooking them and they were still delicious.

Pregnancy: a few random thoughts and events that I thought I would share.
1.Ryan has gotten to feel Hudson kick. We were laying down and he had his hand on my belly. Once he felt it he pulled away quickly and said "that was weird" But ever since he has been able to feel him kick a lot and occasionally presses into my belly to see if Hudson will kick back.
2. Why do maternity clothes cost so much? We visited a few stores on Saturday and I was kind of baffled when the shirts were on sale for $19.99. If you know me then you know that I pretty much don't buy clothes unless they are on sale or on clearance. So when I wanted a plain, simple t-shirt and it costs that much I was not too happy! I mean I am only going to wear the clothes for 4 months maybe so why should I pay that much? I have been perfectly happy buying clearance clothes for this season of my life and I will stick to it! If you were wondering...no I didn't purchase the $19.99 shirt I went down the mall to one of my favorite stores and found almost the same shirt for $6.
3. I think I get asked several times a day from kids at school if I'm having a baby. It's so cute, but it's hilarious because my kids announce to everyone that passes by "My teacher is having a baby" as if it was completely obvious :)

Ok enough rambling for tonight. Chili is on the stove and tonight I plan to do nothing but relax with my hubs! I love him!
Ok, enough rambling

22 Weeks!

One of the highlights of my week is definitely getting an e-mail from Baby Center telling me what Hudson is up to each week! Although I have been reading books and educating myself the e-mail are by far my favorite! It's a nice little reminder of the awesomeness (is that a word?) of God that is taking place in my belly! This week Hudson weighs about as much as the acorn squash I am holding, almost a pound. The is about 11 inches long, which is the length of a spaghetti squash but unfortunately in my grocery shopping I was unable to find one so I stuck with the squash theme and found one that weighed about as much as he did!

The best part about my weekly e-mail is that I get to learn about the cool things that are happening with him! My favorite this week is that underneath is gums tiny toothbuds are forming! I know it will be a several months before we see any teeth but isn't it cool that they are already there?

Ok, I'm off to make dinner! I definitely have some recipes to share! Maybe tomorrow will be Recipe Thursday?

FAQ

Since we found out we are having a baby boy one of the most frequently asked questions is: "What theme are you doing for the room?"

The answer: I'm not really doing a theme. I'm not really into themes. So I picked bedding I liked and I am using that as direction when picking out things for the room. We are going with green and brown and a hint of blue! I found this bedding when searching through what seems to be millions of options online! Luckily there are lots of stores to order it from and Babies R Us carries it so we can register for the extras!

We had planned to paint the baby room this past weekend while we had an extra day off but unfortunately the manufacturers were behind and didn't ship out the fabric samples until it was too late. It's a good thing that we waited because we would have been off on colors. The colors definitely look different in the picture! Stacia and I went to Lowe's tonight and found a successful match for each of the colors we need! We have the room all drawn out like we want it so all we have to do is paint and assemble the room! Ha, if only it were that simple!

Anyone designing, painting, redecorating any of their rooms? It's always fun to have a nice change!

Happy decorating!

Labor Day Fun

I hope everyone has enjoyed the Labor Day weekend! Ryan and I certainly did!

We started the weeekend off with the first Cowboy game of the season! GO POKES!

It was great to see them win and I survived the entire game. I definitely didn't think I was going to at the beginning-it was really hot and being pregnant just seems to add a whole new dimension to the heat! It wasn't much fun at first, but it definitely got better as it went on and it ended on a happy note!

Sunday was a relaxing but productive day! I must say that I have the greatest friends in the world! What would I do without them? Ryan and I were going to clean the carpets since we were expecting a furniture delivery, but Ryan ended up going into work early so I was going to do it and if I didn't get finished let him help when he got off. But my sweet friends wouldn't let me do that all by myself. So they came over and helped me vaccuum, dust and steam clean the carpets! They are so awesome and Ryan and I are so blessed! The carpets look great and even better with the new furniture on them! (see pictures below)

It was so nice waking up this morning and knowing I had one last day to relax before the weekend was officially over. We have 27 more school days until our next break so I definitely enjoyed it as much as possible! My sweet family came up this morning to bring my new furniture! I'm so thankful that I could save the $100 delivery fee and instead get to have breakfast with the family and spend time with them! Once Ryan got off work we headed to the city with the best friends to hit some stores! The mall was a little crowded and Ryan really hates going but he toughed it out and we found some good deals! We also stocked up at Sam's and purchased a bookshelf for the baby room at Target! It was a successful shopping trip and now we are set for another busy week!

We got a steal of a deal on this sectional! I went to Mathis Brothers to compare prices and ended up walking out with the receipt for this wonderful furniture! Luckily Ryan trusted me enough to make the decision without him and he was happy with it when he saw it all set up this morning!

It's a nice change from the burgandy couches and I even found some great deals on new curtains to brighten up the room!

So in a nutshell that was our big weekend! Nice and relaxing but very productive! I'm extremely ready for fall and hopes it comes to visit us soon! Cool winds, colorful leaves, and warm sweaters please make your way to Oklahoma! It's time for a nice break from the heat!

Long Weekend & Thank You

I'm so thankful that the long weekend is finally here! We have been anticipating all that it will bring...football, friends, relaxing, and hopefully a lot of progess on the baby room!

Does anyone have big plans this weekend? Traveling, cookouts, etc.?

Ryan is super excited about the first OSU game of the season tomorrow! He went out and bought us BEAT GEORGIA shirts for the occasion! I love fall and football season too so I'm excited that it is finally getting underway! Stillwater is already packed full of people and ORANGE is everywhere! It's such a cool environment on game weekends and it's fun to see everyone out, having a good time, and most importantly supporting Cowboy football!

It's time to go get some things done around the house and cook dinner. I'm trying a new pork chop recipe so I'll let you know how it goes! But first I have to say a big THANK YOU to Ryan's friend Steve! He works at Pottery Barn Kids and sent us this sweet gift in the mail!

I had to take a picture of the wrapping because it's adorable!
This is what was wrapped inside, the softest and most precious little blanket. I hope you can tell how soft it is by the picture. I want to wrap myself up in it but unfortunately it's not my size. Hudson will definitely enjoy staying warm under this wonderful blanket in January!
Again, thank you Steve you did a great job!
I'm so thankful for the amazing supportive people in my life! They have made this new journey so much sweeter and easier for us. So thank you to everyone for your generosity and your kind words. God has truely blessed us!

Kids Say the Darnest Things

Did you ever watch that show? I think Bill Cosby hosted it! It was so cute and hilarious!
Anyway...everyday is the real life version of this in my classroom each day!
So here is a list of a few of my favorites so far:

1."Mrs. Hatch, I was just wondering why Elvis Presley went to Heaven?" (pause) "Did he just get too old or something?"

2. "You guys know I am a vampire right?"

3. "I can see your belly growing right now."

4. This one is my favorite-a first grader decided that he needed to tell me how a baby grows inside my belly. Here is the paraphrased version:

First it's an egg. Then it grows a wire (ha- I think this was my favorite part). Then it drinks milk from the wire and it turns into a baby. Then it grows and that's how your belly gets bigger.

Fortunately that was where the conversation stopped!

What will come next?...