Special Delivery in September!!!

Ok, Ok! I have had several of you call me and tell me it is time to update my blog. You are right. It has been over a month and I have been busy with other things. Many of you know by now, but for those who do not, Max and I are going to be parents!!! We are expecting our first baby in the middle of September and could not be more excited! I realize that I am behind and that I am already 5 months and just posting about our baby. We have had quite the journey... For the first 13 weeks, I was on restricted activity because of a cyst the size of a baseball in my abdomen. We prayed that this cyst would go away and would resolve itself. I am thrilled to tell you that praise the Lord it did. At about 13 weeks, the doctor told us we were in the clear!

The picture below is the little mailbox that we put a poem in for our families and wrapped up and gave them to tell them we were expecting. They knew at 5 weeks and were sworn to secrecy!

The picture of the little baby below is what Max's parents loving call "Richard Mackinac." Long story. My mother-in-law dresses this doll up with different props and attire. It does look a ton like Max did when he was 2. It is a fun reminder of the baby to them.

And this....

Max and my dad have been hard at work at assembling the crib, hanging the chandelier, hanging a rug on the wall and valences over the windows. This is one of the biggest reasons that I have been so distant from the blog. I have been "nesting" and getting ready for little "Whax" as we like to call the baby.

I will be posting more nursery diaries in the coming weeks as we begin to work on it and make it come to life.

Details from my pregnancy - weeks 5 to 10 were rough! I had some terrible morning sickness that seemed to disappear at 10 weeks. That was a relief because my sweet husband was so patient and so sweet during the whole thing. He would wake me up with crackers and a Ginger Ale, which was necessary!

I have not really struggled too much with fatigue, which has been a blessing. I have crashed every night about this time and sleep 10 - 12 hours, which probably is contributing to my energy level.

Overall, we have had an easy pregnancy and can't wait to meet baby Whax in September. More to come real soon, I promise!

Exams and a Get Away!

Well, as many of you know, Max is getting his professional MBA at night and working during the day! I have to give it to him - he is a master at managing his work load at work, studying during lunch and staying a little late after work to study and then when he is home, his time is completely dedicated to me and our lives together. I am so thankful for his dedication and his perseverance! He recently went through a week of finals for his first module of grad school. He not only did great on his exams but made the following in Accounting and Economics:

So proud of him and his diligence! He is starting his next module today and is taking Organizational Management and Statistics! After his stressful week of finals, we took off for the weekend to Lost Pines...pictures below...

This was one of the views as you pull up. Lost Pines is down in the Hill Country near Austin in a small town called Bastrop. We went down Friday afternoon and came back Sunday! We had an absolute blast together just taking long walks, eating great food and hanging out. I even got to go to the spa which was a huge treat! At night we would sit by the fire pits (like pictured below) and roast smores!

We have about decided that we are going to make it a point to get away after his hell-week of finals and go spend some time together and relax! Not sure what the next destination is, but will be sure to update you all!

Have a great week and weekend!

In loving memory of our dear friend!

Max and I have had very heavy hearts and a rough week last week! You see, we lost one Max's dearest, life-long friends in a very tragic accident! Tom Leary was one of Max's groomsmen in our wedding (served as the second best man) and was a best friend and brother to my husband! He was a dear friend to me and treated me like a sister! Our hearts have ached over losing this precious friend and I would ask you to keep the Leary family in your prayers! I wanted to share a little from the eulogy that Tom's twin brother, Charles, gave at his funeral:

"Tom would rather be ashes than dust! He would rather that his spark burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. Tom's function as a man was to live, not to exist.

In New York, Tom was your first call if you were in trouble; if you were sick or just homesick; needed a good laugh, a last minute dinner reservation in the theater district, if you needed help throwing a party, or just needed to make sure someone brought the queso. If you were visiting New York and wanted a host, he would say all he needed was a fifteen minute heads up.

He loved wearing his tux. He had been to a few weddings lately... and always said “I pretty much owned the dance floor.” Sure, Tom. But he also loved wearing his flip flops. During college, in the tundra yankee winter, people would ask him why he's wearing flip-flops. To which his reply would be: “cause I'm from Texas.”...what other reason do you need?

Tom was generous, warm, witty, charming, and refined; a man of style and substance; a man with famous locks and a signature smile; a loveable cynic, a trusted confidant, a romantic at heart; a lover of cheese, hater of vegetables. He never really trusted people that did not eat meat. He wanted you to live well, drink well, and spare no expense, because, he said, you never know when its going to be your last.

We are all better people for knowing Tom, and because of him we have had more laughs than we deserved, and felt welcome in his presence. We all need to step up our game now. Live life like he did. Travel and experience the world. Care about your friends and family more. Be a generous and thoughtful host."

This was not the entire eulogy but some of my favorite parts! Tom was the ultimate host, an amazing friend and someone you could always rely on! He is truly going to be missed and I challenge each of you to think about others, just as Tom did!

Have a great week.

Look at the little face that came to visit us!

McCall and Shelby came to visit us for 2 weeks and we celebrated her first birthday! Hard to believe that this little angel is 1! We had a great time and loved our time with you, sis and baby! We can't wait for you to come back soon. I will post some pics from her first birthday party when my sis sends them!

McCall playing on MommaSissy's floor with all of my cooking supplies!

Mmmm...Mmmm - love that Emerson spaghetti. Thank you Aunt Ainslee for making it for us!

Not loving having this all over my mouth!

McCall with her Dutch (my dad). This child is not loved, or anything!!!

Come see us again soon, baby M! We love you!

A very happy birthday to my sweet mama!

I am several weeks late posting this. However, my sweet mama celebrated another great year of life and I had the privilege of hosting a birthday lunch for her and several of her close friends! We had the best time! Happy belated birthday, mama! I love you so much and am so thankful for you!

This is a close-up of the table. The flowers are gerber daisys and hydrangeas. The little birthday canisters are from Round Top (don't have a website, but they sell it at some cute home decor stores!) I got these from my mama's store.
Up close of the canisters!

My table. (For those who are curious.. china is Bernadaut, chargers are Juliska and not sure about the wine glasses!)

My mom (in green) and her sweet friends! This group of ladies met at church when they were 23 and have been friends for almost 21 years! Max and I have met some of our dearest friends at church, so I can understand why my mom just loves and adores these girls!

The aftermath and clean-up of the snow!

So, we were fortunate. Many of our neighbors lost entire trees. We just lost one big branch and some small branches! With the help of a hockey helmet, ladder and a saw, the job was a couple hour ordeal-but a success!

This is an example of the big limbs that fell! Fortunately not on our roof or causing any major damage!
In all of these pics, my cute hubby has his hockey helmet on "for safety" reasons! I just died laughing at him cutting down limbs in his yellow helmet! Thank goodness for sweet and smart hubbies!

Max pulling the limb and then getting the heck out of dodge!

Job complete - and a very satisfied hubby with his work!

Record amount of snow for Dallas!

We had 12 inches of snow and have had one of the coldest winters I can remember! I am so ready for Spring. Since we lost power and I have been crazy at work, I have not had time to blog. But, I am going to attempt to catch up a bit and will have some more posts this week!

Puppies clearly were not amused by the snow! They don't have much hair and they prefer the Spring or Summer! 12 inches of snow for them was not a pleasant experience!

This is a picture of one of our neighbor's trees that split and fell on the power lines...causing us to not have power for 4 days! Praise the Lord for having parents who live in town!

I never realized how heavy snow was! This is a picture of my cute husband going and shaking the tree limbs to get the snow off so they did not break the tree limbs. We managed to save most of our tree limbs. A post on the aftermath and clean-up is coming next!

This is a picture of our alley - can't drive down it!

And, this is our back yard. Do you see the tree limbs that are usually 20 feet up in the air touching the ground? That was some heavy snow!