Jersey Photo Roll

Time for a photo roll blog. Maybe with some commentary....that would just make it a regular post, huh? Let's see what happens...

worked at the Jersey Shore one rainy day...saw THE "Jersey Shore" House...unimpressed.

21 weeks pregnant...

                           

got a sweet Mother's Day (mother-to-be!) card from my niece..love her scribbles.

was in our guest room before it recently got transformed into a nursery...

transformation on a future blog post

Cole supervising the nursery paint job.  "yea looks good, keep at it guys, one more coat to go"

I've been staring at this a lot lately...love Pinterest to use as an inspiration board.

I really need all the visuals together on 1 page to see how it all looks together.

These are all the pieces of our little girl's nursery... :)

Mother's Day with my mom!

While I was south for a wedding/baby shower/mothers day...

Cole was at a nearby kennel which was similar to a spa (seriously)...this is how he looked within 5 mins of arriving home.  Nick returned from Las Vegas later that day and took up a similar position.

Mother's Day Brunch at the VA's Museum of Fine Arts

25 weeks pregnant... 

my friend, Tracy's baby shower...this is a bunch of my high school friends.

"let me up there with you ...pllllease."

Banana Pancakes

I must have been channeling Jack Johnson a couple of weekends ago, because all I wanted to do was make banana pancakes.  Instead, I settled on maple banana pancake muffins.  Note to Jack – just as good!

Here is the recipe.

Taken from this book - a fabulous baking book!

And here is my attempt at capturing the making of the muffin.

Yum!

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

In another bowl, stir together egg, buttermilk, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and butter.

Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Stir in mashed bananas.

Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups (I didn't grease and this turned out to be a bit messy).

Bake until golden brown - it says 10-12 minutes.  But the recipe is for mini-muffins and I made regular muffins.  Therefore, it took 20-25 minutes for my muffins.

Success!

Dip the muffins into the remaining maple syrup and enjoy!

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

I heard that there was a day last week to celebrate military spouses!   Obviously, it wasn’t celebrated in my house, because we had no idea.  But one thing that I have learned in my time as a military spouse is that it is important to recognize the sacrifices that the entire family makes to support their loved ones who serve.  I have seen the sacrifices that my friends make every day and it is not always easy (actually, it is rarely easy).  The women that I have met are some of the most independent strong amazing women I know and I am so proud to be on this military spouse journey with them!  

My brother sent this to me and I wanted to share it with you.  It is a poem that was posted on some military blogs last week.  As I was reading, I kept finding myself laughing at the truth of the words.  So, even though it is a little late, thank you military spouses for all that YOU do!

Lots of moving...Moving...Moving...Moving far from home...
Moving two cars, three kids and one dog...all riding with HER of course.
Moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house;

Moving curtains that won't fit. Moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours.
Moving away from friends. Moving toward new friends.
Moving her most important luggage: her trunk full of memories.

Often waiting...Waiting...Waiting... Waiting for housing, Waiting for orders.
Waiting for deployments. Waiting for phone calls.
Waiting for reunions. Waiting for the new curtains to arrive.
Waiting for him to come home, for dinner...AGAIN!

They call her 'Military Dependent', but she knows better:
She is fiercely In-Dependent.

She can balance a check book; handle the yard work;
Fix a noisy toilet; bury the family pet...

She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes, sell a house, buy a car;
Or set up a move...all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.
She reinvents her career with every PCS; locates a house in the desert, The Arctic, Or the deep south.
And learns to call them all 'home'. She MAKES them all home.

Military Wives are somewhat hasty...They leap into:
Decorating, Leadership, Volunteering, Career alternatives, Churches,
and friendships. They don't have 15 years to get to know people.
Their roots are short but flexible. They plant annuals for themselves and

perennials for those who come after them.

Military Wives quickly learn to value each other: they connect over coffee,
rely on the spouse network, accept offers of friendship and favors.
record addresses in pencil...

Military Wives have a common bond. The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands;

his commitment is unique. He doesn't have a 'JOB.' He has a 'MISSION' that he can't just decide to quit...
He's on-call for his country 24/7. But for her, he's the most unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign: TDY, PCS, OPR, SOS, ACC, BDU, ACU, BAR, CIB, TAD...
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.
She is the long- distance link to keep them informed; the glue that holds them together.

A Military Wife has her moments. She wants to wring his neck,
Dye his uniform pink, refuse to move to Siberia, but she pulls herself together.
Give her a few days, a travel brochure, a long hot bath, a pledge to the flag,
a wedding picture, and she goes, she packs, he moves, she follows.

Why? What for? How come? You may think it is because she has lost her mind.
But actually it is because she has lost her heart. It was stolen from her by a man,
who puts duty first, who longs to deploy, who salutes the flag,
And whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband,

she will remain his military wife and would have it no other way.

Love my military spouses!

My Girls...

So as you may know...I highly value my time with my girlfriends.  I had a big group of girlfriends in high school that did everything together...I was in a sorority in college...I've been blessed with wonderful women in my life.  I feel like I value that time even more now since it's less frequent (how sad).

This makes me all the more excited to be having a girl as our first child.  I look forward to seeing the friendships she creates during her lifetime and can only hope she'll be as lucky as me.  There is truly something different and special about chatting with your girlfriends vs. your husband.

Over the past month I've gotten to see a bunch of my close friends...it's been like many happy therapy sessions and so much fun.  Two of my best friends are pregnant right now too!  I have loved talking to them about our pregnancies!

Nick and I went down to my hometown, Richmond, VA for a weekend to see my parents who we hadn't seen since before Christmas!  The trip was also so I could see my girlfriends from college, Colleen and Melissa and Melissa's twin babies.  She had them in December and I had been dying to see those two little munchkins...boy and a GIRL...Parker and Mackenzie.  I had a great visit getting to hold and play with both babies and saw true life with twins...standing ovation to Melissa and her great husband Scott for doing such a great job as first time parents!  Then Colleen, Melissa and I had a fun lunch just us girls.  Colleen is pregnant and  due a week before me, on August 16th...with a boy...luckily she already has a sweet little girl!  Maybe my little girl and her little boy will date one day?! :)

 Mackenzie Broaddus being sweet

 Scott with his mini me, Parker

 Mackenzie practicing her kicking skills on me

 twins, but very different!

girls lunch :)

Tracy (friend from middle school...which let me do the math...about 15 years of friendship, whoa.) and her fun hubby Joe visited us in NJ for a weekend.  Tracy was almost 30 weeks pregnant at the time and we talked everything pregnancy/baby...but also just had fun.  We went into NYC for the day and shopped at a cute maternity boutique and had lunch, saw Hunger Games and had fun showing them around our area of New Jersey.  Tracy is due June 4th...also with a girl!  We hope one day they'll be close friends too :)

in nyc...i'm 18 weeks here and tracy is close to 30 weeks pregnant

In mid-April, I went down to the DC/Maryland area to celebrate my college friend, Jamie's upcoming wedding!  I was also able to squeeze in dinner and a night with my girlfriend, Tina...it was so nice to walk around Arlington, VA...get dinner on a really nice spring night and talk, talk, and talk about our lives.  Usually this is done over wine, but that will have to wait!

My college girlfriends celebrated Jamie with a really nice bridal shower thrown by her friends and family and a night out in Baltimore! My friends, Colleen, Melissa, Allison and I drove around together that day and stayed at Allison's that night...we love our adult slumber parties :)  We were silly and had fun...it's just awesome when we're all together!

not the best angled picture of us, but my college girlfriends plus sorority sister, Stacy..clockwise from bottom left:  Colleen, Melissa, Allison, Stacy, me, and Jamie (center)

 ready for a night out! 

party bus...my girlfriends and I are in the front of this picture and I have no idea what's in the cooler, haha.

Last but certainly not least...I recently spent a weekend with Casey, in San Diego!!  I had 4 days out there visiting her and we had a fun and relaxing long weekend.  Much different pace than my last trip...partly due to it being a sober weekend, partly due to that I get tired much faster these days!  We went to the beach, out to eat, strolled through the farmers market, shopped around (I bought too many things for the baby), caught a Phillies/Padres game (baby girl saw her first losing Phillies game sadly enough), and got massages.  We watched two terrible movies (never see Funny People or Young Adult) and just hung out.  I wanted to visit Casey before I got too pregnant to fly and it was perfect timing.

Casey can't come to my baby shower this summer, so she even threw me a baby shower!  It was so cute and complete with flowers, balloons, cupcakes and a delicious apple lime drink!  Thanks Case :)

 surprise!  baby shower from casey...so cute :)

yummy lime-apple drink! 

 Casey's dog Sadie trying to help me unwrap gifts

 of course!

 looking a little worn from my travels that day, but loving the frilly pink onsie!!  girls are so cute.

baby gupta is gonna love her outfits from Aunt Casey and Uncle Matt! 

how could i resist? 

 Casey should be a food photographer

 go phillies!

loving the phillies game!

baby G's first phillies game! 

close to the field!

 ahhh...post - massages.

So there you have it...girlfriends are the best :)

What happened in Vegas...

I will share on this blog!  I finally went to Vegas this past weekend for the first time.  It was a bachelorette weekend for Matt’s sister, Kristen.  The trip was short, but sweet.  

We did everything Vegas style - started the first night at 1:30 am, spotted Cee Lo in the club, heard this song and this one and this one all weekend long and got excited every time like it was the first time, celebrated Kristen over mimosa's and bridal shower games, went to the Wet Republic pool party, ate delicious food, and danced the nights away.

Although it will probably take me a full week to recover and catch up on sleep, it was completely worth it.  I had such a fun weekend celebrating my sister-in-law with all of her friends.  Can't wait until the wedding!

This was on my seat on the way to Vegas...awesome.

Look who I ran into in Vegas - my cousin, Kristin!

Bloody mary poolside - one of the best I have ever had!