You Make My Heart "Melt"

After Lauren's shower Jake took me to The Melting Pot in Midtown for an early Valentine's celebration.  Since baby J could surprise us at any moment we decided to play it safe and have our special night that weekend.  I absolutely LOVE fondue!  We were there from 6:30-9:30...time was spent enjoying the delicious meal and having a wonderful evening celebrating St. Valentine.  It was a truly memorable night!  

Jake and I tend to have "moments" in life that are very "us"...and that night was no exception! On our way out, we asked the hostess to take our picture.  She suggested a wall with The Melting Pot logo...seemed like a good choice at the time.  That was until we looked at the picture (once we had already left the restaurant) and realized that the fondue pot in the picture made Jake look like a viking!  We were cracking up!! We thought the hostess would get a kick out of it so we walked back inside to show her...then we took another picture (without the viking hat background) and I also took a picture with the hostess, lol!

Came across this when I was Googling "viking" pics..... cute!!!!

My Valentine Viking and our hostess/photographer! She got SO close...BFF!!

Do-over!!! XOXO!!!

On the note of Valentine's and hearts...a few weeks ago I had my maternity pics taken.  I never thought I'd want to take "belly" shots.  But, my friend Julie from Peach Blossom Photography offered to do them for me and I didn't want to look back and regret not getting the traditional maternity shots.  I'm so glad I got them done! She did an amazing job!! Pregnancy is such a blessing, the miracle of it all is so amazing...I'm so excited that I decided to have this part of my life captured! I can't wait to see the session once it's completed! Here's the traditional "heart" belly shot! ; ) 

Sweet Baby Boys!

Emily, Hilliary and I hosted Lauren's baby shower this past Saturday. Lauren's precious baby boy is due April 16th!  My little Jackson and Landon will have so much fun growing up together! It was a wonderful morning as we helped welcome baby Landon!

The shower was from 10-12 which meant yummy breakfast foods! 

Highlights: 

Emily made a delicious cream cheese danish that was out of this world.  Everyone wanted the recipe!!  Hilliary brought the cutest turtle cake with cream cheese frosting...so good!!! Jake was so sweet and woke up early to make the breakfast casserole ( *bash eggs*) for me while I set up. It came out great, thanks babe! ; )

Recipe for "bash eggs":

1 lb. sliced ham, diced

1 lb. cheddar cheese, grated

2 cups saltine crackers, crushed

6 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Turn into 13X9 inch greased baking dish.  Bake for 40-50 minutes. Can be frozen and reheated later. 

My grandmother has a wonderful collection of party/shower ideas that she shared with me.  One of the creations were onesie cupcakes. I couldn't quite get the onesiess to fit, so, I made washcloth cupcakes. Super easy and a fun parting gift for your mommy-to-be! We played GUESS THE PINS game...you guess how many safety pins are in a baby bottle and the closest guess wins. It's a great game...no pressure, no difficult instructions...real simple!! 

SIDE NOTE: Speaking of REAL SIMPLE- Jake surprised me with a subscription and I'm SO excited about it! It's funny how life changes and your taste in magazines follow...there was Seventeen Magazine back in the day, then People...and now, I'm all about magazines on parenting, crafts, organizing, etc...lol! I plan on keeping a craft journal of cute ideas as I come across them.  I also hope to do a better job of collecting yummy and SIMPLE recipes for when I'm home with J.

As I was writing this post, my friend Karen from UF (who's ALSO having a boy) texted me to look up the song Godspeed by Dixie Chicks.  She did warn me to have tissues near by, and boy did I need them!!

Here's the video! It's a precious song written from a mom to her son...the lyrics are so beautiful! The amount of love I have for my little man already is more than words can even explain. I'm so grateful to God to have blessed us with this little miracle. It's hard to imagine I'll be meeting my sweet son any day now.  I'm sitting at a desk with a view of the nursery...I can see his crib...all the baby blue bedding with sweet polka dots. This is where our angel will dream as Jake and I stand over him, praying for our little boy! Wow...I'm in awe.

You can see more shower pics here!