Isn't she a beaut!

We found a van, however I think it looks kind of SUVish. We looked hard for about 5 days straight and settled on this one. It is made by GM/Montana, Pontiac.
I hope American made treats us well, we were able to get a lot more bells and whistles by not going foreign and a lot less miles on it.

This other picture is our night out from our anniversary. It was kind of a low key night. I am not the most fun pregnant woman but we enjoyed ourselves. We went to Solaris, the tapas restaurant downtown and then to the movies. (It looks like a Marschall took our picture but in reality it was the best we could do with a timed photo.)

SOLD!!!



I don't know how it sold,yeah I do. The car was prayed over/for. I am super excited, it was hard keeping it clean just for a week. Thankfully, it sold and the transaction has taken place. So this means we are a one car family until we find something else. Pete keeps saying, "Look now you can really be at home, barefoot and pregnant". He thinks he is hysterical, not real funny, you see what I have to put up with? Anyway, I am on a mad hunt for a new to us, used van.

7 years of Bliss and 1 year of so so

It is our 8 year anniversary! Yea us!. The title is kind of an inside joke between Pete and I. When people would ask his uncle how long he and his wife had been married, he would reply "35 of years of bliss and 4 years of so so". It's the truth isn't? If your honest, every minute of marriage is not bliss, there are some days or maybe weeks that add up that aren't the best. My thought is, if you didn't have the so so times or even the dreadful times in marriage you couldn't cherish the pure moments of bliss with each other when they do occur.
So here's to many more years my love and I'll even take the so-so times with you ;)
Since it is a Tuesday, which I do not like celebrating big occasions during the week. We will be celebrating on Saturday, nothing too grandiose, I don't think, but definitely a night out. Pete is arranging the baby-sitting and if that falls through I will add that day to the so so part of our anniversary count.

In honor of Joy and Baby Seth

Today, my mom and grandmothers gave Joy a family shower for her new baby that is on the way. Another quaint affair! Brunch was the theme.
Below are some pictures. Oh and the menu, how I love to talk about food. Now, my Grandmother Marschall made most of it. My contribution was the punch and cheddar cheese grits. I got Paula Deen's recipe to make the cheddar cheese grits and they were the best. My mom made a great fruit salad and the secret ingredient, is peach pie filling.

Cranberry Sausage Quiche
Cheddar Cheese Grits
Peach fruit salad
Coffee cake muffins
Pineapple white grape punch
Coffee
Cute little SJM (Seth's initials)cake squares (provided by Delicious bakery)

No Day Like the Present....

I remember my first date with Pete like it was yesterday. Except now as I think back about it, we are not the same Pete and Meredith who sat in deep conversation on the sofa at Richie's. (Richie's was a restaurant/bar that use to be hip and is now no more.) I am sure most people would say the same thing about their own couple history. Marriage changes people over the years, hopefully for the better, but either way the wife becomes more like her husband and vis versa. The change can mean views on politics, raising children, food etc. Obviously, there are issues where couples will butt (?) heads till the day they die. But overall, living with someone, making decisions; you give and take and become more like the other.
I think the hardest thing though is when I see something in Pete that I wish I was more like and for some reason I can't just "change" in me.
When we were on that sofa back in 1999 and no we weren't partying like it was 1999, just talking. Background history, we were set up on a blind date, so basically we knew nothing about each other. So as we sat there talking, there was no gaps in conversation. I was basically telling him how I struggle with knowing what I am suppose to be doing in my life. At that time, some big things I was hoping to get involved in did not work out and kind of messed up my plan for the next year or so. As I look back I was basically throwing up all my junk on this innocent soul. He listened patiently and basically just said "you know the Lord says not to worry about tomorrow, set your eyes on just today". I thought well how pious of him to throw in an actual bible verse. I knew that verse, everyone knows that verse. Big deal. Well 9 years later, I am still not getting it. I am always future thinking, planning, anxiety ridden. I wish I had more of Pete's lack of care about next week or next year. It's not that he doesn't care, he knows/ believes he really can't plan for the unexpected.
Here is how my mind can race in a matter of minutes.... For instance, "we don't live in a good school district, we must think about moving, if we don't move our children will be exposed to all sorts of bad things, if that happens then they may grow up to be drug dealers and never know the Lord. Seriously.... how can I think that all of that is up to me to work out? Pete now tries to say it in different ways to me. "You can't take that all on yourself or we can make all these changes and other junk may happen that you can't prevent". I do get "it" in glimpses. But I want to live "it". I want to just think about today and the gift in just today. It is ironic to me how the Lord works in marriage. Marriage can be messy and irritating. With me, it is usually trying to plan our lives out till we are retired ( We just had an appointment, that I scheduled, to see how on track we are with our retirement).
Usually in the mess, the Lord is trying to get my attention that my spouse can sure show me the things in my own life where the Lord wants me to grow and ultimately change to be more like Him. (Jesus not Pete).
We are two extremes that bring balance to our family. Getting that balance is when we let God work it out and not ourselves. So today is what it is. I will not worry about tomorrow nor about if my boys will go to the right school and not be drug dealers. I know my God is bigger than all my worries and fears, but I have a feeling I don't live that out in my day to day life.

No explanation needed... and no I did not stuff it all back in the dryer!

My Favorite Car


So I had to come up with something to post about and not see that pile of laundry on my blog anymore. (It's still on the bed by the way),
We are taking the plunge and hopefully buying a minivan in the next few months. If I could jam three car seats in the back I would consider keeping it. I have had my Xterra three months before Pete and I got married. (8 years ago). Actually, we bought it together, both our names on the loan and everything. It's very sentimental to me and I'm not that sentimental. I love this car, it feels like a second home to me, literally. I put it up for sale yesterday on Craigslist, I hope Pete will be okay with it. Only kidding. I did do all the leg work to be able to put it on the market. It sure looks good. I took it to Golden touch to have their super duper clean special wash and a detail on the inside. It literally looks like it could be for sale on a real car lot. If you need a good detail and wash it only cost $54.oo and they got into every nook and cranny in that car. Places where I didn't know french fries could fall. As I love to sell stuff I was extremely excited to get it posted. I know it may take several months to get any action, I am willing to be patient, at least patient for me I should say. So we will see......

Imperfectly Beautiful?!!?

Over at Nesting place, the Nester had this grandiose idea for everyone to show their imperfectly beautiful spots in their homes. It is quite fun to scroll through everyone's!
Here goes mine....


I'm not sure I would call imperfectly beautiful but I will say it is all clean laundry and there is a nice cozy guest room when everything is off the bed. That's always the case with my laundry pile of a guest room. We have clean laundry it's just not folded and put in place. Hey I'm glad I have a room where I can hide this sort of thing from most people minus the world on the web.

Now the other picture is a nice stack of clean dishes left over from a shower I did almost 2 weeks ago. I have yet to put them away. I actually decided yesterday instead of putting them away I am ahead of the game. I have another shower I am hosting, this time for my sister, this Saturday. So my dishes are ready to be set on the table. If you haven't noticed I can make an excuse for everything and be A Okay with it!

My Rant.....

I love my little boys. I love to see my husband with my boys. Yes, they can make me crazy.... and insane.... and question my ability to be a good mother. However, I can't imagine our family to be any different. I am having a hard time visualizing anything else but a boy for our next baby. Everybody and their brother is asking if I am hoping for a girl. You want my real answer?
I would love to have another boy, that is the honest truth. I am scared of little girls. I am one, I have a sister, I know how "we" can be. Especially, our early years. Now, I would love to have a grown daughter because our sweet little boys will grow up and leave us and never call their mom except out of guilt.
I am real close with my mom and cherish that relationship. So if I have a choice... I guess I would choose to have a grown daughter, which sounds ridiculous I know, or another boy. The best part I keep reminding myself is that the Lord knows what our family needs. I can't plan this, however, I am very curious though. We hope to find out July 2. I am just now realizing if he/she does not show himself then we won't be getting another ultrasound, due to our insurance. I will be drinking a lot of juice or mountain dew that morning. So, I will be completely 100% pleased to have another boy-period. literally. A girl will be new and exciting and uncharted territory, if this is the case I will need help and lots of advice from all you moms with little girls. My question is will a little girl slide on a slip and slide all day and be okay with grass cuts all over her back and dirty feet and hands? I mean I am just asking because I know nothing different.
Well, I will say I do know one thing that can be easier if we have a little girl she can't get poison ivy on her penis. Yeah, I have experience with this with my 5 year old. Our new rule, "If you have been in the woods, wash your hands before you go to the bathroom".

It Showered!

I just finished (a couple of hours ago) hosting a baby shower for one of my oldest friends. We've known each other since 5th grade! It was such a treat to do this for her. She had given me a wonderful shower when I had Marschall so I felt I had a lot to live up to. Not that friendship works that way, but you know what I mean, I couldn't just do nuts and mints.
I actually packed our family up and went down to Pete's parents house yesterday. Living with two boys and a husband I could not take the risk of re-cleaning our house, I didn't have it in me! After I had gotten everything ready yesterday we made like a fetus and headed out, no pun intended...well sort of.
I came back up this am at around 8:00, how nice it was to be in my quiet clean house for a few moments by myself.
My mom helped me host it and I could not have done it without her! We had 17 guests for lunch. I used real dishes, even since my dishwasher is still broken! I had place cards and even served a little white wine, it was an affair if I do say so myself. I love to hear what people serve at parties and such, so this was our menu

Greek chicken pasta
Sun-dried tomato spread
fresh vegetables
butter biscuits with strawberry jam
Grape and pecan fruit salad
And an almond raspberry cake from Delicious bakery

It went great and I will still probably be recovering tomorrow. (There is nothing special about the living room, I just wanted to take a picture of it to be able to remember it can be this clean.)

Some things never change....

And it is HIM who I cannnot not change. So I have been feeling pretty proud of myself today. The last few days I have been feeling pretty good. I did 3 loads of much needed to do laundry. Pete came home and I was trying to share my productivity with him. I know he was shooting some indoor baskets with Garrett so he was somewhat distracted. ( Even though I can be cooking dinner, helping one of the boys and holding a complete conversation all at the same time, I won't mention it outside of parentheses;)
Back to my story.....

ME: "We have nice clean sheets to sleep on tonight" (which is a luxury even when I am not struggling doing the laundry)

PETE: "Oh okay"

ME: "You didn't hear me, did you"

PETE: "uh- huh"

ME: "No, you didn't"

PETE: "Yes I did"

ME: "Repeat back to me what I said"

PETE: "You got brand new dollar sheets"

Again, change is not a coming around house anytime soon. GEEZ......
(I told Pete I was going to tell on him, so I feel very validated, justified and all that and then some)