Hello Monday

I'm borrowing "Hello Monday" from Lisa's blog. {Hope she doesn't mind!}

Hello 2nd Trimester!  So glad to meet you!

Hello trip to the Virginia Living Museum with Nate and our friends.

Hello no rushing home for a mid-day pet sitting client.

Hello Mikey - home from work until Wednesday.

Hello house full of my family only.

Hello less stress from aforementioned lack of house guests.  {In my defense, watching 2 extra kids for 5 out of 7 days including overnights is a LOT.}

Hello fresh laundry.

Hello clean bathrooms and clean sheets.

Hello Monday!

Vent

I'm so sick of people in my house.  Not MY people in my house but the others.  14 more hours.  Tick, tick, tick...

Winter

So it appears I have skipped over all things Christmas.  I'm blaming it on 1st trimester fatigue.  Yea, that's the ticket.  I actually found an abandoned post titled Christmas, but that was as far as I'd gotten.

We had two great celebrations.  One with family...

And one with friends... A Pajama Christmas
I just realized I don't have many pictures.  There was dancing going on but I had to swear not to post any video.  This is the best I can do.

Nate may have beaten some of the guys with his mad dancing skills.

Amanda's reaction to our pregnancy news.  There was confusion, high-pitched sounds, crying, and hugging!

The day after Christmas, we had 14" of snow.  That's a big deal around here.  We had fun playing in it but my most favorite part was making snow cream for the first time.  It was AWESOME.

Adding fresh snow to our milk, sugar, and vanilla mixture.

YUM

After dessert serenade.  He played the guitar and sang "You've Got a Friend in Me" in the cutest little voice.

Nate and I also went to Christmastown at Busch Gardens with our friend Sallie.  It was f-f-f-f-f-reezing but we had a good time!

Nate's none too happy about getting his picture taken.

Christmas carols at Sesame Place

Penguins from BG's sister park Sea World

Nate's first carousel ride. And second and third.

Germany and das Festhaus were gorgeous!

The GMBOA is here! The GMBOA is here!

On Tuesday, I found this delightful box on my doorstep.

THE GOLDEN MINION BOX OF AWESOMENESS

Oh Yeah - I won the GMBOA (of The Creamery fame) from EightTwentyEight's contest this month!  Rose hosted a fun week of contests and put together a wonderful box of goodies!  Thank you Rose!

Nate spied the M&M's first and the airplane second!  He was a happy boy!

The goodies were chosen with care, as they are some of Rose's favorite things and things that are found in her local area in Washington state.  There's honey! berry jam! lip balm! wee travel sized bottles!  What's not to love?  Also, have you ever heard of Rent the Runway? You can rent designer clothes and accessories there.  It's very SATC to me!  Seeing as how I'm with child at the moment with no fancy events to attend, I'm eyeing some fabulous jewelry instead of couture.  I'm spoiled with a $50 gift card and Rose even included a discount code when I order in January!

So now that the GMBOA is in my hot little hands, it's my turn to think up some awesome gifties for the box and to host a contest so YOU can be the next winner of the coveted box.  The rules are here on Whimsy's blog.  If you haven't read her blog, you should.  Her little Bean is worthy of some serious cheek squeezin'. When you're finished checking out The Creamery, you should follow her blog so you're eligible to win.

This isn't officially a contest question, but what would you love to receive in a Golden Box of Awesomeness?

Nate's Secret

Nate has a secret he just can't keep anymore.

He's going to be a big brother in the July-ish time frame. 

My secret?  I never knew I could get pregnant so I'm still a bit in shock (yet so, so excited) that I'm growing a baby.

Happy New Year!