*** HE'S HERE! ***

Daiquiri here. Becky asked me to do a guest post or two for her while she's in the hospital. She knows you all are anxiously awaiting news of the baby...and news, there is! Meet Benjamin Patrick Joseph:



He made his appearance at 3:52 PM today. He weighed 8 lbs, 9 oz and is 21 1/4 inches long. It was a joyful and exciting day. He's perfectly healthy, and mom? Well, his mom is stunning...beautiful, brave, strong...just awesome!


Daddy's proud...and in love already. His son. And little Benjamin looks like him, at least in the chin and mouth. And if the little guy has half his dad's spunk? Watch out world!


His sisters could hardly wait to get their hands on him.

There was quite the lineup of people waiting to meet Benjamin...it was almost comical how we all sat there and just looked at poor Becky!

Jen and I were both thrilled to be able to part of this special day. Jen and Becky have been great friends for years and years. It was a nice coincidence that Jen's hubby happened to be in the hospital having jaw surgery...Jen got to sneak down and visit Becky from time to time :)

Is there anything better than a newborn babe? And this one is particulary sweet and beautiful. I wonder if he'll ever understand just how anticipated he was...how cherished he was before he was even born.

"For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands."

Psalm 92:4

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My Favorite Olympic Moment So Far....

You have probably already heard the buzz about the men's 4 X 100M free relay swim. It was history in the making! I've been so busy and unable to stay awake lately, I've missed a lot of the Olympics so far. I'm so glad I didn't miss this race. I was screaming and yelling. It is amazing how much patriotism I feel watching Olympic moments like this. I loved seeing the French eat crow!

If you missed this history in the making race, watch it here. You won't regret it! It was just as much fun watching it the second time! : )

Proud to be an American,

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Zucchini Bread- A Childhood Memory

Daiquiri's talking zucchini today, too. She has a LOT of ideas about what to do with it after it leaves your garden.

It's zucchini time of year again! : )

I have fond memories of my mom's zucchini bread. Every summer she would harvest the zucchini out of our garden, run it through the food processor, and then freeze it for winter. Then at Christmas time, she'd make loaves of zucchini bread as gifts for our neighbors. Of coarse there were loaves for our family, too.

Now that we have our own zucchini bread coming out of the garden, I've been making my own loaves for my own family. I do freeze some, but we can't wait until winter to have our treat.

I love zucchini bread. I love the smell, the taste, and the nostalgia.

I hope you enjoy it, too:

Sally’s Zucchini Bread

Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

3 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 TBSP cinnamon
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 c. oil
2 c. sugar
1 TBSP vanilla
2 c. grated zucchini
Nuts if desired

Makes 2 regular loaves or 3 small ones
(Don’t flour or grease pan)

Lighter version: substitute applesauce for oil equal parts

Enjoy! If you are one of my neighbors and I show up with zucchini bread, you still need to act happy even if you make your own now. : )

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I Finished the Never-Ending Dress! : )

Only 4 days to go! I cannot believe it! I actually thought I might be in labor last night. I even went for a walk through the neighborhood at 1:00 AM, but it was a false alarm or pre-labor or something. Probably just wishful thinking! : )

I'm frantically working through my to-do list hoping to get it all done before Thursday....only 16 items left to check off. : ) (And that doesn't include King Charming's list) Oh the joy of the nesting instinct!

My to-do list included half-done projects I knew would never get done if I didn't finish them before our life became newborn centered. One of those projects was what I have been calling the Never-Ending dress.

Last spring, I was inspired by Amber's sewing project and thought, "I think I can do that!" I found the pattern and promised Princess #2 a twirly party dress for her birthday party...(in April) : )

Well, poor little Princess watched her birthday come and go with no dress. Once I finally finished it, I realized, "I don't know how to hem!" I tried to learn from the Internet, searched for a tutorial somewhere, but I just couldn't figure it out. When my mom came to visit for my baby shower, I made her sit down and teach me. "That's easy!" I thought.
It was an easy stitch, but the twirly party dress had about four yards of fabric around the bottom and hemming it by hand was sloooooowwwwww going. It is so amateur and looks homemade. I really don't think sewing clothes is something you can teach yourself off the Internet. (Mrs. MK I sure wish you could come over and teach me. I could be your sewing apprentice) : )

Amateur or not, it's done, and my little princess is so happy! She woke up Friday morning to her dress done and you can see from the pictures below that she likes it:

When I had her try it on, I said, "It took me so long, I hope it still fits you."

Her response?

"Yeah because it took you two or three or four years to finish it and I'm bigger now!"

Hey! : )

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Sleepying Beauty...or Beauties?

After bath time the other night, my oldest daughter came down the stairs and said, "Mommy, you should see Sissy. She's so cute! Can I take some pictures of her."

I guess the youngest was worn out from her day and couldn't wait for me to come tuck her in. These are the pictures her big sister took of her while she slept:

When I finally went in to tuck them in, this is what I found...



Guess Big Sissy couldn't make it either. : )

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Respecting Her Privacy....huh?

Oh man...it killed me to have to do it, but I had to delete my post about my oldest princess being a composer and a poet.

She came to me upset that it was on my blog because it embarrassed her. She said the song she wrote was special and private, and she didn't want everyone to be able to read it.

So I enter a new phase of blogging...having to honor my kids' desire for privacy. I guess I just didn't expect it at 6 years old. I don't understand why they don't always want to be on display. Don't they know how cute they are? Man...sometimes I wish she couldn't read yet! : )

My youngest still loves being on here. She loves to play dress up and every time she has a new costume on she runs downstairs and says, "Mama will you take my picture and put it on your blog?" So of course I HAVE to oblige. : )

Here she is in her latest costumes:

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Did You Notice?

Look at my sidebar ticker....SINGLE DIGITS!!!! : )

Only 9 more days to go. WHOO HOO!!!!!!

I had an OB appointment that went really well, but my cervix needs to do something before next week. I'm absolutely zero dilated and absolutely zero effaced.

I'm determined to do all I can to get things happening. I just got home from an hour walk, I'm drinking Raspberry Leaf Tea, and doing squats. I've also been, uh...enjoying my husband a lot(is that a polite enough way to say it?)

Is there anything I'm missing? Any old wives tales I can try? (Besides castor oil...yuck)

Comment away, dear readers.....

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