framing.

 

they started to frame the house, and it has gone up fast! it's amazing how overnight it seemed to look like an actual house! i love seeing each room more to scale. it will only be easier and easier to visualize, and see our dream come to life. 

18 weeks.

here is a shot of me at 18 weeks. i am well into my second trimester, and am so excited to finally know the sex of the baby. i really thought that i was having a boy, but now that i know we are having a girl i am so ecstatic. i can't even begin to imagine all the fun we will have together, and i just cannot wait to have a mini me! it still hasn't quite sunk in though. i need to go buy some more baby clothes (we went a few hours after we found out since we hadn't really been looking for boy or girl clothes in particular), but i think i'm going to need to shop some more to really get used to it : ) 

our big news.

we are having a baby and it's a....

cookies + eggs.

easter was no different than all the other holidays. i don't mean that in a bad way discounting the fact that Jesus rose from the dead on easter!  what i meant by it not being different is the fact that i made my sugar cookies in the shape of "easter" like i seem to do for all of the other holidays (recipe below.) 


while we (i) baked cookies we also dyed easter eggs. our vinegar was old though and the eggs didn't turn out as good as normal. even though i am at the ripe old age of 24, i still enjoy doing things such as dying eggs. it makes me feel like a kid again and all the years i did this with my mom + brothers. next year will be even better with a little one. 


TEA CAKES. 


2 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter
3/4 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract


Mix together with enough flour to make a soft dough (about 6 cups + 1/2 cup for rolling out). Roll out + cut into your shape of choice. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 


BUTTERCREAM ICING.


1 stick unsalted butter
1 box powdered sugar
1-2 tsp. almond extract
Milk 


Beat butter. Add powdered sugar + almond extract. Add milk until the desired consistency. 

foundation: check

the foundation is done. step one of operation house is complete! they also went ahead and put in our reinforced storm shelter which is the master closet. 


it's coming along! 

easter twenty-twelve.

 

i don't know about you, but we had a wonderful Easter. we went to sunrise service at our church. it was at 6:30 AM (we hit snooze literally for an hour) down by the river. everyone wore sweatshirts and brought blankets and chairs. 

after church we went home to change and cook lunch then brought it over to my mother in laws house. lunch was delicious (as usual). i bought everyone bunny ears for some fun photo opps. 

wade + i gave each other baskets. he told me not to take a picture of them together because i couldn't find a basket to fit his records and mine looks so much smaller. he did, however, buy me a new dress last weekend to wear to our friends wedding coming up in may so technically that was supposed to be in my basket. i decorated bones with tags, stamps and twine for the furry babies. 

how was your Easter? 

just peachy.

i'm in love with marc by marc jacobs blush color this season. i've been searching for the perfect spring purse with the right pop of color, and i think this bag might do just the trick!


you can find it here.  

let's build a foundation.

we did a drive by of the house (it's easy to drive by considering it's a block away from our current house) and saw that they delivered all our blocks for the start of our foundation! we can't wait to see the finished product of the foundation. it's just step one of the house which is exciting to say the least. 


more updates to come. 

Happy Monday.

how was your weekend?


we had a very relaxing weekend complete with pizza + a movie, errand running, a family dinner at our house (table decor pictures to come), church, picnic with the puppy + desperate housewives (we are in mourning with only a few episodes remaining.) 


here's to another week. oh how the time flies. 

meet: scarlett.

meet the newest addition of the benz family... little miss scarlett benz! our three year old golden retriever, Hurley, was in dire need of a friend, so husband surprised me and drove me 40 minutes away on valentine's day to pick her out. she was only four weeks old at the time, so we had to wait a whole month to take her home with us. 


we are absolutely in love with her. i wish she would stay super small, but she will probably only get up to 30 lbs (she's a medium.) 


she loves sleeping, chewing (we are working on this), biting Hurley's ears, eating, and going on walks.  

that's my girl.