What I Fit Into and Week #19!

The pics this week did not go well.  Yes, I realize my coat hanger is in the middle of the hallway.  My intentions were for it to not be seen.  But, whatev.

Perhaps I need to wait until my husband gets home so he can take the pictures.

Anywho, here are week #19 pictures!

I cannot believe we are almost at the halfway point.  Not that I think this process is flying by or anything, just kind of weird to think we are halfway through the process of meeting our little man.  Yay!

I still feel good.  I officially gave up on going to my Tuesday/Thursday boot camp.  My goal was to make it to 30 weeks, but a combination of my work schedule and the fact that it takes me a full day to feel back to normal has nixed that plan.  I still attempt to go to the gym as often as possible and get my cardio on as well as do light lifting.  

The baby room officially has plans for a little boy and will slowly but surely get there.  Crib has been ordered, dresser has be given to us (a great find by mom and dad at an auction), paint has been picked out.  Just finding the time to put it all together.  Not in any hurry though at this point.

Henry officially has made his presence known by fluttering around (mostly when I lay down to go to bed).  Seems to be an active one, praying he is a good, calm baby when he arrives.

My niece Kharis has little Henry's name down and it is so sweet to hear her say it.  She originally had Philabar as a boy's name and Elle as a girl's.  A kitty cat baby was also on her list. Sorry to disappoint kiddo.

On the Menu

As stated in a previous post, I meal plan and hit up the grocery store every week.  I try my best to use what we have first and roll over any meals that we didn't get to the week prior.  I also look at the ingredients for what I want and try to go with meals that might call for the same thing.  Two of my meals this week needed cream cheese for example.  If I have to use produce (green onions, celery, cilantro, etc.) I really try to plan a meal early the next week with those items because I hate just throwing those things out.  

When Pinterest launched, I had all these visions to make a new meal each week that I found.  

Ha to the haha. 

Our menus are still varied and honestly there are few things that have been repeated since we've been married (I will say I haven't made mashed potatoes the entire time we've been married, I am not the best elaborate cook).  But, Chris does most of the cooking because of my job, and while the boy has learned a lot, I don't want to leave him with some detailed recipe (Chris does an excellent job by the way).  

This past week, however, my work load has been a little lighter due to our area's Spring Break so I have been able to be home in the evening, hip hip hooray!  I took full advantage of this and opted to try a recipe I have been wanting to try and a recipe from a friend.  Hopefully in the weeks to come I will share some recipes from our family cookbooks, this week just wasn't one of those weeks.

Monday night we had Baked Creamy Chicken Toquitos from Pinterest.  My friend Andrea has made them and said they were tasty and made a multitude, so that was enough for me.  She was right, the recipe makes more than what it says it does.  I think we got 15 out of it, probably could have done a few more.  They were delicious!  We paired them with some Mexican rice and chips and salsa.  I have other friends who have made them and said they freeze well, so I might consider doing a double batch next time.  We stuck with the corn tortillas, fewer calories and I love 'em.  No crazy ingredients involved, a lot of the things I already had on hand, always a plus.

Tuesday night was pancake night.  Easy, cheap, fast, and delicious.  We usually have breakfast for dinner once a week.  It is my favorite kind of meal and now that I control the menu, I'm all over it! 


Wednesday evening we hit up my parents for some free grub and our gender reveal par-tay! 

Thursday we had Alfredo.  OH MY GOSH!  If you are ever in the mood for some Olive Garden, but not wanting to fork out the bucks, TRY THIS!  My sweet friend Christa shared this recipe on her blog and good golly it is delicious.  I am a pasta fanatic and this did not disappoint.  This is a splurge meal, not light on calories, but totally worth it (I have another recipe that is, will share that in the future, but not as good).  The only thing I had to purchase for this meal was the whipping cream and cream cheese (which was used on the toquitos as well), everything else I had.  We had some left over chicken breast from Monday that we seasoned up and added on top, whipped up some bread, added a salad and we were set.  There is still quite a bit of sauce left.  I am sure we will eat leftovers, but I wonder if it might freeze...

I meant to take a picture of our plates, but it was too good to stop.  Realllllyyyy good.

Friday night we hit up Mexican Villa with Chris' parents.  The joy of living in the same town as our parents is getting invitations to meals often. 

Saturday was leftovers and popcorn at the movies. 

Sunday another leftovers day and pineapple for dinner.


I know we eat fairly light and since there are just two of us, leftovers are a must throughout the week or else we would throw out way too much food.  This next week we only planned for two meals because I will be leaving town and Chris said he can manage (aka go to his parents or get a frozen pizza).  

Hope some of you try the toquitos or alfredo soon.  You won't regret it, promise.  

It's Friday, It's Friday!

I so hope my blog title placed that song in your head for the day.  This week has been a whirlwind of a week I tell ya.  Lots of good things (Martha Stewart insert there).

1.  Most of my clients were on spring break this week.  Therefore, I was able to work days and have my evenings at home.  Bliss I tell ya, bliss.  Because I made it home by 5:30 at the latest each night, I was able to do a lot of this:

Recipe and weekly menu to come.

 2.  I am laughing because Andrea put a tree in her post which was my intention as well.  Great minds think alike!  We have a beautiful tree in the backyard and with all this nice weather lately, it is out in full force. 

3.  The anticipation is almost over!  Tomorrow night I am headed with Chris, his sister, his mom, his dad, and a few friends to see The Hunger Games.  Dum dum dummmmmm.  Erin introduced me to the books a couple of years ago and we were so excited to hear it would be made into a film.  Now usually we are midnight theater goers to events such as these (Harry Potter and Twilight, yup I am one of those people).  But, I will admit I was happy when Erin said we should wait until Saturday.  I think our hopes are that the screaming teenagers will be lower in number on a Saturday showing (not that that doesn't provide a little entertainment as well).

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4.  We purchased our first two big baby items this week.  A crib and a mattress.  It wasn't our intention to get these yet, but both were on sale and you just can't pass up a sale on baby stuff.  We still need to paint the room and rearrange a few other things before set up occurs.  Our goal is Mother's Day (well that's my goal).  This is still early, but I figure we better get used to cramming ourselves in this house so I don't have a panic attack when it actually happens.

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 5.  It's raining men!!!  Well, more like boys, but still.  Three little guys made their presence known this week in our lives.  Of course we found out Henry will be joining our family in August.  Chris is excited to have a little buddy and I am a little freaked out on what I will be doing with a boy!  But, many have told me there is nothing like having love from a little boy, so I'm holding onto that.  Also, two of my dear friends had little guys this week.  Nancy's little baby D made his way a couple of weeks early on the 21st and Shannon's little Noah came on the 22nd.  Lots of little buddies for Henry.

Gender Reveal!

No "What I Fit Into" post yesterday.  Nope.  Yesterday was Big.  HUGE!

We had known for a few weeks that March 21st would potentially be the day we would find out the gender of our babe (if the little one decided to participate).  The new fad now is to have a gender reveal party, so of course my brain went into party planning mode.  After sitting down and running through all the people we would like to invite I quickly became overwhelmed and we voted on having a more intimate setting with just our parents, Chris' grandparents, a couple Chris has known for years (and we've become close with) and of course, good old Facetime.

The appointment itself was surreal.  We got to see the heart beating (all four chambers), the little brain, a hand wave at us, a strong looking spin, and of course a bird's eye view between the babe's legs.

Picture of a picture, not the best.

I had rolled around how to reveal the gender and came up with idea of using a little saying from a nursery rhyme.  So, after the ultrasound we headed over to get some balloons.  In each balloon was a letter to a phrase that was to be unscrambled.

It was off to my mom and dad's after that, balloons and Jasper in hand.  Mom had decorated the house with question marks galore and was impressed with our somber expression which did not give away anything upon arrival.

We tied all of the balloons to the back of the chairs in the dining room and were set to go.

The lighting is terrible, I know.

 When our guests arrived, they immediately wanted to know the good stuff.  So, we pulled up my sister and my dear friend Ashly from Utah on Facetime and went to it.  

"We couldn't make this easy on you all, so pop all the balloons and you'll need to unscramble the letters in order to find out what we are having!" I announced.  And they were off.

Here is the part I WISH I would have gotten pictures of, but with two phones in your hand and loud noises, you just don't think straight.  If you know our families at all though, it was chaotic.  I was impressed, they unscrambled the letters in less than five minutes!

After a great meal and opening a few fun gifts, it was time to let a few close friends and other family members know.  I didn't want to just post something on Facebook, text like a mad person, or call people all night.  So... we let them play in the game as well.  Each friend received this text (until I got too overwhelmed to send it anymore, then I just texted haha):

In the next text you'll find lots of letters,
Find three words and you'll feel much better.
Text the words back and you will see...
What Baby Bosch is going to be!!!!

S-N-P-D-A-N-I-S-A-L-N-I-S-S

This is where the night got really entertaining.  We had a few friends think they just needed to make any three words out of the letters and we would reveal the gender.  I got texts with; Sipidan Islands, Spin and Sail, Katniss, Snap, Pan, Lad, Lad and Lass, etc.  Our dear friend Jordan even upon finding out what it said, was flabbergasted because we had said it was three words (apparently "and" isn't a word anymore, he quickly corrected himself).  A few gave up, but most nailed it when given the clue, "Think Nursery Rhyme."  

Have you figured it out yet???

That's right!!  Snips and snails and puppy dog tails... That's what little BOYS are made of!!!

Henry Michael, we are so excited to meet you!  Thanks for the wave and being such a wiggle worm during our ultrasound.  Stay cozy and see you in around 22 weeks!!!

If Money Were No Object

So I am attempting something new today... linking up a blog post.  Gasp!  I am by far the worst at technology, so we shall see if I am successful with this new adventure.  My friend Andrea led me to a great blog which is full of weekly link ups under the title "Moments that Define Life."  

This week's prompt was to write about five things you would do if money were no object.  I got this.  

I am a dreamer, so I think of these things often.

• See Distant Friends Often-  I have many great friends who live close by.  However, I also have those who are near and dear to my heart who live 3 hours plus away, including my sister.  I would love to be able to book a plane ticket on a Thursday, fly out on a Friday, and return home on Sunday evening.  Texting, phone calls, and Skyping are great, but sitting down for coffee and staying up late to chat are deeply missed.

Friends who live too far away.

My wonderful sister.

• Buy Two New Houses-  Yup, two.  Remember folks, money isn't an object.  We live in a 50+ year old house currently that has plenty of character, as well as hair pulling aspects.  I am so excited for the day we are able to build our dream home or find the perfect match.  We also love to be on the lake.  My grandparents had a lake house for years and there is something about a summer night with the windows open hearing the water.  So, it would be dreamy to have a lake house. We'd have all the fun toys and plenty of room for friends to come along.

• Season Sports Tickets- This one is mostly to make my husband happy, but I enjoy a good game as well.  I would love to be able to take Chris to all the Mizzou football and basketball games as well as the Cardinals.  We always have a grand time and I would probably purchase a few extra in order to bribe people into being our friends and wanting to hang out with us (ha).

• Travel-  You know those cool people who have the RVs with the US map on the outside, completely color coded with all of the places they have visited?  Perhaps that's just me who has seen this amazing sight.  I would love to have a world map in our house with pins covering it representing all of the enjoyable places we have been.  A safari in Africa, pizza in Italy, seeing the tulips in Amsterdam, skiing in Utah, whatever it might be.  

found on google image

• Dishwasher- Ok so this is trivial and would probably fall under the new house listing, but still.  If money (and space) weren't an issue, we would have the most amazing dishwasher the world has every seen!!  This puppy would clean with the best of them and be as quiet as a mouse.  I'm going on 3 years with no dishwasher folks, a girl can dream.

I know some of these are silly and I could think of a million more things I would do if I were to become wealthy overnight.  But, after paying off student loans, starting some amazing organization to help those in need, supporting missionaries, and all of those noble things, these would be next up on the list.

Linking up with:

Budget

Ok, so this post is a little out of my norm... and it's long... and it's pictureless, sorry.  I have been reading a lot of blogs lately about budgeting, being money wise, etc.  I've rolled the idea around in my head of sharing with you how our household works and decided what the hey, why not be a little vulnerable.  I am doing this for two reasons really.  First of all, money will always be an issue, for everyone.  Even if you are comfortable or have more than you need, it should still be an issue because I feel you should be a good steward of what you are doing with it.  Second, we struggled with what to do with the green stuff when we were first married.  Both Chris and I were used to not thinking about finances to a degree and it was difficult to make that transition.  So, if this can be helpful to any of you out there, good deal.  

The six letter word, budget, has, in the past, been a joke to me.  For the five years I was out of college and on my own, I was on a "budget."  When it really comes down to it, all that meant was I attempted to keep my checking account above a given mark.  I was mindless of where my money was being spent and I always hated when I got my W2 at the end of the year and reflected on how much I made versus how much I actually had in the bank.  

Then someone liked it and put a ring on it and things changed.

Prior to our wedding date, we discussed finances and what have you (if it is too awkward to discuss finances before walking down the isle, check yourself).  I was going to begin a new job (which I thought would be a pay increase, but turned out to be a decrease... from teaching...  but most of that is my doing, more on that in a few), and Chris was to begin his residency.  His first adult pay check of his life.  He was ecstatic to be getting paid, selfishly I was astonished to see what residents actually get paid (not a whole lot folks).  We were clueless as to how much we would be bringing in from month to month, or week to week for that matter, so it took a while.  I made several lists, spread sheets and did a whole lotta number crunching.

I always wanted Chris to take over the finances.  I get worked up about money.  We quickly learned though, that I was more adamant about keeping track of things and mindful of what was coming into and out of the bank account on a weekly basis.  Yup, we get paid every week.  It is nice that it turned out this way.  

As mentioned earlier, I was expecting a pay increase with my new job.  With my position, if I work, I get paid, if I don't, nada.  So, it is up to me to maintain my client load.  Through lots of prayer and sleepless nights, Chris and I agreed on a number that was financially suitable for our needs, but allowed me to have my sanity.  Some weeks I have more clients and it is rough (hair pulling wise), some weeks I have less and it is rough (money wise).  But, we manage and for this reason it is even more important to me to maintain our budget.

All that being said to point out that we had to have a budget.  Not just a fly by the seat of your pants kind of thing.  A real, grown up budget.  We get paid every week, but only Chris' check is consistent.  Mine vary a great deal at times.  We's got bills to pay and don't want our power turned off. 

So, I sat down and wrote out all of our expenses.  Tithing, giving, savings, bills, and loans.  When I had this number in front of me, it made the shopping I was doing a little less important.  Since all the bills are in my name and I was used to getting paid once a month with teaching, all of our bills are due at the same time.  We were getting paid every week, so I had to make sure we were setting aside enough weekly to make our payments at the end.  

Then I was left with what we actually had at the end of each week for us.  Geez.  It took a while to realize we could actually manage weekly on that number.  This is what works for us...  

We go grocery shopping weekly.  I hate it, but it helps.  We have $70 a week for our grocery trip.  This includes any toiletries, house cleaners, etc. that are needed.  If we are out of TP and shampoo, it might be a slim picking meal week.  In all honesty, we usually are well under our $70 mark.  I debated on decreasing the weekly grocery budget, but knew there would be times we would run out of every thing and didn't want to be upset for needing to go over.  Rather than letting that extra just stay in the account though, I keep track and add the extra onto my student loan payment monthly.  Sometimes it is only $15 more, sometimes $50, but it helps.  

We also started keeping cash.  Yup, we are those change counters that you see out and about.  I tried to wrap my brain around the whole Dave Ramsey everything in separate envelopes system, too overwhelming.  So, we have an allotted amount weekly for each of us that includes eating out, shopping, gifts, etc.   Every Friday when we replenish, we empty our wallets into a jar and save up for bigger things we want (our camera, the ongoing desire for an iPad, and the recent baby crib fund).  When we only have to get through Friday with what we have and those bigger things are in sight, we tend to be less likely to swing through the drive through or go buy little things.

We have a gas budget as well for the week.  But, with both of us having to drive for work and gas prices changing regularly, I admit this hasn't been top priority.  I probably need to take a look at this system again.

I was worried at first because we didn't really take into account any unexpected expenses.  You know, needing the oil changed (I know this isn't unexpected really), Chris having to pay for a CE course, etc.  But, it has always worked out.  

Here's confessional time.  When I was on my own, if I was running low, I would simply transfer money over to my checking from savings.  Of course I had the intention of putting the money back once I was paid, but rarely did that happen.  I wish I wouldn't have done this.  It is ok to say no to things!  I am happy to report though, that in the 9 months we have been married, I think there has been one or two times we have had to dip into our savings and we have put the money back.  Blessing!!  We were talking the other day and realized the money we received from our wedding still hasn't been touched.  

I do not write this to boast, apologizes if it is taken that way.  I simply write this because as I said, money is always an issue.  I remember calling my mom in the past in tears over finances.  Since saying "I do" it has really set in that what we are given, we are to be good stewards of.  I feel I am much more mindful of where our finances go, but through this is a lot of freedom.  God continues to provide when we feel it is needed and we are doing just fine.  

In a matter of months all of this will change when Chris leaves his residency and begins a new job. We are so thankful for this year of living well below our means.   We have learned so much of what you really can get by on and what is important. 

My Wonderful Friend

I have had many text messages complimenting my new blog design.  Well, you see, I have this AMAZINGLY, WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC friend who is ridiculously talented.  Her name is Jenny.

Isn't she gorgeous!?  I've known Jenny since my freshmen year of college.  She is one of those "will introduce myself to a rock" type of people (I am not) and we were in the same Welcome Week group.  We latched on quickly and made arrangements to leave our current roommates and move in together within the first week of classes.  Due to her easily friend making manners, we made a solid group of friends quickly and all keep in contact still (yes girls, I am totally contributing credit to Jenny and I, get over it).  

These were our "senior pics" in college.

 Jenny is fun-loving, easy-going, and an all around amazing lady.  You are better for knowing her, for real.  She recently gave birth to not one but TWO babies who we all adore and love to pieces, Hudson and Holly.

Jenny recently joined the blogging world and I enticed her into redesigning my blog, too.  (did I mention how talented she is?)  You can follow her here.  She blogs about delicious recipes (she has always been the one to destroy the entire kitchen for the sake of a meal), her two precious babes, designs she creates (she will have an Etsy shop soon), and who knows what else this creative stay-at-home-momma piece of wonderfulness will come up with.  So, go check her out and say hi.  

Love you Jenny!