Fetal Doppler

I know I'm COMPLETELY lucky for not having any pregnancy symptoms (being over 4 months along) and definitely don't take that for granted, but sometimes I wonder if there actually IS a baby inside there!

Well now I can hear its little heartbeat whenever I want thanks to my Sonoline C Fetal Doppler. It's definitely my favorite gadget right now and when I'm having a rough day, I just lube up my lower stomach and rub the wand until I hear the magical little sound. Nothing makes me smile more right now than to hear that noise.

Only a few more weeks until we know the sex. I kinda think it's a boy, but there's definitely not a strong feeling either way!

What do YOU think we're having?!?!

Baked Penne

I got this fun recipe from my friend Kayla and we really enjoyed it.

It's very easy to prepare and it serves 8 so we had leftovers all week!




INGREDIENTS
•3 cups Cooked Penne Pasta
•1 pound Lean Ground Beef
•1 cup Chopped Onion
•2 cloves Garlic, Minced
•2 cans Italian Stewed Tomatoes (14 oz Cans)
•1 can Tomato Paste (8 oz Can)
•1 cup Water
•1-½ teaspoon Italian Seasoning
•1 teaspoon Salt
•¼ teaspoons Black Pepper
•1 cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Bring water to a boil and cook the pasta as directed on the box. Use enough raw pasta to make about 3 cups of cooked pasta. Drain and set aside.

2. Brown beef with onion and garlic. Drain off fat.
3. In a food processor or blender, puree canned tomatoes, paste and water.
4. Pour tomato mixture into ground beef mixture.
5. Add seasonings.
6. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
7. Stir in cooked pasta.
8. Spoon into a 9×13 baking dish and bake, covered, for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.
9. Remove from oven, top with cheese, and bake an additional 5 minutes.

** I doubled the amount of garlic and it was YUMMY.. but I heart garlic always.

Blueberry Yumminess!

I ended up trying out the two recipes I had found this past weekend and they were DELICIOUS! Considered both as breakfast items, they were a bit too sweet for us to eat that early in the morning. We ended up enjoying them as delicious desserts.

The muffins ended up making about 30 or so (a HUGE batch) so I gave a plateful to our Greek neighbors next door who are constantly giving us food from their fruit/veggie gardens. But the recipe for croissants (above) only made 8 and they didn't make it beyond a few days as they were so yummy!

Bow Wow Dog Beach

I was definitely a bit scared that the girls would forget how to swim when we moved up here. There seemed to not be any lakes that allow dogs to swim in them, nor any dog parks with water.

That is.... until another agent told Derek about the Bow Wow Dog Beach in Stow, Ohio.

It's a 7.5 acre park fully equipped with a dock for dogs, jump off, picnic tables for 'owners' to relax and a HUGE (clean) lake.

This past Sunday, we made the 40 minute drive hoping it would be well worth the trip... and BOY was it!

The park is free, clean, full of balls and HUGE! The girls swam for over an hour fetching every ball we threw and chasing other dogs. They hadn't forgotten how to swim in the least bit and had the time of their lives.

(To the left is Bailey and Lacy both swimming back to shore in with balls in their mouth's!)

We will definitely be back!

Blueberry Fun

Derek and I ventured out to a local blueberry farm today to load up on the delicious little morsels. They were fully ripe, firm and HUGE!

Anyone have any yummy recipes that call for fresh blueberries?

 I think I might try these blueberry turnovers or these blueberry cream muffins.

PS - Did I mention how much I LOVE my new camera?!

Michelle's Baby Shower

Last weekend I ventured down to the warm city of Dallas to spend some time with one of my best friends, Michelle! Michelle is due in 6 weeks with her first baby, Sam, and we planned a fun baby shower for her over the weekend. As someone who would LOVE to be a professional organizer, I absolutely love throwing showers and was so excited to throw one for Michelle. Overall, it was a great weekend full of her family and friends and hanging out with my favorite pug in the world, Neuman!

Here are just a few pics from the festivities -

Love ya Michelle!!

Faces of Lacy

The three pictures below, captured over the last week, pretty much sum up our first born.

The calm lover with understandable eyes. 

The protector (always on the lookout). 

The sunbather.

People are always amazed at how calm this lab mix is and we never complained. From birth, she has never had tons of energy and is a laid back dog in general. And with that comes loyalty. If we were on a hike and something happened to us both, this dog would not leave our side. Her beautiful, deep eyes continually communicate with us and she has always been considered by us to have a 'human' personality. We know what she is thinking and she loves nothing more than to snuggle. Lacy takes pride in keeping watch on our home and her sister. But what's the favorite thing for the black dog to do? Burn up while sunbathing outside to the point where I can barely touch her. Crazy, but she loves it.

And then there were three....

Yep, that's right. We're having a baby!!!!! Most of you know by now, but this is the "OBP". (official blog post!).

"Baby K" will grace us with his/her presence next January and we couldn't be more thrilled.

As far as myself.... doing GREAT! I had some lower back pain for a couple weeks early on but other than that, nothing. I haven't thrown up once, and except for the occasional short bout of dizziness, pregnancy is treating me well! I LOVE knowing there is something living inside of me that goes wherever I go, and I just can't get over the miracle of life. This whole process is just amazing and it's definitely fun to read up on how the baby is growing each week. No tummy bump yet, but I'm getting there!

I'll update on here from time to time on the 'newest development', but right now we are just excited to know that our family is growing and we can't WAIT to meet the little guy/girl!!

4th of July Festivities

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th of July this year! We missed being with our families, but still ended up making it a good day.

First we ventured down to the local farmers market to find all ingredients for our 4th meal! We had wonderful filets, potato salad, watermelon and grilled some sweet corn. Then, we ventured to the beach for the afternoon and were pleasantly surprised with how nice the sand and beach was for Ohio!

Lastly, we walked to the fireworks display at the park about a mile away from our house. It was wonderful people watching and the absolute best display Derek and I have ever seen. It went on forever, ending with a finale AND an encore finale. I definitely also had a fun time all day playing with the new camera and figuring out how to shoot fireworks!

New Camera

New car and now a new camera! Needless to say, it was a GREAT 5th anniversary last weekend. I had been wanting to get a good, new DSLR camera for quite some time; and we have finally made that big purchase with our new Canon! After also buying lens filters, accessories, warranties and more, we pretty much supported an employee's salary for a few weeks at Best Buy. I can't WAIT to begin practicing more and taking a couple classes just to learn the basics. If I can just master taking good pictures of vacations and our pups, I will have considered myself a success!

I LOVED capturing my girls flying through the air last night as well as playing with the different lighting and backgrounds. It's amazing how much difference a little point and shoot and a DSLR can make in clarity and quality of pictures.

Here are just a few from my first practice with the new toy -