A Secret Thats Not So Secret Anymore

A few weeks ago things were easier to hide....

But in the last two weeks, something has become very apparent....

We are expecting a BABY! We wanted to keep it quite for as long as we could but Baby R has decided to start showing off! We are over the moon excited, and are expecting the baby in early April.  The above picture was taken on Halloween at roughly 17.5 weeks.

Two weeks ago Baby R decided to tell us...

That 'it' is a BOY!  We were convinced that he was a she but we are super excited none the less! More to come on Baby R, but here is our halloween photo, taken on Baby R's almost first Halloween!

Too Much Tuesdays

Last Night when the Hubs and I sat down to watch tv I quickly realized there is too much on Tuesday Nights.  Starting at eight we watch Biggest Loser, Glee, Flipping Out, Teen Mom, and Sons of Anarchy.  We ended up only watching Biggest Loser, which was a great start as always, and DVRing the rest.  And we have spent a big chunk of time today trying to catch up on all the shows.  Whats disappointing is that Wednesdays have almost nothing on to watch, so I wish one or two of the shows could switch over.

Today I was off so we decided to go to a matinee and we saw Easy A.  We really really liked it, I won't spoil it for everyone, but I think the reason I really liked it was all of the eighties movie references. I have a small love for eighties movies and it reminded me very much of one!

Today I'm also pretty excited because I picked up Catching Fire, which I am so excited to read.  I read Hunger Games, and could not put it down, I think i finished it in less than 12 hours, and that included sleeping four six of them!

I'm excited for the Law and Order SVU premiere tonight, happy hump day to everyone!

Manic Monday

Another Monday has come and gone.  It was a rough morning waking up because last night I just couldn't seem to sleep when I needed to.

On Saturday, we coached our first soccer game! The girls didn't win, but I think they had a lot of fun and we found things that we can work on this week at practice! 

We spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday just being lazy and watching football.  Once the weather seemed to clear up we went out and made a few fall/house purchases that I am really happy about.  First stop was Joanne's and I was so excited to see the new country living on the shelf!

They have a lot of great fall ideas and some really neat pumpkin designs that we are looking forward to trying out next month!  One of my favorite stores is the Christmas Tree Shop and they had some great fall decorations that I simply couldn't resist.  I think fall is the only time that I enjoy the color orange.  Being an almost ginger kid orange just isn't my color, so fall is really the only excuse I have to use the color.  One of the things we have been looking for is accent tables.  For our main entry way we really needed one that wasn't too big because of its location near the main hallway.  We found one that we loved and now all we need to do is find a picture/mirror to go over the table!

I found this great wire pumpkin at the CTS and am in love with it!

We also needed another table for behind the den couch.  The pups tend to like to play right in that area and I just have this fear that one day they will put their foot through the couch.  Luckily we found a table that fit perfectly with the space and really tied the room together!

One of the things I added to the table was some of my favorite pictures, which includes this one of Jack when he was about ten weeks old.  It was his first trip to the beach and he didn't really like the water but loved the sand.  And I always get reminded of South Carolina when I look at this picture!

One of the other things I added to the table was a mason jar of leaves.  I got this idea from Country Living and I absolutely loved it.  One of my favorite aspects is that I am able to use one of the mason jars from our wedding to house the leaves!

One last 'fall' element that I added to the table was a metallic pumpkin that I got at CTS.  I decided to add a monogram to it and I think it turned out pretty cute!

Today we have just been hanging out for the afternoon gearing up to watch the season premiere of Oprah.  Rudy has never seen Oprah so he is in for a real treat with this being the last season.  I took this picture of Lola, 

about ten minutes before we got a little surprise!  We were sitting in the living room watching tv and all the sudden we heard a big "splash", Lola had fallen in the pool! I think she was a little freaked out but Rudy got her out quickly and gave her a bath and she is now resting comfortably at my feet! I think she made us more worried than she was!  I hope you are all having a great start to the week!

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We spent the weekend pretty much being lazy, and trying to accomplish things around the house.  We finished a bunch of our thank you cards but still have a few more to go.

Today it was a little warm but the last two days it actually felt like fall and it was wonderful.  We were able to take the dogs for a really long walk which they loved and have the windows open and air off the entire time.  Its supposed to be warm for a few days this week and then cooling down again and I can't wait!

One of my favorite things about fall is sweaters.  I love sweaters, in particular cardigans.  I even bring cardigans with me when I go to florida in the middle of the summer.  One of my cardigans is the one at Lands End.  I think right now I have it in about four colors and am looking to get a few more colors for the fall because it is such a great sweater.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind!  While my job isn't hard, waking up at three to go to work just messes me up! I feel like during the week all I do is work, eat, and sleep.  I have this schedule for the rest of September so hopefully I can adjust at some point.  Tomorrow we also start coaching girl's youth soccer.  Rudy and I both played soccer growing up and we thought that it would be a great way to get to know new people, so hopefully I will have some pictures to share from that!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for my brother and sisters and if Marmie sends pictures my way I will have those to share as well.  Tomorrow might be the warmest first day of school they have had, but 90 degrees was normal for school in North Carolina. 

Its bath time for J & L, happy Monday and the start to another week!

Happy Birthday Lolie Polie Ohlie

Today is Lola's first birthday and in honor of it we will take a look at the last year in Lola's life!

The Day you were born with your and Jack's mom sugar, you both look more like her than your dad....

The day we brought you home....

You loved to sleep by your food....

And loved your big brother...

But soon you started to get big....

And by the time I came home you were huge...

and loved the mud...

your sunglasses..

and being pretty...

In the car you always make sure you are comfortable....

And today you are still growing...

And you still love your brother....

And squirrels, but I don't have a picture of them.  Happy Birthday Lola!

A Little Bit of the Jack and Lola Show

I decided it was time to once again post a few pictures of the fur babies, who are currently engaged in a tug of war that has been on going all weekend.  Yesterday I picked them up a few squeaky toys, a soccer ball, cheeseburger, and a squirrel off of the dollar shelves at the entrance to Target.  Jack loves squeakers, and Lola loves any toy that Jack wants.  Mr. Squirrel has already met his stuffing demise, and is now just a limp skin of a stuffed animal who has joined the company of Sheep, Dog, and Mr. Bear to name a few.  Thankfully J&L don't seem to mind that they don't have stuffing anymore.  Thus far the cheeseburger and the soccer ball but this is what Rudy and I have watched all weekend non stop.

Lola is all wet because she loves mud

And they have even gone this far...

When they aren't fighting over a toy these days they are looking like this...

Lola can't get enough of the 80's and wants crimped ears...

Jack is finally starting to fill out and look like a gentleman

Are we done taking pictures yet?

Otherwise this has been a pretty uneventful weekend for us.  Today we were going to go swimming but woke up to storms canceling those plans, so we have pretty much bummed around.  I made Rudy watch My Sister's Keeper with me this afternoon which was so depressing, so we immediately started watching Two Weeks Notice after it to lighten the mood.  And right now I just finished ordering our wedding thank you cards and the Hubs is sitting across from me picking his fantasy football team, which he knows absolutely nothing about so it should be a pretty interesting 'fantasy' season.  Back to the grind tomorrow but I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Moving Madness has begun!

Today the moves began, the movers showed up bright and early and packed my house away while I sat on the couch feeling helpless and reading my blogs.  Tomorrow the truck will take it all away, and on Wednesday they will pack Man Friend's stuff and we will be on our way to Waldorf, and the new house.  This weekend I have something very special to look forward to, seeing these lovely ladies!!!

Fair Winds and Following Seas...

Today was officially my last day on DALLAS, a day I thought two years ago I wouldn't see.  DALLAS was not where I wanted to be two years ago, I longed for the comfort of New England, close to home as I officially went out on my own.  But there were other plans for me, and it brought me to Charleston and the life I have now.  And I am truly thankful!  It hasn't always been an easy two years, but I have always had friends by my side as we have struggled to make DALLAS what it is today.  And the friends that I have made I will have for years to come.  The one thing I can truly thank DALLAS for is Rudy, because without DALLAS we never would have met. So good bye ol girl and I look forward to seeing you again!

Yesterday was officially the one month to go until the wedding, which was made more exciting by the fact that my dress came today!! Happy Dance!  After a minor try-on struggle, I was just as in love with it as before.  In honor of operation wedding dress starting, we went to my Carb Heaven,

I absolutely love their pizza and will definitely be missing it when we move north!

And for our last Friday night in Charleston, Man Friend and I are enjoying our new couches and watching,

Hope everyone has a good start to the weekend!

Little By Little the Last Week in Charleston

The last couple of days have been kind of a whirlwind, as we try to get all the loose ends tied up in Charleston in preparation for moving north!! But on the other hand we are sad to be leaving Charleston.  One of the biggest challenges thus far as been setting up our move.  Our organization has a moving system, but with it being transfer season it is exceptionally difficult to navigate.  After a week and and a half of practically stalking the moving people we have the move from the Charleston house set up for the 28th and 29th and the move from the Columbia house for the 30th! It is a relief to finally have that piece of the puzzle figured out!

On Monday we decided on couches.  After a long battle of going to multiple furniture stores ( at one the women recognized me from my three previous visits) we decided to go with a leather couch and loveseat for the family room.  My initial inclination had been to get a sectional for that room, but man friend and I fell in love with these couches and thankfully they will be delivered this Friday in time for our move!

After the couch expedition, I dragged Rudy to Homegoods to look for some home decor and I came across this delightful rooster that will I think go very well in the new kitchen...

The kitchen is kind of dark so I think I am going to use the reds that we already have in the house we live in now and try to use them.

For Tuesday I will put the bad to the bone puppies, aka Jack and Lola.  Of late they have insisted on acting out, particularly they enjoy shredding magazines into a million pieces, and Jack-O has developed an interest in track and field, and has begun high jumping over the fence anytime he is left in the yard.  Thankfully the new house has high fences so I can't wait to see him try to get over that one!

Jack, Hes too cool for school...

Lola, trying to look out the corner of her eye for her next magazine of choice...

Today I took man friend to the USS Yorktown which is parked at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.  The retired WWII Ship is home to the national Medal of Honor Museum, which we were really excited to see.  I had previously seen it when my dad came to visit in July of 2008.

A view of my favorite bridge from the pier...

and our best attempt at a self portrait from the flight deck.

Tonight we went out to dinner with Casey to Reds, which is a great surf and turf restaurant on Shem Creek.  Casey was really excited to go so he could ride his motorcycle.  We have previously been there a  lot because it is one of the dog friendly restaurants in Charleston, and Jack made appearances often when he was a puppy.  The food was great and it had finally cooled down as a storm passed through this afternoon.

Sorry for the blur, I turned the flash off..

Casey's Motorcycle sitting outside (I thought it was a good pic with the flag in the background)

And now man friend and I are watching one of our favorite shows, or rather my favorite shows that he willingly suffers through with me.  I'm very happy that Toddlers and Tiaras has a new summer season.

Hope everyone is having a good night!