What a weekend!

It has been a really long time since i've been able to blog or read blogs. i'm super sorry! i've missed all of you, and i do plan on reading your blogs and commenting, i promise. It's strange, actually, how i did all this stuff this weekend, but i really don't feel complete because i haven't told you all about it:)

Thursday: Bloomington City-wide garage sales! Remember when i told you about them? It's a highly anticipated part of the year for me. It was awesome. My mom and i took David all morning, then she watched him while i went all afternoon. There were 113 garage sales on the Bloomington list, and then i'm sure there were way more that didn't pay the entrance fee and just had sales at their houses anyway. i drove all around Bloomington, and it was great.

My mom got me a black version of this double stroller. It also is cool enough to work with the infant car seat we have. Plus, it was only used twice, i guess, so it looks new and was half the price of the retail one. Thanks mom!

i got all these girl clothes at a few separate sales for under $60. There are so many cute ones! Those boxes are completely full, by the way. Plus i got David some summer clothes, one of which says "I heart mommy." It's his first mommy outfit, and it's about time!

Friday: Kris spent all day helping his parents prepare their house for my brother-in-law's wedding on Saturday. They completely redid their back yard. i mean, they used a Cat digger thing and everything. They also redid their basement, like knocked out all the walls and made new rooms and pulled up and redid all the flooring. It turned out very well, but it totally went down to the wire.

David and i went shopping for black dress shoes for him. We stopped at Once Upon a Child and couldn't find any in his size 4, so we went next door to Payless. She had him stand on the little measury thing, and to my horror, he's a size 5 1/2! So i've been sticking his poor feet into shoes 1 1/2 sizes too small for him for who knows how long. We bought some $15 shoes at Payless, then went back next door to buy him sandals, because we didn't have any shoes his size at our house any more. We found two pairs of sandals and a nice dress black pair totaling $7! i was able to return the shoes to Payless and get him shoes that would no longer kill his poor toes.

Also, that day my friend Mark and i practiced for the first time for the wedding. (He's marrying my beautiful friend Devin in October. They will be Cadence's godparents.) He played classical guitar to my violin. He did really well considering i'd just bought the music that day, so he was literally sightreading.

Saturday: the wedding. Went to pick up the dress i'd borrowed from a friend from the cleaners. It was not ready. So i bought this dress, which looks a little bit less like a muumuu on me (for now) than it does on that lady. Plus, it's so comfortable. It will definitely be a warm weather staple this summer!

Then i rushed to my parent's house, ate a little lunch with Mark, and we were going to practice, but i'd forgotten my music. i was all sorts of wonky that day. Anyway, i ran to the store and bought another set, which was cheaper than the gas and time to go to my house. Then we practiced.

Then we went to the wedding. My inlaws live on a lake. Lake=wind. So even though we'd brought clippies to keep the music on our music stands, they were not sufficient to stand up to lake breezes, and we made quite a spectacle of ourselves, trying to keep playing while the edges of our music were blowing onto itself. At one point, Mark was holding his music open with one hand, while playing his guitar with the other. It went very well, considering.

Brides: if you must get married outside, please don't do it near a body of water. Or at least, please provide a person whose sole job it is to keep music open and on stands. Thank you.

Anyway, John and Irene got married and i now have a beautiful new sister-in-law! They are very sweet together, and they had this cool unity sand ceremony i've never seen before, but like a lot.

The reception was very nice. i didn't get to see Kris much, because he was best man as well as the DJ, but it was very homey and had Greek food. Yum!

The groom was walking and didn't see David, and David made a faceplant into some cement, leaving a nasty swelly bruise on his poor cheek, my cherub. Luckily, i'd never given him soda before, much less undiluted soda, so the pure Sprite i put in his sippy cup to appease his tears quickly put an end to his scare.

Here is the only picture that we got taken with our camera at the wedding. i wish we could have done more, but anyway, here's our newest family picture. Notice David's cheek.

Sunday: Kris and i played at church, then went to my parents house and played Wii until Kris had to go to work at 4. David fell on a ramp in my parents backyard, and he got another nasty swelly bruise, this time on his forehead. Today, when we went to Target, i was just praying no one would call CPS because of his poor battered face:)

It was very busy for me this weekend, but nice. i look forward to reading about all my friends' weekends now!

Birthday weekend

It was my birthday last Saturday. i turned 23. This was not a big deal, especially compared my news from Friday. However, it was a very nice weekend. My favorite thing about my birthday is that the lilacs are usually in full bloom that day. And you go outside and the sweet-smelling flowers seem to be saying "Happy birthday, jessica!"

Kris worked until about 7 PM on Saturday, so i went to my parent's house during the day and played Wii pool with my mom for about 3 hours. She and i are seriously addicted to that game. Kris got done with work and brought Chipotle to my parent's house for dinner (my fav preggo craving) and then we played more pool. Kris is much better at it than my mom, but he's played real pool before and knows all the right angles. My mom and i are working on it though.

On Sunday, i played at church, and we went back to my parent's house to eat lunch. Kris went to his parent's house all afternoon to help them get their house ready for my brother-in-law's wedding that will be there next Saturday. So my mom and i watched Juno (cute movie!) and *shocker* played some more pool.

At about 6 PM, i went to Kris' parent's house, where a lot of their family had come to eat a Famous Dave's feast and celebrate my birthday. It was fun! i got some candles, some money for garage saling, a Target gift card, and this super-cute bag that i love from my sister-in-law, who has practically the best taste of anyone i know.

And then i was given some stuff for Cadence! My SIL, who is the first person who gave us anything for David, too, gave me this adorable dress and pair of ballet slippers for Cadence. i thought i'd die with all the cuteness.

My MIL gave me this pink furry dress coat and hat, which are both lined with pink satin. Um, i LOVE them.

The hanger was almost just as cute as the coat and hat! i love the little pink flower:)

It was a very nice weekend. i found out i was having a girl!, got some CUTE baby stuff, birthday gifts, and got to play as much Wii pool as i wanted. :)

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! Please be safe. Also drive the speed limit. People are getting pulled over going 35 in a 30 this weekend. i don't want any of you to get speeding tickets!

Mother's Day party

On Sunday, we're having Kris' whole family over for Mother's Day. We will be also be celebrating 3 other May birthdays, (mine being one of them.)

People are bringing things, which is nice. All i have to make is

Pulled turkey bbq for sandwiches

Chicken salad for lettuce wraps or sandwiches.

Cannoli

The turkey was on sale at Cub this week. i'll be cooking it on Saturday, pulling it and adding bbq sauce and stuff on Sunday.

Chicken salad is super easy. It's basically canned chicken (like tuna) from Sam's club, lite Miracle Whip, and a delicious suprise: dried cranberries. It's delicious on croissants, which are CHEAP at Sam's club.

Cannoli is a bit scary for me. i've never had it, but i saw Emeril make it and it looks really good. i bought cannoli shells, and will be using this recipe. My only problem is that for the life of me, i can't find unsalted pistachios. Or pistachios of any kind. Is there some sort of pistachio recall a la two year's ago spinach scare? i've been to 3 grocery stores and can't find pistachios. i might sub for another nut, but pistachios are such a specific taste, you know? Anyway, besides the pistachio problem, since i bought premade cannoli shells this should actually be quite easy to make. i'll let you know how it goes. By the way, if you're planning on making cannoli, budget quite a bit. i let the fam know i was making it, and then went to the store to buy the stuff. Whew. Just the 18 cannoli shells i bought were $12. (i'd have made them, but you need a special tool for it.) Then the ricotta and mascarpone cheeses added more...not a good dessert for a budget.

Other people are bringing deviled eggs, blue cheese chopped salad, yummy potato stuff, cheeses, and birthday cake. It should be a nice party.

i'm tossing around the idea of making my own rolls for the party, since i already have flour and the other goods and a bread maker. We'll see how everything is going on Saturday when i'd make them:)

On the topic of cooking, i made this recipe for croque madames i saw on Rachael Ray for lunch today. Oh man. It is good. Yum. If you're craving grilled cheese and ham with eggs and white sauce, this is the recipe for you. i will be making this a LOT in the future.