Life Lately

With the trees starting to change color and the temperatures dropping, October is officially here! I'm looking back on September today and all of the memories we made this past month. :)

MOPS started up again! We've had two meetings so far, and how I missed seeing all of my friends on a regular basis! It's also great to have that special, mom-based spiritual feeding as well.

I tried making macarons for the second time in my life, and I was nearly successful! A few turned out the way they should (without cracking), and I'm hoping to give it another go this week :)

Nolan started AWANA Cubbies! I went to AWANA from 3rd grade to 8th grade at my church growing up, and LOVED it, so I knew it was something I wanted my boys to experience as well. Nolan is already memorizing scripture and having a really fun time with the other kids. The morning after he got his vest and handbook, he was found wearing the vest over his jammies at 6:30 am.  ;)

Ephraim continues to be the instigator of all of the fights in the house, and he is a force to be reckoned with (for only being 2.5). However, he has us all wrapped around his little finger because he is JUST. SO. CUTE!

The last thing to bloom in our summer garden-- Autumn Joy. These perennial plants have been growing since early spring, but the tiny pink star flowers opened recently, and they make for gorgeous, easygoing plants. It's fun that the leaves look like succulents!

I forget where Nolan was, but there was one night that Ephraim and I were alone and went on an evening walk together. We collected acorns, stomped on their crunchy caps, and sniffed and admired the many bright goldenrods in the alley.

Being the second-born, he just eats up one-on-one time!

Our house is NOT a quiet one these days, so any moment to slip away and drink some coffee in peace is special. I'm not sure why both boys seem to be going through crying/fit-throwing stages at the same time, but hopefully one of them grows out of it before the baby comes!

When we were in Chicago in August, we bought a cooler at Target, filled it with ice, and picked up 8 Lou Malnati's deep-dish frozen pizzas to take home with us. Smartest decision we ever made! Friday nights, we've been popping one in the oven, and that nostalgic taste of my hometown pizza just makes me SO happy! Mmm!

There has only been one Lowe's Build and Grow workshop this fall, and the boys really enjoyed making these Fireboats :)  Daddy wasn't there that day, so actually Mommy was the one who put them together (high-five!)

I'm finally getting into the pumpkin spirit these days! It's always hard for me to let go of summer.

Last week, my friend Melissa had a baby sprinkle for her third baby girl due this month. The shower was on a refurbished early-1900's parlor train car. The pink and blue nautical theme was beautiful, and the details were perfect!

As Melissa waits for her third baby girl, I'm waiting for my third baby boy! I'm at 27 weeks now, which is pretty exciting!

Things are getting real! I took the lovely glucose test on Friday morning, so hopefully the results are fine.

Friday night, we went to see some of Steve's youth group kids in the high school homecoming parade. It was really chilly, but we had fun collecting candy and watching the firetrucks and convertibles drive past!

Blurry, but too cute. :)

Hope you all had a great first weekend of October!! I'm off to bake some pumpkin bread and enjoy this cozy season. XO.

Nolan's Baseball 5th Birthday Party

On Saturday, we had our big birthday celebration for Nolan! It was eight days after his actual birthday, which was a little test of his patience, but it was worth the wait! I chose the theme for his party last fall when we were watching the Cubs play October baseball. I knew that 5 would be the perfect age for this sports-theme, and there would be a lot of fun things we could do with it :)

I took his photo a few days earlier in his new Cubs shirt so I could print it for decor.

 

 "Bricks and Ivy" :)  (Which strangely enough are the names of his cousins' dog and our dog, so we think that's funny.)

Steve and I worked all day to get ready, and everything turned out great. I designed the "Nolan is Five" poster and the "Concessions" banner, and Staples always does a great job at printing them.

 

We gathered up some mitts, balls, bats, hats, and a trophy, and they made for easy decor!

Steve did most of the baking and icing of the cake. It was a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling and marshmallow fondant. It turned out exactly as we had hoped :)

My mom worked her magic again on these sugar cookies, and they were adorable!! There were 5s, Ns, baseballs, caps, bats, and gloves.

 

The hot dog station. Nolan LOVES his "5" balloon! It was a huge highlight of the party for him.

 

My favorite part of party-planning is making the invite, signs, and graphics.

It took a hot minute to track down Cracker Jacks, but we found them at Dollar Tree. Nolan helped me air-pop all of the popcorn before the party. He was happy to have a "job" :)

Blowing out his candles!

This is the last birthday in our family before the baby comes. Kind of surreal!

Nolan Bruce, always the life of any party!

We had all of the kids on the porch to break the pinata. Steve was brave to hold it while so many two to six-year-olds took a swing :) It broke open and the kids scrambled to pick up Baby Ruths, Butterfingers, and Crunch bars.

One last photo from his big day! 

Thanks to all who came to help us celebrate our five-year-old! We wish we were closer to more family and friends so that everyone could join us, but hopefully these photos help you feel like you were partying with us :)

25 Weeks

You can tell this is my third baby. I took this photo at 23 weeks with every intention of writing a post to go with it. And here I am at 25 weeks tomorrow. Oops! Waiting 3+ more months sounds like a long time, but the weeks truly are flying by!

I wanted to write down a few of the thoughts and feelings I've been having: 

I am feeling bigger with this baby than I did with the first two. I've gained around 16 pounds, so I'm a little uncomfortable with the way my clothes are fitting. I have a new striped maternity dress from Target, and I might just wear it every day from here on out!

I need to wear compression tights every day because the veins in my right leg have gotten worse with each pregnancy. Wearing tights with jeans over them in 75-80 degree weather is rough. I've been trying to sleep exclusively on my left side because this is supposed to help with vein circulation.

The baby moves a lot, but he mostly waits until N & E are in bed, or when I'm laying down for the night. I am always staring at my stomach, thinking, how does he fit in there? Even with my third, it is such a miracle!

Acid reflux has started rearing its ugly head recently. This means my love of tomato sauce has to be curbed. If I can't have pizza, I'm not sure I can live?! I haven't had any strong cravings or aversions lately, but I definitely am preferring sweet over salty. If you've been reading my blog for long, you know that Steve and I love our hot fudge sundaes at night. They weren't appealing to me during the whole first trimester, but now, I wait all day for that fudge. 

Having three boys has really started to sink in (in a good way). I'm really looking forward to seeing if this baby looks like Nolan or Ephraim, and what color hair and eyes he'll have. Our ultrasound from a few weeks ago is super clear, and I find his face to be so familiar and so beautiful. I can't wait to choose the perfect name for him. 

 

Sweet baby boy, we are so excited for you! We pray continuously that you are growing healthy and strong, our littlest love.

 

Nolan is FIVE!

On Friday, Nolan turned FIVE! He had been looking forward to his birthday for SO long! He was even singing "Happy Birthday to me" days before September 9 :)  We did a few simple celebrations, but we are saving most of the excitement for his party this weekend.

Friday morning, we picked up some birthday donuts (of course) and sang to him :)  Later in the day, he got to open a few gifts, and he was so happy and grateful for everything.

Nolan radiates joy, he has a limitless excitement about life, and he is the most intelligent and creative little boy I know. He is outgoing, never stops talking, and he definitely has the strong will of a firstborn. I am so happy to be his mommy! I can't believe it's been five years since I met his sweet face and twinkling brown eyes, but then again, it feels like he's been a part of me forever. Our prayer for Nolan (and E) that we sing every night, "The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace." Today and always. 

Our birthday adventure last week was a trip to the bat factory. Nolan's birthday party is going to be baseball-themed, so Mormor decided Nolan needed his first baseball bat :)

We got to watch a piece of wood turn into a bat in just a matter of two or three minutes.

 

Holding the new, very-smooth bat.

 

Ephraim wanted to touch and count all of them :)

 

We went to another floor where they paint, poly, and engrave the bats. This was the paint room.

 

Mormor and Papa Don bought Nolan a T-ball bat with his name on it! This was our friend Josh engraving it. It was a really cool experience!

Last Tuesday, Nolan started preschool at home! Since he didn't turn five until September, he missed the cut-off for Kindergarten. Academically, he is so ready for K. He has known his alphabet for three years, he can count to 200, and he is just a little sponge. He is eating up the one-on-one time with me in the afternoons, and he will be reading and writing in no time!

 I'm adding this one too, since his face was too cute :)

We had a post-birthday excursion on Saturday to get ice cream. At this cow-themed joint, all four of us can get ice cream for under $5! Penn State Creamery's "Death by Chocolate" is always a good choice :)

I'm not great these days at getting the blog updated, but I'm pretty good at Instagramming daily, so if you want to keep up with us, I'm @rachel.zimm!