BP - Boy or Girl - You can guess!

Mark and I thought it would be fun to have a little pool for our friends and family to bet on the gender, due date, weight and length of Baby Poge. We stole this idea from my cousin and his wife. Thanks Charlie & Kristin! We are not sure what the prize will be, but it will be awesome! We might write a blog entirely about the winner! Please guess! The more the better!!

Cut and paste the link below:

http://www.expectnet.com/games/BabyPoge

Crib!

While I was in Austin, Mark picked up our crib. He surprised me by putting it together before I came home! He is the best! Below are pictures of the crib and of decorations for the nursery. I found the animal pictures at an antique shop in OKC. There are 6 pictures in all and we are going to frame them and put them around the nursery. The words are in french which I love!

Wedding in Austin

Last weekend, I went to Austin to celebrate my cousin Carl's wedding. His wife, Julee, is super cool and she has become part of the family. It was an awesome weekend. The only part that was not fun was that Mark couldn't attend.

The highlights of the weekend included:

- The mother/son first dance - Nancy and Carl danced to "Redneck Mother". The whole crowd went wild! I knew my Uncle Fred was smiling!

- I Wish I was a Little Bit Taller - My cousins and I sang and danced to our favorite song circa 1996!

-Little cousins - I loved seeing all of my cousin's children! There are five and they are all adorable.

- Shopping - I went shopping with the cousins and my mom and I got a few maternity clothes. (Thanks Mom & Dad!) It is so much better to have a crowd cheer when you walk out in maternity clothes. It was a much needed self esteem boost.

- Aunt Terry's sayings - My Aunt Terry thinks everything is the best! She exaggerates a lot, but she has the best stories! I want to record her stories and sayings at some point.

Jim and Hayden

Susan, Me and Marjorie
The family minus Mark
Mother/Son dance

BP is growing...

Just thought everyone would like to see Ellen's progression with the pregnancy. Unfortunately we do not have a "before" picture, but everyone knows how small Ellen is!

12 weeks

15 weeks

16 weeks

18 weeks

21 weeks

more to come as time goes on...

Our Garden

Mark and I decided that we wanted to try to live off the land this summer. We bought one raised bed garden made out of recycled milk containers with the goal of putting nine plants in the space. We also took a class on raised bed gardens from the food bank (my workplace). The class was great, but we learned that we were too late to start our plants from seeds. Therefore we turned to the sales at Lowe's. As many of you know, Mark and I love a deal! It was buy one plant - get one free. Unfortunately, the plants had been picked over, so we didn't get everything we wanted. This summer's garden has a salsa theme. We have four types of peppers, two tomatoes and one okra stalk. (We lost the strawberry plant early on!) You will also notice in the picture that we have some yard art. Mark has wanted an old windmill after seeing one at my cousin's house in Austin. We found one and it has added a special touch to the garden area. The garden has been a big success and we are looking forward to adding more raised beds next summer. Sorry the pictures go from current to begining! I am relearning how to use blogspot!

The Blog is Back!!

After a 9 month hiatus, Mark and I have decided to bring the blog back. We are not going to be overly ambitious. The goal will be to post a new story once a week. Our motivation for the blog revival is the upcoming arrival of our baby in November!! We are not finding out the sex of the baby. Since we cannot refer to the baby as a he or a she, we have lovingly nicknamed the baby BP (Baby Poge not the oil company). Please check back often!