21 Weeks Belly Shot!

No, not the college frat-scene kind of belly shot. The pregnant belly kind...

I'm seriously on a role with blogging lately - I'm not sure why but I doubt it will last long. Many of my friends have been asking for a belly pic, so I went ahead and took one today and it wasn't so bad. Why is getting bigger not quite as exciting the second time around? I LOVED everything about being pregnant with Ila and didn't really mind any of the yucky stuff, but this time around I'm just excited for the BABY and not so much being pregnant. I'm more than half-way now though! We'll find out the sex on Sept. 8th so expect an announcement then!

Annual Bike Seat Photo

Here are photos of Ila in her bikeseat in Ocracoke the past 3 summers! The first one is my favorite.

What I Made For Dinner Tonight

You may not care, but I made these Caprese Sandwiches tonight for dinner and they were a "big hit". Sure Ross had his without tomatoes and Ila immediately said "I don't like that" (what she says about everything except ice cream at first) but they both cleaned their plates! (Ok we did have to make up two different stories about a shy squirrel and a lost dog while shoving bites into Ila's mouth - Is that normal at age 2/ almost 3? But these days, as long as it gets in her mouth I'm happy). Ross on the other hand said he would eat this anytime! (Which is a big deal for him to say if it's not steak and potatoes).

But back to the sandwiches. I drizzled some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top to finish it off and used sliced ciabatta bread instead of white country bread. Remember the broiler cooks really fast so be careful not to burn! (I just discovered this amazing oven function about a month ago).

One of the reasons I love Charlottesville (and spend too much money on groceries sometimes) is that I could buy the chicken from the Organic Butcher, then grab a bag of locally grown basil from Feast next door, then over to Albemarle Baking Company for a freshly baked ciabatta loaf. I don't buy or cook like that everyday but when it's the only night of the week I have to cook, why not?

Check Out This Blog!

Please check out this blog my amazingly talented friend Meg has just started! In it you'll not only get to see some photos of her beautiful kids, but also photography tips, recipes, and craft ideas. If you're like me and don't have time to search the web for new ideas to do with your kids, then you'll love this blog! She will also have some fun giveaways including a piece of my jewelry soon.

Checkity check!  http://www.everyscrapcountz.blogspot.com/

Ocracoke 2011 - Fun Before the Storm

Every year after camp, we go to Ocracoke for a few days. This was our 3rd year!

Ila loves the beach more and more each summer.

Look at this stud.

She learned how to make a dribble castle thanks to Hillary!

She can actually throw a frisbee pretty well even if it's upside down.

We took her to the Blackbeard Museum one afternoon. He liked to hide out in Ocracoke until he met his doom in 1718.

Did you know there were women pirates? This one was supposed to be hung, but announced she was pregnant so they let her wait til the baby was born. She ended up running away with her baby two weeks after he was born. Pretty Bad-A if you ask me.

 Ila is down with some pirate lingo now.

Bummed this is the only picture I got of the 3 of us! Oh well!

Love this cutie pie!

Ross even got to surf. Usually the waves aren't so hot in Ocracoke, but he scored some gnarly peelers one of the days.

Our suite was complete with a jacuzzi where Ila had the most fun baths she's ever taken. We need to get one of those!

We rode bikes to dinner every night and pretty much everywhere we went. It was awesome!

And Ila loved it even more than last year.

Pretty awesome view of the harbor from our room.

We biked to Ocracoke Coffee every morning where the have the most amazing smoothies and baked goods. 

The ferry ride back to Hatteras, then Cville!

Never leave home without your T-Rex.

Driving on the beach! Just kidding. We were parked on the ferryboat.

Can you see the rainbow?

Praying for Ocracoke and the OBX this morning!