Very Thankful

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.  Most importantly these two little blessings on the way.  We had lots of plans over the Thanksgiving holiday and only made it to a few because Ryan got really sick.  Which reminds me that I am also thankful for my great immune system:)  Although we spent the majority of the time laying around watching football we did manage to visit both families for a brief amount of time and stuff our faces the entire time. First we went to Lake Norman for two days with Ryan's family.

One thing I have really missed since I learned about my gluten allergy is green bean casserole.  I decided this year I was going to make it myself.  The two ingredients that are not gluten free in normal green bean casseroles are the fried onions and cream of mushroom soup.  Gluten free cream of mushroom soup is easy to find these days so that part was easy.  Ryan helped me with my attempt at making fried onions.
First we sliced 1 and 1/2 onions very thinly with a mandoline.

Soaked the onions in milk.

Tossed them in gluten free flour.

Shallow fried them in Canola oil for just a minute or so on each side and let them dry out on a paper towel completely.

And here is the finished product!  The homemade onions made a HUGE difference in this casserole.  They were SO much better than the ones you buy in a can!

It went great with the smoked turkey Ryan and his dad made.

I am also thankful for a family that loves to cook!

We competed in our 4th annual Londry Turkey Shoot.

After coming in last place every year....guess who won this year???

Although the lake isn't far away it was nice to spend some quality time "away" with Ryan's family.

We then went home to rest for a day and traveled to visit my family.
We of course ate more amazing food.   This year instead of doing a second Thanksgiving we decided to go with Dads delicious spaghetti!  My brothers love french onion dip so I made some homemade french onion dip and was nervous they wouldn't eat it if it didn't come from a plastic container....well they loved it.  This little guy couldn't get enough!

My family is rather large and it is very hard to get us all in one place at the same time.  I really cherish these moments.

Celebrating 30 80's style!!

This past week has been one surprise after another!  I turned 30...which is obviously no surprise.  I am someone who doesn't mind surprises.  All week my husband surprised me with gifts, flowers, dinners and just when I thought it was all over SURPRISE!

Late Thursday night there was a knock at the door....when I opened it my best friend Rachel was standing there!!!  She flew all the way from California to celebrate my 30th:)  Ryan and Rachel had apparently been planning a party since this summer for me, 80's style!  Am I a lucky girl or what???

Sorry in advance for all the pictures, but I want to document every detail of this amazing night!!

Two specialty drinks: Bed of Roses and Livin on a Prayer.  Livin on a Prayer was a combination of Jim Bean and TAB!

Ryan found a bakery to make Gluten Free Cupcakes for me:) They had all sorts of 80's decor and candy, but my favorite...Slap Bracelets!!

Another favorite was my phone.  It was an 80's large phone, but it held my actual iPhone and functioned properly!  Also a blow up ghetto blaster that played an iPod!

Now for all the costumes!
I was dressed by Rachel (since I didn't have time to shop in advance) and Ryan was Phil Donahue. Some other guests included Madonna, Vanilla Ice, Maverick and Ice Man, Miami Vice and Marty McFly just to name a few!

Holly wore rollerblades...and didn't take them off all night!

Ryan Phil Donahue even sang Happy Birthday to me:)

And we danced to 80's music all night long!!!

What an amazing way to celebrate my the big 3-0!!!!  A big thank you to all of my friends and family that traveled to come help me celebrate and of course to the best husband and best friend a girl could ever ask for!!!!

1st Trimester

Hard to believe we are now in our second Trimester!  Here are the twins at 12 weeks.

So far I have been feeling pretty good.   I am very very hungry...eating probably about 6-7 times a day.  First meal is around 2-3AM.  Thats right I wake up in the middle of the night starving!!  No matter how much I try I can't go back to sleep, I can't until I eat something:)  Usually its just a few pretzels, cereal or crackers I keep beside my bed.  I am also hungry the second I wake up.  I eat first lunch around 11 and second lunch around 2.  I eat dinner around 6 and a large snack before bed.
Cravings haven't been too crazy.  Not liking salads or veggies very much, but loving fruit and dairy.  Never have I poured a glass milk and drank it...now its a daily thing.  Loving milk and cheese as a mid day snack (oh yah I eat 6 meals a day and snacks:)
Ryan and I have been reading lots of books...trying to learn as much as we can and soaking in all the advice before these babies come!

We have been taking weekly pictures of the baby bump!  I turned 30 during week 13:)  Great way to celebrate turning 30!!!

The twins attended their first NC State home game!

And their second NC State game...huge win against Florida State!!!  You can see from our faces that we were shocked and thrilled at the outcome of the game!!!!

At this game I was 10 weeks and Caroline 20 weeks.  These three are going to attend lots of NC State games together.  I kinda feel like we are committing child abuse exposing our kids to be NC State fans already....the "Heart Attack Pack" is truly earning its name this season:)  Looking forward to the second trimester...can't believe how much time has already gone by!