Cheers to 2013!

We decided since this is our last New Years without kids we would live it up!  We traveled with some friends to Kiawah Island, SC.  We stayed in an amazing house and had great weather the entire weekend.

We went on lots of walks and bike rides.

We played lots of games!

Lots of laughs!

I haven't laughed this much in a long time.  And only one accident all weekend....someone put the wrong dish soap in the dishwasher!

Loved spending time in the kitchen with the girls.  There was not a shortage of drinks or food the entire weekend.

We went to dinner at The Atlantic Room at the Ocean Club one night.

One day the boys played golf and the girls went into Charleston for lunch and some shopping.  We ate lunch at Virginias and I had a plate of sides....so good!  My favorite places were the candy store and an antique store.

And of course we celebrated New Years!

We did a lot of dancing!!!

We played our New Years fortune game.  There were 8 items in a bag that you draw from and each one has a fortune attached.  Since Ryan and I know whats in the bag we just get the two left over.  I actually got the bottle...how appropriate:)  Guess no one else in this group is having a baby this year!

While everyone else rang in the new year with some champagne, my sweet and thoughtful husband bought me some bubbly too!

Can't believe Ryan and I will be parents in 2013!  I am looking forward to this year more than any other before and hope it goes by really slow:)  Cheers to 2013!

Christmas 2012

This year it seems like we had a lot more quality time with family over the holidays.  I wish Christmas Eve and Day were always on a Monday and Tuesday!  We did a lot of eating this year!  We started our celebration off at my parents house and one of my favorite traditions is decorating cookies with my brother Jake.  This year Zach was old enough to help out too.

We had lots of other sweet treats.  These cupcakes were too cute not to share!

We had the best time unwrapping presents.  Lots of good reactions this year and lots of surprises!

Ryan and I got some great baby gifts!

 A wooden double swing!  Probably my favorite gift this year:)

 Hooded bath towels with the twins names on them.  It is really neat to start seeing their name on their things!!

We all had fun making cotton candy with the boys new cotton candy machine.

Ryan and I made crepes Christmas Eve morning and ate them in front of a real fire and stayed in our pjs  until 1 pm.  It truly doesn't get better than that.

We attended the Christmas Even service at our church and then went back to Ryan's parents house.  When we woke up on Christmas morning Santa had come!

Ryans dad always makes sausage and gravy for breakfast on Christmas Day....we all look forward to it!

After looking at all my pictures it seems we took more of the food than the people.  It might be because most of the time was spent in pjs.  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

WE'RE HAVING.....

A BOY and a GIRL!!!!!

We went to the doctor last Friday and had them write the genders in two separate envelopes.  Ryan and I went to a special dinner and both opened one at the same time.  He opened the one saying it was a girl and I had the boy:)  What a special moment we will never forget.

We still can not believe we are having two babies and now we get the joy of raising both a boy and girl!  We would have been happy either way, but feeling so blessed about the outcome:)  Our families are thrilled because there are lots and lots of boys, but us girls are very outnumbered.  This little girl will be spoiled and our little boy will have lots of hand-me-downs and role models!  

I am now just overwhelmed trying to figure out a nursery.  I had the perfect boy and the perfect girl nursery planned....and now I am having the hardest time with a joint room for a boy and girl.  It either seems too girly, too boring...I just can't decide.  We have loved shopping and registering over the past week and have even received some adorable gifts, flowers and ornaments for the twins!

Back to nursery decorating and Christmas shopping:)

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.