The wonderful Moffitt Elementary family threw myself and my friend, Micah (who is expecting twins) a baby shower on Friday. We had so much fun enjoying each other and, I will confess, the wonderful gifts :-) Angie, in the first pictures is fantastic. She worked until the wee hours of the morning to craft the 'Sweet Pea' cupcakes. She made single peas and twin peas. They were so much fun.

Angie with the 'sweet pea' cupcakes!

Up close with a sweet pea

Me and Micah and three girls on the way

People and Presents

Wendy, Elizabeth, Emma and Jessica

49 days to go....33 weeks along.....whew!

Yeah! Time is beginning to fly. I am thirty-three weeks along. (Next week I'll be 8 1/2 months.) The fact that we are about to bring a human being into the world is quickly becoming very real to both of us. We are still very excited, though I (Nicole) am stressing a bit about having everything at work ready in time! We're so excited to introduce her to all of you. I know we still have time, but it's getting more and more fun to consider the reality of her. I think might even start packing the bag for the hospital tonight :-) I need little tasks like that to keep me awake. I haven't been able to let myself go to bed before 8:00 yet. Though, I have a feeling that that day is fast approaching.

33 Weeks...whew! Now THAT is a belly! :-)

Happy Festival of Sandy!

We had an impromptu party for Sandy. His birthday is Cinco de Mayo, but the Miller family likes to celebrate birthdays with a festival! We stole the idea from our good friend, Brad. A festival simply means that you and/or your friends/family celebrate your birthday for more than one day. A two to three day festival is respectable. The record is thirty! We kicked off Sandy's festival with a fun and mellow evening. We enjoyed a great hot dog dinner and then got to play outside. The Green's hosted our evening and we all had a great time playing in the back yard. The guys played Bocce Ball and the wives tried to keep the kids busy and distracted. It was a lot of fun and the kids were very funny.

Finley quickly discovered that he could walk down
the slide. He had a great time landing on his bum.

Thing 2 (Macey) also enjoyed the slide while
brother, Ethan swept the porch in the background

Ethan enjoying the parachute.

Collin, Jon, Kenton and Festival Sandy

Sandy enjoyed kicking off the festival by opening
some presents. Thanks friends!

Peanut and the weather

I am officially 31 weeks pregnant - that translates to over 7 1/2 months. It's getting very strange to think that she'll be here in about 9 weeks. Time is certainly starting to speed up. We are continuing to pray for a healthy peanut who shows up right on time :-) we'll see! She is getting her work outs in already. Sandy and I spend a lot of time these days just sitting on the couch watching my belly move. We can't quite tell which part of her is moving and shaking, but it's strange. We've been enjoying her very much. She had her first round of the hiccups today (or the first I've noticed). That was fun too.

7 1/2 months

This morning we woke up to snow! It was just a bit, but considering that it's the end of April and this is Eugene - this is just not normal. My poor hyacinth are not quite sure what hit them (that would be hail). I was grateful for the weird weather yesterday when I was doing paperwork. It's easier to stay inside and work when you don't want to be outside. I'm certainly excited for it to warm up a bit!

A view from our window

One plant standing, the other......not!

Congratulations Cami and Dave

I finally brought my computer home and can now blog about my sister’s wedding. Sandy and I were so honored to have been a part of it. We drove up last Wednesday for Cami’s bridal shower. A good size chunk of Dave’s family was there as well as a group from Walla Walla. We had a wonderful, funny time. It was so great to get to celebrate Cami J The next few days were full of small projects, decorating and generally preparing. My mom was amazing and did a TON of work. Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The church was decorated with Christmas trees and birch tree branches. It looked like they were getting married on a mountain and the Christmas trees made the whole church smell wonderfully. Dave’s family provided us with a tremendous rehearsal dinner. We felt very fancy.
The wedding day dawned early (as it does with an 11:00 wedding). Cami had done a wonderful job of planning and there was plenty of time for everything. She was absolutely stunning! Her dress was beautiful and then mom made a lace overlay for the top. So far I don’t have any pictures of the whole dress (sheesh, I know). But it’s really really pretty. We took pictures (which will hopefully follow soon) and got to enjoying each other before the ceremony. Both Dave and Cami have been and are actively involved in choirs (Cami is the Director of Music at a few elementary schools). They included several selections of music throughout their ceremony making it beautiful and very unique.
At the end of the wedding, they organized everyone for a picture which was taken from the balcony. I’m so excited to see how it turned out. Then it was off to the reception. They had a wonderful brunch buffet including an omlette bar (which Sandy was partial to). Each table was named after a mountain or other outdoor place they had been. Dave is a pretty major mountain climber. They also had clipboards (a nod to Cami’s teacher job) with games and recipes. The recipes were family cookie recipes from each of their families. Next to the cake table, they had ten cookie jars with those same family recipes. They even had cookie bags for people to take some home. We took some more family pictures and generally enjoyed each other.
The upside to a morning wedding is that you have the whole rest of the day. Much of the Snavely side (Nicole’s mom) was in town, so we had a mini-family reunion that afternoon. My (Nicole) cousin Jill is expecting her third child in May. We haven’t been around each other when we’ve been pregnant, so that was fun. Plus, they generously brought us boxes of the girl’s hand-me-downs. I’m excited to sort through them and get them settled in Peanut’s dresser. It’s always so great having extended family together. I think I particularly enjoy it now that we don’t live in the same town as any of them. We stayed up waaaay too late that night talking, but it was worth it.
The next morning we had a brunch at my parent’s house. Cami and Dave came over as did Dave’s immediate family. We ate, enjoyed some more good conversation and watched as Cami and Dave opened presents. It was a peaceful ending to the long weekend. Sandy and I drove home Sunday afternoon/evening and I basically fell into bed that nights.
Dave and Cami have quite the summer planned and I’ll keep you posted on other fun family things. Here are the best of the pictures I have. Dave’s sister Jenny is going to be sending around a thumb drive so we can all add our pictures – that way Dave and Cami end up with everybody’s shots. I’m planning on stealing the pictures as they come to me J

Whoo-hoo. My hair in curlers

Trees in the church

Oooh!

Isle decorations - baby's breath stinks :-)

The work crew

Back of Cami's dress (the part mom made)

Cami and Dave

Cutting the cake

Me with the sibs (Tim is getting married in August-hurray)

Mom and Cami

Quick Note

Well, here I am with a quick note. Sandy and I spent a good chunk of this last week and weekend in Walla Walla for my sister's wedding. I have lots to write about it and lots of beautiful pictures, but I need my computer for that - and it is at work. Hopefully, tomorrow or Wednesday will work to get that story blogged. Needless to say, it was wonderful. Cami was gorgeous, Dave was dashing and the whole event, beautiful. I'm excited for you to see it all.
Until then, I'll have to tell you about Peanut. Two weeks ago, I did the glucose test at my doctor's office. Today I asked for the results. My doctor said, (jokingly) "Did you even drink that stuff? You have an amazing pancreas." Whoo-hoo. I have an amazing pancreas. My blood pressure is low like always and Peanut's heartbeat sounds perfect. I'm excited for my next few appointments.
She continues to try to kick out through my belly button and I'm ever watchful as my inny slowly becomes an outie....strange!

Peanut's Room

We've been working hard on the house this week. I wanted to post some pictures of her room so far. I also finished the last two of the paintings that I'm copying. I realized that the hippo needs some help on his back legs....I'm sure I'll get to it :-) I painted the monkey light switch during a small group evening.
I'll post some pictures of the living room tomorrow, once we get the old bookcases out of it!

Peanut's room

The other side of Peanut's room

The Lion (whose head seems to be
falling off :-)

The hippo

Monkey light switch