Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wonderful Wednesday

We had a wonderful delivery to our house tonight....the CD with pictures from our family picture shoot a few weeks ago! Enjoy my new favorite photos!

A girl's gotta have great shoes!

Our family

Ray of sunshine

The eyes!

King of the Mountain

Welcome to the gun show

Such a little man

Relaxing on the swing

Cute little pink tongue

Walking with Mama

GQ

Sweet girl

Kisses

Pop Break

Daddy's girl

Mama and Nate

Climbing up the slide

All our love!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tuesday's Tip

1/4 cup baking soda + a couple cups of vinegar down the garbage disposal drain = a fresh garbage disposal.

This has a been a life-saver for us. Our disposal starts to smell about once a month. I do a little baking soda and vinegar and voila! No more smell! You could also put some fresh lemon juice also for less of a vinegar smell.

All our love!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Scripture Sunday

I need more reminders of God's love for me and thought you might too. Scripture Sunday may just be the encouragement that we need.

Proverbs 23: 22-25, The Message

Listen with respect to the father who raised you,
and when your mother grows old, don't neglect her.
Buy truth—don't sell it for love or money;
buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight.
Parents rejoice when their children turn out well;
wise children become proud parents.
So make your father happy!
Make your mother proud!

Happy Father's Day!

All our love!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Triple Berry Pie

I'm on a new adventure***

Fresh Strawberry, Raspberry and Blackberry Pie!

I'm hoping it was yummy!!!


***A couple of friends have asked and trusted me to start making a few meals for their family on a semi-regular basis. I'm praying and seeking God to see if this may be a way that I can help our family financially from home. Would you join me? Thanks friends!

All our love!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Flashback Friday!

Remember when...?

We look so happy and innocent! We had no idea what would be happening to our little family of 2 turning 3....did we!?!?!

Benjamin Michael Bertram came into this world as easy as any first-time mom could have dreamed of!

October 19, 2006 I was 38 weeks along. I had mild Braxton hicks contractions throughout the day-totally sporadic and nothing that was really needing timed. I spent the day working along like nothing was really happening. In fact, I don't even really remember telling James about them, because I was afraid he would go into "first-time dad freak-out mode"!

I had my 38 week appt. scheduled for 4:00 thatt afternoon. James and I headed to our appt. expecting to just get weighed and told that we probably wouldn't be meeting Benjamin nearly as soon as we wanted to!

Jullie, my OB's assistant did the checking that they do and surprisingly said, "Wow, you're already 5 cm dilated! Oh wow, I can feel the baby's head! You're 100% effaced! I thought for sure you'd be going late! I'm going to send my nurse in to hook you up to the monitors and we'll observe your contractions for a while."

During my 40 minutes of being observed I definitely was having contractions. They really were nothing more than Braxton Hicks contractions as far as I could tell (on the pain scale I was imagining!). Jullie decided to send us home to get our hospital bags and then get to the hospital. She wanted the labor & delivery nurses to make the final decision. We got very excited, anxious and nervous in about 1 1/2 seconds! We asked Jullie if we could take our time so that we could call our family before heading to Methodist. She said of course!

So there we were at home getting our bags, calling our family, and stopping long enough for a banana and granola bar! It was all kind of a daze as we were so excited to finally get to meet Benjamin. We spent about an hour at home taking our sweet time.

By the time we arrived at Methodist, around 6:30 p.m., I had already progressed to a 6 1/2. The nurses decided that I was really in labor and that I needed to stay! Wow! They get me all set up and relaxed. I really was VERY comfortable. Honestly, didn't feel a single contraction. So they hooked me up to pitocin to make my contractions more regular and stronger (what the heck!?!). About 12:15 the doctor that happened to be on the floor came in and broke my water.....an hour and one minute later...


Our sweet Benjamin entered this world. He came fast and easy! I can definitely say that the last 3 1/2 years has gone fast...but it hasn't always been easy. But God is good! Benjamin has been a great blessing to our family! He is my joy! I can't wait to see what God has in store for him in the years to come!


Why don't you add flashback friday to your blog too!!!

All our love!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

We have an Einstein on our hands....

.....at least the hair anyway!

Bath time is always fun!



All our love !

Strawberry Jam!!!

Yum Yum Yum!!!

I am definitely going to be making more jam in the future. So easy and so good!!!

Strawberries

Washed and Prepped

Mashed and Smashed

The following 2 photos courtesy of Benjamin Cummings Photography ;)

Measuring the mashed berries

Cheese!

2 lbs. fresh strawberries, 4 cups sugar (I will reduce by at least 1 cup next time) and 1/4 cup lemon juice!

Canned and ready to eat!

Yummy, sweet, red, jam!

All our love!