Baby Shower!

The ladies of my church threw a very nice baby shower for us this past weekend! We were able to hold the shower in the basement of our new house which ended up being a lot of fun!We played games like trying to see who could pin a cloth diaper on a baby the fastest in teams - each with one hand. No, my team did not win!


We were given so many nice baby items! What a blessing our church family is to us! Hopefully our baby will come soon and we'll be putting these items to use!
These are the ladies who worked so hard to host this party! Thanks to both of you! You did an awesome job!

Just a Little Longer!

A lot of changes in the last weeks! It's fun for me to look at all of these pictures at once! Of course it will be more fun to take a final picture holding our baby in my hands instead of in my belly! All still seems to be going well. This baby likes to stretch out it's feet and push against my right side - sometimes it's not the most comfortable feeling so I push it's little feet or knees back into a more comfortable position!

So far I can only complain of typical pregnancy aches, waking up a lot at night, odd dreams, some harder breathing, and a little feet swelling when I don't rest. So, it's been what I would guess is a good pregnancy. We're praying all will continue as normal and that the birth will be without complication.

Not too much longer now - 3 weeks if he or she shows up "on time." But, we're also trying to prepare for the definitely possibility that the baby can't read a calender and maybe would like to stay inside for a little while past our due date! I'm sure by the time that date comes around, we'll be very eager to see our little one!

Swagbucks - extending your fun money!

In our budget, we have categories we call fun money (one for me and one for John). John tends to use his for camera's and lenses, and so far I've been mostly saving mine for a laptop-though I occasionally use some money to purchase books I'm interested in.

One way in which I've painlessly increased my book fun money has been to use swagbucks as a search engine. It's similar to searching with google - though it seems to take slightly longer and you will receive sponsored links in addition to regular links.

I've been using swagbucks for a few searches each day since about May and have earned $25 in amazon gift cards (one amazon gift card can be redeemed with 45 swagbucks). There are many other prizes as well, but the amazon gift cards tend to give the greatest flexibility in spending them. Some of the bucks can be earned through entering codes given through their searchbar which you can download here after becoming a member. According to one blog I read, this week there will codes in the toolbar each day for a free swagbuck, so now is a good time to join.

If you join using my link, you will help me to earn more swagbucks in addition to receiving 3 free yourself for signing up.

Just click here or on on the banner below to sign up!

A Winter Walk

After taking not one, but two naps today (!), I was ready for some fresh air and exercise. The temperature is cold, but was not terrible as it did reach the lower 20s today. The above picture is a tree in our front yard. Maybe next year we'll put lights on it so it will look even more like a Christmas tree!
I was nice and bundled up for the walk. The streets were quiet and I enjoyed spending 30 minutes walking through the neighborhood.

We have a small hill on the way out of our neighborhood. It's amazing how walking up even a slight incline makes me so much warmer! We have gotten some snow every day for the last few days. It's fun to see how much accumulates. I'm enjoying living in a place with snow!