Fast Forward

Fast forward a few weeks and here we are at 32 out of 40 weeks! Wow! That's eight months! Months eight and nine are left to go and my belly's got a lot of stretching to do during that time...

I would have kept the belly photos coming but both our laptops quit working. Mine died about a month ago. When you turned the computer on, everything would start up/wake up like normal except the screen didn't work. We took it to a local computer place and still haven't heard back - I'm guessing it's bad news or else they would have contacted us sooner. So when the same thing happened to Zach's laptop a few weeks later, we said, "Forget the local place. We're taking it to the Apple Store." And we're SO GLAD we did! They had great service and we had our laptop back all fixed, cleaned, and shined up in THREE days! Now to get mine back and take it to Apple too. Hmmm.

28 weeks

29 weeks

Somehow I missed a 30 week belly photo, but you get the idea - it gets bigger each week.

31 weeks

She wiggles and squirms in there just about all day. She's had the hiccups several times! :) Her favorite spot is under my ribs on the right side. Which I think pushes some other organ out of place because I've been getting an annoying pain in my back/shoulder muscle on that side.

It's starting to get to an uncomfortable point - it's hard to tie my shoes because I can't bend over so well. Sleeping is getting harder for several reasons 1. side sleeping is my only option and I haven't found a good pillow to prop the belly up yet so it sags and feels weird and 2. I have to go to the bathroom more often oh, and 3. I wake up SUPER hungry. In all honesty though, I really can't complain much. I'm not nauseous and vomiting, my ankles (or other body parts) aren't swollen, I'm not on bedrest, and she's healthy.

I do find it interesting that I'm touching or pushing on my stomach all the time now. I used to wonder why pregnant ladies were always touching their bellies and now I know. For one, the belly is just in the way of all the old places you used to put your hands: in your lap, on your hips, arms crossed. And now when you do those same motions, you touch the belly almost by accident because it's just there. The other reason I keep touching my belly is to try to move her pokey little body out from under my ribs! She's constantly in there and it hurts! The only problem is that when I try to push her, she pushes back - which hurts even more! I'm hoping this is not a sign of what personality type she is going to have...

Enough baby talk for now.

My best friend, Candace came up to Michigan from South Carolina last weekend to visit for the weekend and come to my baby shower! (I'll post some pictures from that later.) Her connecting flight from Cincinnati to Grand Rapids got canceled on Thursday so she had to spend the night in Cincinnati then fly out Friday morning. It all worked out okay and we were still able to meet up with some of our college friends for lunch! We all went to Michigan State and were in Spartan Christian Fellowship together. Some of us lived together our junior year. We live all spread out too but it worked out that day to all meet in Grand Rapids.

Candace holding Liam & Addy

Candace & Liam

Now we're all at different stages: dating, married, expecting, and almost one-year olds! I love these ladies so much!

Carlyn, Sarah, Sarah, Candace, Lo

One last thing, while Candace was here, I made a version of grilled cheese that Zach and I tried awhile ago. It's called Turkey Pesto Grilled Cheese and if you like pesto then you will definitely like this twist on a regular old grilled cheese!

Turkey Pesto Grilled Cheese

What you need:

• bread
• butter
• sliced provolone (or mozzarella) cheese
• sliced deli turkey
• pesto (about 1 tablespoon per sandwich)

What you do:

1. Butter one side of the bread just like you were going to make a regular old grilled cheese.

2. Spread pesto on one side of the bread (opposite of the buttered side).

3. Place a slice of provolone on top of the pesto.

4. Warm up the turkey a bit by putting it in the pan you are going to cook the grilled cheese on for a few seconds. Trust me - if you don't, you'll wait forever for the turkey to warm up while it is cooking and risk burning the sandwich. OR you eat it with cold turkey in the middle.

Place the warm turkey on top of the provolone cheese.

5. If you love cheese, put another slice of provolone on top of the turkey.

6. Put the second piece of bread on top and put the sandwich on a griddle or in a pan on the stove until both sides are crispy and golden brown.


That's all for now!

Love,

Sarah

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

It's a blustery fall day in Michigan. Zach and I BOTH got to sleep in. He's off at the farm fixing a lawn mower. I'm at home wearing sweatpants, an MSU football hoodie and a cozy pair of socks just waiting for the MSU vs. UM game to start.

We had a great night last night with our friend, Eric and got to meet and spend some time with his girlfriend, Micah. We had dinner here at our house then went out to Pappy's Bar in Remus. It's about as redneck as the name sounds. Micah was a good sport about it, well, at least she went along and didn't complain. Ha ha! We think they're a pretty good match.

Here's the quote of the week from one of my students. I have to give you some background information though, or else it's not as funny out of context. Thursday is our library day and library time always starts off with Mrs. V reading a book to the students. She read them a book about a moose hunt or something or other and on each page, the main characters see more and more of this moose. On the last page, the kids in the story are surrounded by a ton of moose. One little boy who currently has ZERO front teeth and a lisp shouted out, "What the heck ith going on with all thothze mootheth?!" I laughed. It's too hard not to. I'll do the impression for you sometime. It was hilarious.

Here's the monkey bread recipe I've been talking about: http://sugarcrafter.net/2011/09/23/pumpkin-monkey-bread/ . Shout out to Sugar Crafter's website because all I did was follow the directions. Just a warning, it takes several hours to make this because the bread has to rise twice. My pictures aren't as cool as hers but here's what my steps looked like.

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

For the dough:

3 1/4 cups flour, plus more for kneading

2/3 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon (I probably put more than this...)

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I didn't have cloves or nutmeg)

For the coating:

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 stick butter, melted

For the glaze:

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp maple syrup (I used the fake stuff because we are out of the real stuff and it was not as good)

1. In large bowl whisk together flour salt and spices.

dry ingredients, whisked together

In another large bowl, mix together milk, water, pumpkin, melted butter, sugar, and yeast.

wet ingredients, mixed well

3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in the wet ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir until the dough comes together.

mixing the two

4. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Spray a clean bowl with cooking spray and place the dough inside. Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about an hour).

kneaded dough, pre-rising

kneaded dough, post rising (probably should've let it rise longer)

5. While the dough is rising, now's a good time to clean up all the huge mess you just made before the next steps happen. Once the dough has risen, shape the ball into a large rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into roughly equal-sized pieces and roll each piece into a ball (I had about 3 dozen pieces, but you may have more or less).

cutting the dough into pieces

dough rolled into balls

6. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar, and melt the butter for the coating. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray.

coating, rolled in butter first then cinnamon sugar

7. Dip each ball of dough into the melted butter and then the cinnamon-sugar mixture, layering them in the bundt pan as you go.

cinnamon sugar dough balls, pre-rise

8. Once you've used all the dough, cover and let rise another hour.

cinnamon sugar dough balls, post-rise

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a platter. Just before the bread is done, mix together the glaze.

10. Pour the glaze over the bread while it's still warm.

Then eat. As many as you want. While they're still warm. And share them with a friend or spouse. It's the best. And plus you waited over 2 hours to enjoy it.

Love,

Sarah

Fall

Well, a whole bunch of things happened this past week.

1. The leaves are turning colors and are in their prime. The weather has been gorgeously sunny and warm which makes it so much easier to enjoy them.

2. I picked a few pumpkins and squash from the garden at the farm. One little pumpkin went to my co-worker and friend for her son's first birthday! The others are on our front steps for decoration. Can't wait to pick some more and carve them! I also took a few pictures of my mother-in-laws squash. They are HUGE! I forget what they're called, but they're ginormous and look like a goose body with a long neck. Apparently you can use them for things similar to what you would do with pumpkins. I'll have to experiment. If I can find one small enough to fit in my oven that is...

3. The monarch chrysalis in my classroom finally "hatched" and the butterfly came out! It was hanging on a file cabinet drying out its wings when I arrived around 7:15 on Tuesday. I borrowed a big butterfly net/cage thing from one of the second grade teachers, added so sticks, and soaked a napkin in apple juice to feed the new butterfly. The kids loved stopping to look at it during the day. Around 2:45 we went out to the playground to set it free. This was the most nerve racking part because sometimes when you toss the butterfly in the air, it falls straight back to the ground... I warned the kids about this then told them to back away if it fell. So, I took a deep breath and tossed the little guy up into the air and away he flew! It was SO COOL! The kids chased it waving and yelling, "Goodbye, butterfly!" I wish I had my camera there that day. Seeing the whole transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly was a fabulous reminder of how cool and awesome God is. With every change that happened, I was amazed at the creativity of God and his power over creation.

4. I took my students out to the Reading Garden this week. The Reading Garden is a grassy area just outside my classroom with picnic tables, benches, and huge sunflowers. They took a stuffed animal outside to read to however I'm not sure how much reading got done. They were so distracted by dewey grass, hot sun, and bees buzzing around the flowers that they did more talking than reading. Oh well. I'm trying. Here's a few pictures:

5. Friday night was the Homecoming parade and football game for Big Rapids High School. A couple good high school friends met me at the parade. Zach met up with us for dinner at Pizzeria Vivo (a relatively new restaurant in town that was a house they converted into an italian restaurant). The pizza was delicious. Whitney & I split a pesto garden vegetable pizza while Eric & Zach split an all meat pizza. Then it was off to the football game. Which unfortunately was not much fun to watch since we got blown out of the water.... We played the "Bay City John Glenn Bobcats" and that's how the announcer said their name every time over the loudspeaker. The whole name. All words. City. School. And mascot. Instead of, "The fumble was recovered by the Bobcats," or "The ball is on the Bobcat 34 yard line, " he said, "The fumble was recovered by the Bay City John Glenn Bobcats!" and "The ball is on the Bay City John Glenn Bobcats 34 yard line!" It was one of the only humorous things about that game.

6. Zach and I took the Trinity Fellowship membership class Saturday. It was scheduled to be from 9AM-4PM and we thought, "No way it will actually go until 4. We'll probably get done around 2:30-3:00." Oh no. It went all the way to 4. Zach was starting to get antsy because he's got another field of soybeans left to harvest and the weather was beautiful yesterday. We finished the class and he zipped off to the field. I ran errands around town and stopped in my classroom real quick to bring some stuff home to work on. I didn't feel like working there after being in a meeting all day. On my drive home, I saw a bunch of little kids standing on the edge of the field watching Zach drive the combine. They live across the street from the field and saw him working yesterday and asked for a ride but he was done for the evening. He told them to come back the next day and they did! Zach said they rode 4 rounds with him and kept asking questions but something wasn't working right on the combine so Zach was trying to figure that out and answer all their questions (all 3 of them packed in there with him at once!). He did manage to find out that they attend Crossroads (where I teach) but when I asked him what their names were, he said he didn't know. He never asked. :) Oh, Farmerboy.

7. I made Pumpkin Monkey Bread yesterday and it was DELICIOUS! It took nearly 3 hours to make because I had to let the dough rise twice (an hour each time). The best part was when it was baking in the oven and the whole house smelled like pumpkin and cinnamon! It turned out well, besides that it fell apart a bit when I turned it out onto a tray... It was 9:00PM by the time it was done and I got to eat some but it was so worth it! Full post on this yummy fall treat to come.