Bigler Brunch

While Jessie is my good friend from home, we also continued our life-long friendship at PSU where we roomed together for our first year. We lived in East Halls and met an amazing friend in our Bigler dorm who continued to be our friend post college. Laurie lives very close to Brian and me and while she is a busy mom with two little ones, she had a Food Network worthy brunch for all of us before Jessie and Craig headed out on the road home. Pictured above - Jessie, Me, Laurie and the boys - Chad, Brian, and Craig.

Jessie & Craig Visit

My best friend from home (Jessie) and her husband (Craig) came in to visit us last weekend. We hadn't seen them since July - which is just way too long. We spent the majority of our time eating and visiting which was a perfect agenda for catching up. Devon and Tim came over for dinner and games.

Brian planned to grill since it was finally nice out, but after flaming up the grill for the first time of the season, the flames took over and burned the front of the grill off after he walked away. So we cooked burgers inside - which ended up delicious.

Big Mama

I am currently 26 weeks pregnant and this is what big mama looks like. I will upload more at a later date, but wanted to share this now since some of my Pittsburgh family have been requesting. I wanted to put it in writing that Brian has said I look beautiful and pretty pregnant - says it more now than ever before. While that is a bonus, don't let the smile fool you - I still hate being pregnant, but I do feel much better!

Third Storm

As mentioned, we were hit a few days later with another huge storm (20 some inches). I didn't take many pictures and this is a shot from right before we were hit with another 10 inches. It was a bit out of control. I think we all had enough.

Snowstorm Part Deux

While I know my Pittsburgh family got hit really hard this weekend (resulting in no electricity for a week), we here in Philly got a similar snowstorm. I still love a huge snowstorm and feel bad that Brian has to do all the heavy lifting this year. I do help out where I can, but it's nothing to the back-breaking shoveling he does (and I love him for it). We got about 24 inches yet again and after shoveling our walkway and back patio for Val, Brian jumps in the Jeep to go help his dad. I pray for a son as awesome as he is. Luckily his dad has a snow thrower and it makes for a much more enjoyable experience. We did get my parents one a few years ago since we can't drive out to the Burgh to help every time there is a snowstorm - and hopefully they will learn their lesson and go get it fixed before the next big storm hits. Philly is calling for a midweek storm as well and estimates between 3-24 inches again. Ouch - for Brian that is.

Zahav with the Girls

I am back in business with our monthly get-togethers with my Kappa girls. It had been way too long. Every time we scheduled a dinner at Zahav, something came up and we had to cancel. I think this may have been our 3rd try and this time was a success. Zahav is an Isreali/middle eastern influenced restaurant that serves tapas-like dishes. We started with the salatim and hummus which provided lots of small dishes to try - everything from parsley salad with pomegranate seeds, to roasted eggplant, or sauteed okra in a tomato-like sauce. Everything was a little different from the next dish, but all very good. Then we all got to choose three dishes from the "dairy," "meat," and "grilled" section of the menu. Jamie, who is not a big fan of milks/cheeses, was a little taken back by a section called, "dairy." But I got the Savta Mati's Borekas which were little puff pastries filled with sweet potato and sheep's milk - it was like a little dessert - nothing to be scared about. We all tried lots of goodies and had tons of fun catching up on all the new news in our lives - boyfriends, work & school, new baby and baby on the way. Love these girls so much! Pictured above is from the evening out - Devon didn't get the "all black" memo.

Now This is the Head

My mom told me she thought the last ultrasound photo was so cute. I was a little perplexed when she said that, considering the photo was of our boy's leg and "member". Like Brian, she thought she was looking at a head and baby's body, but I eagerly corrected this misunderstanding and we had a good laugh over it. So this week I went for another ultrasound and promised I would post one of the baby's profile for her to see.