29.

I'm 29 today.
I'm currently sitting on the couch in my favorite robe (it belonged to my late grandfather),
Drinking hot cocoa,
Thinking about my life,
And being so happy for where I am.

Loving husband (I'm not just saying that...he is so incredibly thoughtful and kind),
Roof over my head (there is something so rewarding about paying a mortgage instead of rent),
Sweet baby in my belly,
Puppy curled up at my feet,
and surrounded our amazing family and friends!

Things couldn't be better.
Bring on 29...I'm ready! Something tells me this could be the best year of my life thus far!

Revisiting the Mail Bag

I used to LOVE letter posts. I haven't done one in fa-evah.  You can see my previous ones here, here and here!

Dear Baby Daddy,
There are no words to express the love that I have for you right now. You have been so incredibly supportive during this pregnancy. Thank you so much for all of your hard work. You put in a full day (sometimes a double) then you come home and lay trim or paint a room. I'm sure that there are times that you feel that you are working around the clock and you kinda are. Know that all that work is appreciated! The house is looking GREAT and the nursery is perfect! You are going to be a great Daddy and I can't wait have this baby and love and raise her with you.
PS...thanks for the foot/back rubs. Keep 'em coming! :)

Love,
Your Baby Mama

Dear Family,
Y'all are good people. No, y'all are GREAT people. From supporting and loving us (and visiting me many times) while we were away to being here for us now, you guys are amazing! Ripping down wallpaper (all 4 layers) and endless painting helped us so very much. Not only have y'all supported us physically but you guys are really THERE for us. I try to be a big girl about this pregnancy thing and I try not to wear everyone out by talking about it too much. I don't try very hard with the you guys. I complain sometimes and share every weird little symptom! But y'all never tell me that y'all are tired of hearing about what the baby is doing now, or that you guys would rather not know that my boobs are leaking (yeah...that happens. No one told me either.). Y'all just roll with it. I am fairly certain that it is all genuine and if its not you people are great actors.  I also love how much all of you love this baby.  You are all so excited for her arrival and that just warms my heart. The Aunts (Great Aunts too), Grandmas, Grandpas and cousins have already showered her with some gifts. I love all of you!

Love,
Kimmie and Will

Baby Willberly,
We are so excited for you to get here. Just don't be trying to bust out early. Excited yes...ready no.  Plus...the longer you stay put the healthier you will be! If you MUST come early just wait till after the baby shower. (We will, of course be happy whenever she comes :) Also, you keep kicking. I love it. Even in the middle of the night. It eases my worry about you (and girl, do I worry...). However, if you could steer clear of my bladder that would be fabulous. I know that I am probably going to get really uncomfortable soon.  I might say less about how much I love being pregnant and get a little more complainy.  Please know that no matter how bad this gets...I'm happy to be carrying you. No matter how hard labor and delivery may be I know that it is worth it.  I wanted nothing more than to be pregnant so there will be no regrets. Though, if you could make sure and stay head down and not go too much over 7 pounds, I would soooo appreciate that. See you in 7ish weeks.

Love,
Mama

Reba,
You are the bestest puppy ever! You do have gas that could literally knock people out but can ignore that because you are so darn sweet. Thank you for being my napping buddy and knowing when I really need you to be lazy with me. I love it when you lick my toes...ok I hate but if you stopped I am pretty certain that I would miss it too much.  Please continue to be a good puppy so that we can keep you after the baby comes. I have dreams of you 2 being great friends!

Love,
Your Human Mama

That is all for now but I have so many more to share...stay tuned!

Making a House a Home: Part One

Our house has "Good Bones" or that is what our realtor said.
This is a cool way to say that it was beyond out dated but has a great layout and solid structure.
Which translates into "this is gonna be a lot of work".
Which is exactly what we wanted.  Something we could make our own and we could do it in our own time.
Then we found out we were pregnant.
Suddenly, all this time we had turned in to 9 months.
No regrets...we just might not get to everything.
We have already made so many changes and I am loving it!

Dining area before...

Please note that there were 3 layers of wallpaper in the kitchen and dining area...

We removed all the wallpaper {thanks to my family}! We also hired a contractor to remove the popcorn texture on the ceiling and have it re textured then they also did the texture on the kitchen walls!

Then the painting began!

I love the color!

We need to decorate, refinish the cabinets and put up crown molding but I love my kitchen!

Laundry room before...

We found this great blue paint at Lowes for $5 I couldn't wait to get it on the walls!

{Always check the paint department for mistinted paint...this was a great find!}

My sweet Mama helping us out!!

It really tuned out great...but it didn't take me long to get sick of looking at those shelves...

My sister found this great fabric when we were Black Friday shopping so I made these curtains {I did 3 panels to make it easier to get behind them.} for less than $5.

Laundry room makeover for 10 bucks!!

{We also pulled the contact paper off of the existing shelves and just painted them with paint for the trim which we already had. Also, I used a shower curtain rod that was left behind by the previous owner to hang the curtain. So literally this room cost us $10}

We really do love this  house and really have enjoyed making all these changes!

Looking back...Christmas 2010 (Part 2...in TEXAS)

I have so much to catch up on....

Our last memories from Boston,

All of our summer fun,

Home makeover projects, 

Life with our crazy puppy, 

Pregnancy, 

Christmas, 

2012 and all of our goals...

So every time I sit down to blog I have to decide what to blog about. Tomorrow I may just write myself silly and get up to date. Anyway, that is tomorrow and this is today and today we are going to wrap up what I started here. 

Photo dump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Will and I had a great "Pre-Christmas" together but unfortunately he wasn't able to come to Texas with me...

I had to travel alone and my sister Amanda and Franklin {the cute dog in the picture below} were kind enough to pick me up! 

We headed straight to Mama and Daddy's to start cooking and prepping for all the holiday fun!! 

Christmas Eve is spent with my Mama's Family.  We always have seafood gumbo {to give everyone a break from all the traditional stuff}and it was sooo tasty. I am lame and didn't get any pics from that party...but know that lots of fun was had by all!

Sadly...I don't have a picture of the best surprise.  We were planning trip to Houston {Amanda's (pictured above) House} to have our family Christmas because Jake {youngest sibling} and April {oldest sibling} and her family couldn't make it before Christmas. Little did we know they started driving in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and made home by the time that we were waking up to start prepping for the day! It was like those Folgers commercials! We were thrilled to see them!

My Uncle on my Daddy's side owns a cute restaurant in my tiny home town and we had our Christmas Dinner with the that side of the family there! It was too fun!

There was plenty of room for all the yummy food...

and plenty of room for our supper large family {no one took a picture but we more than filled up the entire dining area}!

We still headed to Houston after stuffing ourselves to meet up with Jake...did I mention that he could't make it with April0? Anyway, we went to Houston and prepared yet another feast!!

We waited for Jake to arrive so that we could open gifts...

I have pictures of the gift opening but it was late and we weren't very pretty so I thought better of posting those!

I do have this one...

Since Will couldn't make it home {There was a chance for deployment so he couldn't travel...} thanks to XBox and Kinect we were able to video chat with him through the TV! It was so fun...we could all see and hear him and he could see and hear all of us!

We had a blast opening gifts and making new memories! It was a great Christmas! 

The next day everyone had to return to their home...but we spent one last day enjoying each other!

I had a good time playing with this picture!

I swear that I have not been over served...but it sorta looks that way!

 We stuffed ourselves at Lankford Grocery {one of the best burgers in Houston!} and then we hit up Sprinkles for a cupcake!! 

I really enjoyed last Christmas.  I love my family and I happy to have been able to spend that time with them!

Looking back...Christmas 2010 (Part 1)

Looking back at my neglected blog I realized that I didn't post anything about last Christmas! I LOVE Christmas and last year's was so great.  I would hate to forget all the details!

This was our last Christmas in Massachusetts,

last one in our apartment and

quite possibly the last one that would be covered in snow!

We did our usual decorating...

Homemade gift making...

Baking and cooking...

Recieved some awesome gifts from friends...

Thanks Cher!

 I cooked us a Christmas dinner since we wouldn't be together...

 We put on our pjs and opened gifts together...

One of my gifts from Will was a Creme Brulee` Set (torch included!!!)

Success on the first try!

Then the feverish packing began!!

Please stay tuned for Christmas 2010: Part 2!

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

There is this boy (well...young man) who has had my heart for 15 years! This is my oldest nephew, Hunter and today is his 15th Birthday! I just can't believe that he is 15 years old!

This picture is from last Christmas!

I love this kid! He is a great nephew, grandson and big brother! 

He hasn't had the easiest life but he has risen above all of the hard things and become an amazingly strong young man! 

You know the best thing about him???

He loves his family and would always chose to hang out with us! 

How many teenagers do you know that genuinely think that their aunts and uncles are cool!?

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Hunter! Will and I LOVE you so much and are so very proud of you!

See you soon!

Love,

 Aunt Kimmie and Uncle Will

28.

Yeah.  Thats how many years young I am.

I really have mixed emotions about this.  Being 28.  

But that is a can of worms best left closed...at least for now. 

Right now I want to bask in my birthday glory.  

Cure for the winter blues

Summer Dream. 

Bare shoulders,

hot sun,

sticky heat, 

the quiet of early morning fishing, 

the noise of the jet ski and boat, 

camping, 

watermelon and 

tan lines. 

These are the things that I dream about to get me through winter. I miss Texas summers. My family spends lots of time camping at the lake and I CAN'T WAIT for this summer!

These are a few photos from my last summer in Texas...

Dream on! Winter can't last forever!

Two Years

10.11.2008

10.11.2009

10.11.2010

Well, its 1:00 AM and I don't think that Will would really appreciate me attempting to get a picture right this second but rest assured that we are happy and together! 

I honestly love him more everyday.  Even at the end of a "not so perfect" day.  I am blessed to have him in my life.  He has forever changed me.  There really are no words. 

Happy Anniversary.

Two down and eternity to go.

Remember that time...Part 2

Yeah. I didn't get to have my intentional. See us in here in purple!

surgery back in April. However, I did have a hella good time with Amanda! I was going through some pictures and videos and realized that I neglected to share some moments with you....

First, we pretty much matched everyday...

It was not

It was Easter weekend and one of our Grandmothers really loved Easter Lilies. Me too. So I bought some pretty flowers...

We ventured north 2 of the days that Amanda was here. One day to Gloucester (no pictures...not sure how that happened) and Newburyport the next! Our impromptu adventure was ridiculously fun...

This is an airfield on the way back from Newburyport. You will see the signs for it if you hug the coast.

Lunch.

The following pictures are from this precious antique shop in Newburyport.

Tons of really interesting art by the water front!

This was my favorite!

So so so many beautiful homes!

I would love love love to live in a place like this on the water...someday.

I am pretty much in love with this shot.

This video may only be funny to Amanda and I but it gives you a little glimpse of how we are...

Gloucester was really fun. We parked the car and just started walking.

Have you seen The Perfect Storm??

If not click here to learn more.

We wanted to go to the Crow's Nest Bar (featured in movie)

and if you look at the website it looks like a friendly place...touristy, ya know?

Yeah. Not so much.

Amanda and I walked in and walked out.

Keep in mind that we aren't prissy girls. We aren't above a seedy bar. It was CLEAR that we were not accepted by the locals. However, we wanted to go to the bar and we did...memory made!!

It was a fantastic weekend! Thanks Mandy!