Oh, by the way...

...this is my current physique
It's true, we are expecting!

A sweet little baby BOY due the end of April. Yeah, I know I am a bit late in my announcement. We have had a few bumps in the road on this journey that has made me a bit more than a nervous Nelly about sharing the good news.

Things are going very well and I am enjoying the little love taps I have started to feel from our little guy and the return of a mostly normal life.

We are so grateful for the many prayers that have been said on behalf of our little family and thank you for your concern and support.

Can't Wait!

9:43:21

Total time spent on the phone with Dell operators overseas attempting to fix my broken computer.

Lets cross our fingers I am not on the phone with Giriraj for a little while.

Off on a fun weekend vacation, I will finally update when I get back.

The Low Country

I don't think a lifetime would have been long enough to enjoy all the charm and history of this wonderful city. Morris and I made a quick trip down to Charleston, SC "The Low Country" this weekend and loved every minute of it.

We visited Middelton Place-one of the many gorgeous plantations in Charleston. The grounds and gardens were beautiful, we were a little to early to enjoy the azaleas but we did get to see the last remains of the camellias.
We were able to stay with our good friends, the Henriods, from UCLA. They were excellent hosts and tour guides.

This is the main house on the plantation, it is pretty amazing, especially the waterfront view of the Ashley River.

Side note: The Ashley River runs along one side of town and the Cooper River on the other (I think) well anyway pretty much everything in town is named Ashley something or other. I think that means I need to move there or at least visit time and time again.

One of my favorite things we did and a must do if you ever visit the city is take a horse drawn carriage ride.

The tour took us through historic downtown Charleston and gives you a little background on the homes and architecture. It really was great.

Another must do when in the south; eat something and everything fried (except for the peanuts, they boil those so they actually end up being more like beans, I was a fan-Morris not so much). So fried lunch is what we did. We had our first taste of Hush Puppies (fried cornmeal dough with jalapenos), actually they were pretty good. Fried baked potatoes, fried shrimp, fried fish, I think they even fried our coke. You get the point, basically a heart attack.

Charleston is a great walking city. We walked all over downtown and saw some other sites that were not included on our tour.

We saw Rainbow Row...

Waterfront Park, Mt. Pleasant Bridge, Fort Sumter (from a distance), The Battery area and shopped in The Market.

Oh lovely beach, how we have missed you.

The Carolina beaches were so pretty and such a welcomed site after a long winter. We walked around Folly beach and drove around dreaming about owning one of the many beautiful beach homes for sale.

We took a walk along the sand to the Morris Lighthouse, I really think we are meant to live here; a river and now a lighthouse just for us.

The whole weekend we were Gator hunting. We had heard rumors of gators in these parts but we didn't see any until Sunday afternoon. As soon as we went outside to get some proof he snuck back into his pond.

He really is there, just between Morris and Joel along the bank of the pond.

P.S. This is right in the Henriods backyard. Yes, this is correct they have gators in the backyard.

Oh and Morris had a little girlfriend the whole weekend. It was pretty cute to see the little crush Clara had on him and how excited she was to be near Morris, I think he secretly loved every minute of it.

Here is the close up of the alligator.

Thank you Henriods for the wonderful weekend, we loved it.

For Milah

She turned ONE and had this Very Hunry Caterpillar cake.

Rainy LAX Game

It rained and poured. Last week we went to Charlottesville, VA to watch the UVA Lacrosse team play Towson. UVA is ranked #1 in the country so Morris really wanted to make it to a game this season. We were hoping the weather would clear up but no such luck.
Look at all of these devoted fans. UVA came out on top and beat Towson by 9 points.

This is how passionate my husband is about Lacrosse and why we stood in the rain for hours watching the game.

Confession: I was freezing and finally gave into my numb fingers and toes and went and sat in the car for the 4th quarter and read my book in the nice warm car. Morris did however stick it out for the entire game.

Williamsburg

The weather was so beautiful this weekend so we decided to take advantage of the spring temps and spend some time enjoying Colonial Williamsburg. It felt so nice to be out minus all of our winter gear.

We had lunch at the yummy yummy Cheese Shop in Merchants Square. Seriously some delicious sandwiches. Morris was feeling patriotic so he had Virginia Ham (we are famous for our ham), I stuck to my regular turkey; not because I wasn't feeling patriotic, I am just a turkey.

I think it is a requirement to take this photo when you are in Williamsburg--so we did.

Um, I guess Williamsburg is a dog friendly city. Can you believe this?

Fun weekend with my fun husband. Love the warm weather, please come back and see us again soon.

Luv Notz

I spent a few weeks in Seattle in February with these cute kids. As a Christmas gift to the two oldest ones my brother and his wife asked me to fly out and help them decorate their rooms in their new place. They recently moved from Texas to Seattle and the long winter has got them all singing the Texas blues.

They do not have any of the furniture in the new house yet so these pictures don't show the final product but here is a sneak peak of what the kids and I came up with.

Clayton wanted a blue room with big maps on the wall. The blue is a bit darker than it looks in the photo. The bedding and window treatments are dark blue and of course huge maps on the wall. Clayton was a big help in getting the frames painted for the maps.


Hailey also wanted a blue room but with green as well. So her walls are a lighter blue with cute polka dots. You can't see the white dots that are there as well. Her bedding is green with white polka dots and cute sheer window treatments with green polka dots. She helped me pick out the paper and all the work on her name letters. Oh and she has a cute blue and green rug too.

Just after I got home, these cute "luv notz" showed up in the mail, I love these kids and the phonetic spelling of a kindergartner.

Thanks for the fun trip. Hope you are happy with your new rooms.

?

69 degrees in 5 days. Looks like we are getting out tomorrow. YEAH!

Why is it that...

I buy the greenest bananas I can find and less than 24 hours later they are covered in brown spots and too mushy to eat?

After 9 months of not having a job I still don't feel compelled to get one?

The best place for us to be right now is thousands of miles from family and friends and all I really need is to be near them?

I put on work out clothes every day but only manage to get in a work out in about every other day? (Isn't putting on the clothes the hardest part?)

They don't sell Girl Scout Cookies year round? (I picked mine up yesterday, mmmmm)

You can take a bus to NYC for only about $15 and I have only done this twice in the 9 months of living in Virginia?

I plan to go to bed about 10 pm each night, and actually start getting ready for bed at 9:30 but still am awake at midnight?

In nearly 4 years of marriage our family is still not +1?

Just a few thoughts for the day.

Who Dunit?

Not us. On Saturday night Morris and I went to a Murder Mystery party to celebrate Ted turning 30!

Who do you think looks the most guilty?
We had a great time at the party and loved our first MM party even though we were the only ones with ridiculous costumes on. I used my very armature sewing skills to make my apron and head piece thing. We borrowed Morris's chauffeur hat from my Dad, yes he still wears it but don't worry he has others.

Thanks Joy and Ted for being our friends and for inviting us to your fun party. We had a great night.

P.S. It was the cute girl in the Boa (Kim) and her accomplice happened to be her funny husband (Brad) the old crazy security guard.

But I already have Spring Fever

Not an ounce of snow until March 1st. It started snowing last night and has not stopped. It was nearly in the 70's last week and now snow.

The only car missing from the parking lot was Morris's. Everything in town is closed but Morris had a conference today (and he was not happy about it).

More Birthday

I think birthday festivities should last all month long and should get at least two posts on the blog--so here you go. My birthday fell on a Sunday so we did celebrate most of the weekend. I am still working on convincing my husband that month long birthday parties are the way to go.

On Saturday night we went to dinner at Maggiano's--I was really only interested in the Creme Brulee, it is a huge serving.
Sunday morning Morris surprised me with breakfast in bed, complete with strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

I love all of the surprise breakfasts, just wish cameras were not involved every time. The post is just not that exciting without them.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, cards, treats, breakfasts, gifts and love.

A Birthday Breakfast Surprise

I was set up! I thought I was showing up to Joy's to watch her daughter while she went to the dentist but instead it was the best birthday surprise I have ever had. I really do have the nicest friends.

Thank you girls for the delicious breakfast. I am so happy I got to celebrate with all of you; you made me feel very special and loved. Mmwah, loves to you all!

Mostly Sunny Weekend

A few weeks ago Morris had a Orthodontic conference in Orlando, Fl. Anytime Morris has a conference in a fun place I weasel my way into going along. Chances are Orlando was going to be a bit warmer than Richmond and most of the time it was.

We were able to meet up with our good friends from UCLA, the Craguns at downtown Disneyworld. (Not sure that is really what it is called, but that is what it was called at Disneyland). We barely escaped an attack from the Lego Loch Ness.

It was so fun to see some old faces from Los Angeles, even it was just for a few hours. Thank you Craguns for making the drive from Gainsville. Miss you guys already.
We also got to see their cute kids. After waiting way to long for a table at T-Rex Cafe at Disneyworld and a queasy feeling from all the funky lights once we finally did get a table we bailed and went to Chevy's down the street. The kids dinner time was way past due; the balloon guy showed up to our table just in time to put a smile on there cute faces.

Our last day in town the sun showed up and so we put on our suits and took advantage of the resort and all of the pools.

Morris tried to teach me a thing or two about chess/checkers, I didn't do very well but I did think the board and pieces were pretty cool. He also beat me at thetherball (sp?, I haven't used that word since elementary school) but I took him in lawn bowling.

Boy being boys. Morris and Brandon (co-resident) found a little lizard or gecko thing and tormented it for a few hours. Don't worry it was still living in it's natural habitat when we left.

You have heard this before

We have lived in Richmond for nearly 8 months and last week was our first chance to visit the D.C. temple together. Until now I never realized what a blessing it is to live near a temple. I know that is what everyone says but now I can understand what they mean and now I am saying it too. It was nice to spend the day together (even the 3+ hours it took us to get home) and to enjoy the spirit of the temple.

A New Sunday Night Tradition

and maybe a few other nights in between.

For Christmas I gave Morris a crepe pan so we could continue the Poole family tradition of crepes on New Years Eve since we were going to be spending the holidays in the east away from our families. So we had crepes on New Year's Eve,

and most Sunday nights since---shhhh don't tell our New Year's resolutions.

Morris makes them and we both eat them.
This really was a Sunday so that is why we were in our comfy gear (Morris asked me to explain the gray sweats)

My favorite is Nutella, banana and fresh whip cream.

Morris's pick is maple syrup, whip cream and strawberries.

They are just to yummy for once a year.

And the Celebration...

went a little something like this

I busted into the clinic to leave Morris a birthday surprise of balloons and this poster at his chair. I also left some cupcakes and Root Beer in the conference room so everyone could celebrate with him at lunch.

(sorry for the crummy pic, I forgot to take one and this is the only one Morris got on his phone)

Later that night we went to dinner at Richbrau, a local brewing company that brews there own Root Beer--Morris gave it two thumbs up.

All of the first year residents came to dinner with us

The Burke's

The soon to be Prettyman's--they are engaged!

And Quoc--not sure what face he is making, just go with it.

And then home to open presents and a mini rainbow chip birthday cake.

Thanks to everyone who helped make Mo's birthday a special day. Love you babe, now you have 3 weeks to get working on my birthday--he he!

For My Guy

On his 29th BIRTHDAY! I think you are pretty wonderful and I am so happy you picked me to be your wife, you are the bestest husband a girl could ask for. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Yes, that is a paper mustache.

The Scoop

So we live in Virginia now. We moved here in June so Morris could go to school, no, the graduation pictures posted in June were not a joke, he really did graduate from UCLA, he is now completing a residency program in Orthodontics at Virginia Commonwealth University. Morris is loving his program and comes home everyday telling me he is so happy to be here at this school. After six months of being in Virginia I am still enjoying the life of a stay at home wife. I get to do whatever I want each day, and I love it! We have made some great friends here and are so grateful for the experiences we are having. We are loving life in the east but we are also looking forward to living near family in 17 short months--but who is counting?