A Surprise from my Dad

Sent from my iPhoneMy dad was so sweet yesterday. He drove down from NC to bring me this beautiful nativity scene he cut and painted for me as a Christmas present. And it was a complete surprise! He put it in the front yard and hid behind a tree to see me come out and find it. I absolutely love it! Love you dad. Thanks for being so thoughtful!

It turned into an even better evening with him staying the night and joining us for dinner and a movie with Chris and Morgan! Great evening full of great surprises!


About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT) is a leading provider of cloud-based benefits software solutions for consumers, employers, insurance carriers and brokers. Benefitfocus has served more than 23 million consumers on its platform that consists of an integrated portfolio of products and services enabling clients to more efficiently shop, enroll, manage and exchange benefits information. With a user-friendly interface and consumer-centric design, the Benefitfocus Platform provides one place for consumers to access all their benefits. Benefitfocus solutions support the administration of all types of benefits including core medical, dental and other voluntary benefits plans as well as wellness programs. For more information, visit www.benefitfocus.com.

24 weeks

Here we are at 24 weeks!

Happenings:
- Back to cooking like I used to sans seafood.
- Lots of huffing and puffing at practically every movement I TRY to make.
- Started having to take a "moment" at the top of any flight of stairs.
- I'm now being woken up in the middle of the night with heartburn.
- Those babies are Kickin' up a storm, still loving church and the symphony. 😊
- Had our first baby shower.
- Needing a boost from the hubster to get up into our new King bed.
- Not a single jacket I own will Hutton all the way now.
- Still no stretch marks. 😃
- Still have emotional breakdowns over broken gingerbread men and other such completely unimportant things.
- Now experiencing the need to go to the restroom very thirty minutes due to weight of the kiddos.
- Been waking up before dawn at the feeling that I have soooo much to do to get ready for these kiddos.
- Both experiencing fears that life as we know it is shortly over.
- Feelings of complete love and anticipation for their arrival in March!
- Have both cribs in our possession although not ready to out in the nursery quite yet.
- Four projects happening simultaneously in this house: new bench built in bay window, beed board put in the bar, French doors out on Beau's office and a complete gutting of my master bath down to the studs...not to mention the whole nursery thing.


About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT) is a leading provider of cloud-based benefits software solutions for consumers, employers, insurance carriers and brokers. Benefitfocus has served more than 23 million consumers on its platform that consists of an integrated portfolio of products and services enabling clients to more efficiently shop, enroll, manage and exchange benefits information. With a user-friendly interface and consumer-centric design, the Benefitfocus Platform provides one place for consumers to access all their benefits. Benefitfocus solutions support the administration of all types of benefits including core medical, dental and other voluntary benefits plans as well as wellness programs. For more information, visit www.benefitfocus.com.

DC 2014 with the Murphys

Beau and I flew up to DC the weekend before Thanksgiving to see our dear friends, Josh and Kelly. I think the last time we were there was two years ago. They’ve moved since then since they’re expecting a little girl in early February.

 

We had a great time traipsing all over DC with them and just catching up and laughing for the weekend.

 

Our first day in we went to a Mexican place Beau and I had chosen that was essentially Mexican tapas type thing. Small plates of Mexican food to share. It was super good, but too expensive. And the whole time I was wishing for a margarita. I shouldn’t do that to myself…put temptation right in front of me.

 

Friday we had a leisurely morning with a fantastic breakfast by Kelly. Bacon and sausage and eggs with herbs and cheese in them. And then…popovers! Now, I’ve tried to make these. Flop. But no, not Kelly’s. Hers were light and airy and delicious. I had two. J After breakfast we headed downtown to a new museum called the Newseum. It basically showcases all of the major news cases in the last 100 years or so and some farther back than that. It was really interesting. And they had a section all about 9/11 with the top of the World Trade Center (pictured).

 

Friday night was the best dinner. Le Diplomat – a French bistro downtown that was to die for. I still contend that French food is some of the best in the world. How could you possibly go wrong with that much butter?!?!? Simply…you can’t. Josh and Kelly convinced (not hard of course) to all share the truffled mushroom tart for an appetizer. No problem! And so glad we did. Yummo. And here’s the rest…

 

Josh

1^st course: French Onion Soup

Entrée: Burger (which he claimed was one of the best he’s ever had)

 

Kelly

1^st Course: French Onion Soup

Entrée: Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes (which happened to be laden with butter)

Dessert: Two scoops of chocolate ice cream

 

Beau

1^st course: Salad Lyonnaise (Frisee with bacon lardons and a poached egg-his favorite)

Entrée: Steak Frites

Dessert: Profiteroles drizzled with chocolate

 

Kathryn

1^st course: Salad Lyonnaise

Entrée: Steamed mussels and a white wine butter sauce J

Dessert: Split those profiteroles with Beau

 

And yes, there was wine and mocktails and tons of bread and we left so completely happy and full. And when we got home, this pregnant girl went right to bed.

 

Saturday was another leisurely morning that had us eventually at a sports bar to watch the Carolina Gamecocks play some football. You can obviously see that my dear husband is smiling, therefore, we won. And we finished that night off with some super good pizza form Whole Foods. Did anyone else out there not know that they do two large pizzas for $20?!?!? What a deal!

 

Sunday was another great leisurely morning at Josh and Kelly’s house and then headed out to the Baltimore Aquarium, which is one of the best. On the way, Beau had a genius idea. Pit Beef. If you’ve ever watched The Wire, they talk about Pit Beef in Baltimore. So onward we went in search of some of that goodness for lunch. And we found it, right next door to a gentleman’s club, which we did not visit. Man that food was good and greasy and filling. Josh and Beau both ordered the pit beef sandwich that included, shredded pit beef, Italian sausage and corned beef (as pictured), while I ordered a cheeseburger and Kelly got a turkey reuben. Super yummy and then we were super full.

 

The aquarium truly was amazing and it’s something anyone should see if they’re up that way. From there, Josh and Kelly took us to the airport to head back to Charleston. It was a great trip and we’re so glad we made it. Definitely the last time all four of us will be together as just the four of us. Next time there will be seven total!

 

Thanksgiving 2014

Sent from my iPhoneThanksgiving was so nice and relaxing!!! Because we've been traveling and working so much lately we decided to stay put. So although it was just Beau, Donna and myself, I had to cook a full spread. It's just not Thanksgiving without too much food!

Thankfully, Beau handled the turkey. (I'm not a big fan of cooking meat because I get nervous about it being underdone vs overdone.). He fried that turkey! So with the company of our neighbors and the sharing of oil we all hung out in the driveway cooking turkeys and have a cheap version of a charcuterie.

While the turkey was cooking, I was busy inside workin' up the rest: Collards cooked with a ham hock; a new mac and cheese recipe that will be revisited for sure, sweet potato casserole and not good cornbread dressing. (It was a Bon Appetit recipe for Spicy Pecan Cornbread Dressing - don't try it)

But everything was delicious and of course we had seconds. Donna and I realized later that since I pulled out the silver and the china for this day's event, the dinner plates were smaller than what they're making today. I think that benefited us. So even though we all got seconds, we did eat less than we might have eaten otherwise. :) (I like to tell myself that.)

I concluded my lunch with a nap on the couch while Beau and Donna took the dogs on a walk. And then we finished out the afternoon/evening with our own version of karaoke at the house.

It was a very nice, relaxing and restful Thanksgiving. Probably our last one for a while. I tell you, those babies are going to change everything...for good!


About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT) is a leading provider of cloud-based benefits software solutions for consumers, employers, insurance carriers and brokers. Benefitfocus has served more than 23 million consumers on its platform that consists of an integrated portfolio of products and services enabling clients to more efficiently shop, enroll, manage and exchange benefits information. With a user-friendly interface and consumer-centric design, the Benefitfocus Platform provides one place for consumers to access all their benefits. Benefitfocus solutions support the administration of all types of benefits including core medical, dental and other voluntary benefits plans as well as wellness programs. For more information, visit www.benefitfocus.com.

She Said That

I went to Petco last night to get the A-Man some food. I ran into someone I know and they asked when the big day was (due date). I responded with March 21st (OB isn't going to let me go past that date). The lady in front of me in line and the cashier both looked at my belly and then responded with "Really?!?!?!". Well, um, yes, I'm having twins!!! Geesh. You would almost expect a man to say something like that but women should know better. :)

Pregnant Woman at the Grocery STore

I wish I could have taken a picture of the little girl's face that was checking me out at Harris Teeter on Saturday. Point: Don't send a hungry pregnant woman to the grocery store. It's like sending a man who hasn't been in years.

I was tired of eating Thanksgiving leftovers and couldn't manage to put more turkey in my mouth for dinner Saturday night. So I went to the store.

I came home with four 12-packs of all different flavors of Coke Zero, two frozen pizzas, two pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, 1 package of Klondike bars and 1 package of Magnum bars. Oh, and a bag of brussels sprouts. (Got to throw in some healthy.)

And before you ask, no I didn't eat all of that! My eyes wanted it though and I got it! I did have some restraint and didn't add on the garlic bread I wanted. :)