Belly Picture Time

I'm now 8 months along! Only 56 more days to go. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm sleeping much better than I was, but now it's a burden to bend over and tie my shoes.

7 months 8 months

We Have a Condo!

We officially have a condo to rent. Here are the great things about it:

-We asked for $25 decrease in rent, and they agreed

-We asked for them to pay for the paint in the paint colors of our choice, and they agreed

-They fixed everything that we asked to be fixed

-We have the keys on October 30th!

-It has a big pool, exercise room, two tennis courts, billiards room, clubhouse, playground, basketball court, great sidewalks that have exercise stations along the way, extra storage, covered parking, and an elevator.

-It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, washer & dryer in the unit, dishwasher, great views out of the windows, and great natural light

We are very excited about living in this condo! I personally can't wait to start decorating!

My Baby's Quilt

It's so nice to finally make a baby quilt and get to keep it! I'm very happy with the finished quilt. During the quilting part of it, I realized I am a much bigger fan of stitch-in-the-ditch. Free motion quilting is such a headache with all it's accompanying tension issues! I ended up using only free motion on the middle white block. I stitched around the flowers and the butterfly trails.

The middle square of fabric was the inspiration piece. I love the pinks, greens, browns, and blues. I love minkie fabric so of course I had to use it for my baby. Only the best for the DeVores. JoAnn's was having a great sale on baby flannel fabric so I got all of the fabric (minus the minkie) for only $15. I think that was a great deal.

I had a lot of fabric left over so I decided to make a little rag quilt and a little quilted square she can carry around without having to lug around the whole quilt. The pattern said it was crib size but the quilt is much bigger than that. Now I can't wait to use it with little "M!"

Third Trimester, Here I come!

Today I am 28 weeks along. As promised to my relatives here is my latest belly picture. I look slightly bigger right? I feel bigger, and so does she. She kicks with stronger force now. Everything is going well and I feel fine, other than being tired all the time. I guess that's never going away so I may as well get used to it.

24 weeks on the left 28 weeks on the right

Consignment Sale Extravaganza!

My sister-in-law has opened my eyes to the wonderful world of consignment sales. They are amazing places. It's like the wonderful craig's list, but better because you can see and touch the items before purchasing them. At this sale there was everything baby and kid: toys, books, shoes, blankets, sheets, towels, diaper bags, costumes, jackets, clothes, cribs, play pens, changing tables, bibs, bottles, cups, etc, etc. Everything is priced by the consigner so some things are better priced than others, but all of it is much cheaper than you would find in the store. If you have access to a consignment sale around you I would recommend going. It's better than a thrift store because the items are inspected beforehand so most of the items are high quality with no stains, tears, or broken parts.

Here is my loot: 10 adorable outfits, changing pad w/ cover, 2 swaddle blankets, overhead gym, diaper bag, 5 wash clothes, 4 receiving blankets, 3 bibs, 3 little hats, and crib liner. I could have purchased many more items but I had to restrain myself. I'll go again the next time they have the sale in April :)

The absolute best find of the night was this crib set. On the before mentioned craig's list, I came across a cute Pottery Barn Kids pink, green, and yellow bumper (as seen in the picture). But that's all it was, the bumper. At the sale I found a matching Pottery Barn kids valence, crib skirt, and two matching sheets. I was so excited. Now I have the whole matching set. I love, love the valence because it isn't necessarily baby, she can use it for many years to come. I just love it!

Our newest little Nephew

Our newest nephew, Mark, came home from the hospital yesterday! He was in the NICU for 8 weeks due to his premature birth. He is doing great! Greg and Holly are glad they don't have to take the nightly journey to the hospital to visit him anymore.

Ja, Brigham, and I made a "Welcome Home Baby Mark" sign. Brigham made the W a rainbow and did a great job! Brigham was very helpful all morning and was actually excited to see Mark (he says he hates babies). He even waited outside for 30 minutes for his parents to bring Mark home from the hospital.

Here's the whole family. Caleb couldn't keep his eyes off of Mark. We couldn't get him to look at the camera. The whole morning he kept pointing to Mark and saying, "Baby." He wanted to hold Mark and would get very upset if Mark was moved away from him. It was very cute.

Now Ja and I can get real newborn practice and see what life is like with a newborn baby.

Apple Recipes

As you can remember we went to a farm and came home with 30 pounds of apples. Needless to say we have been eating a lot of apple dishes lately. I wanted to share the recipes we have tried because they have all been good.

The day we got back from the farm Ja and Greg made this apple pie. It was very delicious! Brigham said it was the best apple pie he's ever had.

Apple Crumble Pie

5-7 tart apples, peeled and sliced (we only used two because they were so big)

9" unbaked pastry shell

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup butter

Place apples in pastry shell. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over apples. Combine brown sugar and flour, cut in butter until crumbly and sprinkle over apples. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. (Greg said he sprinkled the cinnamon and sugar in between each layer of apples.)

I made these Apple Muffins. If you make them, I would double the amount of apples and cinnamon used. They were a nice light muffin that was good for breakfast and as snacks.

I made this Apple French Toast recipe conference weekend. It is very sweet and almost like a custard because of all the eggs and sugar used, but very delicious. I personally liked it better with a little bit of syrup on it.

Apple Cinnamon Baked French Toast

• 10 slices of thick French bread
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 2 3/4 c. milk
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1 T. vanilla
• 4 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 3/4 t. nutmeg (optional)
• 1 T. butter

Place slices of bread in a greased 9×13 inch baking dish.

Combine eggs, milk, 1/3 c. sugar and vanilla; pour 1/2 mixture over bread. Top with half of the apple slices. Combine 1/3 c. sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle 1/2 of this sugar mixture over the apples. Top with remaining apples. Pour remaining egg mixture over apples and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Dot with butter. Cover and chill overnight or 8 hours.

Take out of fridge 30 minutes before baking. Bake uncovered at 350° for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean. Let stand for five minutes before serving.

Last night Ja and I made these Apple Dumplings from the "Our Best Bites" blog. They too were very good and very easy.

We still have about 10 baking apples left so I'm up for any other apple recipes you have to share!