Blueberry Syrup

On Wednesday morning I went blueberry picking at Moorehead's Blueberry Farm with a couple of friends from church and their adorable kids :) I picked 4.25 pounds in a little over an hour (between playing peek-a-boo with the kids and pulling branches down for them to reach). I'm going again on Sunday with the Mayers for a Father's Day outing for Nathan and the girls :) Those berries will become a pie/cobbler for a women's dinner I'm hosting next week, and the rest will be frozen for use later this year...

.... but the berries from Wednesday.... that's another story :)



They became Blueberry Syrup! I invited myself over to Kathy's house to share her canning equipment while her kids were napping. We used this recipe (the low sugar variation)... It came out beautifully dark, a little thicker than I anticipated (which was good - one little stir and it loosened right up and then clung very nicely to the pancakes!), and flavorful without being overly sweet. The first batch we made smooth and the second batch we added whole berries at the end. With the whole berries we also added lemon zest instead of just the juice... I haven't tried that jar yet, but the lemon was unnoticeable in the smooth syrup so next time I'd probably add zest to that one too - I think I'd like the added brightness of lemon flavor.

This is one of the cooking blogs I read semi-regularly... she's been experimenting in freezer jam and mentioned adding lime to black raspberry preserves. That sounds fantastically delicious too so I might have to try lime instead of lemon in the future!



But for the first attempt, following the recipe was definitely successful!

25 Weeks - All Healthy!

Yesterday we had our follow-up ultrasound to check out the parts of Baby Barnes that the ultrasound technician couldn't see effectively at the 20 week appointment.

He's grown so much in 5 weeks! This I already knew, though, based on his movement... much stronger, more varied, and in many new places :) The ultrasound was awesome - we got to see him moving his arms and legs, watch his heart beat, check out his kidneys and other internal organs, and look at his face! He started to fall asleep at one point and had his hand resting across his nose - we needed a photo of his nose and lips, so the technician poked and jiggled my belly until he moved his arm away. It was amazing to see how much bigger he is and to be able to see movement at the same time as feeling it :)

We got to meet the 3rd of the four midwives - Theodora. She is SUCH a sweet lady! The first thing she said after coming in the exam room was "You have a beautiful baby!" How could I not like her?!? :)

Conclusion - we're both healthy and doing great!

Weekend fun!

This past weekend, four of my five best friends from High School came to visit me! Laura, Kim, and Amy flew down from PA & DE, and Rebecca and her husband Kevin drove down from TN. Jessica got stuck in DC and couldn't make it :( Boo for the courts giving her funky deadlines for legal documents! We missed you, Jess!

After picking the girls up from the airport, we drove down to Galveston Island for the day. It was really windy, which was a thankful relief from the heat!





After our picnic lunch we headed off to a museum and took a look at the historic ship, Elissa (a "tall ship").







Then we went walking around the historic downtown and did some window shopping. There were markers in some of the stores, and on the pier by the Elissa, showing water levels for various hurricanes. Ike (2008) was the highest mark, second only to the tragic hurricane in 1900 (after which the entire island was raised and the sea-wall was built.)


Amy's dad has a love affair with Hawaiian shirts... this photo's for you, Mr. Zieser!


After watching a short video about the tragic 1900 hurricane, we headed back to Sea Wall Boulevard for some fantastic seafood from Casey's (which is apparently a sister restaurant to Gaido's, which is James' favorite :)


The shrimp atop Casey's. Gaido's has a crab, but we didn't get a photo of that...


After dinner we went wading in the surf. It was MUCH cooler at dusk and the water was amazingly warm. A beautiful end to a great day on the island!



The rest of the weekend included a trip to the Chocolate Bar, Tin Roof Barbecue, Chuy's Mexican Restaurant, and Hobby Lobby, interspersed with Rock Band and card/board games (Time's Up, Yahtzee, Say Anything). We made breakfast tacos on Saturday morning, homemade pizza for dinner Saturday night, and enjoyed baked goods from my friend Kathy on Sunday morning. Kathy's husband, Dirk, preached Sunday morning and we were encouraged and challenged by scripture's description of our union with Christ (Colossians 2).











What a great weekend!

You Might be Pregnant If...

Your stomach starts growling and instead of it being right below your sternum, it's strangely somewhere several inches to the right, behind your ribs.

Your belly is now the easiest place to feel your pulse (thank you increased blood volume flowing to that area...)

You can go to the bathroom at any given moment of the day (or night)

Every time you meet someone new (or see the end credits of a movie) you have a discussion about whether this new name would fit your child

Your back hurts when you lie on your back, your hips hurt when you lie on your side, and... well... you just can't lie on your stomach.

You are suddenly the most important person in the discussion of where to go for dinner :) :) :)

You feel like an alien in your own body (not that all the goings on are bad/uncomfortable... they're just way different than what you're accustomed to!) - thanks, Mom, for that analogy - I haven't heard a better one yet!

That's All, Folks!

Well, yesterday I turned in my keys to the Band Hall at Pin Oak. After five years, I'm no longer a Middle School Band Director. It's a strange combination of relief, excitement, regret (at what else I could have done while I was there), and nostalgia. It's been such a strange/funny/weird/bizarre experience working with middle school kids that as I walked out of the building I really wanted to hear the end music of Looney Toons with a big "That's All, Folks!" I'm such a nerd...


Things I'm looking forward to this summer:
*Re-organizing furniture & setting up the baby stuff
*Having a garage sale
*Sewing baby room stuff and hopefully living room curtains
*Fruit picking and canning (peaches and blueberries first!)
*Regularly listening to symphonic music (Rimsky-Korsokov today :)
*Attending an entire Adult Sunday School series for the first time in 5 years!
*Eating produce from my little garden (LOTS of tomatoes today!)
*Finishing Kodaly class & certification!
*Visitors!!! Laura/Amy/Beck/Kim/Jess in June, and Laura/Sarah in August :)
*Visiting Mom & George/Jenn & having a double baby shower :)
*Quality time with James: walking, scripture reading, getting ready for baby
*NOT spending 2 weeks in the car for our annual road trip (I'll miss seeing people, but not the time in the car!!!)
*Scrap-booking shower for Shauna
*AIR CONDITIONING

Yesterday I took a bath and while I was sitting there enjoying the warm water, Baby Barnes started moving and I could see my belly move!

Last week a few of James' students gave him baby gifts. One night he got home really late from a school function and I had already gone to bed. He was SO EXCITED about the baby gift (a super cute pair of cargo shorts and ADORABLE little sweater vest) that he came in and woke me up to show me! He was so cute :) And another couple of kids got a 3 month t-shirt that says "My Dad is the World's Greatest Statistics Teacher." Gotta love those gifted and talented high school students :)

I would be remiss to not mention how thankful I am for the all of the service men and women (and their families) for their service to our country, especially this Memorial Day Weekend. Frustration with the political issues at hand put aside, this really is a pretty great place to live. THANK YOU to all of our family members and friends who have served in the armed forces!

It's a Boy!

Technology sure is an amazing thing! This afternoon we not only found out Baby Barnes is a boy, but we got to see all sorts of neat bodily development too!

We watched his heart beating - we could see all four chambers! That was totally unexpected and really cool :)

He had one arm behind his head most of the time - he looked so comfortable just hangin' out! I was a little disappointed in how little movement we saw because he was very active in the car on the way over to the office, but it was pretty awesome nonetheless:) We got to see him opening and closing his mouth and we could see his stomach (which is good because it means his is able to swallow). His spine was very visible, and when the technician zoomed in on his arms we could see both tiny little bones! We also saw fingers, feet, ribs, thighs, and a nice plump belly (it matches mine :P ) and the placenta.

What an amazing thing the human body is! The intricacy is just incredible!!! What an awesome God we serve... creation bears witness to his glory and power and certainly also his lovingkindness!!!

Baby movement

I'll make a bigger post on Monday after we've been to see the midwives for our 20 week appointment... I'm so excited to see the ultrasound!

I just have to say, though, that feeling the baby move has to be one of the coolest, most amazing (and weirdest) feelings ever. Last night James and I watched North by Northwest (which was fantastic, obviously) and an hour-long documentary on Carey Grant's career (which was also really interesting) so we were up about 3 hours later than normal. The baby was moving so much! I wonder whether I've been sleeping through the most active times. Lots of movement as I'm sitting here typing... feels like somersaults, although I have a hard time imagining how that would actually work.

I can't wait to see the baby on the ultrasound on Monday! Emily, a friend from school (who is due 3 days before I am), went on Tuesday for her 20 week ultrasound and she said it was cool to see her baby moving - a lot more movement than she could even feel at this point! She said it was amazing to see family traits already - she has Emily's long fingers and when she went to sleep, she laid her hand across her forehead just like Emily's mom does!

It's so exciting to share this experience with other Christian women - what an amazing God we serve!