week 36: football date night

thirty-six weeks means it's date night time for blakey & me!  & we got to go on a dream date night - monday night football at arrowhead stadium!  we arrived in time to do a little tailgating outside of the stadium & see the army's parachute team parachute over us & into the stadium to deliver the game ball.

our seats were amazing!  50 yard line in the upper deck.  my pregnant self loved that this was a mostly sitting section.  thank you, blake's attending, for letting us use your awesome seats!

one of blake's life goals is to break a guinness world record & OH MY GOSH we got to be apart of breaking one!  the chiefs held the title for the loudest stadium in the world & the seahawks beat it by 0.1 points last year.  chiefs kingdom once again won the title with a record of 142.2, beating the seawhawks by 4.6 points!  go chiefs!

while blakey was geeking out about being a world record breaker, i was freaking out about being in the same place as hot brady himself!  that's right - the hottest qb tom brady & i pretty much hung out :)

oh!  & the chiefs won!  really, they kicked the patriots' butts.  it was oh so much fun.  two nfl games down for nora belle & me.

love love,

kjp.

week 35: one more month!

oh my goodness - only one more month until nora belle is expected to arrive!!  my hospital bag is packed.  our car seats are in our cars.  the nursery is complete.  we are ready for the little lady, but happy for her to stay in there a few more weeks & keep growing & getting healthier.

 {blake & his empathy belly}

nora belle had hiccups for the first time the other night!  it was really funny to feel hiccups in my lower abdomen.  she is still kicking away all the time.  we think she is in the correct head down position with all of her kicking & pushing up top.  good job, little girl.

for one of our last family of two weekends, we watched football & grilled out & spent most of the day outside yesterday.  it was an absolutely gorgeous day!  i think i'm going to love kansas city in the fall.  blake made havarti-stuffed burgers with roasted green chilies & caramelized balsamic onions. that were so delicious.  & i made a roasted fall vegetable dish with butternut squash & red potatoes & rosemary & green apples.  & tank ran around playing with his ball for hours.  all in the beauty of our own backyard.  oooh, the marvelous fall.

love love,

kjp.

week 33: go chiefs go!

33 weeks!  33 weeks!  my nora belly is getting huge!  bigger every day, right blakey ;)

this weekend, dave & beau came to visit us!  we had an incredible dinner at gram & dun with amazing asian pig wings, delicious fried catfish with greens & mashed potatoes, & the most ridiculously large tomahawk ribeye.  the evening was filled with wonderful beverages {even a mocktail for me!}, lots of football talk, & fantastic company.

on sunday, we went to nora belle & my first NFL game & blake's first chiefs game.  it was absolutely one of the best days. we all got to go on the field for pregame & watch the players come out & warm up.  we took tons of photos, acted like we were under the review booth hood, & marveled at the size of these guys.  it was an experience we will never forget.  the boys geeked out the entire time & stood there with a huge smile on my face.  an amazing sunday!

 {chiefs kingdom!}

 {someone is going to score a touchdown right here.}

 {nice catch, jamaal charles}

 {oh hey there, gigantic linemen}

 {the happiest brothers in all the world}

 {the chiefs' superbowl trophy!}

 {ready to cheer the boys on}

a wonderful, wonderful weekend.  happy 33 weeks to us!

love love,

kjp.

our christmas 2013.

as with all things worth celebrating, blakey & i celebrated christmas all week long!  we began last weekend with a puzzle by the beautiful christmas tree, our annual viewing of love actually, our first viewing of white christmas, lots of football, & a couple of days home together.

{my happy boys}

 {the little guy & green man & me & coffee}

 {the beginning of our a christmas story puzzle}

{after three days, success!}

on christmas eve, blakey was working away at the hospital, so i brought a christmas feast to the call team!  we enjoyed some truly delicious smoked turkey from moe's bbq, super cheesy mashed potatoes, & my favorite green bean casserole.  & for dessert - eggnog cheesecake!  a happy christmas eve in the hospital.  

as soon as blakey got home christmas morning, our true christmas celebration began!  we opened presents, watched tanky tear into his presents, facetimed & chatted with family, threw greenman over & over & over, & made our christmas breakfast tradition - migas & chorizo!  it was a beautiful day with my amazing husband celebrating the love of Christ.

 {the pioneer woman's amazing migas}

 {tanky LOVES opening gifts.

that must be why he tried to open our gifts early too.}

 {the awesome new le cresuet tea pot blakey got me!}

{& the GORGEOUS sorel boots blakey got me!

he really really spoils me.}

 {Christ the Lord, the newborn king is here!}

a very merry christmas to you & yours.  may we remember the joy of this day all year long.

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - fantasy football leader.

i'm leading our fantasy football league!  for the 9th week, out of 10.  yes, that's right.  beating all 11 fellas in the league.  & i'm pretty darn thankful for it.  & peyton manning - pretty much the entire reason i'm winning.

also, i'm totally gloating because i'm probably losing my #1 position this week.  it's been fun while it's lasted.

oh!  i actually am really thankful for all of the veterans in our league.  fantastic men.  fantastic veterans. so proud of them & thankful for them.

i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.

even if it's as silly as fantasy football :)

love love,
kjp.

let the {fantasy football} games begin!

our annual fantasy football draft was this weekend!  our high school friends started this league many years ago while we were in college & had all of the time in the world to research football & kick butt all week long.  it has been a fantastic way for all of us to "get together" from all across the country & world, hang out each week, & share in a little bit of competition.

i say "a little bit of competition" not due to our lack of effort or seriousness or constant smack talk, but because my husband has kicked all of our butts three years in a row.  not this year, my love.  not this year!  the fuchsia monkeys are coming to play.

{tanky did not appreciate us being on our computers, phones, & video chat all evening}

how do you make football season more amazing?  add thursday night, a few friday nights, all day sunday, & monday night to the mix.  i love the fall.

love love,

kjp.

it's football time in oklahoma! & in alabama too.

we've waited for months & months & it's finally arrived - football is here!!  tonight, blakey & i have our annual fantasy football draft with all of our high school friends.  the fuchsia monkeys are ready to kick some butt this year.  & then saturday will be filled with espn game day, football football football all day long, & what we've all been waiting for - oklahoma kick-off!

sooner born, sooner bred.  THIS is oklahoma football!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - thanksgiving!

our philadelphia thanksgiving was absolutely perfect!!  julie & ben & i cooked the day away while blakey actually had on time flights across the country.  huge win for all.  much success in cooking for all dishes planned.  & we actually remember to serve each one {wink wink, mom :)}  little malcolm maintained his adorable status all day.  & one of ben's friends from work joined us for our meal.  so many things for which to be thankful.

{a ruler is a necessary cooking tool.  don't you think?}

as per our annual thanksgiving tradition, we welcomed blakey home with ben & blake's favorite thanksgiving treat - a turkey & turkey shot.  wild turkey bourbon with turkey drippings.  yummm.  {totally lying.  julie & i wont try it.  but they swear it's good.  it's at least manly?}

while julie & i enjoyed a local pumpkin ale, we decided to jazz up the turkey & turkey with spiced whipped cream & sage.  totally thanksgiving now!  apparently it was disgusting.  we'll stick with the turkey & turkey next year.

the first vandaveer thanksgiving meal means ben got to learn how to carve a turkey!  thanks to youtube, he rocked his task...

{well done, benny boo.}

our thanksgiving feast included a delicious turkey, my favorite greenbean casserole, blake's favorite mashed potatoes, julie's favorite mushroom gravy, & ben's favorite butter bread.  

{if you would like any of our recipes, check out our thanksgiving pinterest board!}

{'merica: turkey legs & football}

& dessert!  it wouldn't be thanksgiving without our grandma's pecan pie with our crunchy pecan topping twist.  we added my pumpkin cream cheese bars with a graham cracker crust & spiced whipped cream. yummmmmm.

for as long as i can remember, julie & i have gotten the turkey wishbone.  so we had to continue tradition!  please see the following photo montage:

{what am i going to wish for??}

{ok. go!}

{i win!}

{by a landslide.}

{happy thanksgiving, julie byrd!}

a huge gigantic thank you to the amazing vandaveer family for hosting thanksgiving 2012!!  love you!

{little man enjoyed his fingers for his thanksgiving meal}

happy thanksgiving!!  so many incredible things to be thankful for.

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful.

love love,

kjp.