We're making muffins!

I have been craving spice muffins ever since Reese got a new book called "If you give a Moose a muffin." The book is one in a series of five from Chick-fil-a. They are really cute.

So on Sunday morning after Reese's bath she and I made muffins! Reese enjoyed helping me measure the ingredients and pour them into the mixing bowl. She kept saying, "We're making muffins!"

I was given the recipe by my friend Crystalyn back in college ~ Mississippi Spice Muffins:

Cream: 2 eggs, 2 cups sugar and 1 cup butter
Add: 16 oz applesauce, 4 cups flour, 1 T cinnamon, 2 tsp allspice, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking soda
Bake: 350 for 10-12 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
Yields: 2 1/2 dozen

She is not scared of the mixer anymore! Yay!

Reese put the muffin cups in the tin all by herself.

She is such a big helper!

While the muffins were baking, Reese and I read her book which inspired us to bake.

Reese couldn't wait for the muffins to be ready! After they cooled off, we were able to enjoy them.

A small bite at first...

Then a little bigger bite, but I think maybe the muffins were too "spicy" for Reese. She didn't love them as much as I did. Maybe next time we will make blueberry instead. ;)

The best part was spending time together baking the muffins.

For the rest of the day (and all weekend really) Reese enjoyed playing with Lane's new toys. She really could not get enough of them. This morning Reese told me, "When baby Lane gets here, I want to play with him." Ah, what a sweet big sister.

Lane received a new Super Puppy, the toy Reese used to love and tore to pieces. I discarded him when we moved and registerd for a new one which I received at my work shower. Well, Reese still loves the puppy and had so much fun singing and dancing with him all weekend. We figure if Super Puppy wears out before Lane gets to play with him, we will just buy another one. ;)

My friend Wendy sent us a box of gifts including a soft, squeaky toy giraffe named Sophie. While kissing Sophie, Reese says, "I love Sophie." She has been kissing her favorite toys lately telling me how she loves them. She even kisses her octopus and kitty cat bath towels.

In the afternoon, we attended the sibling hospital tour for ages 2-5. Reese got to watch a video about being a big sister, how to hold a baby, what a baby eats, etc. Then she learned how to change a diaper and swadle a baby. Reese was also given a t-shirt that says, "I am a big sister."

After that, we took a tour of the hospital where we saw where Mommy will deliver baby Lane, the baby nursery and the post partum room Mommy will be in after Lane is born.

I think it was a good introduction for her which will prepare her for visiting me in the hospital after he is born. When we got home she practiced holding Super Puppy like a baby and was very gentle. She gave him lots kisses practicing for baby Lane!

Other news this week - Reese decided she wanted to dress herself from head to toe. So needless to say, I was a little late to work on both Monday and Tuesday. Reese did a great job of dressing herself with only a little help when she asked for it. It is great that she is becoming even more independent, but it does add to the time it takes to get out of the door in the morning. On Wednesday, before I did anything for her (i.e. moving the stool in front of the sink, wiping her, putting on her panties, etc.) I asked if she wanted to do it or if she wanted Mommy to help. That seemed to work better and she did let me help out more without getting upset because she wanted to do it.

Framing progress - Week 1

They made progress on the first floor this week!

Tuesday afternoon ~ Back of house.

Wednesday afternoon ~ Started laying the trusses ~ Back of house.

Front of house.

Thursday afternoon ~ most of the trusses are in place ~ Side of house taken across the street.

Matt arrived home from Arkansas on Thursday evening, so we did our first walk through. Front of house (concrete slab that pokes out is for the stoop in the front yard).

Side yard view (foundation on the right side of lot is for a brick wall that will keep Reese safe and block out some of the noise from the street). The right side of the house that peeks out in the back is the study.

By Friday afternoon, they had finished laying the trusses (except for the garage) and placed the plywood flooring down. Almost ready for the second floor to go up. View from front door looking down the hallway.

The stairs will go up here in between the dining and great room. The wet bar will sit behind/under the staircase and will be accessible from the dining room and great room. Who wants a cocktail? I do!

Great room. This view is of the side wall which will have a window on each side of the fireplace with built-ins below the windows.

Great room. This wall will have a built-in entertainment center and a doorway to the wet bar.

Long hallway which will make the great room feel very open. There will be 3 sets of African mahogony french doors leading to the side yard. Only the far right set of doors will actually open.

Breakfast nook/banquet which also looks out to the side yard. A bench seat will be built in below a big set of windows.

Matt and Reese measured the location of the island which sits in the center of the kitchen.

View of garage and back of breakfast nook.

Another view of side yard.

They had to cut back some of our neighbor's tree limbs to prepare for the second floor framing.

More on the second floor next week!

My work shower for baby Lane

The ladies on my team planned an awesome shower for me and baby Lane yesterday. My closest co-workers came to celebrate and showered me with a ton of gifts. It was really sweet! I am thankful and fortunate to work with such a great group of people!


The decorations were super cute!



I am looking quite round all over at 32 weeks pregnant!!!

I received so many wonderful gifts including the cutest clothes/socks, toys, baby care essentials, bottles, bibs, burp cloths and blankets.

My friends Jessica, Andrea and Marisa.

Party favors ~ too cute!

My friends Cecilia, Chris, Olga, Lona, Mabel and Tena.

Such creative centerpieces - with lots of personal touch!

My friend Rachel and me (with Terri, Lloyd, Pauletta and Amanda behind us).

New fun toys for Lane!

Thank you all! I could not ask for a better team - you all will make coming back to work much easier!

Slab passed inspection - Framing starts today!

After work yesterday, the lot was all clean, the foundation boards had been removed and it was ready for framing!

When I drove by at 8:30 this morning the lumber had been delivered. They will begin framing today. Can't wait to see the progress after work.

I know these updates are way more interesting to Matt and me, but we'll keep them up daily/weekly! Enjoy.

So you think I look like a Sicinski?

Well of course I do!

Some pictures of Reese look more like Matt than others, but these are for sure. I am positive I have more, but these two stood out the most.

This one you have seen before, it was taken in May 2008. See how Matt & Reese have the same eyes?

Well here are those eyes again. You have seen this one too; it was taken a couple of weeks back during our sprinkler time!

Gigi pointed out to me how much the picture of Reese above looks like Scott in the picture below. The way their faces & eyes look in these particular photos are so similar.

So we already knew Reese looked like Matt (& Scott since they are twins), but these photos make it official!

Wonder who baby Lane will look like? My guess - a spitting image of Reese - which we will love! No matter what he will be the cutest boy we have ever seen.

I know I have my own, but I want some of yours!

This is typical Reese. She always has her own cereal, waffles, pancakes, dessert, you name it, but if Mommy has some too she wants to eat mine instead.

Last night after looking at the foundation we treated ourselves to one of our favorites 'La Vista'. Matt and I split an entree and splurged on brownie a la mode.

You can see that we didn't enjoy it at all!

We have a foundation!

Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. they began pouring the foundation. Matt was out of town, not arriving home until later that day, so Reese and I got up early and headed over to watch the process.

Reese did not like the loud noise the concrete trucks made, so while I held her close, Kimberly from Allegro, took a few pictures for us. Here is the progress they had made by the time we arrived at 8:15 a.m.

This corner is the study. The powder room sits just outside the study. The opposite side is the dining room.

This is the front of the house - the porch/stoop.

The plumbing you see is for the powder room.

There were 8-10 guys working in synchronization. It is quite a fascinating process.

By the time we arrived, they had already gone through 4 concrete trucks. About every 15 minutes a new truck would pull in and relieve the empty one. The trucks that were waiting their turn drove up and down Buffalo Speedway waiting for Ivan (owner of the foundation company) to let them know it was their turn. I was pretty impressed to know all those trucks were circling for us. (I know - complete dork - but it was cool.) Reese liked the green one!

One of the workers had placed his boots between these signs - I just liked the picture.

This is the progress they had made by the time Reese and I left around 9:00 a.m. Reese was getting bored, so we left to run errands. I drove back by around 10:45 a.m. and it appeared the big truck was pulling out. At 11:30 a.m. the workers were having lunch letting the concrete set.

Matt got home around 5:30 p.m. and guess where we went first? Right, to look at the foundation!

He and Reese walked the lot. The concrete setting to the left is for the brick wall. The dirt between that and the foundation will be our side yard.

To the far left, you see the garage, then the kitchen. The punch out is for the breakfast nook which sits off the kitchen.

The middle of this picture is the great room. The part that steps down leads to the side yard. It's a long narrow porch area.

Reese and Matt were impressed with the work!

On Sunday morning we just couldn't help ourselves - we had to go back and walk on the foundation. We took the plans, some donut holes and inspected the property.

This was Reese saying "New house!"

It was nice to get a better visual of everything. Much easier than looking at dirt and rebar. They are delivering the lumber this week and will start the framing as earlier as end of the week!

Allegro says it'll take 6-9 months to complete the house from this point forward. Let's hope it is closer to 6 months!