The hot chicks

Today in the garden, I witnessed my chicks hunt down and eat a worm AND a bee. That was much more exciting that it should've been, I'm sure. They now spend all day and night outside in their coop and come to the garden with me every few days. I'm still nervous that they will get too cold outside in their coop and I miss having them inside, but I suppose it had to happen some day. Talk about empty nesting!

Stella's Shower at Ann's house

Marlane's friends went above and beyond what any expecting mother could imagine with the baby shower that they threw for me on May 9th, 2009. The four (matching apron-clad) ladies who put this amazing shower together were Ann, Edith, Rosie and Jill. I was told that Marlane has the same apron, but wasn't allowed to wear it because she wasn't involved in the planning/execution of the shower :)

The food was amazing—and from what I was told—so were the mimosas! We played a few games of "Guess the most popular names from the 1800's" while sitting outside in the sunshine and then went inside to peek at all of the wonderful gifts that the ladies and our guests picked out for Stella. I feel truly spoiled to have had such an amazing group of friends who put this all together for me. Mostly, I'm excited for the little bambina to arrive so she can make good use of all of the amazing gifts that we received!

Baby Stella @ 27 weeks

I have grown quite a bit since the last time we took a picture. This was taken in Hawaii where being pregnant is pretty enjoyable because you don't have to wear many clothes :) I'm looking forward to the baby shower in Portland next weekend and seeing all my friends. I will be getting some professional pregnancy photos taken and I look forward to sharing those, too!

Relaxing in Hawaii

With the upcoming arrival of baby Stella, Nick and I decided to take one last vacation... just the two of us. We went to visit our friends Hector and Annie on the big island of Hawaii. We snorkeled, surfed, laid on the beach, visited some lava fields and generally just relaxed and enjoyed having free time alone with each other. We didn't want to come home. We loved it so much, we are actually considering making a move to the big island!