The bump

 I've missed a few weeks due to the holidays and well, laziness. But there is little difference from week to week so, meh. Anyhow, here is 21 weeks. 

And fast forward to 28 weeks today! she's a growin!

Sarah Bernhardt Cakes

For holiday cheer and good company time, my dear friend and I made "Sarah Bernhardt Cakes". Apparently they are an Icelandic holiday tradition after the famous french actress Sarah Bernhardt. A friend shared the recipe with me from this blog (also my new favorite food blog)

In general, it's an almond meringue base, with an espresso/coffee chocolate cream filling, covered in dark chocolate. and they are *divine* and perfect for storing in the freezer for when you have guests, or for placing in mason jars and giving as Christmas gifts to neighbors and friends! 

Jonathan was in charge of documenting part of this baking process :) Side note: my friend just bought this old beautiful gigantic home in ONSL and this is her amazing stove... 

Hope you try the recipe sometime

Happy baking!

Cora's nursey (thus far)

As all furniture in our home, it is subject to change. SO this is little baby's nursery thus far. The nursery is somewhat "ship-themed" not to be confused with nautical (sea-shells and the star fish, yuck) although some nautical things are allowed like anchors perhaps...I'm picky, I know :)

We found this changing table at one of my favorite thrift stores, and our collection of cloth diapers is slowly growing. (Thanks to Erin, baby's Auntie, and black friday sales :) PS: as you see there, we expect baby C to be accepted to Hogwarts, although we are unsure which house she will be admitted to. (please forgive this nerdy confession) 

Like I said before, things are subject to change. I will be moving pieces in and out and around I'm sure. For example, its difficult for Jonathan and I to get by easily to the basement with a load of laundry with the cradle in the middle of the room so that will probably change. But it's not a big deal really. 

This quilt was made with love by baby's sweet Nana. It looks so nice on display in her cradle right now, we love to glance upon it from time to time.  

 So cute!

We will probably place the cradle/crib up against this wall (if we decide not to co-sleep) and then find another place for her bookshelf..

 And there you have it, a small and humble nursery in the making of our teeny tiny 900 sq ft apartment. 

If you know of anyone who has or would be willing to sell an old accordion style wooden baby gate, let me know! Until then, it is my shopportunity and excuse to go estate sale-ing ;)

Pizza with friends

Last night, we bundled up to take our good friend out for his birthday. So we met up at Dewey's and filled up on delicious pizza. 

Then we retired to their place for a game of HP clue (one of our nerdy favs) On our way home we finally got snow, which always makes it feel more like winter (& reminds us of home where they have already been dumped loads of powder) I'm sure family back home is already tired of winter :) but I was happy to walk out into a gentle shower of snowflakes.

Happy winter!

Advent supper with prayer group

 So I have been very busy growing this little one inside me. She continuously reminds me that she is there, kicking away (which I love) I feel so stretched and I still have roughly 3 months to go! Yikes. It's hard to think that I will be stretching even more than this!

One thing I want to teach our little one even in the womb is the art and love of furniture. So to do this, I take her to thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets, whatever. We recently stumbled upon this 3 piece set. 

 The hutch and buffet were in great shape but the dining room table was extremely worn and not worth considering really. At first they wouldn't let me split up the set, so I waited a week and went back to haggle with the store owner. The nice one. (Thanks to my friend who works for the thrift store, she gives me insider info on the staff). So I offered a price for the hutch and buffet only, and after talking with his supervisor they said OK and split the set for me. Yay!

It was perfect timing too because we were just about to host our prayer group for an Advent/Christmas get together/meal. And I wanted to use the new buffet for serving our guests.  

 So we hauled the furniture home and cleaned it up. 

 Our fellowship was rich, the food was delicious, and the furniture was happy to be used I think. We love the people in our prayer group very much. 

We've shared our hearts together, young and old, for nearly 2 1/2 years. Each one of us has carried the burdens and joys of the others to the Lord in prayer. We've seen many prayers answered, we have mourned over sorrows together, and we have rejoiced in triumphs together.  What a gift it is to share life together!