Fun & Easy Flower Clips

I just love how these turned out. It was super cheap and very easy to make. I already had all of the supplies around the house. All I needed to do was start gluing. For those curious folks, I believe most of the materials came from Michaels's Arts and Crafts store. I use alligator metal clips because they stay in the best for my little one. Also, I do recommend sewing the beads not just gluing for extra secureness do to the fact that they may get into playful hands. I can't wait to start making headbands and bows.

Here is the little lady modeling one of the flower clips. 

The BIG, Long Overdue Update:

Grab a coffee or your cup of choice and get comfortable!

Now it's time to update ya'll from December on:

Since Dylan and I are expecting a little bundle of joy we were weighing out our options. In the last post I mentioned that we were thinking of Moving to Duluth. Well, We are now residents of Duluth, MN. We are happy being Minnesota residents once again.
Dylan has a job at the University of Wisconsin, Superior in the Upward Bound Program as a Counselor/Coordinator. Dylan's position is 60%  for the year and it is full-time during the summer. He plans on filling the remainder of open time with substitute teaching. Also, UWS is working with him to find another position within the University that will not conflict with his current position. The process went very quickly due to them needing someone to fill the position asap. Two weeks after filling out the application Dylan and I were finding ourselves making the move to Duluth.

We had no idea what we were geeting ourselves into and relying on soley God's direction. Having faith that he would not let us stray from His plan for us.

One of our options with baby on the way was to move to Duluth to be closer to family. We had in mind both of us having full-time jobs or at least Dylan before making the move. So now, Dylan with a part-time job at UWS and myself having to leave a wonderful full-time job that I love so much we were questioning if we were crazy to up root our life in Fargo. We had a week to think about this. During that time we had been trying to buy a beautiful house. We invisioned raising our kids in that home. We couldn't get anywhere with buying that house. We still had our bid in with other offers and the bank (out of the blue) decided to just take another offer without negotiating. Well, that door was clearly closed.

Then we had a tragic loss. My friend/store manager, Louise past away very unexpectedly/tragicly the day before Christmas. It was a very difficult situation for me. I was put in place as acting store manger for the remainder of the time until I trained in the new store manager. We were just opening up a new Macys location and trying to hire another part-time gal with all of us needing to take a vacation. It was difficult working in the store without Louie as a reminder. It was good to retire from it and made it easier to say goodbye, but I will greatly miss the wonderful ladies that I worked with.

With tons of prayers and our families supporting us with whatever desision we made, we decided to take the plunge to Lake Superior.

That brings us right into the New Year!!!! And what a promising one it brings...

A crazy start to the new year too! After giving notice to our jobs we were surrounded with chaos. We were working on packing and trying to figure out where to put all of our stuff. Not sure how to haul it to Duluth. Finding time to get together with friends before we left was challenging. Dylan was dealing with things at work trying to hire a part-timer and training his replacement. I was doing interviews/hiring/training for a part-time position, Assistant Store Manager, and scouting for a Store Manager. Later, I would then have to return to Fargo and train in the SM after we moved to Duluth. With Dylan working and taking care of me, my 40+ hours a weeks, being pregnant, and another employee on vacation left me pooped. We were both tired and couldn't wait for a little break from the excitement.
I hope this isn't the outlook for the rest of the year?

We did get to spend some fantastic time with friends. We went on a tour of the Christmas lights through the city of Fargo in a limosine and then we ended the evening with a Christmas party at Billiards. We had a great time.  Adding to all the chaos and trying to cram everything in, Dylan turned 27 years old the week we left Fargo. We had a birthday party/going away party at Billiards. It was wonderful to be able to spend time just hanging out with everyone!

To end January we cleaned, packed, and said our goodbyes. My parents came to help us move using 2 U-haul trucks. Thanks to Dylan's parents renting one for us and Richard using his own U-haul truck. (which is still full of our junk from the storage unit) It only took the Dylan and Richard a couple of hrs to empty out the storage unit, very impressive. We then had great help from amazing guys when moving out of the house. A BIG Thanks to: Kevin, Grant, Gordon, and Jim (in no particular order.)  Hopefully I didn't leave anyone out. The move was uneventful until we were 5 miles from our new Duluth home. Thats when Richard hit a horse/moose (a moorse). Totalling his U-haul. Thankfully Richard was not hurt. We are still unclear what it was. Pretty sure it was a horse but the owners won't claim responsibility. Thankfully everyone was okay. Corky, Suzanne, Mandy, Aaron, and Henry met us in Duluth and helped with unloading and did the cooking. Yum! Thank you to all!

Here comes Feburary!

We flooded my parent's house (that is where we are staying) with over 40 boxes of stuff and tons of furniture. We focused on unpacking and tossing even more stuff. We worked on organizing the upstairs. My room now has officialy become our room. I was able to clear out paraphernalia from my pre-college years. Then we started on Matt's room/guest room. :D Let's just say you would never know that he had ever used the room. Sorry Matt. It is a perfect room for Anna and Josh to play in. We did keep the bed in so when Matt & Katie or for whom ever, they get the privledge of spending quality night time with the new little bundle. ; )

Dylan started his new job and loved it right away. He has his own giant office, working with fewer staff, and the opportunity to work with the high school students is amazing. He works throughout the week tutoring and counseling student and one Saturday a month they do some fun activity. He went up north for a diversity/college conference with his 48 students. He starts subing in March sometime which will help. Dylan has a few projects of his own that he's working on, it all involves the nursery. :D He's been folding paper cranes to make a mobile and he painted the nursery a gray which looks more lavender thanks to not having a Lowes in town and trying to color match. It still looks great. :D Dylan has taken an interest in kiteboarding and I couldnn't be more thrilled that he picked one of the more safer sports.  I hope...

I started at Motherhood in the Duluth location. The SM and ASM are fantastic and wonderful to work for. I only work part-time. I am in high hopes of finding a second or full-time job. I have tried looking into some different jobs however less then 9wks out it's hard to be motivated plus the times that I have picked up applications they look down at my belly and give me a weird look.  I dont blame them, honestly finding work after Baby is born might be a little easier. Dylan thinks it will be tougher because I wont want to leave the baby. 

Since not working as much I'm finding that my domestic side is starting to shine through a little more (at least trying). Now that I'm 'nesting' I am staying pretty busy. I have been putting in about 16 hrs at the Motherhood store and will be picking up 27-38hrs thru the rest of March. It was God perfect timing to leave the Fargo when we did. What a blessing although we do miss our friends and Fargo.

I have attended one of my moms bible studies and try to go on the days that I don't work. The ladies that go are interesting and very sweet. I have joined the Barnes & Noble book club and love the group of ladies. The first book that I read with them was The Help (highly recomend) and this month it's Apoligize Apoligize! I'm behind reading the book and we meet tomrrow so a late night ahead of me. Dylan has also started to read a lot more besides Batman comic books. He is currently reading through the series Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I had my 2nd appointment with Dr. Greenleaf. She is very sweet and very chit chatty compared to my other MD. At my first appointment she stated I was measuring at 27 weeks. We did another ultrasound and the tech said she was textbook perfect and saw some practice breaths. We are still keeping April 30 as the suggested due date. MD said we have a very tiny baby. March 1st brought forth baby prep classes. We started our "Preparing for birth class" - boring-  sure it will help as we get closer.

Being with my family has been so nice. It is a little tough not having our own place to do what we want and the privacy. It's like having room mates again. I am looking forward to the extra hands when Baby comes. The pups love it!They get to play with my parents dogs 24/7. We have them set up with the electric fence and they're outside 95% of the time. *spoiled* :)  Gabe and Bella love hunting down frozen mice to chew on. Thankfully they leave it outside and have not brought in live ones.

That concludes our lives up to this post (I think). Stay tunned for pictures soon to come.

A Life God Has Given Us

The one thing that I like about the holiday season is that we make the most to get reconnected with family and friends weather that be our spouse or a dear friend that you just haven't talked with for a while.  We are given so many opportunities wether it be the cookie bakes, touring the x-mas lights, and of course the holiday parties to get together with everyone and let them know we are thankful for who they are. 

My favorite activity ever since I was young was sitting by the tree all lit up in the den or staring out the big picture windows at the lake feeling like you're trapped in a snow globe, with no desire to want to escape beng in awe and wonder on how majestic this world is that God has created for us. I know we are not to get caught up in this world because God has set a side a heavenly world to be with him. But I love to enjoy what he has given us and what journey he allows our life to take. I'm sitting in our victorian living room with the trees glazed with frosting and snow floating down and a hot cup of cider and of course Christmas music in the background. Our house is bare for the first time of anything xmas but the smell of cider and gingerbread (*people) cookies, with the fur babies (aka: Bella & Gabe) by my side makes if feel like Christmas. It doesn't have your sparkling tree and it's not your snowglobe, it's our home with our family.  

 We are trying to keep things simple this year with baby on the way that we have so patiently wanted and a possible move to Duluth or in a different house.  Even though we have fallen in love with our friends and church family and continue to make new wonderful friendships (oh, and we really do love our jobs and would be sad to say goodbye) we would like to be closer to our families with our little one and in high hopes of many more littles to come. Dylan came across a job opportunity near Duluth and has his second interview this Friday at one of the Universities in the area. We ask that everyone to be in prayer that God makes a clear path as to what will come our way. This does put a hold on house hunting for us in Fargo however we would like to continue the search be it in Fargo or Duluth once we have a better idea on where we're en route to. This last years adventures and many new changes have kept us very busy and a little distracted but with Gods help He will keep us focused. 

Dylan and I are at the point in our journey where the roads are many to choose from wether we stay in Fargo or move to Duluth I am thankful that God has blessed me with a content heart. Yes, I still voice my worries and have fears but I trust God to not let myself to become heavily burdened with those, otherwise I do fear that my heart and eyes would be clouded to see what truly matters.  Time does go by very fast, as new life comes into this world and death of a body takes place, time takes hold of us and blinds us. It's not where you live or what you end up doing with your life, these 'things' that don't matter but its who has your heart that does matter in ones life. As you have that quiet time to yourself during the day weather it be the holiday season or Christmas that puts that spark back, take that time to allow God to quiet the heart and become content with the love of Christ that he has given to you as a gift with nothing in exchange. Now is the time to enjoy being in that snow globe, enjoying the cider and the festivities with family and friends. It's important that we show everyone who has our heart in His hands and that as much as God love us for who we are that we love them the same for who they are. 

 As I sit enjoying my favorite Christmas past time that spark is rekindled on how amazing it is to be a living creation in a world that God created with love and for love and all the amazing people in our lives. Even though I don't reach out to everyone that I love so very much as frequently as I would like, my love is spilling over in abundance for them. I want to send my love to all of you and wish you safe travels during this winter and may God bless you with open heart and gratitude for the world and life that he has given.

Amy

Is it a Boy? Is it a Girl? Shoot! We didn't find out!

Everyone has been waiting to know what is going on in Amy's belly and what in the world has this  baby been up to?  We had our ultrasound and it was a pretty amazing experience.  It's a miracle how God enables us to create new life into this world that he has created for his children.  Our little baby was very patient and still through the start of the ultra sound and as we progressed Baby Pforr started to give us a little more of a show, but still very shy. It was reassuring that when Baby moved we could see it on the monitor at the same time Amy felt Baby move in the little oven. Baby is all healthy and they took really good pictures of the heart and spine. Baby Pforr has a steady heart rate at 150 and the tech approximated that Baby is due closer to April 30.  Dr. Fiebiger just wanted to move the date to April 27 and was a bit puzzled that it's out a little later than expected. We guess from the first appointment when we heard the heart beat it shouldn't have been as strong for such a young fetus at that time (first thought to be 11 1/2 -12 when really only 10 weeks old.)  However, the first due date (April 20) was counting on a regular 28 cycle.  What do we know? We're not doctors. Maybe this means we may get another ultrasound? :) More pictures the better!


*Pictures soon to come of Baby Pforr.

Appointment #3 almost here!

 Appointment #2 Done! We had our second appointment November 1st. Dr. Fiebiger was not available this time so we saw Dr. Bexell-Gierke. She was a lovely doctor and very kind. So far I have been fortunate to have great experience with all the staff at Essentia Health (Innovis Health) but i have heard only good comments about the staff at that hospital. Dr. BG made the appointment very quick and I even got to keep my clothes on! I don't think I will have that good of luck on the next one. On with news that everyone really cares about. Baby Pforr is growing strong with a heartbeat of 150 and Dr. BG said that Baby is at the right size for the stage that it is at which would be about the size of an orange. Which is unbelievable that you can have something that size let alone a human inside of you. And yes I am well aware that is going to continue to engulf my entire abdomen.  : )

On December 1 we have appointment #3 and our ultrasound.  We are super excited to see our little baby again and learn more about our little Pforr. Does anybody have a guess on what sex the Baby might be?

Happy Halloween!

Swenson's Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

Friday

From Left: Elise Johnson and Husband, Kelly and Ryan Watson, Monte and Kathryn Roemmich, Us, Tiffany and Jeremy Swenson, Not pictured: Justin Hoey

.

Dylan did a great job on our initials. Amy carved the baby? pumpkin which tied for third place. The runner up was Ryan with his skull pumpkin. The Winner was...Monte who took first place with his Vikings pumpkin.

(It's amazing how fast the belly grows) ; )

The rest of the festivities included an apple cha-cha with a partner and to see which team could tango the longest without dropping their apple. Thankfully I don't think we have video of that. Of course we took first place but lost horribly to the the candy corn toss.

Another game we played was candy corn toss. We apparently still need to work on our pitching and catching. : ) 

We also played the game where you pick up the paper bag without your hands using only your mouth and after each round the bag is cut down until only the bottom remains. Dylan tied first with Tiffany, Ryan and Kathryn. 

Wednesday's Pumpkin Carving

Dylan shows off his crazy pumpkin carving skills!

Kevin carved the Mario and scary face while Jelsa carved the TMNT pumpkin.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls....it's BABY PFORR!!!!!

We had our first doctors appointment on Wednesday and met with Dr. Fiebiger for the first time and we were very impressed with her. She is a very kind hearted women with a lot of knowledge. 

Dr.  Fiebiger thought I was carrying a little high, so she considered doing an ultrasound, thinking that it may be twins........

  

....ah NO. It's only one little Pforr! 

It's not like we need two sets of twins running around. 

That is what happens with twins, and that was just the beginning of the mess.

Think what our place would like like if we had twins and the two dogs!