Baby Name. Decided.

I use this app called "My Pregnancy" which keeps me apprised on how the baby is growing. It's great because it gives me a sense of what's going on since I can't actually SENSE what's going on, like Julie can.

Every Tuesday it dings with an update which includes approximations of the baby's size. This has been particularly helpful. We went from lime to small onion, avocado, then tomato... So yeah, it even helped us inadvertently come up with a perfect name. FINALLY. "Guacamole Kline".

Missing him

The men have left and are well on their way to Alaska. It was/is harder than I thought it would be. Despite all the amazing technology that gives me reassurance he is okay, he is still gone, far away and getting further. They are well into Canada now, and I think their ride will be beautiful today. I pray God uses it to show them of His majesty and goodness.


The only thing that keeps me sound is knowing that He has him and loves him more than I do.

As I have approached the second trimester (or 4th mester as Nic and I call it), Baby Kline likes to keep me guessing by giving me spoadic morning sickness. Today the little one said hello again. Yes, we haven't forgotten about you.

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In 6 months time...

Powell Christmas in Springfield

The 7th celebration of Christmas was on New Year's Eve at my (Julie) sister's house in Springfield, MO. We are so blessed by family. Here are some shots of the crew.

our holiday from work

We have been blessed with an abundance of family love this season. Starting Dec. 17th and through today, we have celebrated christmas many times over, each gathering has its fond memories. Mostly this year on nic's side, the family shifted present focus to littler kiddos. We had an exciting gift-opening time with nieces and nephews. It was a joy to see the their excitements when opening a dust buster to "un-dust" the house, their very own gift cards, book sets, bean bag chairs, "this reminded me of you gifts", and fashion forward attire. The energy in that house just kept building. 

We then moved to food and extended family gatherings. Santa visited us at Grammy's (extended Kline) gathering, kids were crying in confusion and Santa lost weight this year evidenced by his trouser malfunction (thanks uncle Chuck!). Stringers gathered around more food. Singers gathered around a delicious taco bar and XBox Kinnect. The present Bob Kline clan consumed desserts, coffee, hot chocolate, and well dressed sugar cookies. In all, we grabbed quick moments with all too often unseen family members. I failed to take photos, I know lots were taken. If you are reading this and you have them, send them, or else...

In between social gatherings we took down our Christmas decor a little early, stripped popcorn plaster off our living room/dining room ceiling, painted our baseboards white, and painted the walls a lovely "Missouri Bluffs" color from Nell Hills all while jamming out to Super Bass by Nicki Manaj. Boom daboom boom boom daboom baby...great song. Highly recommend it when painting. Here is the current state of our abode.

We are so close to being done, one more living room coat, a few touch ups, add crown molding, and move back in. We worked hard during the day and were thankful for the social gatherings to give our bodies a break.

We also got precious moments with dear friends who were in town for Christmas. We spent the morning catching up over coffee and then talked the night away over dinner and dessert. Glad we took a breath to capture a photo memory. Miss you guys.

The abridged version of our 2011 Christmas in Kansas City: 6 family Christmas gatherings down and one more to go, Neosho loves to eat paint, Nic learned how to dress classier from the above parties, and taking your own family photo can be stressful. 

More Christmas cheer this weekend with the Powell family! 

back home

after spending a week in moberly, mo for work i made home. 

A year in October

October 2010

And October 2011

busy bumblebees

this past weekend started off with an unexpected but much enjoyed visit from the my mom and dad. they witnessed the sad loss of the ksu vs. ou football game in manhattan and decided to take a long detour home through kc! we all got together at our place on saturday night, my brother and sister-in-law also came over and provided wonderful slices of cheesecake. we failed to get a family photo, but here's one my mom snapped of our little family. if you'll remember, it is kind of hard to get the dog unit still.

i then went to a baby shower sunday afternoon in honor of Samuel Levi (future nephew #3 on nic's side). however, little did we know that the little guy wanted to come early (6 weeks early!!). samuel graced us with his presence yesterday, 11.2.11, after an emergency c-section. he was born at 4lbs 7oz. and we thank the lord for a healthy mom and baby!! here's one of samuel's first baby photos.

and his two big brothers, who i am super excited to get to spend time with in the coming weeks as their mom continues to recover and nurse the newest miracle back to health. 

love those boys.

yesterday, we also went to the sporting kc game for the semi-championship game that put us in the mls conference championship!! (we are talking soccer here for those of you that don't know.) and if you didn't know sporting kc was the kc mls soccer team, you may not be living in kc right now, and if you're not living in kc right now, you may not realize that us being at the game last night is laughable. it's okay, you can laugh. yesterday was our first introduction to winter, the temperature dropped at least 30 degrees and rainy, sleety, grossness fell ALL night long. yep. he we love soccer that much. let's review my ensemble for the evening.

1. leggings, jeans, husband's snowboarding pants

2. 4 layers of shirts, including a fleece and rain coat shell

3. 2 hats, wait, 3 hats including the hood of my coat

4. wool socks and no rain boots 

5. gloves

if you are now thinking, wow, i've got to visit kc (which of course you do) and while i am there i must go see sporting (short for "sporting kc", see you're learning) play, then you must learn this chant, "i believe that we will win!!". that's all you need to know. oh, and don't forget your coat, the weather is chilly. :)

manhattan retreat

before michelle's wedding festivities, i spent some time in manhattan. i caught up on sleep and had a great time visiting my brother (who is a freshman at K-State!). we went to the grocery store, toured campus, ate at chipotle, and visited call hall for some ice-cream! for those of you that don't know, call hall has the most bestest ice-cream. i'm convinced it's made fresh daily. so if you're in manhattan, be sure to stop by for some yummies in the little dairy shop. my granddad (mom's dad) actually worked at call hall making milk shakes back in the 1940s when he was a student in veterinary medicine.

it was quite a delicious adventure.

incident, aggieville, and relaxation

this weekend was the annual mosier familiy reunion in manhattan. we tried to haul the motorcycle to manahattan for some off-roading while we were there. learned the hard way how not to secure the motorcycle on the back of a 4-runner. as we were getting out of town, the front tire of the bike slipped off the rack shattering our back window. set us back a few minutes, but we are thankful the accident happened while only going 20mph and not 75mph, no one was hurt, and there was only minimal damage to the bike and vehicle.

instead of the off-road park we spent the weekend walking around aggieville and relaxing and catching with family.

here are some photos from our afternoon in aggieville.

clearance section at varney's.

of course the trip wouldn't be complete without a latte at radinas.

brothers.

crafty? handy? me?

definitely not. but, i am so thankful to be surrounded by people that are. for instance my good friend erica who does amazing photography work and my husband who has some pretty awesome drawings.

and my sister-in-law, well, she is amazing at painting, photography, being hilarious, you name it and she can do it.

my dear sister-in-law recently flew in from a far away state to help my mother-in-law overhaul her kitchen. i got to help [or be in the way]. i do admit, though not crafty or handy, it was quite wonderful to use the other side of my brain for a few days.


Goodbye popcorn ceiling!

I absolutely love this picture, perfectly captures the day

Finished product:

we have been working on our own little home improvement projects, what do you think for our walls, grey, grey, or grey? :) ridiculous, i know. but, color is just too loud for me these days.  

i read somewhere that you should open your closet doors and use the colors you see as inspiration for your home wall colors, since those are the colors where you are most comfortable. grey it is!

i'll keep you posted on all the drama that comes with our remodeling decisions.