Boy/Girl Twins Baby Shower

I've recently discovered that I love love love throwing baby showers. The idea of a baby shower brings me such joy. I think it is wonderful for friends to gather and celebrate a new little life that we haven't even met yet. We get to love on the family by providing for them and letting the soon to be mama know that we love her and are here to help.

Our dear friends are having their first babies soon, boy/girl twins! The mama is a reader, so a book themed shower was perfect for her. The invitations for the shower were designed around classic fictional brother/sister characters depicted as babies, Jack and Jill, Raggedy Ann and Andy, & Dick and Jane. My husband is a talented artist. The drawings were done digitally by him, and I printed and assembled them. Beneath each drawing is the year the characters were "born". The final drawing is of the boy/girl twins to arrive in 2013. 

The drawings are also going to be used in the little ones' nursery. :)

Thanks to the help of many friends (especially my wonderful friend ever who watched our little linc so I could focus) we got the house decorated.

Flowers are a must.

I made book page streamers out of colorful ribbon and hung them over the dessert table. You can find really cheap old books at the salvation army. I think this one cost me $.50.

The mantel was decorated with some wooden blocks stacked like books, fun kid toys, paper garland repurposed from my baby shower (thanks friend!), and some coral and green (nursery colors) card stock quickly transformed with the help of a stapler into books displayed in a lantern. Doesn't everyone display books in a lantern??? It worked for me.

As favors, I used 4oz mason jars filled with M&Ms. To give the family a keepsake, the guests wrote down little thoughts or prayers for the two babies to read someday. They are stored in "wish jars". Oh, and not only can my husband draw digitally, he also created this masterpiece using chalk. So amazing.

It was such a fun afternoon! I loved celebrating this lovely lady and her two kiddos with people who love her. 

Have a mortgage? Consider refinancing.

Nic and I are working on refinancing our mortgage, we had an appraiser come out this morning. Our entire house is (well was) clean for the first time in at least 5 months!! An amazing feeling and almost makes me want to clean more, almost. Speaking of 5 months, here is our little guy on his 5 month birthday. He is full of smiles and baby talk these days. His new thing is rolling on his back from side to side. His hands are constantly in his mouth and he loves to observe what is going on around him. He tends to look around to find the person that is talking, sometimes when I am holding him and talking to Nic across the room he will turn his head and peer up at me. It's adorable.

Anyway, I wanted to share a little bit about our mortgage situation in case it could help someone else. Everyone has a different fact pattern, but here is ours. Refinancing your mortgage is worth looking into, you may be able to save yourself LOTS of money down the road.

We bought our home in 2010, entered into a 30 year mortgage with a 4.75% interest rate. If we made minimum payments over the next 30 years we would have paid over double the amount of our loan. For example, if our loan was $200,000, by the end of 30 years we would have paid over $400,000. I understand that borrowing money is expensive, but my goodness paying double the loan amount. Just hurts.

So, we looked into refinancing. We ended up with a new loan for 15 years with a 2.75% interest rate. The total interest or cost of the loan was cut by 75%. Our loan amount is smaller (since we've been paying on it for three years), we shortened the time on the loan (30 years down to 15 years), and we got a significantly lower interest rate. The kicker, our minimum payments stayed flat under the new loan. We will end up saving over $100,000! It's incredible!

Prior to refinancing (and pre-baby), we had been intentional about paying off our mortgage, however now with a 2.75% interest rate on our mortgage we plan to take any "extra money" that we'd want to put toward the loan and invest it. Once the invested money reaches the loan amount, we plan to make a lump sum payment. It will be an amazing day when we fully own a home.

If you have a mortgage, look into refinancing.

black bean, sweet potato quesadillas

I cannot tell you how much I love these things. I saw this recipe on a blog about a week ago and immediately gave them a try that night. Incredible.

Ingredients

2 8-inch whole wheat tortillas

3/4 cup roasted sweet potatoes chunks (see below)

1/2 cup cooked black beans

1/4 cup roasted/sautéed onion, optional

2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions

2/3 cup shredded Colby jack cheese, or the combo of Monterey jack cheese and cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Place a tortilla on the baking sheet. Scatter the sweet potato chunks on the tortilla, and then fill the spaces between the sweet potato chunks with black beans. Top with roasted/sautéed onions, if using them. Sprinkle the green onions and cheese. Top with the other piece of tortilla and press it gently. Bake for 6-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and the top tortilla is golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve with guacamole or salsa if desired.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons brown sugar (optional)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Toss together those ingredients, single-layer them on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 F degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Oh, and for the super easy wheat tortilla recipe, click here. I'm not sure it can get any better than this.

staying at home

It's so fun for me to look back at pictures of the last four months because my memory of it is a blur. It's been a long four months, caring for a newborn was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Come to find out, it's a pretty big deal to keep this little man alive everyday. I constantly wonder why I didn't know how hard it would be. I am incredibly thankful for all the friends and family that helped, it truly does take an army to raise a baby. AND, it's OK to ask for help. That was huge for me.

God has been teaching me lots through this transition to parenthood, but the biggest thing I'm learning in the day to day of being a stay at home mom is that my time and agenda belong to God. I have been forced to open handedly approach the day. I can no longer do what I want when I want. I have no control. And, the beautiful yet painful thing is that I must submit entirely to God's grace to make it though the day. My time and agenda are not mine and they aren't Lincoln's, they belong to Him and are to used for His glory. Lord help me.

Right now, that looks like a lot of providing for baby Linc. He is so dependent on me to provide, but even at this early age I can see him growing more and more independent. It's an amazing thing to watch and remember where we've come in four months.

A little snapshot of past and current baby Lincoln.

Can't wait to meet future Lincoln.

baby kline gender reveal

a little late, but excited to share how we found out whether baby kline was a boy or a girl.

there are lots of ways to find out the gender of the expected baby. we heard of an idea from a lovely couple where you throw a party and the guests watch you cut a cake with the baby's gender revealed inside with either blue or pink frosting. both of us immediately loved the idea.

so, on august 25, 2012 we invited family out to a local park to find out with us whether baby kline is a boy or a girl.

we had a sealed envelope in our possession for a couple of weeks.

i set out to find a bakery that would bake us a cake in secret. mission success.

dolce bakery in prairie village did an amazing job with the cake.

the night before we met with the bakery, nic thought it would be nice to, instead of cutting a cake to reveal, open a big box in front of everyone filled with balloons.

loved the idea. 

he quickly reassured me that we could still have cake and why not also have the inside of the cake be the gender color as well. so, we kept the cake appointment and the following morning enjoyed a delicious cinnamon roll and coffee discussing cake decorations. and why not add some fun cookies while we are at it. :)

so balloon unveiling it was. next task was finding a big box... harder than you might think. we asked around at a couple of stores and finally the thursday before uhaul came through for us and $13 later we had a box.

then came decorating it. i was a bit overwhelemed as i had no idea what i wanted on the box. nic in a matter of fact tone, said, oh, let's just wrap it up like a present. perfect. done. 

i found some ribbon at walmart, ended up being the sheerest ribbon i'd ever seen, oops. he whipped up the present just in time and it looked perfect.

throughout this process, i learned a couple of things. first, we are currently in a a helium shortage due to lack of natural gas mining or something, and two, helium only lasts a max of 8 hours, so we needed to be sure to get the balloons blown up close to the event so they would actually fly out.

thanks to some WONDERFUL friends, we got a box filled with balloons.

everyone gathered,

and ate,

and caught up on life - it had been about four years since all these people were in the same place,

and soon found out with us that.... 

it's a BOY!!

it was a wonderful way to find out and so the planning began for our little soccer player. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

To celebrate 2012, let's recap our year.

1. I had my first dance recital as a teacher/choreographer. Nic got a new job and enjoys it.

2. We traveled.

West Virginia, May
Danny and Nic took a motorcycle trip to West Virginia. It was hot.

Alaska, July
After countless hours of preparation, Nic and his dad traveled to Alaska on their motorcycles. I flew up to meet them and we explored the Alaskan country together. Baby Lincoln was on board as well.

Florida, August 
Work training event, visiting family, relaxing.

New York City, September 
Purchased a car on ebay and flew to Long Island to pick it up only to find that the car had a bad part in it, drive-able, but expensive to fix. We drove it home, stopping off to see Nic's sister in NYC and at an IKEA in Pittsburgh. The shop finally fixed the car about a month later. Added a roof rack. We love it.





Garden City, KS, November
Thanksgiving with family.



3. Throughout 2012 we celebrated the anticipated arrival of Lincoln Alan.

We are so thankful for all the friends and family that have shown such love for our little man.

4. We met our firstborn son, Lincoln Alan Kline, on December 15, 2012, and celebrated Christmas in Kansas City. It is amazing to finally meet the little guy that journeyed with us this year. So grateful.

The "15 club" graciously welcomed Lincoln in.

Three generations of kline gents.

Ima and Papa

Powell family

 Cousins!!

Kline folk

adapting to life with a newborn.

We are so incredibly blessed by friends and family! We can't wait to experience 2013 as a family of three humans + one dog.

Sincerely,
Nic, Julie, Lincoln, and Neosho