28 weeks

Well, tomorrow I'll be 28 weeks, and just thought I'd share the latest 2 belly pictures.

We've been hard at work on the nursery, but won't post pictures until it's done. Get ready, my dad's working skills have been paired with my sewing skills to make the perfect nursery for us. Much more to come!

Babymoon Pacific Northwest (stop 3 of 3 Victoria)

The trip from Vancouver to Victoria was a quick 30min plane ride, which was much better than the 4 hour ferry ride that we were going to take.  When we arrived in the harbor we saw what Victoria is known for the historic Fairmont hotel:

When we booked our trip we had no idea that we were going to be there during one of the historic yatch races in town called the Swift Sure. The Swift Sure brings in all kinds of beautiful boats that were also parked in the harbor for us to drool all over: 

Because everything is surrounded by water there are a lot of house boat communities. Literally people are living in boats which they've built to look like houses. Patrick and I checked out the prices on these and the cheapest we could find was $450K. Needless to say the cost of living is higher than Austin: 

Victoria is known for 2 things: 1) the Burchart gardens 2) whale watching. We ended up doing both, and were very impressed. The gardens were beautiful, and were created by a family over the last 100 years. What started out as a rock query ended up becoming this beautiful space.

Major highlight of the trip was seeing Orca's out in the wild. The first picture was our first spotting, and then we were able to follow them for about 30 minutes. It was so neat to be able to see these guys outside of Sea World: 

Babymoon: Pacific northwest (Stop 2 of 3- Vancouver)

 We arrived in Vancouver via the train:

Along the train ride, we noticed that there were eagles everywhere, and it continued when we arrived in downtown Vancouver. These guys were just hanging out in the bay while we were out exploring: 

With Vancouver holding the last winter Olympics, the amenities in downtown Seattle was fantastic. They had the most incredible convention center and cruise ship terminal. It provided us with a great photo op:

Throughout the whole trip, we only had one day of bad weather and it happened to be while we were in Vancouver.  So we decided to head to the aquarium and hang out with these guys:

The oldest section in Vancouver has this clock which is powered by steam. There's a homeless man that collects tips for him informing everyone on the street that the clock is about to chime. We hung back and avoided having to pay the guy for stating the obvious: 

Just north of Vancouver is Grouse mountain, which has 2 rescue grizzly bears. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we got some fantastic views of the bears. Don't worry, we weren't as close as it appears. Thanks to a great telephoto lens, I was able to get  a great shot: 

 There was still a ton of snow up in the mountains. There was still about 14ft of snow on the ground, and it was definitely much colder!

 Along with the bears, there was an animals of prey show. I was able to get some great shots of the owls and the eagles while we were up there:

 We're off to our next stop, Victoria, via this sea plan. All of our luggage was loaded in the hatch in the landing gear for the plane. Not to worry, they wrapped our luggage in plastic before putting it down below.

Babymoon/Trip to the Northwest (Stop 1 of 3- Seattle)

We decided that this year we were going to explore the Pacific northwest, so in our planning we decided to visit Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria. We literally ended up taking planes, trains, sea planes, ferries, and automobiles to travel through the Pacific northwest. Stop 1 was in Seattle, where we were lucky enough to visit our friends Danielle and Logan who had just moved to Seattle within the last year.

First stop was the space needle and the Chihuly gardens. Whole crew at the top of the space needle:

Followed by Pikes Market to check out all the fish and beautiful flowers:

Also at Pikes is the original Starbucks, which had a ridiculous line, so we just enjoyed the outside view:

 One of the most disgusting things at Pikes was the gum wall, which was just walls and walls of gum. Danielle successfully through her gum on one of the windows:

It was a quick visit with our friends, but so great to catch up. We boarded Amtrak to head to stop 2 Vancouver.

News from the Kainer house

Well, it's been a while since I've done some blogging. A lot has happened in the 9 months since I've written anything, but we're starting the blog up all over again.

Today's big news is that we're expecting, and this week we found out that it's a little girl.  Here's the first of many belly shots at week 18:

Here's a preview of our little girl:

From sweet shop to sweat shop

I've always had a passion for baking and cake decorating , but lately I've been looking to learn a new craft. In my last post I talked about getting back into sewing, and in the last couple of months I've taken it to a whole new level. Our poor dining room was converted into what my mom coined a Chinese factory to produce hand made grocery bags. At this point, I think I've made about 15 in the last month and a half. Here are some photos of the factory and one of the finished products:

Last night, my mom and I took a class on oil cloth & laminated cotton, and we made a doc kit and 3 nested makeup bags. I really enjoyed working with the new fabric and zippers, and absolutely love how these turned out. I think the factory is going to reopen for the production of more of these guys:



Final product

My first applique project is complete, and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. Now I have a backlog of projects that I want to work on, but I guess that's a good thing.

Giving my parents the FULL Austin experience

Saturday one of Patrick's co-workers was participating the the Austin Roller Girls rollerderby, and we decided to ask my parents to see if they'd like to go. This is prime time people watching here in Austin, and needless to say the event did not disappoint. Each of the girls come up with their own roller girl name, and most are pretty funny. The top from Saturday night were:Olivia Shootin John, Beth Threat, Peppermint Bratty, and Scrape Mrytle....

Here's a picture of Patrick and my dad with "Rita Men Weep".

Sewing class with mom

Since my Junior League activities have slowed down, I decided to try learning a new skill.... I had taken sewing classes a couple of years ago, but had put it down to focus on the MBA, a new marriage, etc. It was time to get back into it, so I talked my mom into taking an applique class at a super fun place in South Austin. The founder started the classes in a shed in her back yard, and now has a super fun place called the Stitch Lab in an old house. These creations are a work in progress, and we learned a couple of techniques. What mom and I have in our hands are hand embroidery on applique, and the next project will be on the machine. I'm super motivated with all the little ones that our friends have to go to town on applique projects (my project is for one of those friends).

I do have to admit that I was the "special student" in class because I had forgotten how to thread my sewing machine... Oh well, mom was there to help and she has the same machine. :-) Needless to say I'm now signed up for the crash course to refresh my memory, now that I have some more time to focus on sewing.

I'll post the final product when complete, but here's our work in progress:

A visit from the Waterford Gods....

Well, my sweet husband let me finish out our Waterford set, and they finally arrived just in time for the new dining room table. I'm so excited I just had to take a picture of the remaining pieces!!

Now the china cabinet full and we have a full Waterford set. Bring on the dinner party... well in a couple of weeks when our new table gets here!

Ashamed...

We should be ashamed of ourselves for the blogging at the end of this year, but there really was a ton going on. Here's the recap of what we've been up to since the last posting...

Aggie football. Bleh, what to say about this. We kept our season tickets, but I think we both almost developed an ulcer thanks to our second half issues throughout the season. However, we're thankful that they were able to pull together a bowl win over the New Years weekend.

The Junior League of Austin kept me very busy after our last post. I took on the role as a PR co-chair for our annual four day Christmas market called A Christmas Affair. Patrick often referred to this as my second job, and it really was. Despite being so busy with the event, I really enjoyed the experience and the amazing women that I met through Junior League and in the community through my role. The first night was a black tie gala and silent auction (yes, we auctioned this scooter, but we couldn't resist a quick joy ride), and here are some pictures of all of the fun:

We had over 200 merchants from around the country and multiple events each day, so needless to say it was pretty exhausting. These photos don't due the decorations justice, but you get the idea

Third Anniversary. Patrick and I decided to go to NYC for our 3rd anniversary, and we had a blast. Christmas time in New York is just so magical, so it was a special trip. We stayed right at Rockefeller Center, and we were able to fit a lot into just a quick long weekend trip. We had the opportunity to see the Book of Mormon, which won all the Tony's this year, and it was fantastic, as well as the Rockettes holiday show. The holiday decorations are just larger than life, so I'll just post a few: Being the Top Chef fans that we are we took the opportunity to visit one of Tom Colicchio's Riverpark restaurant for our anniversary dinner, and it was amazing. We spent time strolling up and down 5th Ave admiring all the amazing windows. With the overcast night, we couldn't resist how well lit St. Patrick's was, so I was the tourist who stops in the middle of the street to snap this shot ( I think it was worth it): We did take time to go to the top of the Empire State building, and we couldn't have timed sunset any better. We were able to get some great photos of the city before the sun completely set. We also had the opportunity to visit the 9/11 memorial which was a somber but amazing exhibit. They did such a wonderful job ensuring that it wasn't crowded, and that visitors had time to complete the experience.

Christmas was full of travel to Houston and back to Austin, and I had the opportunity to travel to the DFW area to catch up with my wonderful friends. We spent the New Year holiday with family and friends, and hope that 2012 brings us as much happiness as 2011.

Cheers to the New Year, and I pray that I am a much better blogger in 2012!

Feelings!

Hey peeps,

This is Patrick and it has been a LONG time since I have blogged. There has been quite a bit going on lately, but this week has been very eye-opening to me. Kim and I enjoyed a fun-filled weekend with family at the High Hill festival near Schulenburg, Texas. There was a cake walk, polka dancing, hundreds of pounds of fried chicken, and enough money raised to run the small town Catholic Church for the remainder of the year.

We left Schulenburg on Sunday afternoon and drove towards College Station for the Aggie game.
On our westerly journey back towards Austin after the game, we entered Highway 290 fairly close to Bastrop, Texas. Even past midnight, the flames visible from our standpoint a few miles away took our breath away. We witnessed the terrible fire than burned hundreds of homes and changed thousands of people's lives forever. We also found out that a nearby neighborhood to us, Steiner Ranch had many homes on fire as well. Two of our dear friends live in Steiner, but we soon found out that they were safe and their house was not harmed. On a more unfortunate note, I found out that two of my co-workers employed in the same section as me, both lost their homes and all possessions in Bastrop. The heartbreaking stories on the news and social media sites are simply devastating.

To change the subject, I enjoyed a three hour volunteer shift with the Foundation for the Homeless Interfaith Hospitality Network on Wednesday evening. This was as eye opening as the fires because of what these poor people have been through. One of the families barely escaped Hurricane Ike and got away with absolutely no possessions. This network provides housing to homeless people at different churches in the Austin area. The churches provide a room to sleep, along with bathroom and shower facilities. All families must pass through a strict background screening and work with a case manager to get back on their feet. This program does not just provide a free meal and bed.

I have worked with the homeless and with low income communities, but this was probably even more heartbreaking. I do not believe anyone has a desire to be homeless, but some people do not do anything about it. These people do. They are working hard, their kids are in school, and they are doing everything possible to start a good life again. My job as a volunteer was to have dinner with these families and tend to any needs they may have. Lucky for me, the only need that came across during my shift was a need for me to explain how to play a boardgame to a couple of very sweet children. They struggled with their reading, but wanted me to tell them what the words were. It took a while, but I'm glad I did, and we all had fun doing that.

In conclusion, with all the above being referenced, it kind of makes my little life struggles seem, tiny. It upsets me that I complain about my car, my job, my family, and even the Aggies potential move to the SEC. The fact is that I have all of this wonderful stuff.

Have a great weekend!

Patrick

Changes paired with lots of events...

After we returned from Gulf Shores, we knew it was going to be a busy month! So here's a recap of all the changes and events that happened over the last month.


When I returned, I started a new job at Dell, still in finance just a different role. I'm really excited about this role because it doesn't involved any travel. So far it's going well, and hoping to just continue to grow and learn. Soon after we returned, Patrick heard that there would be layoffs at the agency he works at as a result of the budget cuts, but we were blessed to have Patrick keep his job. Unfortunately his supervisor's position was eliminated, so there was a shift in leadership at his office. One thing that I've learned is that people at the state don't like change, where people at Dell thrive on change.


Two babies were born: We added another nephew to the mix, so now the count is 3 boys and 5 girls. Mr. Jeremy is calm, collected, and just chill, and with Sean as a brother that is a requirement. This picture isn't a true representation of being calm and collected:My best friend Jenny had her precious baby boy Cole, and we had the opportunity over the fourth of July to go meet mr. handsome (aka Fightin' Texas Aggie class of 2033)

Patrick's sister, Kimmi, came into Austin with her kiddos for a weekend. We had the opportunity to relax and enjoy our time with her, Aly, and Eric. Aly was crazy about Ranger, and they reunited their BFF status during the weekend. Can't you tell that Ranger is really enjoying the visit and extra attention? On Sunday of their visit we met the Bivens (Patrick's other sister and her hubby with their 3 kiddos) as well as Patrick's cousin at the Salt Lick. When you get the cousins together it typically gets a little crazy, and this trip was no exception. As you can see with these photos:

Early in July, my parents closed on their house in Austin, and just moved here last week. We are super excited to have them 15minutes away from us, and we just love their new place.

The same week that my parents moved to Austin, I was in a my good friend Lyra's wedding here in Austin. We hosted the bridal luncheon at our house, and had such a good time hosting Lyra and her family on her big day. I'm so excited for Lyra and Greg! Here's a sneak peek at the wedding: http://www.inkdfingers.blogspot.com/