Festival of Flowers

When we were at the Biltmore, they were all ready to start their Festival of Flowers the next day. They had planted a spectacular number of beautiful tulips. That night was the big freeze, and it actually snowed the next day (Happy Easter!). We saw them covering the tulips in canvas as we were leaving.

Going all artistic on the cactus.

Easter Weekend Trip

Over Easter weekend, the Moseley fam traveled West to the mountains. We stayed in a great cabin in Old Fort, had breakfast at the Grove Park Inn, visited the Biltmore, played dominos, and shopped in Black Mountain. My dear Aunt Marisa works at the Biltmore, so she was able to get us some free passes. We were back in time for Easter services on Sunday (which is important considering we had a pastor with us).

Jonathan likes to put flowers in my hair.

Jonathan's brother David and his wife Amy.

His parents lovin' on each other. They're cute like that.

Registering

I'm going registering tonight (with the help of sweet Danielle - what a blessing!) and probably this weekend too. Do any of mom-friends out there have any suggestions or products they recommend? I'm probably doing the regulars: Babies 'R' Us and Target.

Movin' and Shakin'

I'm starting to feel Baby Mo move around quite a bit. The first time I felt a definite kick was last Monday (April 16) during my Bible study discussion group. I'm the group leader, and I was supposed to be paying good attention to what the group members were saying, but I was so distracted! Several people had described it to me as a flutter, but this felt more like an thud. Maybe I missed the fluttering stage. Jonathan hasn't been able to feel it yet, but the movement is becoming a little harder, so I'm hoping he'll be able to feel it soon. It's been my favorite part of pregnancy thus far (I know, how could it top morning sickness? :) because it's made me feel so connected to this little one.

Future posts:
Pictures from our trip to the mountains with the Moseley fam
Pictures from Ryan and Susan's wedding
How the Tide-to-go pen made my day

Home Sweet Home

After a long search (we saw about 40 houses in 2 days), some agonizing and then some quick decisions, we decided on a great little bungalow in Crestwood (an older, cute neighborhood in Birmingham). It was built in 1953, but has been completely renovated. We drove a hard bargain - 3 counter offers - but the Lord allowed it be accepted. The B-ham market was pretty competitive, so we had to move quickly. It's about five minutes from UAB, which means more family time! We feel very blessed. This is the home our child will come home to! Take a look around...

The previous owners used this as a den, but we're planning to put in a closet and make it the master bedroom. It's at the back of the house and has it's own bathroom, so we thought it made more sense. It also has three other bedrooms and another bathroom, so we're thinking nursery, guest room, and office.

Here is the pretty kitchen. Considering our refrigerator has been held together with tape the last four years, this is quite a shocker for the Moseleys.

This is the living/dining room. I would say that this color is inaccurate in these pictures. It's somewhere between this red and the orange below, but neither are quite right.

We're so grateful that God blessed us throughout the process. Thanks for your prayers! We'll be accepting reservations for Casa Moseley in the near future, but we are expecting to be fully occupied around the end of August.

Baby Bump - 20 weeks (5 months)

I've been asked on a couple of occassions to post a picture of my baby bump, so here it is. I've been hesistant to do so because, as you can see, it's not very exciting right now. This is at exactly 20 weeks/5 months (last Friday). If it helps, I feel very bumpy...

Happy Birthday, Dad!

My dear father turned the big 6-0 on Easter Sunday! Here are a few things I love about my dad: he raised his kids to know the Lord, he's wonderfully generous with the resources God has given him, he's going to be sucker of a granddad, and he loves to dance (see picture above) - just to name a few. But most of all I love him because he's my Sunshine. Happy Birthday, Dad!

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, our LIFE class (Sunday School) helped with the Easter Egg Hunt for the children of the apartment complex located directly behind Providence. It was a fun morning!

Marilyn, Alex, Nate, Errica, Mark, Jean and Ryan observing the rush to find the "hidden" eggs.

Leslie and Jean sorting through the eggs.

How cute is she?

How most people hid their eggs...

How Drew hides his eggs...

And I might add, this is how my husband would be hiding eggs had he been able to be there.
The kids needed a little challenge, right?

Under Contract

The Lord has blessed us very richly. Yesterday, we received an offer for the full asking price of our house. We've only had the sign out for a week. We are so grateful for God's provision. It's more than we could ask for. It's such a nice relief to not have that taken care of. God was also gracious about a month ago to buy a car for a great deal off craiglist, and then sell our Buick (with 225,000+ miles on it) in a mere six hours. We're a little stunned, but in a good way.

A Little Explanation

Some of you might be wondering why I named our blog this. Back in the Halcyon Days in blue heaven, Jonathan had a delightful, yet nutty, small Bible study in Motown dorm, which included the likes of my brother Parker, Blake, Kidd, Fais, Jared Clark, just to name a few (if you know these people it helps you understand how such a nickname could come about). Anyways, the group named Jonathan "J-Mo" playing on Jennifer Lopez' "J-Lo" nickname. Probably because their personas are so similar. So after Jonathan and I got engaged, I remember specifically being in the car with Chris Faison, and him saying "Now you can be L-Mo." Elmo...get it?

So thus, I named our blog the Moes in an attempt to be clever and added 0810 because that is our anniversary and Moes without a number was claimed. I guess the baby for now is just Little-Mo.

Selling Our Townhouse

We are selling our wonderful townhouse in Chapel Hill. We have many fond memories in it, but we can't take it with us to Birmingham. I'm posting pictures and some of the stats. It's For Sale By Owner, so please spread the word to anyone who might be interested. We also have a flier is you'd like us to e-mail it to you.

• 2-Story Townhouse
• 2 Bedrooms, 1.5 Baths
• 1088 Sq. Feet
• Colony Lake Subdivision
• Backyard Faces Wooded Area
• Brokers Welcome

This is a great home for graduate students or families, located in a quiet neighborhood. Less than 3 miles from UNC, 8 miles from Duke, and just a minute away from 1-40. Serviced by bus line. Clean, bright, neutral interior.

Top left is our living room; Above is the master bedroom; To the right is the second bedroom/Jonathan's study lair.

The Blue Peep

When I came back to the office after the doctor's appointment, my boss and coworkers feigned being busy so that I would go to my desk and see this:


In case you can't read it: "So you took a peek at your little peep, tell your peeps here what you're having...choose your Peep."

Obviously I chose the blue Peep!For those of you who don't know my history with the Peep. My dad introduced them to me at a young age, as they used to be his favorite Easter goody before diabetes (although they recently released Peeps made with Splenda, so he's back in the game). Then, while working at the Complex Sale, the ladies introduced me to a tasty enhancement: broiled Peeps. Yes, broiled. Think caramelized marshmallows...yum. I tried introducing them at MJM Investigations, but they thought it too strange.

Then I came to Providence and the ladies not only embraced the odd treat, but thought of a delightful twist: smooshing the broiled Peep between graham crackers and chocolate and making yes, a Peep S'more. Now, every Easter (and Halloween - a Holy Ghost Party), we have a Peep Party. It's a blast, but alas, this will probably be my last one.

All this is to explain why my communications team would choose Peeps as my method of revealing the baby's gender. I am known as the Peep lady. I have been given a Peep coloring book and stuffed Peeps. In all seriousness, you really should give it a try this Easter.

It's a Boy!

Baby Boy Moseley showed his manhood very readily today (see the arrow)! Daddy is already thinking of fun games to play with a boy, and Mommy is trying to figure out what are the cutest boy clothes.




Here is a nice profile shot. We only were able to get a 2-D ultrasound this time, but I think the pictures are still very clear. Jonathan was able to see it was a boy before the ultrasound tech said anything.





Here he is saying "Go Tar Heels!"



PS Jonathan only consented to starting a blog for the purposes of updating people on children, so welcome to our blog! As you can see on my first entry, I was toying with the idea when we were contemplating having kids and the idea of blogging altogether (I wanted to claim the domain!). It was fun to look back on.

Welcome to Our Blog

I'm not sure I really want to start a blog, but it is a tempting proposition. Is it just vain to want people to read and care about your life? Is this what most people think about blogging? Do I have enough deep thoughts to merit a blog? Will we ever have kids? That would merit a reason to blog to me. Okay fine...I'm doing it for the children...