Happy Birthday, Alexis (really late!)

Happy birthday Merrit (really late!)

Glucose Results

Joy's 3 hour Glucose test came back normal! That means no Gestational Diabetes for her!

Ypsi update

I just realized I can't call us the Ypsilanti Hutchinsons anymore since Jim and Joy live here too now.  Anyway, I thought I'd post some pics and give you all an update.

Mythbuster - March 16

This event was the highlight of Harvey's 4 years of life.  We counted down for several weeks ahead of time and I really doubt he slept much the night before.  The night of the show we got downtown early since you never know what traffic is going to be like.  While this idea was practical, Harvey did not appreciate it.  He wanted to see the Mythbusters and he wanted to see them now!  Here is a pic we took at Comerica Park.  He was not amused. I'm not sure what he was doing in the photo but he was probably saying, "Come on, guys.  The Mythbusters aren't here, they are across the street."

We finally got in to the theater (they opened the doors as we were walking past the front of the theater so I think we were actually the first people in, much to the chagrin of all of the fools who stood in line) but Harvey's patience was wearing thin.

When we got to our seats he literally could not sit still.  He jumped, paced, danced, jittered, and asked every few seconds if the show was starting.

Sorry for the awful quality.  I have a cheap camera I keep in my purse for when we forget our good camera, which is almost all of the time.  Yes, he is wearing a cape.  He was the youngest kid there and possibly the most excited.  He was disappointed he didn't get picked to go up on stage but it was probably a good thing since we know from experience that he would freak out.  He got pulled into the Lion King show last spring when we were at Disney and he lasted about 30 seconds.  During the Q&A he really wanted to get called on so he could ask Jamie and Adam for their phone number so he could call and talk to them for longer.

All in all, it was a great experience.  Harvey talks about it every day still.  He wants to be a mythbuster when he grows up.  In fact, he's watching a mythbusters as I'm writing this.

April 7th - We are going on a cruise!  We got a crazy good deal on a really good cruise line.  We just booked the cruise two days ago!  This is the ship we'll be on.

Harvey is going to be up north with my folks for two weeks.  I shutter to think what post-Petoskey detox will be like when we get back but at least Kurt and I should be relaxed!  We'll both celebrate our birthdays on board and we're going to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary as well.

Other news - Part of the reason we decided to book the cruise was also to celebrate how well this pregnancy is going!  I still don't feel great and the gestational diabetes is kind of a pain but the baby is healthy which is all that matters.  Also we found out that we're having a BOY!  I'm super excited, I love the idea of having a whole passel of boys.  Kurt is still sulking a little bit because he is longing for a daughter.  I'm starting to feel the baby move.  We still haven't told Harvey.  I think I'm finally ready but I really don't want to tell him and then ship him up to my folks since that was basically how the timeline went when we lost Xavier.  I have my 20 week ultrasound the day after we get back so we're planning on taking him to that appointment.  I'm still so gun shy that I plan on having the tech check first before he comes in.  Hopefully I'll be feeling the baby so strongly by that point that I won't need to do that.

Spring Picutres

Here are some pictures I took this morning.
This is a swan at Kensington.
The forsythia bushes are blazing yellow everywhere right now.
I picked these daffodils out of our front yard. I hope you all are enjoying the spring!

exciting

Yesterday I went to the doctor's and set up my induction date.  I am going in Friday May 18 during the day and will hopefully have the baby that day.  That means I only have 57 days to go...unless for some strange reason my body decides to take matters into its own hands for the first time, and go earlier.  But, it's something exciting for me!  Wahoo!!

Happy Birthday Jim

Happy happy birthday Jimmy dear, happy days will come to you all year. If I had one wish, then it would be, a happy happy birthday to you from me!

Joy's 13 week Ultrasound

Dr.Jefferies tried to listen to the baby's heartbeat but she said the baby was moving around. The doctor then did an ultrasound, we still couldn't hear the heartbeat (the sound didn't work). However we did get to see our baby again!! We should find out next month if we are expecting a boy or girl!

Baby Hutchinson

We have more recent pictures but these are the best.  Last week he refused to cooperate and did handstands and gymnastics during the whole ultrasound (I love getting to see him dance around!).  Right now we are thinking of Ian for a boy and have kicked around Anne Shirley, Cordelia, or Leah for a girl.  We'll see.

Gestational Diabetes

Well, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes this week.  I'm fairly bummed about it.  I've been having a hard enough time eating at all and now I have to follow a pretty strict diet.  I'll see a dietician next week and will learn how to use a glucometer.  I'm getting closer to accepting it, hopefully I'll have a better outlook after meeting with the dietician. 

Kurt and I got to see the baby on Wednesday and he's doing fine.  (I don't know that he's a he, I just like having an actual pronoun.)  I go in for another appointment this morning.  I can't figure out how to convert a .pdf to a .jpeg.  When I get it figured out (really, when I make Kurt do it) I'll post pictures. 

Anniversay Gift

Since not all of you were able to be with us on Sunday for our family dinner, which turned out to be our anniversary dinner as well, I just wanted to thank all of you for your kindness in buying tickets for Beauty and the Beast for us. I really appreciate it and I know Mom does as well. As most of you know, it is one of my favorite shows and I have always enjoyed watching live performances of it; none to compare with Jim's outstanding performance, however. We hope to turn that night, and maybe the next day, into a nice winter getaway.

We love all of you so much.

THANKS!!

This is where we live

This is the drive to our new, little basement house

simply gorgeous!


This is our front door
right there, under that!

yes, here! now you see it!

This is our front yard

those are our neighbors...oh wait, there aren't any!

This is our apartment
standing in the front door, from left to right, boxes and all

These are our pets
sort of

And this is what we DO

run!

play!

Virginia is so beautiful, and we are loving our time in the country!

meet Miss Ella Rose

A freak snow storm last night blew her in, and the girls had fun with her this afternoon. Too bad it's 50 degrees outside now, and Macie took her nap hollering, "I love the snowman, but she's melting too fast!" I guess I shouldn't have sang "Once there was a Snowman" to explain what was happening right before naptime.

(Note her bottle cap buttons. Remember how I used them on our homemade Christmas tree as decorations? Well, yessum, I've been saving them again and today was the perfect time to use them! I love crafty recycling!)

stuffed cubes

Here you go Karil

Verde Chicken Mexican Lasagna

We just tried a new dish today that was the casserole winner in the LDS Living magazine casserole contest. It was very good; five stars in our book. Here is the the recipe in case you might want to try it.

Verde Chicken Mexican Lasagna

1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream (Dad: I used the fully loaded sour cream but you could probably use low fat and it wouldn't make a lot of difference.)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ½ cups green salsa (Dad: I could only find green (verde) salsa in a Medium version; it was slightly spicy but I didn't think it was too bad.)
1 ½ cups frozen corn, thawed and drained
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped cilantro (plus additional for garnishing) (Dad: I thought I had added too much cilantro but you really couldn't taste it. You might not even need it because it is so hard to chop/cut up.)
12 soft taco size flour tortillas
1 (8-ounce) package shredded Mexican blend cheese (Dad: I ended up using a whole 16 oz (four cup) package of Mexican blend cheese; I doubt 8 oz would cover what the recipe calls for.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
 
Mix chicken, sour cream, black beans, salsa, corn, cilantro and spices in a large bowl. Taste and adjust

seasonings to your preference. Cut tortillas in half with kitchen shears.
 
In a 9×13 dish, scoop 1/3 of the chicken mixture into bottom of pan. Spread evenly. Place one layer of cut tortillas (about 4 tortillas) on chicken mixture to cover. Top with 1/3 of the amount of shredded cheese. Repeat with chicken mixture, tortillas, shredded cheese two more times. There should be three layers total.
 
Bake in oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and casserole is warmed through. Serve with sour cream and additional chopped cilantro.

At any rate, Bon Appetite!!

hello

Lucy just wanted to say hi.

1st Trimester Ultrasound

Here is our baby's first picture!

in case you're curious

6 months!  Only 4 more to go...

Christmas

So I thought I should finally post pictures of Christmas for Mom. Sorry it has taken so long. To be honest, I just put away our Christmas decorations on Wednesday so I guess I'm just late about all things Christmas this year.

We had a great Christmas this year!

Ward Family Movie Night

Last weekend, our ward had a family movie night. We asked the kids to bring boxes decorated like cars so they could watch the movie like they were at a drive-in. Then half way through the movie there was a car parade so the kids could show off their cars. Here are what our kids (and Charlie) came up with:

house pictures, for Hillary :)

http://www.redfin.com/VA/Fredericksburg/3906-Lancaster-Ring-Rd-22408/home/15583585

I wish there were more pictures for you to see, because these don't show you how amazing the backyard is, or just how spectacular are the Greek columns pasted on the master bedroom wall.

But here it is, the house we love!

Reunion Plans

Kurt and I are planning on looking at and maybe buying plane tickets this weekend for the reunion.  I wanted to see what everybody else's plans were before we bought the tickets in case it would somehow influence our decision.  I think the dates of the re-union are June 27th through 30th, right?  And we have a block of rooms in an apartment complex?  For some reason I can't find the info on facebook.  Is anyone planning on going earlier, staying longer? who else is flying? we plan on renting a small car, would anyone rather rent something bigger and share the costs?  Any other details I'm not thinking of? 

house update

After waiting on pins and needles all day, trying to get some packing done while obsessively checking our emails and voicemail, we found out some frustrating, yet not altogether terrible, news.

This house had been on the market over 80 days. In all that time the realtor never checked the state of the loans on the house (which apparently is supposed to be one of the first things done when a realtor lists a house). Well, when we submitted our offer, he finally found out from the seller that he is WAY upside down on the house, and it should have been listed as a short sale!

SHORT SALE! UGH!

We're meeting with our realtor today to discuss our options. We're thinking of starting over with this as a short sale, which as you know, can take a LOOOOONG time. But we really really love the house. In the meantime we can keep looking at other houses, and will most likely live in the basement of one of our ward members in the interim. We're going to go look at it, and most certainly it will be tight quarters for a while, but we'll save a lot of money staying there (half of our current rent and almost no utilities!). We're sure this is a blessing in disguise, and we trust in the Lord's timing, though it IS frustrating!