Appeasing the Masses

I know you're all dying with curiosity, eager to see my latest craft project. It was a little one, but solved a problem that had been driving me nuts--The Hub needed a place to hang loose but important papers. He'd been tacking them DIRECTLY to the wall above his dresser, which bugged me. And when something bugs me, I fix it. Enter Hobby Lobby, a 40% off coupon, a corkboard, and some acrylic paint:

How could any BYU fan resist hanging this above his or her dresser? Not The Hub! And I am grateful that he loves the handmade look. (My first gratitude post of the year! Oh wait--that was the last post.)

Speaking of the cuteness that dwells in the last post, here are some more recent pictures:

Silly sisters in the background. I like this one.

So there you go--one cute son/grandson/great-grandson/nephew/great-nephew/cousin/friend's baby. Enjoy!

In Other News...

We've had some interesting things happen in our family this month. One of the first was this:

I woke up one morning to find The Eldest on the couch, quietly reading a book. How awesome is that?

A few days later, The Hub and I encountered this:
A certain princess (and eventually, her princess sister) REQUESTED to vacuum the couch. Do you think Cinderella cleaned the castle voluntarily after she married the prince? Maybe she did.


But the most time-consuming, labor-intensive (ha!) event began on November 6th with some labor pains. After three days of it, I went to my regular OB appointment. Active labor in the waiting room landed me here shortly after my appointment:

A few hours later, I was tired enough to think that an epidural might be helpful, so then I ended up here:

The epidural didn't fully take--I could feel some pretty intense pain on my right side with every contraction, but it was endurable. After 40 minutes of pushing, in which a certain little boy thought it would be fun to play jack-in-the-box, we ended up with this:



The happy sisters:

The daddy who is relieved not to be the ONLY male in the house anymore:

The obligatory post-clean up picture:

Sisterly love:



Love from a besotted Nana:

And a dang cute boy:

Vital statistics:
The Boy
(to be called by his initials)
Born early November
(during his cousin's 5th birthday party)
7:50pm
7 lbs, 12 oz.
(my smallest baby yet, by far!)
21 inches long
(this is more like it)

So there you go. For those who are keeping track, The Boy did show up exactly two weeks early. Why? Don't know, don't care (I'm guessing some miscalculation of dates on my part or the OB's).
I'm just glad he's here!

Halloween 2009--Pumpkin Utopia

I promised on Facebook that I would upload photos of my award-winning trunk from the Trunk or Treat. Here it is!


I think my cowgirl and my Tinkerbell were the best accessories. After gathering a modest haul for themselves, they were best entertained by handing out candy to the other kids. And they have already absconded with my award--a black and orange Slinky.



My costume this year was "What do I have in my costume collection that will fit over my huge belly?" The hat fits anytime, of course. Do you like the pom-poms on The Eldest's shoes? Costume-wise, that was all I had to make this year. Bliss.


These were the strange people in the van next to us, also known as the Blue Van H--- family, if you ask Miss Bubbly. They might also be related to us. Maybe. If they choose to claim us, that is.

Last night we decided to hang at the in-laws and avoid answering our own door. The girls sat at the front door for about an hour and a half, eagerly watching for trick or treaters and dumping handsfuls of candy into everyone's bag. They had a grand time.