Farmer Mark's

Back in October, a friend of mine took H with her and her daughter to tour a local farm while I was at a prenatal appt. Here's a picture of the two little friends together.

And here's what H had to say about it:

"They talked about cows, and what they give us. It was really, really fun! And I saw one pig. and its pink ear. It was so exciting. We got to pick pumpkins! And the farm was really silly to remember what we were going to pick, and we said, "Pumpkins from the pumpkin patch!" We were right. It was really, really fun."

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas at home, so we decided to make a video of the pictures we took that morning for our far-away families to see.

Year in Review

In January we were thankful for good medical care as we learned to control H & R's asthma, a doctor that H finally liked, R's birthday, and S's involvement with Scouts.

In February we were thankful for H's 3rd birthday, weekly activities to keep Mom & H busy (Mon - Music Makers, Wed - Playgroup, Thu - Preschool), and a Valentine's Day temple trip for Mom & Dad!

In March we were thankful for dental care (esp. R's new occlusal guard), good friends who help us out when we need a hand, and the chance S had to guest lecture two classes at UNC and NCSU.

In April we were thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ when two different friends lost babies, we watched our prophets and apostles speak during General Conference, and we attended the baptism of our friends' son.

In May we were thankful S could attend Open Repositories 2009, an annual conference about institutional repositories, in Atlanta, GA. We were also thankful for the $8,000 price drop on a house that allowed us to make an offer!

In June we were thankful for good timing and airplanes! Some close friends invited R to attend the birth of their twin boys, who decided to come two days after their grandmother arrived and two days before R's parents came for a fun-filled, four-day visit! :) We were so thankful for the chance to help good friends who'd helped us so much, as well as for a great friend who worked for us as our real estate agent.

In July we were thankful for many, many things: first, to close on our house before leaving town for three weeks, even if it did end up being the day before we left; second, to learn that we were expecting another child!; third, to visit our greatly missed family in three states and attend three of four family reunions; fourth, that our little family of three was only hit four times, rather than six or nine times, by the stomach flu bug that apparently was running rampant in every state we entered. (We're rather curious if it's the same bug that some friends here in NC accidentally took to UT a month or two prior. Their kids started puking on the plane ride there, and the entire wedding party--including the bride and groom--quickly became sick as well!)

In August S was thankful he could attend the annual Society of American Archivists conference. He was able to present a software application he'd written for Duke at The Researcher's Forum, a pre-conference event. Although R was learning what it was like to really be sick during pregnancy, she was thankful she wasn't sicker than she could have been, and she was especially grateful for a daughter who didn't mind watching tv morning after morning as Mommy slept or eating cereal for every meal while Daddy was out of town.

In September we were thankful for good quality children's shows every morning on PBS and for a Daddy who'd come home and make dinner every night. :)

In October we were thankful R was finally getting a little more energy! Back to playgroups, visiting teaching, babysitting, and--yes--even making dinner at night. ;) This came right before S and then H became sick near the end of the month, so it really was a blessing. We were also thankful for the generous amount of time S has been able to take off from work, which has allowed him to attend R's prenatal visits and ultrasounds.

In November we were again thankful for timing. R and H came down with the flu in time to recover just enough to still spend Thanksgiving with two of R's brothers and their families in Alabama. Again, we were very thankful for PBS and a husband/daddy who could come home and cook dinner and wash dishes!

In December we were thankful R had started Christmas preparations early and that S was fine with a quiet birthday celebration at home since his baby girl was sick. We are especially thankful that on this, her third week of illness, H decided she really didn't mind taking her antibiotic that much after all. That was just the blessing we'd been praying for, as we know too well how not fun serious infections are. She started feeling better just in time to enjoy the holiday. Phew! Again, we're thankful for good friends who help us out when we're in a bind and for family who keep us in their prayers when we're struggling.

Here's to the upcoming year!

Snow 2

Oh, how this made my Christmas!!

Sure, it may have been raining Christmas Day, but the fact that this bit of snow hung around for a few days beforehand kept me filled with Christmas cheer! (This is our last tree to change colors, and it's probably been the prettiest as well.)

Snow!!!

Yay!!!!
It's not every day that it snows in NC!

S's B-day, Cont.

Happy B-day Again!!!

Oops! Lost a candle!

It's not the most impressive cake since I'd forgotten I'd ruined our second cake pan and I'd totally forgotten about candles, but that's okay. All S cared was that there was chocolate frosting. ;) Can you tell H helped decorate it?

Here's the proud girl

O Christmas Tree

We told H she could put one ornament on the tree before bed, but we weren't very quick to correct her when she decided she was going to put the rest of them on as well. (Ornaments that weren't shiny globes, that is.)

This was probably the happiest we've seen her all day!

See?
H most of today.

We would have completely decorated the tree today, but we found that only one string of lights that I'd gotten from a moving neighbor actually worked. Sad!

Click on this one to see her shirt. :)
I think it's the best!

What's up with the red-eye?
Even Picasa isn't removing it.
???

Silly, sleepy girl

Put'n on the bow

Whoa! Lost we lost it!
(Oh, look! Our camera has an "indoor" setting!)

Little help from Daddy

Ta-da!

Just one more. . . .

Done for now

Happy Birthday, My Love!!!

Due to H being sick, we celebrated S's birthday in a casual way. He enjoyed birthday cards and phone calls from family, set up the Christmas tree, and even had the chance to play some video games. H and I gave him supplies for building "gingerbread" houses (read: graham cracker houses). He didn't want us spending money we really don't have right now, but I still wanted him to get to do something fun on his birthday with H being sick and all. He likes designing and building, not to mention eating, so I hoped it would be a good gift, considering the circumstances. Unfortunately, store-bought frosting isn't the sturdiest or fastest drying of frostings, and the generic crackers I bought weren't as big (or tasty in my opinion) as the Honey Maid ones like I had thought, but S and H still enjoyed eating crackers and frosting together. I told S I'd have to get him some Honey Maids this coming week. Maybe we can try again for Family Home Evening. . . ?

Thanks, Parents & Grandparents, for giving S the things he really wanted for his birthday!!! So far he's bought a new pair of earphones for his ipod, and he's planning on getting a new scooter helmet since his current one doesn't have a visor. I'm grateful someone can give it to him when I can't.

"So, where's the cake?" you just might be asking. Well, its absence is proof that I have ADD. I walked into the kitchen tonight to make birthday cake and dinner (while S & H worked on the gingerbread houses) and then debated over which to start first. Of course, I decided to get the cake baking and then start our quickie meal of chicken and pasta. However, once that decision was made, I promptly began making dinner! Ack!!! It wasn't until after we had finished eating that I realized my mistake!

So, birthday cake is coming tomorrow. I wish I could say I've invited our good friends to join us in our celebrations to help make S's birthday wonderful, but, back comes the knowledge that H's still sick (day five of fever), and bye-bye goes that great idea. I'm thankful S's a trooper. Notice that I'm the one complaining on here, rather than him? ;)

S & H making their houses.

Oops! Well, he tried!

Plan B: 2-D house

H's idea of making houses

Pulla!

Seth made loaves of Finnish Pulla (known as "biscuit" in his family) for the annual "International Food Festival" at work. Most of the loaves were consumed before he had a camera to take pictures. :) This is a bread his mom traditionally bakes at Christmas time. It's great fresh, but it's just as good toasted with butter. I think it just might become a tradition in our house as well! ;)

We are still trying to adjust to our oven, so they turned out a little dark. However, they were still very tasty, and I'm so impressed at what a beautiful braiding job he did! I must admit I felt very much like the other farm animals in the story of Chicken Little when he asked me to help him braid them. I was afraid I'd mess mine up after watching him braid so well! However, I was still there at the end, saying, "Can I have some, Seth?" I'm lucky I have a nice husband! :D YUMMY!!!

Here's the house!

Quickie panorama shot, just to give you an idea of what the place is like. I think this is the better view. Double click any panoramas to see a larger version of them.

Another quickie panoramic from another vantage point. All the back trees on the left are on our property, and there's a small creek that runs in front of them when it rains. :) Fun, eh? The yard was really a buying point for us. Much as it needs some work, there's a lot there already that we just love.

Side porch that we use as the main entrance for now. When you walk in, there's a vinyl entryway and carpeted family room that runs the depth of the house, which we're trying to get all arranged first. Eventually we'll get the sitting room looking nice and make a pathway outside from the driveway to the front door, but again, that's e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y. As for now, I'm growing a baby and am proud of how much I have gotten done in the house!

View opposite the side porch. Sure, we need to fix the shed doors, but they give Mitzie a safe hiding place from stray dogs for now. (Which I'm glad to say I've only seen one or two of.)

Quickie panorama shot again. I would have taken many more picts around the backyard to really give you an idea of what it's like, but it was really cold out (yeah, yeah, for NC!) and my camera batteries and I were freezing! The black bin on the far right is our compost bin. :) Hope it works! And the fenced in area is just the right size for little ones.

After living in apartments and playing on sidewalks all her life, Hannah seriously didn't think the yard was for playing in. I remember trying to convince her to join me in kicking a ball around the fenced area instead of only on the deck, and she was like, No, we kick the ball up here! Why do you want to go down there? It took the visit of a friend for her to get used to playing at the side of the house, and then after a little coaxing, I got the two of them playing in the front yard as well. I think I had to use the excuse that it was sunnier there, and thus warmer, on that chilly fall day.

WE HAVE A CAMERA!!!!

Thanks to our grandparents generosity, we now have a camera! (Yes, confession, we do tend to open Christmas cards early......)

THANK YOU, GRANDPA & GRANDMA!!!!

Here are a couple of the first picts I got to take with it. Hannah was sleeping and the sun wasn't at the right angle in the sky for picts of the house, otherwise I would have taken picts of them, too. I'll have to get some tomorrow morning. :)

Here's my Love. . . .

(Tell him what a great haircut I did,

even if it turned out to be a little on the short side!)

And here's "our" Mitzie!

(Far as S is concerned, she's still temporary. ;)

Anyone want a well-behaved kitty?)