Brief Hiatus

With deepest apologies to all of my loyal fans (that means YOU, mom!) I'm going to take a two week break from the blog. I'll be back on February 6th with more photos, stories and perhaps even a recipe or crafting accomplishment! See you then!

Bath Time

It's a busy, busy day. So instead of taking time to write something witty or post photos of recent projects... I'm going to cheat and post a photo of my youngest niece at bath time.

Ack! I can't handle the cute-ness!!

Boutique Baby Bibs

Thanks to my mom I've been honing my sewing skills. As I mentioned in this post, sewing is not something I ever thought I'd have the patience for, but I'm learning that I actually quite like it!

My latest sewing adventures have brought me to bibs!

(I have aprons for mom that match these bibs, but I haven't found a good way to photograph them yet...)

After doing some research with my mom friends, I learned that they like that the bibs are on the larger side and they seem to love the fact that they are backed with terry cloth to help with clean up!

As a non-mom, I just like how cute the patterns are and can't wait to make more for my shop and my friends with new babies!

I think the "Ahoy Baby" is my favorite!

Puppy Love

Gordon turned 6 on January 6th. He's a small dog-- weighing it at around 8 pounds-- but he sure is full of character!

Because he's so small, I often forget how little he was when I first met him!

I had chosen him from a photo and when I sat down to greet all of the siblings, he ran straight towards me and into my lap!

I love my dog just the way he is, but sometimes I wish I could go back to those days when he was tiny!

Then again, there is certain behavior I'm glad he's grown out of:

Oh, who am I kidding? He still loves to tear up kleenax, tissue paper or paper towels!

Another thing that hasn't changed? His disdain for bath time:

But if you looked this pitiful when wet, you'd probably hate bath time too!

Ack! Looking at these photos makes me want to get another puppy! 

I'd better stop now before I get into trouble!

For more Way Back When-sday fun, check out this blog:

Patio Progress

My dear friend, Jackie, visited me from Dallas this weekend and we had a great time catching up. She made a great observation-- since we live in different cities, our weekends together are just like an extended "catch up" brunch. So true!

Although we did have some Houston outings-- queso and margaritas at El Tiempo, movie night at the Community Beard Theater and a trip to church that turned into a trip to Starbucks due to the Houston Marathon (whoopsie)-- we spent most of our time hanging out on our new patio.

And since I didn't take any photos this weekend (whoopsie, again), I've chosen to share some progress photos. Remember what it used to look like?

Well this weekend Jackie and I were able to enjoy major improvements.

See that sofa in the background? I took not one, but two naps on it this weekend!

And while Jackie and I were enjoying girl talk, beautiful weather and in general a great lazy Sunday... Chris was hard at work as usual!

Just when I think he's finished with the backyard, he comes home with a new tree or piece of furniture! This weekend it was a lime tree, an orange tree and three eucalyptus trees. He put them by the shed:

There is still work to be done before we throw some champagne on the hull and announce the backyard complete... but it's nice to be able to enjoy it on those nice weather days! Especially when a special friend is in town to enjoy it too!

Feeling Crabby

While staying at the compound over Christmas, we received an interesting package from Chris' cousin, Allison & Jon) who live in Alaska.

It was packed in dry ice and contained...

Can you see the claw sticking out?

Crab dinner!

PD steamed them up and we all enjoyed the authentic Alaskan feast.

It's hard to keep the "don't play with your food" rule when ginormous crab legs are involved:

(And, for the record, this is the night that Laura went into Labor!)

Somehow I missed getting a pic of Conrad (who, as a former Alaskan citizen, gave his advice on getting the best crab meat), but here's a shot of PD also sharing his wisdom on the best way to eat crab:

The crabs were harder to eat than a crawfish, but easier than a lobster. We thoroughly enjoyed the feast and are all excited to visit our Alaskan family very soon!

Stables Christmas Dinner

A few days before Christmas, I got together with the stables girls for our second annual Christmas feast!

Lindsey and her husband just moved into a beautiful home and they've been tastefully minimalist with their style. As someone who sometimes feels like my house would fit in an episode of Hoarders... it was very inspirational!

Lindsey prepared a delicious roast:

And we all enjoyed catching up around the dinner table:

Lindsey took us on a tour of the house:

And we all agree that the media room was awesome!

Afterwards we had our usual Christmas white elephant exchange and a group photo:

Not pictured? Our dear Tamara, who was flying back from Ethiopia the very next day after being out of the states for six months!

I so enjoy this tradition of spending time with my Stables ladies!

No Soliciting! Unless you have Thin Mints...

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!

Normally I'm not a fan of random people knocking on my door in the middle of an otherwise lazy Saturday. But, if you have an order form for Thin Mints... I'll be happy to buy a box!

Not only do I love Thin Mints, but I also have an obligation to buy from every girl who knocks on my door... because I used to be that girl!

I was even part of that troop outside of Randalls:

And sold to local celebrities!

So I'm ready for any and every little girl with a badge to come knocking... I'll take one box of over-priced cookies, please!

For more Way Back When-sday fun, click below:

Lucy in the Sky

More photos of Little Lucy:

Like... her baby feet!

Her precious face:

Her tiny body next to dad's big hands:

and next to dad's big shoe:

 How about one with the family:

With Cousin Maria and her parents:

And Papa PD with his ladies:

Lucy with her Houston family:

And hanging out with the girls:

A reminder from Cousin Maria:

Comparing feet:

And a nap with dad:

Lucy, we're overjoyed that you're here with us and can't get over how cute you are! Now hurry up and get your UNO hat ready... we've got some games to play!

Baby Hats

As you can probably tell from my recent posts, it's kind of "all baby, all the time" over in Baton Rouge right now. Add that to my new nephew in Maine and I'm a little swamped with babies!

So for Christmas, I decided to play it fair and get each of my newest family members hats from my favorite etsy knitting store!

Aunt Joan isn't technically related to me (she's my pal, Lindsay's aunt), but I know of no one that calls her anything different!

She recently opened up a shop on etsy and has adorable little hats and headbands for all sorts of little ones.

I bought one for each of my baby nieces/nephews and here's Maria trying it on:

Don't let that face fool you... she loved it!

Here's proof:

Lucy hadn't been born the day we took these photos, but I'm sure she (and Maria) will be rocking these hats tonight for the National Championship Game! Geaux Tigers!!

Baby Hill

Chris and I went to Baton Rouge for Christmas and stayed for about a week. We were planning to leave a little earlier, but as soon as we made the decision to leave-- Laura went into labor!

It started on Friday night. Laura came to me with tears in her eyes, thinking that something was wrong with her baby. She told me that she was feeling a lot of pain and it was different than any other pain she'd been feeling throughout the pregnancy. A quick lesson with Dr. Google and I told Laura that I was pretty sure she was having contractions!

Sure enough, everything was pointing to the fact that Justin and Laura were going to be parents before the New Year! At about 1:30am on January 31st, they headed over to the hospital.

We got the call on the compound around 3:30am that we should head up there. So Chris and I rallied the troops. Once we visited with Laura, we headed out to the waiting room. I traded a few text messages with Laura who let me know that Justin was asleep. This made me giggle because I looked up from the text to see this:

Each one of the Hills in the hospital were asleep! Meanwhile the inlaws/cousin were wide awake:

I'm telling you, those Hills can sleep anywhere!

After some more waiting, we decided it was safe to go downstairs for breakfast. Where Chris was in a "bacon mustache" kind of mood:

After a few hours of "no new news" we were shocked to get the word: mama and baby are doing great! Within minutes of celebrating that news, we were told we could go see our new nephew or niece!

We were split on the guess of boy or girl. But Jojo and Jeremy heard a song on the way to the hospital that morning: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Jojo was sure that was prophetic since we knew that if they were having a girl, she would be named Lucy. So... for the big announcement:

Everyone was so excited! Jojo and Jeremy had brought a boy outfit and a girl outfit:

How fun that we have another little girl to spoil with dresses and bows!

After the announcement we all took turns meeting the newest Hill Baby:

(Chris congratulates his baby brother.)

(Aunt Jojo gives some advice to niece and new-mom Laura.)

(The cousins meet.)

(PD tells Lucy she'd better get ready for life on the compound!)

After a quick champagne toast:

And a family photo:

We left the new family of three to spend some time bonding, resting and enjoying each other.

But before I end this post, let's get some more shots of my adorable new niece!

She's a tiny baby (6lbs, 2 oz) but she has long feet and hands!

I have more photos of when we came back that afternoon (after naps for all!) and I'll share those next week.

Lucy Karen Hill made her arrival just in time to celebrate the end of 2011! We are all excited for the changes, celebrations and excitement that 2012 holds for the Hill family!