Day at the Bay in May 2012

This past weekend, the Hill clan went on a boat ride with my dad, Captain Tom. The relaxing day with family was just what Chris and I needed after a hectic few weeks!

Here's the captain in action:

Not to be confused with Justin, who enjoyed wearing the captain's hat:

My mom was feeling under the weather, so Chris stepped in as First Mate while we docked the boat:

It was the babies' first boat ride, so we had to take many photos to capture the occasion:

Check out their precious smocked dresses!

 Wait... where's Lucy?!

There she is! 

The weather could not have been better and we all enjoyed spending time on the deck:

But the view from the Captain's room was nice too!

All of the ladies (plus Baby Boy Hill sneaking in an appearance):

The little ladies even had a chance to sit in the Captain's chair!

(That's Maria, blocking Lucy from the camera.)

(And that's Lucy... biting a non-impressed Maria.)

As the sun went down, we enjoyed hanging out on the back deck:

Chris and PD:

Then we enjoyed the 'super moon' on the way home:

Chris and I loved having the Baton Rouge Hills in town again and everyone enjoyed spending time on the water!

Pregnant at Ikea

In general, I can't say I love Ikea. The furniture is often a little too "trendy" for my taste. And even if the style did stand the test of time, the quality wouldn't. However, sometimes you just need some cheap furniture to fill a need (until you find just the right item that you want to invest in).

We had such a need recently and spent four hours at Ikea getting our "dofer" piece (as in... "that'll do fer now"!).

If you haven't been to Ikea, it's kind of a maze. First you take the maze upstairs and pick out what you want. Then you find the maze downstairs to actually get the thing you chose. After four hours of leaving bread crumbs and finding my way through two mazes, I was pretty exhausted.

And all that explains the following photo:

Pregnant, feet propped up on some yet-to-be-assembled furniture, clearly exhausted (don't click on the photo to make it larger, just trust me I look even worse than it appears)... yet happy because my husband bought me a $1 ice cream cone (probably knowing that I can't eat and complain at the same time).

And please don't think that I'm anti-Ikea. It really does have it's place (and we have used it on more than one occasion). But after four hours... I think I'll wait a while before returning...

Small Group Crawfish Boil

A few Sundays ago Chris and I hosted our Small Group for a good ole' Louisiana crawfish boil!

Over half of the group had never had crawfish before, so we were excited to introduce them to the tradition.

Here are the ladies, enjoying the a/c:

And here's Chris, getting dinner ready:

And a close-up of the meal:

We also had gumbo and boudin (and grilled chicken for the faint of heart).

Once the crawfish were ready, we all dug in!

You can see that even Baby Hill enjoyed them!

With guests from Kansas, Southern California and Africa, we weren't too sure what the reaction would be, but I was impressed that the last folks standing at the table were those non-Texans who had never had crawfish before!

One last shot of the ladies (next time, we need to remember to have a "guys" photo!)

WBW: Chris' Close Up

Here's a WAY Back When-sday photo of Chris at Olan Mills:

I love how 80's this next one is!

I can't remember if I've shared this next one before... but it totally captures Chris' personality:

He's sweet... but there's some mischief behind that smile!

Want to share a Way Back When-sday photo of your own? Bonus points if you're not even in it-- just embarrassing a loved one!


Step One: grab a button and to put on your WBW post (that will send readers here):

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.thehillscountry.blogspot.com" title="The Hill's Country"><img src="http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac296/katiebhill/WBWR32.jpg" alt="The Hill's Country" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Step Two: fill out this easy form and a link will pop up here to send readers to YOUR WBW story!

Maria Find Chocolates

My sweet niece, Maria, was recently chilling on her Bumbo... when something caught her eye. Chocolate.

She was able to reach way down inside the bag:

But didn't quite realize that she was supposed to grab the tasty treat inside. Instead, she tried out the bag:

After a good college try of tasting the bag:

She decided that chocolate wasn't her thing after all...

But she held on to the bag for a while, just to make sure.

I'm sure you'll be asking Aunt Katie for a chocolate soon enough, Maria! And although I might say yes, Papa PD will be the better one to ask. He'll say, "No. But you can have two!!"

Dinner at the Hills

Although Super Supper Club has changed a lot this year, Chris and I did have some pals over recently for a "pitch-in" type dinner.

What does that mean? Basically, everyone brought ingredients for a dish and we all "pitched-in" to make dinner!

Ashley spear headed the main dish which was delicious and impressive. Here she is grinding up some pepper:

 K-Dog helped out with that part too:

And here's the finished product being seared:

Delicious! (For those interested, you can find the recipe in The Houston Junior League's cookbook: Stop and Smell the Rosemary. It's called Peppercorn-Crusted Beef Tenderloin and is on page 130.)

I forgot what Carrie and Stephanie made, but here they are taking a photo break:

Gordon enjoyed eying dinner from Chris' lap:

While Sonoma (Stephanie's dog) looked wistfully from the floor:

Finally, Stephanie let Sonoma have a taste of our meal... and she loved it!

(And yes, she found the green bean that's on the floor!)

A tasty meal with good company left all the people and puppies happy!

Tutorial: Magnet Boards

Our refrigerator is not magnetic. In preparation for "Extreme Nesting, 2012" I've decided I need more photos around the house. So I decided to create some magnetic space.

For those that like to speed ahead, here's the finished product:

(That's the boards hung with our lobster magnet... to see how it really looks in our house, read ahead...)

I started with these supplies:

 That's some Elmer's Spray Adhesive (which I love), Fisker's utility knife (is that what you call it?), a 5" x 8" piece of magnet board (which I snagged at Pick Your Plum), some fun fabric and coordinating ribbon.

First: cut a rectangular piece of fabric-- larger than the magnet board (I just eye-balled it).

Use the spray adhesive:

and spray the WRONG side of the fabric.

(I sprayed over an old piece of cardboard so that any over-spray would not get on my workspace. Then I picked it up and transferred it to an old cutting board so it wouldn't get stuck to the cardboard!)

So the WRONG side of the fabric is now sticky and laying face up.

Next: Put the magnet board on top of the fabric.

Press down. Then turn it over:

And press out any wrinkles (a credit card would be helpful for this, but I just used my hands).

Flip it back over and get the utility knife. Run the knife around each side so you have a clean cut:

(You can see my project is still on that old cutting board so I'm not hurting my desk.)

I did not have a problem with the fabric fraying, but some fray check would have helped if I did.

If you're feeling the need for some power tools, drill two holes at the top of the magnet board. If not, there are many other ways you can adhere the ribbon to the board (super/hot glue on the back come to mind first).

I drilled the holes at the top (fine, I didn't use the power tools... Chris did!) and threaded the ribbon through. Then I tied a four-square knot (thanks, Ragnot Sailing Camp!), trimmed the ribbon and burned the edges.

I repeated three times and now have a place for some family photos!

I love these panels because I can group them in any pattern that makes sense for the wall space where they are going.

If you end up repeating this project, post a comment with a link to photos (via your blog, facebook, flikr, pinterest or whatever else you want to use!) so I can see!

WBW: Teddy Rupskin

When I was a child I used to love listening to my Teddy Rupskin teddy bear:

He had a cassette tape player in his back and would tell stories while I followed along in the book.

One day, he broke and we had to send him to the Teddy Rupskin hospital. I remember waiting on the front porch every afternoon for the UPS man, Buddy, to bring him back!

Would you believe that Buddy is still on that same UPS route? I have a friend who lives near my childhood home and he is now her UPS man. I wonder if Buddy knows he's forever linked with Teddy Rupskin in my mind!

Have your own Way Back When-sday memory to share?

Step One: grab a button and to put on your WBW post (that will send readers here):

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.thehillscountry.blogspot.com" title="The Hill's Country"><img src="http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac296/katiebhill/WBWR32.jpg" alt="The Hill's Country" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Step Two: fill out this easy form and a link will pop up here to send readers to YOUR WBW story!

Party for Lucy!

After Lucy's baptism, we all went back to Justin and Laura's house for a family celebration.

Laura did a wonderful job with the decorations and setting everything out just right. Unfortunately I didn't think to change the settings from the church and when I passed my camera off for "set-up" shots, they didn't come out well.

But we did get this one!

Lucy started out very content that everyone was there to celebrate her:

But quickly became disgruntled:

(Am I strange that I find photos of crying babies adorable?)(Maybe it's because you can't hear the crying!)

Some time with Papa and she calmed right down:

Later, Uncle Chris and I got a picture with our niece:

 Laura and Justin wanted to capture Lucy's footprints for a special project. Somehow Lucy knew she wasn't going to enjoy the experience and she wailed throughout the entire process. Normally, a baby crying isn't a good thing. But I took the opportunity to capture some more "crying baby" photos!

Getting inked:

Making her mark:

Five little toes!

Still not enjoying the process:

Adorable inked baby foot!

Finally done and safe in mom's arms (but her face shows she's not quite sure the trauma is over):

Maybe she remembered being in the hospital the other time she had to give her footprints? Either way, she calmed down as soon as the ink pad was put away!