I’ve Succumbed!

I truly thought I would be able to weather this bout of colds in our family, but, alas I, too, can be numbered among the sick.  It began with Emma, then the baby, then Emma again, then B-House and Taylor, and now Emma again and me.  Right now only the baby is healthy.  Please keep us in your prayers!

For the Grandparents

Just wanted to post a few pictures for the grandparents, who are longing to see Eleanor, our newest gal.  We wish we could come visit you all!

And here’s a couple pictures of the rest of the girls.  It’s been hard to get a picture of Taylor lately (she’s been “camera shy”).

(I wish I had worn pink in this last picture!).  :)

Harvest Sunday

Last Sunday, B-House brought home a crate FULL of fresh produce, a huge basket of grapes, and an enormous piece of bread.  There were carrots, tomatoes, walnuts, apples, home-made jams, pumpkins, onions, and home-made dried apples.  The piece of bread was just half of a loaf, but it must have been at least 18 inches in diameter!

When he finally had a chance to explain (I was sputtering and exclaiming so much), he told me that it was the traditional German “Harvest Sunday” at church, where the congregation brings the fruits of their harvests and lays it at the front of the church.  The food was divided between the two pastors of the church, Markus and B-House.  Wow!  I was simply overwhelmed!

Here’s a few pictures…think BIG (everything was big, from the quantity of grapes to the size of the bread)…

Growing, Growing!

Eleanor has been growing like a weed these last few weeks.  It seems as if I was just dressing her in newborn clothes and then – boom! – she skipped through the 3-months size and went straight into the 6-months size.  She’s not really a whopper; she’s just very long.  She has long arms and legs, long fingers and toes, and long feet, too.

She’s become quite a charmer, dazzling us with her big smile and sweet face.  We love hearing her laugh.  The first 3 months of her life, she had terrible tummy aches, especially after receiving antibiotics in the hospital.  That seems to have resolved itself almost completely now.  Her body has learned how to deal with the gas in her tummy – and it does that quite loudly!  We are still amazed at the noises she can make!  But it makes her so happy!  :)

Here’s our little munchkin at less than 10 days old…

And here she is now at 3 months old…

Doesn’t she look like fun?  B-House is convinced that this one is going to be a daddy’s girl.  He’s smitten.  :)

Emma’s Sick

Emma got a runny nose last week and now this week has an ear infection.  Our little sunshine is a little bit gloomy right now.

Tomato Soup

The girls figured out that it’s much easier to drink their tomato soup than spoon it…

It was just the three of us, so I didn’t think it necessary to correct them. It was more necessary to try to get a good picture of them!

Can you see that tomato soup “mustache?”

Twirling

Emma, for the last month or so, has been wanting to wear dresses every minute of the day. She even asks to wear her dress to bed some nights! Oftentimes, she wants to wear the same dress day after day after day. It’s easy to do her laundry during those weeks!

It all became clear one morning why she wanted to wear only dresses. After I slipped her favorite one over her head, she told me, “It’s like a princess! Now I can dance!”

Scrappin’ Girls

We scrapbooked this morning and it was really fun!  I had high hopes of pulling out my own scrapbook to work on once I got the girls started, but I found they needed my attention the whole time.  I still had a good time, helping them glue (with glue sticks for the first time), color, and put on stickers.  Emma couldn’t get enough of gluing and Taylor arranged the photos very nicely in the scrapbook for us.

I hope to do it again so we can get all the pictures in their album.  Time is just so limited with a little baby, though!  Most of the time, I’m running around busy, busy, busy, feeding, cleaning, changing, cooking, diapering, and disciplining, among other things.  It was really nice to work on something together (even if it was just for 30 minutes!).  I’m sure life will calm down soon – perhaps in 2010?  :)

More Emma Faces

Emma has always been expressive and now she does it purposely to make us laugh.  Here are a few of our favorites…

And the classic Emma face…

The Fabric Stash

Right after B-House and I were married, I discovered that our Laura Ashley store was closing its doors at the mall.  I had drooled over Laura Ashley fabrics for years, but knew they were too expensive for me to ever decorate with.  The close-out prices I was finding at the store, though, were an unbelievable deal.  I was so excited!…a brand-new homemaker, on a limited budget, finding great deals on lovely fabric…I couldn’t ask for more!

B-House and I still laugh about my “shopping spree.”  We went to the mall and split up – he on his way to the Apple store and I on my way to browse the Laura Ashley store.  After looking through all they had to offer, I meekly chose a few fabrics to buy and went to find B-House.  When he looked in my bag, he said, “That’s all?  Don’t you want any more?”  Surprised, I said, “Yes, but I wasn’t sure if I should get more.”

He sent me back to the store on my own, reminding me that this was my big chance to get the fabrics I had always wanted at the price we could afford.  ”Buy some for now and some to use in the future,” he said.

This second time through the store concluded with another bag full of lovely fabrics.  Excitedly, I went back to show him and tell him all my plans for them.  He looked in my bag and said, “That’s all?”  And I said, “Well, there were a couple more that I liked.”  This time he went back to the store with me.

I have many lengths of fabric still to put to use (they are stored in a suitcase), but I also have many hand-made quilts, curtains, and pillows made out of my treasured Laura Ashley fabrics.  This last summer, I made duvet covers for the girls’ princess bedroom.  They chose their own room color – a very light purple.  I was so excited when they chose purple because I had a good amount of purple fabric that I had bought in hopes of someday having little girls.

There’s nothing fancy about them, but here’s Taylor’s duvet…

and here’s Emma’s duvet…

The girls were both excited about watching the “duvet-making process” and it was delightful for me to finally have a little girls’ room to decorate in purple.  Seeing the two of them snuggled in their blankets at night is a lovely sight.