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Kendall Elizabeth

Some of you already know, but for those that don't - we had our little girl on Christmas Day...how's that for the best Christmas gift ever?!

I won't go into all the details right now except for the basics...she was born at 3:14 pm, weighed 8lbs 8oz, and was 21 inches long. Oh, and she's the most beautiful baby ever!

We got home from the hospital today (the 27th), and are adjusting to our new lives as parents. Things are a bit hectic right now, so until I can get to the blog a little more often, here's some pictures of our precious baby...

Merry Christmas!

I took this fun little quiz after seeing it on Melissa's blog. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

You Should Have a White Christmas Tree

For you, the holidays represent joy and sprituality. The true meaning of Christmas is important to you - even if you're not religious. The holidays are a time of reflection for you. You like to spend time thinking about what's important in life. Your white tree would look great with: Bright, bold ornaments You should spend Christmas Eve watching: The Nativity Story What you should bake for Santa: Sugar cookies - served up with a tall glass of milk

What Color Christmas Tree Should You Have?

Family Time

So all the fam is here, and we've been having a great time together. That's why there's been a shortage of posts. No, we haven't had the baby yet (that seems to be the first question we get these days). I will try to post something on here when we're either on our way to the hospital or after the fact. So stay tuned...

Cody Gaines?

In going along with Erika's recent picture of Cody, Grant was able to dig up this oldie-but-goodie. It was back during Cody's Chris Gaines phase. In case you don't know, Chris Gaines was Garth Brooks' alter ego back in the day. Apparently Cody was such a fan, that someone captured this image of him, dressing up like his favorite made-up rock star. The resemblance is uncanny!



By the way, if you're interested in seeing some "real" Chris Gaines pictures, you can check them out here.

Nothing to report

Today's the official day, but I don't think it's going to happen. That's okay, though. The family starts coming in tomorrow, and my mom would really like to be here when the baby comes, so I guess we'll just see.

Anyways, we had more snow and ice over the weekend. Church even got cancelled yesterday. Saturday, Grant made a snowman. Back in Florida, it did snow once where it stuck - I think it was maybe around March of '94 or '95 - about 1 or 2 inches. It was crazy! Anyways, everyone built snowmen, but they were pretty tiny. Like, just a few inches high. So Grant was proud of this snowman, because he was a pretty good size. As you can see, he put a little of his "Grant-ness" into it.

Got Baby?

Okay, 2 posts in one day. Anyways, I had a couple of suggestions (thanks Mrs J and Jenn) to name my next post "Got Baby." While I still don't have a baby, I thought I'd show my belly progress. Please excuse the scariness of it all.

This was at about 7 weeks...


And this is 39 weeks...


Crazy, huh?

Killin' Time

While waiting for this little girl to come, I've been getting caught up on some things that I've put on the back burner. A while back, I bought some new curtains for our "office." I put a picture up about a year ago. Anyways, when I bought them I bought 3 total, because at some point, I wanted to make matching pillow shams out of the same fabric.

Then, about a month or so ago, I was flipping through a Pottery Barn catalog, and saw these awesome Christmas-y pillow shams, but they were WAY out of my budget. Aren't they cool though?

So I decided I would find some kind of vintage Christmas-y fabric, and make some pillow shams of my own, for a fraction of the price. I found the perfect fabric - all that was left was to make them!

I don't know if it's the nesting that comes to women right before they go into labor, but today was a sewing day for me. And I don't sew that often, so when I say a sewing day, I mean it - these little pillow shams took forever!! But I finally got the hang of it, and I'm really proud of my work.

I started with the green ones. The first one I did was okay...not perfect, but definitely acceptable. I figured no one will ever look really closely at something like this, so it was okay to not be too anal about it. The second one was very much improved.


By the time I was making the Christmas ones, I was really proud of my work! I even had straight seams!

I just copied the shams that I already had instead of using a pattern. I've tried using patterns in the past with no luck.

Now that I'm more confident than I ever have been before in my sewing, I feel inspired. I might try to make a Christmas stocking for the little one with some of the same fabric. I do love that fabric!

Got Snow?

Yesterday, it snowed almost all day. I have to say, it was a great feeling not having to go out and drive in it, like I had to last winter for work. I might actually be able to enjoy this winter because of that reason! Anyways, it was really pretty, and Grant and I just had a lazy day - watching Arrested Development, doing laundry, taking a nap, etc. It was great!

Redecorating

With Christmas almost here, and the baby almost here, I've been doing quite a bit of redecorating. I've been working on the nursery gradually, but Grant was out of town last week, so that, along with not working anymore, motivated me to get it completely done. So that was a big accomplishment for me. Here's a few pics. As you can see, it's somewhat make-shift, doubling as a guest room, and lacking a lot of actual baby decorations. Hopefully, when we get into our house in LA, the baby will have a room all to herself, and be very girly and flowery.





Also while Grant was gone, I was able to get all of the Christmas decorations up. I truly love decorating for Christmas! It was one of my favorite things to do with my mom when I was growing up and I've definitely enjoyed doing it now, as a married woman. I'm not quite where I want to be in terms of how many decorations I have, but that's what the 50% off sales the day after Christmas are for. By the way, check out the new TV! That was our Christmas present to ourselves - thanks to Grant getting in line at the BX before 4 AM the day after Thanksgiving.

Monkey Bread

Once again, while skimming through my latest issue of Real Simple, I came across a great recipe. This one was familiar to me, though. Back in Albuquerque, I believe it was Janelle that used to make Monkey Bread and bring it to various get-togethers. Then Megan picked up the tradition. It was always so good, and I always wanted the reciped, but never remembered to get it. I'm not sure what the real recipe entails, but this one that I found in Real Simple is an easy version of the real thing, because it uses refrigerated dough. I made it the other night, and it turned out great!!

2 1-pound packages refrigerated pizza dough
1 T cinnamon
1 c sugar
8 T butter, melted, plus more for the pan

Heat oven to 375

Tear off small bits of the dough and roll them into 1- to 1 1/2-inch balls. Place the balls on a plate.

Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Dip each ball in the butter, then in the cinnamon sugar. Transfer the balls to a buttered Bundt pan.

Drizzle any remaining butter over teh top and sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Place a plate on top of the pan and carefully flip it over. Tap the bottom to release the bread.

Let people pull the bread apart with their fingers.