Not So Snug

OK, this is a picture of Hannah during her nap time. The pink thing is nicknamed the "mummifier" because it mummifies the baby in it. Since she moves around so much we wrap her in this. There's a slot for the feet and then it wraps around the body and velcros shut so she can't move her arms and legs. That is the general idea anyway. She was mummified when I laid her down for the nap, but this is what I found when I checked on her after she was done crying and fell asleep. She's not exactly as snug as a bug in a rug. It kind of defeats the purpose of being mummified, but she fell asleep so I won't complain.

Fried Brain

I think I'm loosing my mind. Actually I think I lost it a while ago but I've blamed it on lack of sleep. I'm now realizing I'm just loony. All of our stuff is packed away into boxes in my parents storage room. There are a few things we have wanted but we've made due without because we don't want to dig through all the boxes. Well, next week I start online classes and I need my financial calculator. Of course it's in a small nicely labeled box among all of our stuff, we just don't know where. Needless to say we spend quite a while looking for it and finally, in the last box in the furthest corner of the room is the one we're looking for. Here's a picture of James sorting through our stuff:

We open the box and tada....there's the calculator. Only one small problem, it's a graphing calculator and I need a financial calculator. Oops. After thinking about it I used the financial calculator in Thailand and left it there. I knew that. My frazzled brain just chose to forget. On the bright side, we're much more familiar with where our stored goods are.

Finicky Family Fun

Last week was our official family reunion. My siblings are spread all through the country and don't get together very often. We hadn't seen some in over 3 years - before Thailand. As always it was fun to get together. My parents house seemed a little to small at times for all 28 of us, but we survived. While everyone was here we took the dreaded family pictures. I don't have one with all of us yet. My sister is the family photographer but wasn't in the picture so she's doing a little photoshopping. However, we do have the individual families. I can't believe how big all my nieces and nephews are.

Jan, Jared and their 5 munchkins

Crazy Clint, Jana and their 4 cute kiddos

Jeromy with his 2 fun kids

Natalie, Jeff and their 4 squirts

Becky and her beautiful self

Adorable Hannah. I guess I should have put a picture of all 3 of us, but this is cuter.

Here are some random pictures of the different activities we did with everyone:

Hannah thoroughly enjoying the 24th of July parade. She slept through the entire thing. However, the other kids really enjoyed the candy and the different people.

Kayla's showing off her new flower hair clip. We did the activity for the 'girls' but it turned out to be more for the moms. Funny how that works sometimes.

Ashley's holding up her flip flops. This was another activity for the 'girls'. They really liked them and they turned out really cute. It seems like there's a predominate female theme.

Just a random shot of two dancing. I don't know why they were dancing, but it's pretty cute.

Here they are making funny faces at Tony's Grove. We spent a fun day hiking and playing in the water.

Don't ask. These three are just goofing off.




Here she's sporting the newly painted t-shirt. This was another kids activity, but it included boys and girls this time!



Here are some of my older nieces. I can't believe how much they've grown. Where does the time go?

It was fun to see everyone. There was a lot of chaos, but that's the way it goes when 28 people are sharing 1 house.

Hannah

A couple of years ago I met Hanna, an extended relative in Germany and fell in love with her. We didn't speak the same language and lead very different lives, but she is wonderful. She's such a sweetheart and so kind, but she's also got some spunk. James and I decided several years that we wanted to name a daughter after her. So, here's Hannah's namesake:

On Sunday, James gave Hannah her name and blessing in church. It was a sweet and very humble blessing. James was nervous about it, but everything went really well (she even kept quiet during the whole thing - hurray)! I love watching James interact with her - it's neat to see how much he loves her. I appreciate all he does. Anyway, here she is all decked out in her blessing dress. You'd never believed I cut about a foot off of the pattern. Oh well, I think she looks pretty darn cute!

Another Project!!

When James made the first two picnic tables our neighbors saw them and loved them. He has since made two more with several others expressing interest in them. Once he started making them he must have caught a fever for it. He found an octagonal picnic table for sale online that he really liked. Since he had time he decided he wanted to try to make it. He had no plans or pattern for the table and only one picture to go off of, but he did it. After hours and hours (and some more hours) of thinking, figuring out angles, and working he completed this table. Doesn't it look great? I'm so proud of him.

1 Month

We went to the doctor today for a weight check and Hannah gained 10 oz in one week. The doctor was very happy about that (too bad the doctor's never say that about us :D). Anyway, she's quickly becoming our little chunker. Okay, maybe not yet, but she us now up to 7 lb 10 oz. She's now a month old and here are a few pictures in celebration of us surviving the first month.

Here she is all sprawled out and sporting one of the cute outfits Aunt Becky gave her.

No matter how tightly we bundle her up, she always manages to work her arms and legs out. James thinks she looks like she's hiding her face in shame.

Here she is demonstrating the "field goal" position. This is another of her favorite arm movements. I personaly like the little ears she has poking out from her hood.

James' Latest Project

A few days ago my mom mentioned she wanted to get a picnic table but couldn't find the one she was looking for. James had some free time and ended up taking on the project of building the table. It actually is a pretty nifty table. It's two benches that come together and make a table. So, you can have two benches or one table. Here's how it turned out:

The two benches

The table once the benches have been put together

My mom liked it so much she had him make a second table. It went a lot faster and in a matter of hours he produced a second one. My mom is thrilled and I am once again greatly impressed by my studly husbands abilities, I just wonder when he will stop volunteering for more projects. :D

New Wheels

Sadly, we have not purchased a new car, but Hannah has a stroller. We broke it out and took it for its first spin around the block on Sunday. Here we are with her new set of wheels:

She's still a little small for the seat and kept sliding around in the seat. We probably should just wait until she's a little older and bigger, but I was ready to get out of the house and a walk sounded like the perfect family activity. So, we propped her up with lots of blankets and the head rest from her car seat. Here's an up close look at the finished product. It has sort of a hillbilly touch, but it worked. James thought the head rest looked like massive ear phones, so we added his ipod and she looked like she was rockin' to some music, but the photo didn't turn out too well. Needless to say, we had a pretty good laugh and spent more time preparing for the walk than actually walking. But, I guess that's just how it goes.

E R

The other day James came home from work early with a bandaged arm informing me he had been to the Emergency Room. This is not something anyone wants to hear, especially knowing James and how he would avoid going to a doctor at all costs, let alone the ER. Apparently he was working on a house using a nail gun. Everything was going along fine until he shot the nail gun and the safety double fired. I'm not sure if that's the correct terminology, but the gun shot out an extra nail and instead of going into the house it went into James. Ouch. That sounds painful to me. It went into his arm (see bandage) a couple of inches deep. He was able to salvage the nail and is showing it off in the picture above. He was pretty nonchalant about the whole ordeal. I'm just glad he's okay and the wound seems to be healing without any problems.

Happy Father's Day

Seeing that James is now a father I felt a little guilty for not having anything for him on Father's Day. Then, someone (thanks Lace) reminded me that she was a pretty good gift to give. So, here's a picture of James with his Father's Day gift. Aren't they cute together? I think we'll keep her. :D