Gift for a new baby

Some friends of ours from church recently had a baby. Welcome, little man!

Front

Back

First attempt...

at french-braiding the little one's hair:

I need some practice, but it's challenging with a wiggly little girl! :)

What we've been up to (and pictures for the grandparents!)

One day a week for the last 3 weeks, we've driven north to check out some of Georgia's lakes (the temperature and humidity are also a little lower!). We went to Lake Hartwell, Rabun Lake, and Lake Russell. A load of pics following mainly to satisfy the grandparents- ha!

33 weeks

My hunky hubband

35 weeks

Canning

After talking about it for a few months, I decided to teach myself how to can jam/jelly/preserves. I got a book from the library, bought the supplies from Wal-mart (a water-bath canner, jars, jar lifter, funnel, and pectin), and went to work. The strawberry jelly came out great! All of my jars but one sealed (which of course we ate right away), and it didn't take too long. It took me a few hours of constant stirring, watching, slicing, and cleaning, but it was very doable even with a toddler clinging to my leg.

Cleaning the jars

Mama's helper

Yummy!

Sorry there aren't any pics between cutting fruit and filled jars--it's pretty fast-paced so this novice didn't have time to take any shots!

Very satisfying :)

Corn huskin'

A few shots of our little sweetie helping Daddy husk corn from the lab's cornfield:

Our porch

Here are some pictures of our screened-in porch (very common here in the South). If you're in California, or somewhere not humid, you may be thinking 'Why would one need a screened-in porch? Isn't that wimpy?'. No. The screens are extremely necessary because otherwise one might get eaten alive by mosquitoes or other large bugs/spiders (although somehow a few still find their way in, including scorpians). We love the porch, although I can't tolerate being outside right now for more than 2 minutes (it's been around 96-100 degrees here lately with high humidity). I think I'll enjoy it more when it cools off a little. Anyways, the porch overlooks our backyard and the woods beyond (the river below is visible in the winter when all the trees have lost their leaves).

The lovely, Appalachian-made rocking chairs are on loan from some very dear friends of ours.

The wicker loveseat has a matching chair next to it which I got at a yardsale for $8!! For both!! Very exciting :)

View from the garden

We are blessed to live in this house :)

Trip out West

Here are a few pictures from our trip to California. We had a great time with Nana and Papa, Abuelita and Grandpa, and all of our (and the little one's) aunts, uncles, and cousins. We also had fun visiting friends in the Bay Area!

Good friends in the lab

We miss the Chambers!!

The doll and her little buddy

BBQ in deliciously warm (but not hot or humid!) weather

2nd generation IV Grad!

Peter telling a riveting story

Playing with the big girls at "Aubee" and "Gee-pa's" house

Shortly after this our camera battery died and we didn't bring the charger (which of course I was kicking myself for!).