rain rain go away...

unless you look this stinkin cute in your raincoat!

we sent Mo a raincoat and a few other goodies for his birthday. These pictures make me smile, thanks for sharing Stuart and Allison.

pants

My husband keeps me laughing. Usually its a little more of the laugh at you than laugh with you kind of laugh, but either way he is an excellent sport and tolerates my giggling...and with out a doubt he brings me joy.

Last fall, John and I went to a party with some friends. John looked handsome as ever in his tuxedo and I tried to dress the part as well. We had a ball (pun intended) :) with our friends dancing the night away. After a very late night we fell in to bed. The next day, John was getting his stuff together for me to take to the drycleaners when I heard him yelling from the bedroom. I was sure Barley had done something he wasn't supposed to, but when I walked in to bedroom and found John holding his tux pants to say we laughed would be an understatement...because his pants, well, um..they looked a little bit like this...

(picture taken before pants were taken to be fixed. had to capture the evidence)

Ripped from seam to seam! WIDE OPEN! What is almost funnier than his pants actually ripping, is the fact that neither of us have a clue as to when it happened! I personally like to think it happened on one of John's early signature dance moves as he cut a rug on the dance floor. But surely if he ran around the rest of the night with pants literally ripped in half surely someone would have noticed...right!?

The lady at the alterations place did not find the story NEARLY as funny as we did. but it only seemed fair to tell the story when bringing in pants in such a condition. $4 in alterations...priceless

one year

Exactly one year ago this morning I got the very best text message I had ever received.

It simply said:

"Mo is here."

beneath the picture he wrote: "my baby"

beautiful.

Happy Birthday Mo!!

 ONE year! The snow is piling up at your house today, and I am so thankful it was not this time last year. I would have been a nervous wreck wondering if your midwife and doula could get to you.. not to even mention all of your grandparents who were dying to meet you!

We LOVE you!

A is for

Addison Grace!

Early in her pregnancy, my friend Sarah Beth asked me to paint a sign with Addison Grace's name. I love my friends for LOTS of reasons, but the confidence she had in me is just one more reason why I love her so much. I mean, I do like to paint things from time to time, mostly walls or furniture, but I have never painted something like a name...for her to think I was even capable of doing this was beyond me, but you really can't tell your pregnant friend no, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Sarah Beth chose this sweet bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, and promised me she really did not have ANYTHING in mind as to what this canvas should look like...

I played around painting a square canvas for a while, but I could never get really happy with how it turned out. I promised Sarah Beth I was working on it, and was REALLY hoping I would be able to paint something she would like. She assured me she would LOVE anything, didn't want me to stress, and said she could not wait to hang it on the hospital door on her arrival...AND in her nursery once she got home..hmm....no pressure, right?!?

So, I made another trip to the store deciding that it was the SIZE of the canvas that was throwing me off, surely not my artistic ability (ha!) I knew I had to get the painting done pronto or it would never make it to the hospital in time. I crossed my fingers and started with the part I knew how to do...mix colors.

I stared at the blank canvas, but then decided I had to just dive right in. I dusted off my trusty t-square (see Mom and Dad, it did not go to waste!) and made the border in which I would attempt to paint her name. I wanted the painting to coordinate with her bedding, so I decided the polka dots would be a fun way to tie it all together.

After I painted for a little while I started to really enjoy it! Her nursery walls are Kittery Point Green by Benjamin Moore, so that was the one color I knew had to be an exact match. I cheated and bought a tester to be sure it would be a "hit" instead of a "miss"...then I just tried to match some of the colors of the bedding to paint polka dots...

(this picture makes the colors look brighter than they really are)

The stripes on the bedskirt were too much fun to pass up, so I painted stripes on the sides of the canvas

The finished product! Ready for Addison Grace to make her big debut!

Sarah Beth and Michael welcomed their perfect and BEAUTIFUL baby girl in to the world late Friday night. John and I had the honor of being there to cheer them on.

Here is Addison Grace just a few minutes after she was born. Her beaming Daddy held her up to the hospital window to introduce her to all of us. Isn't she a GORGEOUS brand new baby!? A little hard to tell in this picture but she absolutly has her mama's mouth!

Addison Grace meeting her grandmothers for the first time! Absolutly love at first site!

Hello, Addison Grace! Welcome to the world!

I love you already and I hope you love your sign! Your mama and your nurses seemed to like it a lot!