My Favorite Things

A Slight Change of Plans ;)

Hello there, Dear Readers....

I've got a bit of news to share with you today!  My sweet sister Grace and her hubby had this little boy today -- 5 and a half weeks early -- via c-section.  Her water broke early this morning but he was breech, so they got to the hospital only to find out that they'd be having a c-section fairly early and by 9:15 or so this morning, he was here!  He weighs 5 lbs 1 oz. and is the sweetest little thing you've ever seen!  They just called everyone on Sunday to tell us that they'd finally decided on a name -- Benjamin Andrew -- and here he is, 3 days later!!

I'm also THRILLED to report that Baby Ben has at least one dimple in his right cheek (see mama's dimples!)!!!  I was hoping for dimples!  We're not sure about the left side yet, only because no one's gotten a very good look at his left side.  He's been in the incubator quite a bit today and when Grace finally got to hold him, she said he was snuggled in on his left side, so the jury's still out on that one.  Will keep you posted!  Ha!

Perhaps Baby Ben didn't want to miss Christmas this year??  (I KNEW I should have bought that "baby's first Christmas" sleeper!)  Or maybe he just knows how many January birthdays we have in our family (kind of a running joke, at this point) so he decided to bump his birthday back to December.....he's the only December birthday so far!  I don't know, but whatever the reason, this sweet little boy is here and he is healthy (albeit tiny) and both he and his mama are doing really well!

If you follow me on Twitter, then you may have already seen some of these photos, but the one above is from my brother-in-law's camera.  A nurse took this one, just after they pulled Benjamin out of her tummy.  His daddy is holding him here, for mama to see for the first time.

My sister, Diann, and I and my parents/littlest sister all got to spend the day at the hospital alternating between staring at Baby Ben in the NICU and spending time in the room with Gracie.  Chris escorted everyone back and forth between both.

I LOVE the pic above, that I snapped with my iPhone when Chris took Diann, Glory and I back to meet Ben for the first time.  I love the look on Chris's face.

A few others of the sweetie pie.....(these are also iPhone pics.)

To say that I'm completely smitten with this little boy would be an understatement.  And I'm so, so happy for my sister and brother-in-law.  They've waited and prayed for this baby for a long time, so now that he's finally here, we're all just so aware of what a tremendous blessing he is.

They're saying at this point, that Baby Benjamin will need to stay in the NICU for about 2 weeks, depending of course on how well he does.  But already he's trying to learn how to eat and seems to be doing really well.  We would so appreciate your prayers that Little Man continues to grow and develop as he should, so that he can come home soon.

Obviously, we're hoping that he'll be home for Christmas, but regardless, we're so grateful that he's here and he and his mama are healthy.  The best Christmas gift ever!

much love,

Catching Up

Hello, my dear readers!  I'm sorry to have left you alone this past week but goodness me, it's been Grand Central Station around here!!  It all started last weekend with my sister, Gracie's, baby shower here at our house.  I'll be sharing pics from that little event soon, but wanted to catch you up on all the other happenings from this week first.  

After the shower, my sister, Diann's, kiddos -- all 4 of them -- got to stay with us for 3 days.  Let me just preface all this by saying that they are ages 5 months, 1 1/2, 3 and 4 years old.  Needless to say, we had our hands full!  lol!  

This is Miss Lainey.  She is a veeeery happy girl.  All you have to do is look at her or say something to her and you get these huge smiles....again and again.  Kinda melts me!

She's super sweet and is perfectly content to lay on her little play mat and chill out or maybe even fall asleep on her own.  Such a good baby!

And this sweetie-pants is little Miss Zoey....or Zo.....or ZoZo.....whichever you prefer.  She is a TOtal girly-girl already!  I got each of the kids some surprises before they came -- just little toys and such to pull out as needed (otherwise known as bribes!)....this isn't my first rodeo, you know!  Haha!  So for Zoey, I got things like little plastic rings and bracelets and flowers for her hair and a cute little purse with "lipstick" (the plastic kind!) and she loooooved it.  

Every night, I'd make her take off all of her accessories and leave them downstairs for bed.  Then first thing in the morning, she'd have to pile it all on again, and she'd wear it allllllll day long!  Haha....she looked like such a fancy little lady swinging with her little coat on and her bracelets and flower in her hair.  :)

She had so much fun one day, she fell asleep at the lunch table!  Haaaa.  And seriously, can we just talk about those cheeks?!!  I LOVE them.  A lot.  

Ahhh, Malachi.  The only boy in the bunch.  He LOVES to swing!  We have some really sweet neighbors next door that have a swing set in their back yard that doesn't get much use any more now that their kids are grown, so they graciously let us use it whenever the littles come to town.  The first thing the kids ask us when they come over, is if they can go to 'the park'!  Haha.....apparently any swing set in a large open yard, is considered 'the park'!

Malachi is the sweetest boy ever!  He's got the best big brown eyes and he can't say his l's right yet.  If a word starts with an L, it comes out as a Y.  For instance, he says, "I yove you, Yainey" and it's just about the cutest thing you've ever heard!  He's very tender-hearted and loving and I adore that about him.

And here's Ally....big sister.  This photo of her is rather appropriate -- she's ALWAYS in motion!  She kept us on our toes, probably as much as the other three combined!  Ha!

I didn't go anywhere except for church, while they were here, because we couldn't fit all 4 of their carseats in either of our cars!!!  Haha!  So when we went to church on Sunday, we had to take two cars.  LOL.  

That also meant that when it was time to take them home, we had a little vehicular issue to work out.  My mom graciously offered to drive us/them home in their minivan so Grace, my Mom and I road-tripped to Diann's house with all 4 kiddos.  Thank goodness for Mom & Dad's minivan!

The only trouble with this plan was that in order to get all the carseats in, the only seat left for dear old Auntie Dawn (since Auntie Grace is very pregnant!), was on the back row wedged in between 'the bigs'!  Haha!  (Yes, the littles are now the bigs and the new littles are technically still babies......so there are 2 bigs and 2 babies?)  Anyway....

 

To pass the time in the van, those of us on the back row played games (I Spy) and sang songs and made up songs (haha) and snapped a few fun photos on the iPhone.  :)

On the way, we had to stop at my parents' house to see their puppies!  One of their dogs had babies, so they've got 4 of these little cuties!  I couldn't resist snapping pics of a couple of them.  ADORABLE!  I think they're about 7 weeks old now.

The day after the kiddos went home, my mother-in-law came to stay with us for a few days for Thanksgiving.  And the day after she got here, was the actual holiday so my family (those that were in town) came for the day.  We had lots of good food and laughter!  It was a great day!

And today, my mother-in-law went home so tonight, we're planning on putting the Christmas tree up.  Tomorrow, after church, we'll get it decorated.  It's a big tree, so it takes us awhile.

This sweet boy will be SO happy to get things back to a peaceful normal around here!  He's been so tired this week, with all of the kids/people coming and going!!  Haha.  When the kids were here, he didn't know which kid he should follow, if they went in different directions!  lol.  Poor boy!  He's likely to sleep for a week now!  

I'll be back soon to share some baby shower photos.  In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

love,

OH, and in case you missed it, Ellen Hutson is having a big sale this weekend!  Use promo code anniv2012 for 15% off your order, thru Cyber Monday!

And Two Peas is also having a big giant sale with over 900 items marked 40% off!  Happy online shopping, friends!

Baby Shower Garland

Helloooo....

Well, today is baby shower day, here at the McVey Ranch.  I'll be sure to share photos of the event itself, but for now, I thought I'd show you a couple of little garlands I whipped up for the dining room, where the food will be set up on the table, buffet style.

I knew I wanted to create a garland for the hutch but instead of the usual banner style garland, I wanted something a little lighter....a bit more delicate....fitting for a teensy little baby.  AND, because I used colors that coordinate with the shower and the invitations, which I told you are also the colors of the baby's new room, my sister can take these garlands home and hang them in his room after the shower, if she'd like.  Although we might have to thumb wrestle for the star one.  I'm thinking it'll be PERFECT for Christmas!  I love it!  It looked sooo cute in there, even by itself and I could just picture another garland with some reds mixed in....ahhh.  Well....we'll see how it goes.  I suppooooose I could give her this one and make another.  ;)

And you know why I could do that?  Because making these is easy!  Have you seen them all over the internet and wondered how they make them?  Well, I'd seen them and liked them but never tried my hand at them until today.  I have to say that I'm hooked!

First, I made the star garland.  To speed up the process since I needed lots and lots of stars, I simply used a star punch.  But of course, if you have Papertrey's Seeing Stars dies, you could easily use those.

So to start, I punched out lots and lots of stars from an ugly old book.  You know the kind....not old enough to be truly beautiful and not new enough to not be considered old.  Haha.  It's just an ugly old book from a thrift store, but the best part is those soft, creamy colored pages inside.  PERFECT for crafting with.

Next, I pulled a little thread out from my sewing machine to create a small tail at the end of the garland (in case I needed it to hang the garland with) and then ran a star thru my sewing machine.  Then, lift the presser foot, pull the two strands of thread out a little bit (toward the back of the sewing machine), put in another star, lower the presser foot and stitch.  Then, just keep repeating that process over and over until you run out of stars or as in my case, bobbin thread.  HA!  The key is just to pull the thread out a bit after stitching each star, so that there's a little space between the stars.  I figured this out after making a tiny star garland with stars REALLY close together.  But as you'll see when I post pictures of the whole shower, I think that little banner is going to work perfectly somewhere else...stay tuned.  ;)

After making the star garland, I also wanted to make one with circles (since the baby bedding has circles on it) and also because I wanted to create one with some of the shower colors on it.  Since the table cloth I'll have on the dining room table is aqua blue, I opted to make the circle garland using dotted paper from the dark chocolate pattern pack and striped paper from the new leaf pattern pack, as these are the other two shower colors.  

I did this one just a bit differently because I didn't want the circles to flip around and be white on the other side (the patterned papers are single-sided).  So, I just punched out all of my circles (again, you could use Papertrey's Limitless Layers: circle dies for this) and then used a bit of adhesive to adhere the circles back to back.  That way, even if the circles spin around, it won't matter.  They're colored on both sides.  Then, I created the garland in the same way I did the stars.  The only other difference is that every now and then on a circle, I slipped a star on top and stitched them all together.  You can see what I mean on the green circle in the upper left corner above.  

So what do you think?  Do you have an event coming up that you could whip up a little garland for?  Or perhaps a corner of your crafty space that could use a little sprucing up?  You could use any die or punch shape to create these fun garlands....the sky's the limit!

My family should all be here soon....it's a brunch shower, so we're having it this morning and then the brother-in-laws will bring my nieces and nephew over after the shower, so they (the kids -- not the brother-in-laws) can stay with us for a few days!  Yehaw!  I have a feeling it's about to get crazy up in here!  Hahaha!  Follow me on Twitter and Instagram if you'd like to keep up with our adventures in babysitting!  :)

See you soon.....well, or after I've recovered from all the craziness!  lol!

Today...

Hello there, dear readers...

Well, it's that time of year again.  Today just happens to be one of my favorite days of the year.....it's firewood delivery day!  Ahhh.....seeing that big ole stack of firewood just makes me happy.  It reminds me of all the cozy nights IN, to come.  Of all the movies in front of the fire.  Of watching a sleepy puppy snuggled up in front of the hearth.  And this year -- bonus -- I learned how to knit, so I'm looking forward to cozying up in front of the fireplace with, perhaps, a Christmas movie on tv and a warm and snuggly knitting project on my lap!  It's going to be good.....  :)

I'm hosting a baby shower for my sister, Gracie, on Saturday so this morning, I've been making baby shower favors.  I wanted to keep with the color scheme I used on the shower invites -- which are also the same colors as baby boy's freshly painted new room.  :)  So, I headed to the party store in search of candy that was either brown, green or aqua.  Found these fun brown Sixlets which are just perfect!

I used Papertrey's small glassine bags, which made this process quite easy.  I poured in the Sixlets, secured the bag with a bit of washi tape (from Target) and topped with a tag.

The tags were cut with the Fillable Frames #7 die, from stamper's select white card stock.  And then each was stamped with the coordinating tag image from the Do Me a Favor Tags stamp set, using dark chocolate ink.  The sentiment -- "Thanks for joining us" -- from the same stamp set, was stamped in the tag opening using hawaiian shores ink.  They were attached to the little bags with scor-tape.  Easy peasy!  

I had extra Sixlets so into an apothecary jar they went.  They'll be used for table decoration.  And those little bags?  Well, they're lined up in my vintage drawer (normally used to house my Mister Huey's spray mist collection) and ready for the party!  

In other, OTHER news.....after the shower on Saturday, my sister Diann's, kiddos are going to stay with us for a few days.  Yes, I think maybe even all 4 of them.  Ages 4, 3, 1 1/2 and 5 months.  You should probably start praying for us now!  Hahahaha!!  I'm sure I'll be exhaaaaaausted when they go home, but you know I can't wait for all that time with them!  Eeeee!  Heaven help me!  lol!

Still waiting for the mail to arrive with the rest of my Papertrey product and then I'll be working the night away!  For now, this is where you can find me.  Ahhhh....nothing like the first fire of the season.  Bliss.

Chat with you again tomorrow, friends....

 

{Baby Shower Favors supplies -- click on thumbnails}

Stamper's Select White card stock Do Me a Favor Tags Stamp Set Dark Chocolate Ink Hawaiian Shores ink Fillable Frames #7 die Vagabond Sizzix Machine by Tim Holtz Sizzix Solo Wafer Thin Die Adapter Scor-Tape

InLinkz.com

Baby Boy Shower Invites

My sister, Gracie, is having a baby boy and I must say that I can. not. wait.  I'm excited because Gracie and her hubs live nice and close to us, so we'll get to spend lots and lots of time with this little boy and I'm soooo looking forward to it!

Baby boy is due in January, which means that it's time for a baby shower!  Any time I'm throwing a baby shower, I like to use the colors of the baby's room for the theme of the shower.  You know the baby mama likes those colors since she chose them for baby's room, so it's always a safe bet to use those same colors for the shower!  

So that's how I came about using this color scheme for the shower invites....these are the colors that will be in Baby Bear's room.

When making lots of shower invites, I like to keep it fairly simple.  The cards need to be easily mailable since there are lots of them, and they need to be fairly fast and easy to assemble.  I started out by stamping all of the tags I would need.  Here's a tip, when using the 1 3/4" tags.....it's much faster to use a circle punch than to die cut all those circles, especially if you have other die cutting to do as well.

I prepped all of the different pieces and layers for the cards first.  This way, I could easily assembly-line putting everything together.

And here is the finished product.  I designed the who/what/where/when blah-bitty-blah for the inside of the card in Illustrator (you could easily do this in Word or something similar) and then arranged them to print two side by side on the bottom half of the card stock.  That way, I could score the entire sheet, cut it in half, and fold two cards from one sheet of card stock!  SO easy!  Not only do they look more professional when everything's printed in the card, but it also saves you from having to hand-write all of that, filling in the blanks.  

So looking forward to celebrating with my sister and the rest of our family.  This baby boy has already stolen my heart!  :)

Hope you're having a great day!

Take care,

{Shower Invites supplies -- click on thumbnails}

Kraft card stock Vintage Cream card stock New Leaf pattern pack Tagged Sentiments stamp set Mat Stack 4 Collection stamp set Mat Stack 4 die Vagabond Sizzix Machine by Tim Holtz Sizzix Solo Wafer Thin Die Adapter New Leaf ink Kraft ribbon

InLinkz.com

Happy Weekend

Hellooooo there!  So I know I haven't popped in for a few days, but I've been buuuuusy.  But today, I've got a whole lotta random to share....some of what's been going on around here, a few book recommendations, and who knows what else!  Ha.

So last weekend, we went to my cousin's birthday party and my sister (Diann) and her crew came to town, so we got to spend the afternoon/evening with all my favorite little people!!  With a 4 year old (Ally), a 3 year old (Malachi), an 18 month old (Zoey) and a 7 week old (Laynie), there was never a dull moment and there's pretty much always someone to hold or play with or feed or change or wipe (HA!).....are you getting the picture!  It's chaos of the best kind.  As long as they're not crying.  lol.  

That's Bartley in the photo up above, holding Baby Laynie.  Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

This boy also had his birthday this week, so we went to a new Irish restaurant to celebrate.  Ohhh, the potato cakes.  Happy sigh...well, more of a happy groan.....

Then the next day, it rained.  I realize that to some of you this may hardly seem worth blogging about, but trust me, any 'rain event' (as the weather man is so fond of saying these days) is worth blogging about.  This one lasted a grand total of 3 minutes.  Sad.  We're in a drought here -- we've had 1/3 of the rainfall we normally get, so ANY rain is worth celebrating.

Windsor and I ran outside to sit on the porch and watch the rain.  By the time we got outside, it rained for approximately 30 seconds before it stopped.  But those were 30 glorious seconds.  

When we were in Napa Valley last year, we fell in love with the Crepe Myrtle trees that are EVERYwhere there.  So when we got home, we did some research and found some varieties of crepe myrtle (both tree and bush) that will grow in our zone and ordered some off the internets.  :)  They came, we planted, we watered (because obviously we're not getting any rain), we watched, they grew and then....wait for it.......they BLOOMED!  Both the tree and the 5 bushes we planted, which were teeeeeeeny tiny, have grown and all have blooms on them.  Hurray!  So next year, look out world!  I can't wait to see how big they'll get!

It's also been quite awhile since I've shared some book recommendations.  I've got a few for you today.....

Turnabout's Fair Play by Kaye Dacus  

This first one is the third in a series, and they're all really cute.  Think meddling Grandmas trying to marry off their single grandchildren, romantic comedy sort of books.  :)

Love on a Dime by Cara Lynn James

A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer

These last two are obviously both historical fiction with some drama thrown in for good measure as well as just good clean love stories.  Just how I like 'em!  :)

 

Before I go, how about a couple shopping recommendations?  The new Woodland Park collection from October Afternoon is hitting stores and it is cute, cute, cute!  

View Woodland Park at Two Peas HERE.  

View Woodland Park at Ellen Hutson HERE.

 

Have you seen this Lively collection from Authentique?  Those colors are gorgeous!!

I love these Amy Tangerine Leaves....perfect for tucking behind any of the myriad of flowers I love to create!  I've run out and need to get some more.  Those pink ones are calling my name.  :)  And interestingly enough, it looks like they'll coordinate perfectly with that Authentique paper!

I've also been doing some Copic coloring this week.  Don't forget that if you need some Copics to add to your collection, Ellen Hutson has Copic Markers for 25% off!

All righty, Crew, that's it from me today.  I'm so excited that it's the weekend!!  It's GORGEOUS here today.  I can't wait for my hottie hubs to get home so we can have some fun!  I'm reading a book on my Kindle so maybe I'll get to read a bit this weekend too -- I'll let you know if it's a good one!  

Take care, friends!  What are you up to this weekend?

"The Farm"

Hi, dear friends!

I've got a pile of photos to share with you today!  

Back in June, all three of the littles (my nieces and nephew) came to stay with my sister and bil for a week.  This was right before Baby Laynie was born and we weren't sure when she was coming exactly.  AND, this was Miss Zoey's first time staying away from home overnight.  It was a big week!  :)

So while they were here, Aunt Gracie (my little sis, that I told you about the other day) brought the littles over to my side of town and we took them to "the farm".  It's actually called Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead and it's this adorable farm/petting zoo/learning place/mini theme park without the rides...that is soooo fun for kids, and I have to say, for grown-ups too.  I love it there!  And believe it or not, it's free most days of the week!  Every time I go, I'm amazed that it's such a cute place with sooo much to offer and yet it's free!  We've called it 'the farm' ever since the first time I took the littles, back when they stayed with Bart & I once.  Ally and Malachi both had binkies the last time I took them!!  Sigh.

 

There are all kinds of different animals and 'the farm' is super interactive.  The kids can pet a lot of the animals or in some cases, feed them.  They have hand-washing stations ALL over the park which is handy because when they're touching animals all day, you have to wash their hands eleventy-billion times.  :)

Twin baby cows.  Awww.

BIG cow.  

One of my favorite things to do is let the kids bottle-feed the baby goats.  Hilarity always ensues during this part of the farm adventure!  Haha.  Those goats don't mess around when they want their bottles!

Here's Baby Zoey meeting the goats with Aunt Gracie.  I love that she has his ear in her hand.  Time to wash her hands again....lol.

Pigs.  Very big pigs.  The kids laughed and laughed as we watched one pig try to lay on top of the other and get cozy, but then the first pig got mad and got up and moved and then the third pig tried to squeeze in and the whole time this was going on, they were oinking up a storm.  

These next two photos, I can't even believe I got!!  I don't think I've ever in my life, seen a peacock with his feathers all fanned out....in real life.  It was quite a show he was putting on, prancing around with those feathers proudly on display!

And look at this shot!!  The colors!!  I was just bummed the fence was in the way!  Haha.  But even still.....what an amazing bird.  Wow.

While we were there, "Uncle Bart" got off work, so he was able to come meet us at 'the farm'.  What a treat that was!!  They suddenly didn't care anything about Aunt Gracie and Auntie Dawn.  Uncle Bart was there!!  Haaa.

They showed him all the techniques they'd learned for how best to hold the food to feed the goats.  So funny.

Malachi said over and over, "You hold your hand niiiiice and flat, so they eat the food and not your fingers".  

Sweet baby.

Fence climber!

This little miss was getting sleepy by the end of the day.  Just look at those cheeks.  Aren't they the best?

So I hadn't ever been in it before, but the farm also has a cute little general store where you can buy toys and candy and souvenirs, but the best part is that it looks like an ACTUAL old general store!  It's filled with real antique pieces that make it look sooooo authentic and cool!  I totally want to move into this general store!  Ha.  Just look.....

Rolling ladder, old school bins, vintage style canned goods on the shelves, tin ceilings, old style light fixtures.....even an actual National cash register!

And just look at the apothecary shelving!!  Gah.  

That's the general store on the left, and next to it on the right, is an old-time-y ice cream parlor.  Cuuuuute.  Of course, we had to get some ice cream.  It was super hot that day!  :)

The barn, at the entrance to 'the farm'.  Cute, right?

About a week after that, Baby Laynie made her first appearance and so the kids were back, staying with my parents.  While they were in town, they all showed up on our doorstep for a surprise birthday party for me, that my sneaky hubby had cooked up!  It was such a fun surprise....I was in the middle of editing a video when they showed up!  Haha.

Anyway, I was glad to get these fun snaps of each of them while they were here!

Above, is Baby Zoey...15 months.

Ally....4 years.

Malachi.....3 years.

And a little monkeying around with Auntie Dawn.  :)  Their laughs make me laugh.  

Love these munchkins....each and every one.

Baby Boom :)

Well I've got some very exciting news to share with you today!  See that adorable couple in the photo above?  That's my little sister, Gracie, and her husband, Chris.  And see that sweet little blob in the sonogram photo?  That's my newest little niece or nephew!

I've shown you lots of pictures over the last few years, of my sister Diann, and her husband, Phillip, and their 4 babies, the newest of which, arrived at the end of last month!  

Meanwhile, Gracie and Chris have been trying to have a baby for several years now and have run into some problems.  After several unsuccessful rounds of IUI, they were taking a bit of a break from all of the procedures and such and low and behold, a baby happened with no medical assistance whatsoever!!  What a blessing!!!  To say that we're all ecstatic would be an understatement!  I can't wait to meet this new little bundle and I'm sooo thankful that they live so close to us, so we can see Baby L. all the time!  We don't get that luxury with my sister, Diann's, sweet babies, since they live several hours away.

 

Aren't they adorable?  I've been commissioned to take pregnancy photos to document the months ahead (and the belly growth...ha!), and then when baby comes, I'm sure we'll be having lots of little baby photo shoots too!  Guess I'd better brush up on my photog skills!  Ha.

At the time we took these photos, she was 12 weeks along and apparently the baby was the size of a plum.  As the weeks progress, the baby -- and consequently, the fruit in the photos -- will get larger.  Let's hope she doesn't have to hold a watermelon for the shots at the end!  Hahaha.

Isn't she gorgeous?  I love this girl.  

Cute, cute, cute.

I should also interject at this point, that Chris is running for Missouri State Representative.  And Baby L's due date?  Inauguration Day!  How's that for tricky timing?!  This is gonna be interesting.....haha!

Congratulations, baby sister (and hubsy).....you know we couldn't be happier for you both!

xoxo,

 

Introducing Baby Laynie

Hello, dear readers.

Allow me to introduce you to our newest niece.....Miss Alayna Hope.  (However we call her Laynie, for short, and I think that's just about the cutest nickname ever, so I will likely call her Laynie till my dying day.  Haha!)

As it happened, Laynie decided to make her grand appearance on Sunday, this last weekend.  As it also happened, we got word that she *might* be on her way early that morning, but got word that she was in fact, already here, some 3 hours later!  As it also happened to happen, we were just finishing getting ready for church when we got word that she was here, which prompted the quick flurry of phone calls and the snap decision to forego church this particular Sunday, so that we could all meet up and make the road trip to see her immediately.  (I'd like to offer special thanks to my dear sister, for having baby Laynie in such a convenient and timely manner for the entire family.  LOL.) 

So we loaded up the car (with me feeling quite happy about the fact that we were dressed for church, so we'd all look so cute in the pictures with baby Laynie that day!  Haaaa!) and headed out to meet up with my Dad.  He had responsibilities at their church that morning, and my Mom had gone on ahead and was staying at my sister's house with the other littles until we could all get there.  My Dad was able to get away from his duties at church and we met up with my sister, Grace and her husband Chris (better known as Chris-o).  :)  

And then, it should come as no surprise, that we made a super quick stop at Target to buy Miss Laynie some presents to take with us (since we didn't know if she was going to be a boy or a girl until she popped out!)!!  

After that, we headed straight to my sister's house, some 3 hours away, where we met up with my Mom and the 3 littles so we could ALL head to the hospital and meet this special little someone!

These next photos are those precious first minutes of everyone laying eyes on Laynie for the first time....the hospital lighting is bad (as it always is), the kids are moving and excited and the photos are blurry and imperfect, and yet I love each and every one that I'm sharing with you today.  The wonder on the littles' faces when they first met their sister, was priceless. 

And is my sister amazing, or what?!  This is Diann (the sister in line right after me) with 3 of her 4 littles!

In these moments, I was waffling between the urge to cry, to capture every moment I could with my camera and my own excitement as I waited my turn to hold Laynie.  That would probably more than partly account for any blur you see in these photos!  lol.

And all 4 of them.....l-r: Ally (age 4), Malachi (age 3), Laynie (newborn) and Zoey (age 15 mths).

Auntie Dawn and my almost-birthday twinsie.  I should interject here that my birthday was on Monday and so, in honor of the big day, my husband had a couple of surprise parties planned for Sunday (the day Laynie was born), both of which, he quickly rescheduled without batting an eye.  This man knows me well.  I love that about him.  We still got to spend the day with family -- just in a different location!  And celebrating this new arrival was exactly where I wanted to be.  :)   

Side note: Laynie and I have birthdays on the 24th and 25th.....but she and I are the only summer babies in the whole family!  

There is a funny thing that happens now, when a new baby enters our family.  There is a certain pecking order that everyone falls into, as to who holds the baby first!  LOL.  My mom (Grandma) holds every new baby first.  No one even questions it!  Haha.  Then my Dad, and then the sisters, starting in order of oldest (this is one time when it pays to be the oldest!) and of course, my brother, except he wasn't there this weekend.  My littlest sister had to miss the big day too...it just wasn't the same without them!  

 

Anyway, after all of the sisters have had a turn holding the baby, then the brother-in-laws are up.  No brother-in-law would dare to take a turn before the sisters have held the new baby!  Hahaha.  Smart boys!

This is my sister Grace and her husband Chris.  She's next in line after Diann....so she's the middle child of 5.

Finally it was Uncle Bart's turn!

After the grown-ups had held her, the littles started asking if they could have a turn, so Ally went first.  She had lots of kisses for Miss Laynie.

Malachi held her for approximately 14 seconds, gave her some kisses and then said, "Dad, I'm done."  Hahaha.

Zoey's first order of business was to touch her nose.  Heeee.

It didn't take her long either, to be finished holding the baby.  :)

As you can imagine, it was kind of crazy town in that hospital room on Sunday!!  Haha.  But mama and baby are doing well and are both home, and adjusting to life in a family of 6!

Thanks for letting me share a bit of our family adventures with you.  :)  I've got quite a bit more to share, including Biltmore vacation pictures, but obviously we've been a little busy lately!  Haha.  Will share when I can.

Happy weekend!

Bit of a Catch Up

Hello, dear readers....

Thought I'd pop in with a bit of a catch up as to what's been going on here at the McVey Ranch over the last week or so -- since I haven't been spending much time in the studio getting crafty.  Instead, I've been spending lots of time in the family room with our little patient, as seen above.  Thought you might like to see what I meant, when I said they shaved a huge spot on Windsor's belly/sides for his surgery.  His other side looks the same as this one.  Plus, that shaved spot on his front leg is where his IVs were and he's got another shaved spot on a back leg where he had a pain patch giving him meds thru his skin.  I hope the poor boy's hair grows back in quickly.  He's gonna be kind of chilly walking around the neighborhood as soon as we can resume our daily walks!  You can also see the lovely black duct tape on his cone.  That would be because of the little stinker's attempts to eat the cone.  Thankfully, he's gotten to where he doesn't mess with the tape too much, but in the beginning, he just tried to eat the tape off too.  Silly puppy.  

I'm so thankful for God's perfect timing yet again......it might seem like a hassle to have to deal with all of this post-surgery mess during Christmas/New Years, but honestly it's been a huge blessing because Bart's had the time off from reffing in the evenings, thanks to the Christmas break that schools/universities take.  Him being home in the evenings has been a huge help because we've tried to let Win out of the kennel whenever we can to give him time to stretch out like you see above.  He's done lots of resting just like that, and when he decides that he's ready to jump and play, that's when he's had to go back in the kennel so he doesn't hurt his incision.  

We have a follow up appointment at the hospital with him tomorrow, and I'm hope-hope-hoping that we'll get the all clear and can lift all restrictions but we'll see.  I'm hoping but trying not to get my hopes up.....if you know what I mean.  :)  OH, how I miss sleeping in our BED though!!!  ;)  I'll keep you posted.

We also spent this last weekend with lots more family time.  Since my sister (Diann) and her husband and the littles didn't get to come for Christmas, they came the weekend after so we could celebrate Christmas and watch the littles open their gifts, and then they stayed overnight at my sister's (Grace's) house so we could celebrate my sister's (Glory's) birthday on Sunday.  Did you get all that?  There will be a test at the end of this post.  Haha.

It had been several months since we'd seen the littles so you know we soaked up as much time with them as we could!  That's Ally, above.  Can you believe (those of you that have been hanging around here awhile) that she's about to turn FOUR?!

They posed for pictures while hanging on the bannister.  :)  Malachi....he's about to turn 3.

And this little sweetie-pants......oh my.  This is Zoey and she's gotten soooo big.

There was lots of this going on, on Saturday.  Lots of presents and unwrapping and playing.  

Then, on Sunday they all came over again so we could celebrate this girl's birthday.  This is Glory, my littlest sister.  She's the baby of the family.  Well, until actual babies came along.  But you know what I mean.  :)

There was also lots of swinging on our neighbors' swing set.  We went on Saturday -- literally just walked next door as there isn't a fence between our yard and theirs.  As soon as the littles walked in the door the next day, they asked if we could go to the "park" again.  Hahaha.  

There was also lots of baby snuggling.  As you can see, the infinity scarf I made last week, happens to be a great baby cozy.  :)  Zo-zo fell asleep hanging on to it.  

I also managed to finish this cowl.  I felt very fancy that day.  Hahaha.  All in all, it's been a really great couple of weeks.  I'll let you know what the doctor says at Windsor's apmt. tomorrow.

Oh, and one more mention before I go.....

For all of you Studio Calico fans out there, be sure to check out this new class from Amy Tan!!  This looks like it's gonna be a fun one.

Hope you're all having a great day!  Let's hope Windsor gets the all clear, so I can start working upstairs in the studio again soon -- I've got a Papertrey box that should be arriving later today, that I'll be very excited to bust into!!  ;)

Have a goodie, dearies.