February Fixes

I really got on a roll in February with house fix-its. I kind of went on an organizational streak!

My main goal for the month was to re-hang the shutter that had fallen off the house. It had been sitting propped against the house for months! I was starting to feel like we were "that house" on the block. I am trying to pick my goal project to be something that I've been putting off, or that isn't fun to do, so if I do want to do other projects it's just a bonus!

We (and by we I mean mostly Cory) spent a good part of a couple of afternoons trying to drill the holes in the mortar for the shutter screws. That is, until our drill bit broke! Oops. So it turns out, you can buy a masonry drill bit that is mean to drill into that kind of stuff. Once we got the right kind of bit, it took about 30 seconds to drill the last hole (whereas the wrong bit was costing us about 20-30 minutes per hole). I hammered in the shutter screws, and project done!

I also reorganized the closets in our guest room/craft room and in our hallway (where we keep all the cleaning stuff). It's crazy how doing something small can make such a big difference! It also keeps me motivated to keep going more things around the house.

I don't have a picture of the shutter, but it looks like all the other ones now, really. Here's a picture of the redone guest room closet, and a before/after of the hallway:

Ten months

Penny's tenth month included Christmas and New Year's. A busy month! We took Christmas pictures with Katie:


Had lots of fun in the bath!


Chewed on everything possible:


Went to visit our Louisiana family:


Smiled! A lot!


Woke up Christmas morning with a new lovey in her stocking!


Took lots of snuggly naps. :-)


All in all, a great month! She didn't even freak out too much when Daddy chopped off all his hair. :-)

Nine months

Penny's ninth month was a lot of fun. Lots of smiles every day!


She went to her first concert with me, Aunt Kim and Katie - Yo Gabba Gabba! During which she may have taken a nap. :-)


Still standing up and crawling at every opportunity.


She loves looking out the window, especially when Daddy's raking the leaves!


I know I'm totally biased, but I think she's the prettiest baby ever. Look at those doe eyes!


She's still sucking her thumb at night and loves her lovey.


Happy nine month old girl! Sixteen pounds, ten ounces of sweetness!

Eight months

Penny is moving right along!


We made a trip to Louisiana for her cousin Steve's birthday, and she even snuck in one time standing up without help! She's so close to trying to walk - we think it will be soon. At the birthday party, she got to try playing in an inflatable bounce house - less fun when you're crawling, but she seemed to enjoy it enough. (It was just her and mommy in there.) We also had our first trip to the zoo!


She and her daddy are best friends. I love them so much!


She's really mastered pulling up, and stands up (holding on) whenever she gets the chance. She loves to explore and get into things.


She's eating well, and we're trying to give her gradually chunkier foods and work more with picking up things to eat, like puffs. She likes them now! We're also letting her practice with a sippy cup.


This month was Penny's first Halloween! She was a strawberry. We went to our church's Halloween party and also visited our friend Shanna for her neighborhood block party!


We love you Penny! Happy eight months!