New Baby Franklin

Let's pretend I posted this last week, okay? Then it would be closer to the day he was born!

9 whole chunky pounds! I fell in love with the double chin right away

Since he was born about 4:30 in the morning, the kiddos got to come meet him right when they woke up. The striped shirt thing wasn't planned, in case you're wondering.

So cute and snuggly! About 12 hours after birth. Welcome to the world little guy!

Try to chase away the little bit of jaundice with some sun.

(I've been working on his birth story and I'll post it soon)

So I've been thinking about missionaries lately...

and I remembered this video from a while back. Many of you have probably seen it, but if not, enjoy.

Baby Shower: Online Edition

Question: What do you do when you move to a new town and into a congregation that is so large that a new baby is born just about every week, and you are on your third child and are having trouble feeling special about your new baby and don't have any in-town friends who know you well enough to throw you a baby shower?

Answer: Your awesome mom throws you a surprise "e-shower."

The QB's mom sent out a secret email to a few out-of-state friends and family members in mid-January inviting them to send well-wishes in the form of cards or small gifts to one of our friends houses here in Lubbock. Then she sent a care package with decorations and a few gifts of her own. Two Sundays before Baby Boy was born, I picked up all the packages and brought them home. I wrapped some of the gifts that needed wrapping and stashed them in the garage--a fairly safe place to hide gifts from my 9-month-pregnant wife.

The QB had no idea what was coming.

The next Tuesday night I had just finished putting the boys down for the night and was trying to figure out how to get the QB to disappear for a while so I could set up the surprise party. I thought she was going to be at a Church meeting that night, but it didn't end up happening, so I had to come up with something else. I suggested she might like to run to the store and pick out a new baby outfit she'd been talking about getting. She said she'd rather stay home, and she grabbed a book and went into our bedroom to lie down.

As soon as she looked good and comfortable I went out to the garage and got the gifts. I hung up the decorations, got out a cake and sparkling cider I'd bought earlier that night with the boys, connected the laptop and the Skype Cam and called Cristi, who was set up at Amy's house with their laptop.

Then I called in the QB.

She was very surprised by all the gifts and had a good time opening them on Camera with her mother and sisters looking on.

Thanks to everyone who sent gifts and cards and chocolate. Especially the chocolate. The clothes and baby supplies are all great and we bought a baby monitor with gift card money. Thanks to Cristi for organizing everything, and thanks to everyone for showing the QB and I so much love as we have prepared to welcome our new addition (That post is coming soon...). You are all wonderful!

our kitchen floor...

These pictures are a little old, but the project was so much fun we couldn't just let it go by without posting some proof of it. Our kitchen, which we love, had very old, very gross industrial strength carpet down on the floor, and now it doesn't. It only took two days and about 16 hours. The boys even helped.

Two tones of carpet. Keep the rough side rough and the shaggy side shaggy.


First we had to move the fridge. Then I had to pass out. Then I had to wake up and clean under the fridge. Yuck.




Beneath the carpet, we have lovely linoleum. I was almost tempted to leave it this way. Almost.






We used laminate flooring. Lowes has a great brand (Surlock?) that comes in four-foot strips.




I started pulling carpet about eight P.M. Monday, and this picture was take at about 6pm Tuesday. Done.

Making things...

These boys are very, very pleased with themselves.



This was our annual Christmas Cake--a Japanese tradition we brought home with us.



We made Lasagna the other week and used a lot of cheese, but not before building a scale model stone henge. You can say it. I'm a dork. I know. I'm cool with it.

a few backyard moments..if only it weren't raining

So one of the boy's coolest Christmas gifts was this teepee, crafted by nana and papa. The poles are PVC and when Papa cut them down to size on our driveway, we were left with six three foot sections of pipe. Papa's orders to me as I stacked up the scrap were something like, "I expect those to be retooled into something useful by the next time I come. " Well...



Six dollars worth of elbows and a few hours worth of tying that net while I watched a movie, and viola! Soccer goal. It was still pretty snowy outside when we finished it, so the boys used it inside, but now its out in the back.


Another request over the break was for a tree fort. In fact, since we told Mr. Baseball that we were buying a house, he has had an order in for a tree fort. The problem is that this house does not have a lot of really big trees, so we improvised. Here are the boys helping with the ladder.


We used some scrap wood from the shed and built this "tree house" as an appendage to the half-dead apple tree next to the brown shed. They really wanted to drink some apple juice once it was completed.




They're pirates! Arrgh.


You can't really tell, but there is about a half-ton of rock scattered all over the yard that we still need to move, but the soccer goal and the baseball net and the tree fort are a nice start. And thankfully, the dog has decided on a poo corner, so the boys can play out in most of the yard without having to worry about THAT.

Grass....green grass...that's what we're really missing.