We were going to do an Old MacDonald theme, but that wasn’t coming together the way I wanted it to, so we went with “Down On The Farm.” We used lots of burlap, mason jars, sunflowers and pumpkins.

I ordered 20 yards of burlap from Shindigz since it was the cheapest I could find. I also ordered our plates and utensils from them as well (clear) in order to get free shipping. They also had orange paper lanterns on sale for $1.99 each, so I picked up a dozen of those for a steal.

The burlap could not have been easier to use. We just rolled it out over the tables and cut it. Done!

I had plans to unravel a bit of the edges to make a nice border but ran out of time. It worked out though, since I was planning to do single tablecloths, but the tables pushed end to end worked even better.

Twenty yard of burlap was enough to cover six standard size folding tables and have a bit leftover.

I made cupcake stands out of cardboard cake circles, burlap, ribbon and mason jars. But I’ll do a separate post on those since they were so cute and I want to make more just for the house.

A little bag of pumpkins served as food labels. I just cut slits in the pumpkins to hold the index cards.

I used my canning pot as a drink bucket. I knew that thing would come in handy some day (for something other than canning!)

Mason jars also held the utensils

I used the old scotch tape trick to help arrange the flowers in, well, more mason jars.

Rather than transport a whole bunch of glass jars from Texas to Mississippi, I used Amazon to order them and had them shipped for free to my parents’ house. As much as possible, I had things shipped to their house so that we would have plenty of space in the car and also, so I wouldn’t forget anything back home!

It worked like a charm since I didn’t forget anything and everything was there on time!

I think the pictures capture how much fun was had more than words ever could

But hopefully I’ll get back on track soon!

In the meantime, I’ve done a little bit of a blog redesign. A new theme, some new colors, and a new tab on baby wearing. Hopefully this design is a little cleaner and the pictures show up better.

That’s all boring though compared to our biggest update.

Turns out this ultrasound was right!

We’re so very blessed to be expecting another wonderfully healthy baby GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can’t wait to add this new addition to our family in September!

Time to put on your happy face!

So get ready, this is a really heavy picture post!

One of the most fun parts of Arkansas was getting to go swimming with Marion. The first time, we went to Blanchard Springs.

Marion had a lot of fun with Abby

Look – piggies in the water!

The springs were great because the shallows were rocky and nice to sit on and let the littles play

While the big kids could actually swim out in the deeper waters

Marion thought the dragonflies on my shoulder were funny

She thought splashing was even funnier

We had so much fun swimming together

Yay for the springs!

The next day, we went to Norfork Dam. They have an area roped off for swimming, which was nice. It wasn’t as pretty as Blanchard Springs, but it was deeper and not as rocky. Plus, it was a two minute drive from the lodge, so that most definitely made it better than the hour drive to the Springs.

More splashes!

Marzi was in full on teething mode and had skipped her afternoon nap, so she was much more inclined to just kick back and relax.

The little waves in the lake were kind of fun for her (as was watching Laura swim)

Little sleepy girl

Morgan Jane gave us a look five years into our future…

Norfork Lake

Kisses for mama!

Do you like the random old woman in the background?

Don’t worry, we’re certified to perform water tricks

Chillaxin (did I even spell that right? Is there even a right way to spell it?)

We girls, and by girls, I mean Abigail, McKenzie and I boycotted anything longer than the drive to Blanchard Springs in favor of laying around at the lodge. Which didn’t exactly make for anything exciting to blog about, but did result in lots of pictures of our favorite activity of just visiting. Visiting, by the way, is something our family has made into an art form.

Mamaw and Marion

Abigail

(who I know will message me on facebox and squeal, take it offffffffffffffffffffffff, when she’s sees I’ve posted it. But I’m not. I think you look gorgeous in this picture and I love it and so I’m leaving it. Plus, it’s my blog and I can do what I want. So neener.)

Uncle Donald and McKenzie, demonstrating that visiting involves lots of laughter

Marion, demonstrating that visiting involves lots of listening (plus, I just love the way she’s holding Mamaw’s thumb)

Visiting involves lots of snuggles (father/daughter ones are the best)

Papaw/granddaughter ones are pretty special too

And mama/daughter ones as well.

Cousin snuggles. Okay, all snuggles are good.

And we all have a fondness for puppy snuggles

Sweet Angie

And sweet LP

Visiting generally involves good natured rivalry. Like Dad getting whooped by Laura in Go Fish.

And it always involves silliness

Like trying to get all the grand and great-grand kids present together for a picture for Mamaw!

Marion even made some time to visit with Rover

And Rover visited with her

After the official reunion weekend, we (we being Daddy, Mrs Gail, me, Abby, Kenzie, Uncle Don, Aunt Janis, Uncle David and Mamaw) went back to the house in Arkansas and had another wonderful three days of visiting.

And some good white trash fun

Involving guns in the front yard.

Man, I love my family.

Just kidding!

(Kinda. They just aren’t food for Marion.)

Happy Easter!

Most of our updates so far have been limited to pictures but Kati and I will start putting up some full updates over the next couple of days. So much has happened over the past few days that I’m just going to share a few of my random thoughts and pictures that really captured the experience from my point of view.

I am very proud of Kati for going through a solid 12 hrs of labor, 7 of which were without an epidural, especially since they say that Pitocin-induced contractions are much worse than regular contractions. Even though it didn’t end exactly how we wanted, I think she was able to push herself to the limit and be very satisfied with where that limit exists, which is something very few people get to do.  I think I can relate to this because its like running a marathon or triathlon in that regardless of what time you crossed the finish line you still learned something about yourself, what you can accomplish and what’s out of your control, what really matters to you and what doesn’t.  And I think what really matters to both of us now is that little girl and our new family.

Before Pitocin

After Pitocin

Once Dr. Z decided on a c-section, everything happened so fast my memories of it are already a blur (less than 45 min from when he said GO to when Marion came out hollering). While the nurses were getting Kati ready I only had time to make a quick call to her mom to let her know what was happening. Then we were off to the O/R. These two pictures really sum it up. (If you can’t tell, the second picture is of Josh sweat’n bullets before going into the O/R, not preparing to remove asbestos).

I never fully appreciated the phrase “long night”, as in “last night was a long night”, until the past couple of days. I got about 45 min of sleep Thursday night and about 2 hrs Friday night. Last night was a lot easier as I think Kati and I each got about 5 hrs. But I’m not going to jinx myself by saying that we are starting to get the hang of it.

Marion’s shoulders and back are hairier than mine and with her extra long toes, she really is very much like a little monkey.

Sticking with the monkey theme, she’s a lot like a little wild animal, particularly when she looks around with this overwhelmed, curious, half-terrified look in her big eyes. I hate to say this but I think Gracie Lou might actually be a little more domesticated than Marion.  Domesticated or not, we wouldn’t trade her in for the world – although Gracie may be able to teach her a few things about staying on guard for kitties and eating her dinner quickly.

Posted in Uncategorized ]]> http://josh-kati.com/2008/09/19/theres-someone-we-would-like-you-to-meet/feed/ 33 joshtex img_65141 http://josh-kati.com/2008/05/14/home/ http://josh-kati.com/2008/05/14/home/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 21:40:28 +0000 katilh http://jhkl.wordpress.com/?p=143 Continue reading →]]> Internets, I am home and reminded once again why google reader is the best thing ever. I have more important things to do (like play with all the new baby girl clothes I now have – she has a suitcase worth!) than blog stalk the eleventy billion blogs I like to read. And that’s where google reader comes in, bringing me delicious tidbits like this.

From this wonderful blog

And yes, if we go with the name we think we like the most right now, Elliott Smith is directly responsible.