Baby Futt Gender Reveal Party!

Joe and Amberley revealed Baby Futt's gender in their usual creative, fun way. They had an ultrasound picture on the mantle and that baby looks just like Joe! I told Amberley I'm going to laugh when she has a baby who looks like me since I only have Hill babies who look like their daddy!

Meg Meredith made these cutie pa-tootie cupcakes!

And when we peeled the liners back, this is what we saw!
I have been team pink all along, so I was very excited!

Owen and Olivia had fun eating cupcakes and playing with Carson's toys during the party. Thanks, Bethany, for being such a gracious hostess-there are a lot of us when we all gather in one space!


Joe and Amberley created a game to reveal the name they have chosen. They divided us into four teams and we each had a blackboard, a glue stick and an envelope containing the letters of Baby Futt's name. Team #2 won (that was my team :) and here's the sweet name:

Elsy Kate Futterer

I'm a fan! I was excited before about being an aunt, but officially knowing HER name has made it so much more real. I am giddy and cannot wait to meet little Miss Elsy in March!

Joe and Ams are HOME!

Cha Cha Joe Joe and Auntie Ams arrived safely in Arkansas last Friday evening and we are all SO happy and relieved to have them home! Their flight was a little delayed, but we managed to keep ourselves entertained at the airport for a couple hours. After he had taken each grandparent and mama on a tour of the airport, Owen decided he needed a snack. Nana bought him a bag of mini Oreo bites and he ate the creme filling out of each cookie leaving a stack of chocolate wafers on the table. I had to get a picture to show his Dee-da who LOVES Double Stuff Oreos (though he would never neglect to eat the chocolate!).

Shortly after the Oreos were dismembered, Joe and Amberley greeted us after a long flight and an even longer year in India. They looked fabulous-as always. There were 15 family members holding "Welcome Home" signs waiting to hug them and pat Amberley's belly. We were all wearing felt mustaches...yes, we were. There are a couple reasons for such antics...#1 and #2, but mostly because we are goofy.

Cade, Joe, Olivia and Me
Siblings reunited!

Carson, Bethany, Amberley w/ Baby Futt and Brant
Siblings reunited!

Owen helped Joe and Ams collect their luggage.

He has been particularly thrilled to have a couple playmates back in town!

Joe and Amberley are having a gender reveal party tonight for the family, so we will finally know whether Baby Futt is a he or a she! I think they are also telling us the name they have chosen. I'm excited to be able to refer to this baby by name soon (and start buying the appropriate baby gear)!

In other news, we've enjoyed a rare SNOW day here! I'll post pictures of that fun tomorrow!

The Hill Holidays

We had a fun Christmas (or four) this year! We were missing Joe and Ams, but will be celebrating with them VERY soon...they will be home in two days and we are so excited to see them! Here are a few photos featuring the gift opening portion of our Christmas celebrations:

After the candlelight service at church, we went to Nana's house for dinner and presents.

Olivia didn't quite have the unwrapping down,
but she did enjoy pushing the presents around the house :)

Owen got a remote control truck and magnifying glass.

Olivia got a new phone and a personalized backpack that is too cute!

We spent Christmas morning at our house and invited all the "grands" to join us. I'm not sure we'll do this every year, but it was fun for all of us to watch Owen open his big gift from Santa. Santa's elf stayed up very late putting Owen't train table together and Owen LOVED it. The grandparents all brought Thomas wooden train car characters to go along with the new train set and Owen has played with it everyday.

Santa brought Olivia some Sandra Boynton board books and these gold butterfly shoes.

We ate lunch at the farm with the McAlister family, then headed to Papa and Meme's for more presents!

Owen helped everyone open their gifts because, by this point, he had it down!

We celebrated Christmas with Grandpa, Bruce, Gran, Ggpa and Ggma on Sunday. Owen helped pass out gifts while Olivia hung out in the pack-n-play. This picture makes me laugh because underneath her little face it says "Happy Camper."

I think that was the end of our Christmas extravaganzas. We had a much less exciting New Year's celebration. I got the flu-for real-and was literally in bed from Thursday night through Sunday. It was not fun and I don't ever want it again. The flu shot is my new best friend. Jacob was a trooper taking care of all of us-bless that man. Also, all the "grands" were wonderful and helpful. So, I'm hoping I got all the sickness out of my system for 2011 and am looking forward to a fun, flu-free new year!

Did I already mention Joe Joe and Ams and my niece or nephew-to-be will be here in two days? I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

We Love You!

It's that time again...

Olivia is 8 months old!

Olivia,
This month you mastered crawling and started pulling up on everything. You are so curious about this little world of yours and are determined to learn all its secrets. You have started using Owen's walk-along toy a little bit, but the floor is usually covered with toys (really) making it hard to maneuver. You are not a big fan of your jumper any longer because staying in one place does not appeal to you. You are a girl on the move...all the time.
Owen has a CD player in his room and he enjoys listening to his music rather loudly. You crawl over to the boom box, prop yourself up and "dance" and "sing" to the tunes. It may be one of our favorite things to watch. Speaking of Owen, he is your main entertainment these days. You are always delighted to see him and play with him although you do enjoy pulling his hair, which, you can imagine, he doesn't like much. He is usually happy to play with you, but mama has to monitor your time together because Owen likes to play hide-and-seek by throwing blankets and/or clothes on you. You usually giggle with delight and poke your head out of the pile, but sometimes your brother hides you pretty well :)
You have started giving good, slobbery kisses to mama, dee-da and Owen. You can also tell when we are laughing at you being silly and you giggle with us. On the flip side, you are loud and dramatic when something makes you unhappy or frustrates you. For example, when Owen takes a toy out of your hands, you make your displeasure very well known. You are a handful and a half and we are having a good time watching your spunky personality!

Owen and Olivia: best buddies!

A little story about Owen: Olivia was crawling around in the dining room, found some residual "puffs" and happily shoved them in her mouth-that's real life, don't judge. In the meantime, Owen was eating a cheese quesadilla at the table and had observed his sister scavenging for food. I noticed a piece of quesadilla under the table, picked it up and threw it away. Then, I noticed another 15 or so tiny bits of Owen's food on the floor surrounding his chair. At this point, I was laughing hysterically. He was trying to feed his sister... like he tries to feed Kinley...my mom's dog. What a sweet brother-ha! I did remind him that Olivia can't actually eat that food, yet, and we usually don't encourage her to eat off the floor :) I love that boy...

A Work in Progress...

One thing Jacob and I really liked about our house (other than the price :) ) was that it was 10 years old when we bought it and in need of some updates. We felt like we had a blank canvas to make our own and since it wasn't brand new we didn't feel bad about making some changes. Before we moved in, my team of workers (i.e., our families) repainted every wall and ceiling, replaced light fixtures, tore up carpet and some tile, cleaned...the list goes on and on...bless them. They worked hard and within a few weeks we were able to move in and start trying to settle in after a little over a month of 'homelessness'. We are really enjoying our house and I am so happy with the makeover, but I still have a list in my head of things I would like to do. One of the big projects on my list was replacing our front door and light fixture. This past weekend, Jacob tackled that project.

This is kind of a before and after of the old white door and the new RED door.

The old door didn't provide much privacy and I just wasn't a fan.

There's a sweet, curious boy peeking out from behind door #2!

This isn't a great picture, but I wanted to show our Christmas lights.

I still need a wreath and candles in the windows, but there's a little preview of our outside holiday decor.

Here's a close up of the new red door and light fixture.

It's just a little more us and fun and I'm liking it a lot!

Now, on to the next project...

Sick Days and Standing Crib Only

Me and the kiddos have been battling a number of illnesses this week. Owen started us off with a stubborn fever on Monday evening and it held on until he woke up bright and early at 3:30am Wednesday morning-yikes. I have to say, even though is was painfully early and I was beginning to feel the effects of my own sickness, I was SO happy to have my energetic Owen back. I just could not seem to get his fever down which meant he spent a day and a half trembling under a blanket on the couch or sleeping on the floor in his room (his choice). I knew he was feeling better when he started dragging all his toys out and sprinkling them around my entire house. He was dubbed "Captain Destruct-O" long ago and that name still fits.

Owen is still looking a little droopy-eyed here, but I think he was more irritated at me than ill.

I felt the need to capture proof of his wellness.

Sister baby has what seems to be a cold. I know people always say, "My nose is like a faucet," but, seriously, Olivia's nose has been a faucet this week! She seems relatively unfazed by the dripping, but has been very irritated with me because I won't leave her runny nose alone. She also decided the sides of her cribs were there to assist her standing, so up she went. I think she figured her yells resonate a little louder from this spot. Perhaps it was her attempt to punish me for all the nose wiping. Anyway, the mattress has officially been lowered to prevent her from hurling herself over the edge and crawling to the door where her pleas could be heard very clearly :)

Owen and I were actually feeling well enough tonight that we bundled up, grabbed a few blankets and went to watch the Christmas parade downtown. Owen was mesmerized and didn't say a word for the first half of the procession. Eventually he was swaying to the Christmas tunes and waving wildly at everyone and decided he needed to watch another parade tonight. It was fun to spend some quality time with my boy.

Hopefully we're all on the mend. I hope so-we have a busy weekend planned!