The ladybugs are swarming!

For some reason unknown to me, our house is being attacked by ladybugs. There are 13 crawling around on my back door right now, and nearly that many on any window. I can see them flying around outside. Is this a sign of good luck? Are they plotting something? They're getting inside through our poorly sealed doors and crawl around on the ceiling. In the morning our floors are covered with little ladybug carcasses. The kids like to gather up handfuls and carry them around. I'm really not sure what is going on.And not to sound paranoid, but these pumpkin bats are glaring at me.

Especially this guy.

and This Boy...

Spencer Rollie Hall
born Tuesday morning at 2:47am
9 pounds 8 ounces
21 inches long

Just a few thoughts/feelings-
surprise he's a boy
surprise he's so huge! (my girls were 5 pounds)
glad for another VBAC even though it took castor oil to get him here :)
11 days late- really, is that necessary?
tired but so happy

This boy!

I'm not sure if it's just another difference between boys and girls, but this little boy gets scraped up all the time! Yesterday was a doozy. Maybe it's his shoes?
Both knees scraped-
His upper lip, nose and forehead. It looks even worse now that it's scabbed over. What a rough-and-tumble boy! But super cute still, eh?!

Oh, and no baby yet. I'm a week over now, and I am tentatively set up for a c-section next Friday if my body is still doing nothing. Such a bother. :)

Stupid Cervix.

Things to keep busy

Knowing full well that my due date will come and go with no baby, I'm trying to stay busy.

I crocheted the edges of this baby blanket. My mom always gave us two blankets when we had a baby, and my kids have loved theirs to death. They love to finger the edges until it pretty much falls apart. Since that's not going to happen anymore- I'm making my own. I'll make the second one after the baby is here so I don't have to be so gender-neutral. I also want to ask around the ward for someone to teach me a different edge. I really like doing it, and it reminds me of Old mom. :)

I also got a fabulous pedicure. :) It's seriously one of my favorite treats to myself. If you are in Ames, get yourself to Serenity Nails!

I also made two Sunday dresses for Brighton, which I'll have to take a picture of and post later. I can't find dresses that are long enough or are the right style, so I'll probably be making a lot of dresses in the future. Brooklyn has to wear a size 6 just for the length, and she normally fits a size 2/3.

Iowa State Fair

"Our state fair is a great state fair, don't miss it, don't even delay..."
Anyone seen that musical? Anyone??

I'm really bad at taking pictures, so I don't have a ton here. This whole week has been a family fun week since James had a break between his internship and start of classes. It has been so great!! He cleans the house and entertains the kids and I mostly just lie on the couch and look useless. He's making me look bad. :)

Anyways- back to the fair. I haven't been to a fair since I was twelve, and this was huge and amazing and exhausting!! This first pic is Brooklyn hugging Clifford at the PBS kids booth, where the kids enjoyed listening to a great storytime.


Looking at the baby ducks. This was probably my favorite thing- they had baby turkeys, chicks, piglets, calves, goats, and I think that's it. I've had a cold for forever (or three weeks) and my sense of smell and taste might never come back. So thankfully, I couldn't smell any of the animals. However, I couldn't smell any of the yummy/fattening fair food either. :(


Brighton's favorite thing: This area where they dressed up as farmers, got to plant and pick pretend vegetables, collect eggs, milk a cow (all pretend), and ride a tractor. At the end they sold their wares at the market and got a $1 to spend at the store!! Pretty cool! :)

I wish I had taken more pictures. The weather was not so great- it kept sprinkling on and off all morning. By the end of the day my legs weren't working very well. I've been taking it easy since then, doing more laying on the couch. Next week James is back to school, and we're going to miss him!

Nauvoo

We went on a family vacation last weekend to Nauvoo. I think it was our first family vacation- we were all really excited to go. We got to stay in a hotel for the first time!! :)

James' parents live a few hours away from Nauvoo and they drove up to spend one of the days with us. This is J and his Dad trying out the stilts at the Pioneer Pastimes. Definitely a skill to work on. :)


Pioneer Pastimes was Brighton's favorite place. She loves to pretend and got completely into character as soon as she was dressed. They had a little schoolroom, a kitchen, place to wash your clothes, games to play- lots of fun stuff!! She told me that her house (the school room) was built after her father died, and the concerned look on her face here is the worry that she won't get to the sheep in time. It was her turn to take care of them. :)

The weekend we went was the last weekend the young performing missionaries were at Nauvoo (fun times, hey Bethany?!:) and so we went to as many shows as we could. Sunset by the Mississippi was a variety show with the senior and young missionaries, and so fun! There was a children's parade before the show, and the kids got to decorate hats and pick musical instruments to play.





Nauvoo closes down around 4, so we found a park to play at until dinner. The weather was so great! This really has been a fabulous summer. We only had one really hot/humid week, otherwise it's been really mild with a nice cool breeze. We're still loving it!!



Other favorites from Nauvoo: wagon rides, the traveling Brass Band, the temple, running into friends from KS and my sis-in-law Rebecca's parents (random!), the hotel pool, the bakery, the blacksmith shop, etc....