Welcome to the World

Last Saturday, we welcomed our sweet little girl into the world.  She is the most beautiful thing we have ever laid our eyes on.  We find our selves staring at her for hours at a time.  She was 6lbs 15.3 oz, 19 & 1/4" at birth.  Absolute perfection!  Welcome to the world Harleigh Lou!  Mommy and Daddy love you!

A few of my favorites!

We got our maternity photos back and they are amazing!  Here are a few of my favorites.

Getting close

With Harleigh's birthday fast approaching, we wanted to document her growth and our family before her arrival.  We had maternity photos taken by Holly Gardner at St. Andrew's St. Park last week.  I can't wait to see all of the photos.  The scenery was amazing and Holly was awesome!  Here's a sneak peek :)

Bradenton Baby Shower and mini Babymoon

We recently took a trip Bradenton to attend a baby shower hosted by my aunt and cousin.  I had so much fun spending time with my home town friends and family.  We received such thoughtful and generous gifts.  Harleigh is one very lucky little girl.  She has so many people that love her already!

While I was at the baby shower, Jim traveled across the state to Hobe Sound to pick up our new boat.  It is a 1988 Seacraft lovingly called the Miss MAK :o)

With my due date approaching, we decided to take a few extra days off and enjoy some time together before Miss Harleigh arrives.  We stayed at a boutique hotel in downtown Sarasota called Hotel Ranola.  This place was really amazing.  It is an old (early 1900's) apartment building that has been renovated into 9 hotel rooms.  The owners, a husband and wife, were so welcoming and wonderful!

While in Sarasota, we visited the Siesta Key beaches, Mote Marine Aquarium, many many Cuban resturants, wandered downtown, and drank lots of cafe con leches!  It was a perfect weekend!

V-Day

We had a very unique Valentine's Day celebration.  We spent the evening trapping and printing beach mice.  It was very cold and wet, but fun to be together none the less.  I did, however, find the time to make some sweet treats to share :o)  I made marshmallows in various shades to pink.  See below.

Chickens?

That's right!  We are back in the chicken business.  We have started a new flock of backyard chickens.  We've been thinking about getting chickens since we parted ways with our sweet girls and roo, Gudrun and Josephine and Rooster, about a year ago.  Well, we finally took the plunge...head first!  Jim has come home with 37 baby chicks!!!  We are planning on keeping one of each breed at the house and taking the rest up to the farm in Marianna.  We currently have Crele bantams, Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, Golden Comets, and a mix of Red pullets.  That's going to leave us with 5 hens at the house.  To accommodate all of these girls, we built a chicken palace, complete with attached run and self-filling water!  We can't wait to have healthy, organic eggs only a few steps away!  Here's to a healthy flock!  

It's a...

Today's the Big Day!

Today's the BIG day!  We should find out the sex of baby Keith at our O.B. appointment this morning, IF the baby cooperates this time around.  I'm thinking boy!  Any guesses?

We've been Busy Bees

With the end of winter in sight, we have been spending more time doing the things we love like spending time outdoors and working on new projects.

  We spent some time at Willford spring (one of the springs that feeds into the Ecofina river) with some of our Australian friends celebrating Australia day. We grilled, canoed and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

 We have also been prepping for our spring garden. We have started our seeds in the greenhouse in hopes that they'll be big, strong and ready for planting when spring arrives.  

We're looking forward to a much needed break in this cold weather.