Seven New Blog Posts

I wanted to let you know that I have posted seven new blog posts (well, eight if you include this one).  So be sure to scroll back through and enjoy the pictures and stories of what we've been up to for the past few months.
The only big thing I didn't blog about was the fact that I'm pregnant, but I figure that anyone who's reading this blog is either a family member who I've already told or a friend on Facebook who saw my post a few days ago.  But in case you don't fall into either of those categories, I thought I would mention it briefly.  My first trimester went pretty well, as long as I snacked frequently.  I'm due around Pioneer Day at the end of July.  We'll find out if we're having a boy or a girl in the beginning of March (I think it's a boy, but I would be perfectly happy with a girl).

Additions to the Living Room

We used Christmas money from parents and grandparents to purchase some additions for our living room.
First, we bought a shoe cabinet from IKEA.  I had my eye on this piece of furniture for the past several months.  I love how narrow it is (about the width of the bottom step), and that it doesn't really look like a place to store shoes.  Our entry closet is quite small and inadequate for shoe storage, so we were lining up our shoes along the wall by the front door.  It just looked so cluttered and disorganized, and I longed for a better solution.

Before

Here's a picture of the shoe cabinet, closed and unclosed.  We use the top drawer to store gloves and hats in winter, and it will probably hold things like suntan lotion and sun hats in the summer.  I love it!

After

The second thing we bought was canvas prints of photographs I took of flowers in our yard (I posted a blog about this project back in July).  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  It was fun to take the pictures myself, and to know that these are flowers from our own yard.  It puts a fun personal touch on our front room, a guest's first impression of our home.

Now, I'm not completely done with the things I want to do in the living room.  At some point I'm planning on taking down the wallpaper border and repainting the room a solid green to match the other wall (that you can see behind the shoe cabinet).  At some point I want a new couch (the West Point blanket is laying on it to cover up the rips in the vinyl).  And I also want a different picture of the Savior, preferably one that's horizontal and looks good in a black frame (I picked up that picture at DI for $5 - I like it, I'd just rather hang it somewhere else in the house).
Even though I still have more projects and ideas for the future, I really do love our front room the way it is now.  I feel like our new shoe cabinet and art work lend both functionality and beauty, and I'm really pleased with how it's all coming together.

Playing with Animals and Mommy's French Horn

One day Cosette decided to host a picnic for her stuffed animals and dolls.  She started with only a few, and then kept adding more and more.  Eventually we had two blankets and every friend we could find. At that point we ran out of play food, but all of her friends were still part of the picnic party.

Cosette loves our dryer.  Sometimes I think she thinks it's her own personal toy, because it's sitting in the toy room.  Lately she's had fun putting all of her stuffed animals inside, then taking them all out, then putting them back in, then taking them back out...

Occasionally Cosette will ask me to get out my French Horn.  She can put the mouth piece on and off by herself, and she enjoys sitting and "playing" it.  Her version of playing involves putting the entire mouthpiece in her mouth and humming into the instrument while occasionally pressing some of the keys.  She'll get out my books of music and sit with one in front of her, stopping occasionally to turn the page.  She also loves watching me put oil on the valves.  Who knows - maybe I have a future horn player on my hands.