Nancy Mae

Our long-awaited daughter has arrived! She greeted us at 3:39am on Wednesday morning, December 3rd (her mama's birthday!). She was a healthy 8lb, 9oz, and has taken to life outside the womb with great enthusiasm. She is 20.75 inches tall, with a surprising shock of dark hair. Thank you for all your prayers! We are rejoicing with great thanksgiving at how healthy and happy she is! The Lord has been very kind to us, and our cup indeed runs over.

Getting Ready

One baby quilt, finished. I realized that the corners don't just automatically line up when you are piecing together a quilt - I'll need some more practice!

I wanted to wash all of the baby clothes we've been given, or found at garage sales, but the dryer broke, and it was raining off and on for a couple of days, so the clothes line was not an option. This was Blake's ingenious design. The fire, the fan, and a living room full of tiny wet outfits!

Mud Room

Check out the handy and lovely new storage shelf that Blake built for us! Now guests have a place to stow purses and coats. And then I found baskets at the dollar store, so all our hats and gloves and scarves are readily available, and the dog washing supplies are out of sight :).

Baby Room

I sewed my first fitted sheet - and it worked!

The cabinet with shelves.

Our remodel guy.

Curtains, sheets, shelves and wainscoting - now all we need is a little more paint!

The first coat of paint : )

Blake has been building some 'closet' storage for our baby's room. He's got unit 1 pretty much done - the top drawer is a handy changing station that locks open so I won't accidentally lean on it and shut the little one inside... and the Base conceals a handy hidden drawer for extra storage. There will be four shelves on top. Note the super-stylish face frame (I just showed him a Crate & Barrel catalogue, and he said 'no problem'!). 

Meanwhile, I've been painting. We found the perfect creamy, sunny yellow. The lower half of the wall will be panelling that matches the white trim, and then will come curtains, furniture, bedding, etc. What fun!

Getting closer!

32 Weeks!

Just over six months along!


We are getting closer! It is too fun to feel our little girl wiggling and squirming around. Thanks, Grandma, for the rocker. It is perfect.

King of the Hill, and Other Games

We had heard that sheep would be difficult to catch and handle, and were thinking that we might let them go in the yard and never catch them again. Luckily, ours are more precocious! They come when we call, and take every opportunity of following us into the laundry room. Mutt is especially brave and sociable (he's the one with more black on his shoulders).

We never realized that sheep would play, but we have witnessed them running and hopping around the yard, especially in the cool of the evening. The hopping is especially entertaining - they just zoom around, bouncing off of all four feet together, like Pepe LePew only faster! Last night they allowed Blake to join in the romp. They were using the storm shelter's roof as a playground already, but Blake introduced the idea of jumping onto the higher section. Mutt was really pleased with that.

Here are the newest additions to the Hiett Family Farm. Mutt and Chops are on lawn-mower duty for a few months, until we package them for the freezer in December or so.

Baby Girl

We got to see our baby last week! The doctor is pretty sure that she's a girl! She's growing well, and her mom has an increasing need for elastic waistbands...

Roof Patch

The Garage roof has holes in it, and has thus been unsuitable for storing tools and work projects for Blake's custom jobs. So we acquired an old bilboard tarp, cut it and sewed it with fishing line to fit the roof, and tacked it up. The sewing project - with a spool of fishing line on the sewing machine and Blake helping me feed the huge tarp under the needle - was quite a sight! Too bad I forgot to get pictures of that part...

Also featured is the newest Hiett addition - our cat Blackie. He is also known as Negro, or most commonly, Gato.

The Horses' Home

The horses are in a 4-ish acre pasture, with a seasonal runoff creek and PLENTY of grass :). All the land you see, and much more, is ours to ride on! The barn holds hay and tack for us. We enjoy riding through the Turnback Creek, at the bottom of the hill behind the barn. Thank you , Cooks, for such a great spot to ride!

First Remodel Project

We are putting tile into the tub surround, to replace the pealing, oozing backer board that was in there. A couple of late nights later, we're almost done :)

First Ice Storm