Cross Stitch Update

I shared earlier that I got a large new pattern of the Princesse de Broglie painting for my birthday.  I recently allowed myself to work on it again during a Golden Kite stitch-a-long this weekend.  While I'm not finished with her face, it's looking quite a bit better than it did before much of the shading was done.  Thought I'd share my "after" picture with you all.  I have other projects that are a higher priority right now, but I'm planning to let myself join in with these stitch-a-longs at least once a month, so I can enjoy my new patterns!  I'll try to remember to share my progress with you, too.  :)

Speaking of progress, I received a second Golden Kite pattern for Christmas!  This one, Three Sisters, is the one I referred to before as reminding me of my sisters and I.  Since it was a Christmas present and there was a long stitch-a-long over the holiday weekends, I started it as well.  I have only worked on it during that stitch-a-long, but when my Princesse gets to a good stopping point, I'll probably work on this one again during those monthly stitching "vacations" from my other stitching responsibilities.  This is the progress I made then - not as much as I'd hoped because we all got sick during Christmas break.  :(

Lombardi's 2011

Our annual trip to Lombardi's pumpkin patch with most of the Hughes cousins.  Here are my pumpkin buddies!

And a couple scarecrows.

Happy on the hay!

Riding the train with Daddy.

Cousins!

Luke had no problem riding the horse this year.  He's getting braver!  Enjoy this video of him riding.

Our family this fall.

Early October

We enjoyed celebrating Vijay & Vineetha's birthdays!

Jonathan thought it was more effective to use Daddy's finger to push the buttons on his book.  :)

Brothers kind of matching in their church clothes.

UPDATE: Here's a new video of Jonathan now that he's mastered crawling - too cute!

Wrestling!  Enjoy this video of it!

Backyard silliness.

Super Blue

The last day in September found Jonathan and I hanging out at home while Luke was in preschool.  He had cruised over to me and I realized the lighting was great in showing off his BLUE eyes!  Here he is waiting for me to come back with the camera for an impromptu photo session.

Lots of cute ones!

Our Little Buddy

Jonathan's well-baby check-up confirmed that our healthy little buddy is in fact "little", at least in weight.  He weighed only 19 lbs, which was in the 5th percentile!  He was actually 60th percentile in height (30") and 90th in head circumference (48cm), so he seems to just be a lightweight.  But it's been nice having a light baby to carry around, since he seems to be taking his time learning how to walk!

Jonathan at his first doctor's appointment when he was just 4 days old - he's sure grown!

UPDATE: A few days after this, Jonathan started to crawl!  Enjoy the video!

Sweet & Silly One-Year-Old!

I got a nice picture of Jonathan the day after his birthday.  Our big one year old!

Fuzzy, but it definitely shows some personality!

I love Jonathan's laugh in this picture.  :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Jonathan!

I suppose one of my "resolutions" for this new year is to get caught up and stay reasonably caught up on my blog.  I've been cross-stitching A LOT lately, which has really eaten up my free time.  It's been fun, but my blogging and pictures have suffered.  I'd also really like to make progress on my paper scrapbooking, so we'll see just how things go this year!

To start things off...  Here's a look back three months to Jonathan's first birthday!  On September 24th, Jonathan's actual birthday, we had a party in the evening here at our house with all the family and a few friends.  I had tried to front-load his afternoon nap a little bit so that he could wake up early enough to have a decent-length party, but it didn't work.  :(  He took forever to fall asleep and then had to be woken up when it was time for the party.  Here he is still a little groggy wearing a birthday hat (leftover from Luke's 1st birthday party!).

Playing with Grandpa Hughes' sunglasses and hat after having a little bit to eat - that perked him up!

Opening gifts.  He was a good little host - interested and appreciative about all his gifts.

I don't know what it is about Jonathan, but I'm constantly amazed by how little and cute he is.  Maybe it's because I have big Luke around this time to always make Jonathan seem so much littler.  Maybe it's because Jonathan is just a smaller baby for his age.  In any case, he's a blessing in an adorably small package!  We love you, Jonathan!

Blowing out his candle!

I tried to get a quick "nice" picture while the cake was being cut to celebrate his 1 year milestone.

"Happy Birthday to me!  Thanks for the cake and chocolate ice cream!"