Harrington House

Who is that?!

Oh that?!  Well, that's Great-Aunt Ruby Inez.  You know...  And that's her husband, Joe Jack.  And this one is just a picture of the house where Susan Martha was born.  And here's Uncle Rueben as a baby..... Uncle who?

Okay, okay, so I have to make up names (and sometimes stories) for a lot of the old black and white pictures that I have in my home.  Otherwise, folks might start thinking I'm crazy.  I have always loved looking at old black and whites.  Even when I don't know the people, or the time, or the stories behind them.  I wonder what the people in the pictures would think if they knew that they were hanging on my walls and sitting on my tables...

And what about this gentlman who appears to have had a pretty good day fishing.

And, of course, the photos make it into my holiday decorating as well.

My friends and family joke about how crazy I am with all my old pictures, letters, and postcards... but I adore them.  Oh well!

My name is Katie, and I am a crazy. 

Amelia's Blessing

On October 14th, Mike & I brought Amelia forward to receive her Baby Blessing.  It was performed by elders of our church (Community of Christ), more specifically my aunt and grandfather (Amelia's greats) and a long-time church friend.  It was a beautiful service...the memory of this day will be in my heart forever.

A poem written by my grandmother was read by my cousin.

Jesus was teaching on the seashore one day.  A great crowd gathered to hear what He had to say.  They brought the little ones to Him for a blessing from His Hands.

Little Baby Amelia, so sweet and tender and mild, just like Baby Jesus when he was a little child.

So sweet and loving, a blessing she has been.  Many hours of enjoyment we have already seen.  We ask a blessing for her, as in the days of old, always looking up to You as she comes into the fold.

May the Good Shepherd watch over her as she journeys down through life, keep her in His loving care, and guide her morning, noon, and night.

One of the hymns we sang...

O Jesus Christ, our Lord most dear, as thou wast once an infant here, So give this child of thine, we pray, Thy grace and blessing day by day.

O holy Jesus, Lord divine, we pray thee bless this child of thine.

As in thy heavenly kingdom, Lord, Thy messengers obey thy word, Send forth the succor of thy might to shield this child both day and night.

And all her life, let angels keep her safe from harm, awake, asleep;  May she not bear the cross in vain, but with thy saints a crown attain

O holy Jesus, Lord divine, we pray thee bless this child of thine.  Amen.

This is just some of Amelia's family.  I hope one day she knows how blessed she is to have been born into such a loving, supportive family and church family.

Welcome to the...Nursery!

Welcome to Amelia's nursery!!  Before we even bought the house, I had decided on the room that would be the nursery!  (We lived here two-and-a-half years before I got pregnant.)  My family always laughed at me for calling it the "nursery" during that time.  Oh, well!  Anyway, since we did not find out if we were having a boy or a girl, I did the basic nursery decorating.  Actually, I was CONVINCED I was carrying a boy.  An ultrasound could not have convinced me that my baby was a girl.  So much for instincts!  But I had no doubt in my ability to "girly" up my blue room if I did have a girl.  Lo and behold, after I had Little Miss Amelia, I threw in some florals, some bows, and some pink, of course!

Back before the baby...

I was soooo ready...."done," rather!

Mom helped me sew the curtains and cribskirt (my first major sewing project!), and just about everything else in her room, with the exception of the crib and chandelier, is from my antique stores.  The doll pillow in the rocker was made by my grandmother about the time when I was a baby.  Down under the window is Amelia's bath basket, filled with her little wash rags, soap & shampoo, and quite the assortment of creams & ointments. 

The little Jenny Lind twin bed to the right had a brown varnish on it when I found it...in horrible condition.  After a couple coats of white paint, it was ready for the nursery.  We put a trundle under it, too, for more sleeping space when we have a lot of family at the house.  I made the chandelier shades, and I am still looking for some kind of trim to put on them....haven't find anything I like for them, yet...

These were two sweet antique prints I found that look like Amelia...I think, anyway!

This is her blessing gown...an antique gown from the 1880s.  I just love the idea that another (at least one, maybe more) babies were blessed (or christened) in this gown.

These were some milk glass plates I found on one of our trips to Michigan.  The quilt on the left is a beautiful old baby quilt that Mike's sister gave me last Christmas.

Amelia's changing table is actually an old wicker desk, previously white until her Daddy painted it blue (Ralph Lauren Shoreline Blue, to be exact).  He also painted my wicker rocker that is in this room the same color.  On the shelf above are some of mine and Mike's old toys (his old baseballs, some of our old musical toys, and the book was my mother's as a child.)  The wooden Jack & Jill coatrack holds a few my old baby dresses that are still in wonderful condition, thanks to my mother!  The coatrack matches the lamp on the bedside table....both finds at a Bowling Green antique mall with my sister.

This adorable little framed cross-stitch was a gift from one of my good friends, Jenny.  It is hanging on her closet door.  (She had a little baby girl six weeks before Amelia.  They are best friends, we have already decided!)                                                                                                                                          

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Mama wants that punkin' in the middle!

This last picture is from last year when I was pregnant with Amelia!

A Celebration!

After my sister and her husband returned from their honeymoon, we celebrated at our parent's house with a lot of family and friends.  Because the weather was so nice and the trees were starting to turn, we set up tables and chairs in the backyard.  I used white hotel-style tablecloths to cover the tables and cut burlap into foot-wide runners.  For the centerpieces, I used creamy white mums.  I left the mums in their store-bought plastic pots (since they would be getting re-potted afterwards) and wrapped the pots in burlap squares with brown satin ribbon.  I then put tealight candles into some of my tiny metal tart pans that I had picked up several years ago in an antique store.  Since I had all the white cloth napkins from my wedding, I wrapped the silverware in the napkins and tied each with some tiny brown ribbon.   I put all of those in a big basket that sat at the end of the food tables.  Now, the cake table was my favorite!  I took a larger piece of burlap and, with brown paint and a small brush, monogrammed the front of it with their new monogram!  I love anything monogrammed (um, even if it is not even my own monogram...)!  It was so nice to spend the afternoon with all of our family and many friends that we don't often get to see. 

Congratulations to the Newlyweds!

Congratulations to Kelly & Derrick!  This past month, my younger sister got married.  They had a small, intimate, and verrrry beautiful ceremony on the beach.  Kelly has always looked pretty, but, when I saw her on her wedding day, she was beautiful.  The two make a wonderful couple....they truly complement each other.  From the beginning, Derrick has always seemed to fit perfectly into our big family.  I have no doubt that he will be the loving, supportive husband that we always hoped she would have.  During the ceremony, the minister said something I had never heard.  He said any sorrow shared is sorrow divided in half, but joy shared is joy doubled.  I pray that our Heavenly Father will richly bless them with much happiness during their walk in this life and beyond.

 

      

Beach Memories...

These are the pictures from our vacation to Fripp Island that we took, um, the end of August.  :o)  We had a wonderful time, very relaxing.  We did everything we love to do on vacation.....eat delicious, fresh seafood, sleep A LOT, and well, we didn't get as much sun & beach time like we usually do because we had to be careful with Amelia.  But it was still a wonderful trip!  Good memories for our first vacation with Amelia!