A-I-N-S-L-E-Y

Last week, over half of Team Cornstuble visited Chez DeBoer. It was during this visit that I determined (again), I have the cutest niece. Ever. Okay, I'm bias, I don't care. Anyway, while they were here, we had lots of family come and visit. While I'm sure I have pictures of them as well, Ainsley just took the cake (and the camera). Check out some of my favorites.

She's apparently running off with my billfold here. It's okay, I don't have any money.

Here she is, striking a pose in her new clothes. Note, Mandi was there too. See her? She (and baby Cletus) are in the background, sitting on the sofa.

I call this one, "Bed Head", a la Ainsley. Notice the nice color on the wall and how it compliments the lovely fireplace? I think I forgot to mention it, but we ended up painting the living room all the same color as the accent wall - Saucy (pronounced saw-say) Gold. That's a whole other story, and blog! And I'm too bitter yet to talk about it.

Here she is with the first member of Team DeBoer, Norman. After a hyper start, these two hit it off and were great friends by the time she left. Norman misses her. Norman needs a buddy.

Yes, I put a picture of me on here. I know. Just divert your attention to the cute kid in the front. Hey, her chin looks familiar?!

And for the big finale, here she is with her Uncle DeBoer. Aaawww, I know. On a funny note, check out Shawn showing off his left bulging bicep. Niiiice!

Fire, Fire, Fire

It's official, we lit our first fire last Sunday! In contrast to our previous house endeavours, this process happened effortlessly. No smoke-outs, nobody got burned and the fire department did not have to be called. To us, that is a success! The only obstacle we encountered was not having enough firewood. Well, that and we did set the smoke alarm off... but only once. Actually, Dad set it off, ironically enough. He was playing with the chimney flue to determine how far he could open it to allow the smoke to draft upwards but still leave most of the heat in the house. Overall, the experience was (picture) perfect and we are hooked. We will be frequenting the fire experience quite often this winter. After all, it gets mighty cold here up nort. Check out the photos of our creation. (Disclaimer: Every time I used "we" and "our", insert Shawn because he really did everything. I just took pictures.)



Above is a picture of the blaze with the flash on. Below is a more "dramatic" picture with the flash off. You probably can't tell, but Norman is at the very bottom of this picture, laying like a frog, chewing on a rawhide. He liked the fire too.