Butternut Squash

I'm not sure why - but we've made two butternut squash soups over the past week.

I stumbled upon this recipe by typing the ingredients we had on hand. Apple Squash Soup A little on the sweet side. I liked - but might try to add a little something to balance out the sweet next time.

This I found in my 'printed to make at some point' stack. Southwestern Squash Soup IMO this was the better of the two. I added a can of green chilies - because they are yummy! Just enough of that SW bite. Yum Yum - Can't wait for lunch tomorrow!

What are you cooking to keep warm?

Discovering Toys!

Hmmm - I haven't posted anything since Aug 8th? I wonder what happened on the 9th? Oh yeah...

I promise to post more details about 8/9/10 soon! (I get to define 'soon')

In the meantime let's get excited about what's arriving via the big brown truck today!

Of course at this age (14 weeks) he's not as excited as I am. WT has been holding onto things for a couple weeks and LOVES shoving anything towards his mouth. If he can't get the object in his mouth he'll stick his tongue out and lick it. Too cute. I thought it was time to add a couple more toys he could hold onto.

I'm most excited about the Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes. He loves music and I can't wait to see what he thinks of it! It's #3 in the Amazon Baby category - so I have high hopes! He already has the Mozart Magic Cube and loves to listen - but isn't quite ready to play with it himself yet.

What is/was your baby's favorite early toys? (3-6 months) WT needs a little help making his Christmas list!

Nursery - ready and waiting

We (OK I) tried to keep things simple when it came to creating the nursery. I was one of 'those' Beanie Baby collectors and haven't been able to part with any of them - but now they have a good use! The nursery theme is loosely 'animals' :)

I wish I had a before picture when this was the office - but as usually I get too excited about a project and forget to take those. The room has remained blue but we did upgrade the windows, add plantation shutters, and install a ceiling fan/light! Love them all - makes me wonder why we waited for 'nugget' to make these improvements!

Since there are no curtains I knew I wanted to add a little more color to the space. I found the striped fabric at Ikea and made the closet curtains, book racks, bed runner, and pillow. Todd has pointed out I have thing for stripes. True - but these are not the SAME stripes that are in the craft room!

And looking the other way you may not even be able to tell it's a nursery. We've kept the queen bed in here so we have room for all the guests we love to have visit! Haven't quite figured out what to do with the wall - maybe a headboard? Maybe some artwork.

The furniture is from one of our clients Westwood Design and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I've actually been crushin' on this crib since they released it a couple years ago! Once we know nuggets name I hope to hang these adorable initial prints above the dresser.

The rocking chair in the corner is from my Great Aunt's house. Always fun to have some family pieces. Hopefully it'll be super comfy to spend lots of time in!

The 'artwork' is my design idea. We've had friends and family coloring in 'animal' pictures and writing little notes for nugget. I love this personal touch and we'll be able to scrapbook the pages for keeping. I figure maybe next year I'll hang the alphabet and eventually nuggets own artwork!



I saw the book sling idea over at Penny Carnival and new it would add some fun to the space. Super easy and fun to make!

Last but not least the closet. I spent lots of time pouring over the Ikea catalog deciding how to better use this space. We have a bookshelf on the right and two stacked Trofast frames. They work great in the closet now and will be great transitional pieces later for toys!

Now all we need is a baby :)

Curiosity - Cast your vote!

Nugget -

As we countdown the days until your arrival (about 22) I sit and enjoy the feel of your movements while daydreaming about all you will be :) I know I'm going to miss having you so close - and feeling you push your little bum against my tummy - but I am SO EXCITED to meet you and learn about you! Some answers we'll get right away - and some are years away!

Will you look like a Metz or a Fath or neither?
Will you inherit Mommy's butt or Daddy's? Or hopefully somewhere in the middle.
Will you be born with hair?
If so will it be Red? Blonde?
Will you be tall?
Will you have our chipmunk cheeks?
Will you have dimples?
Will you be a south paw like Mommy and Daddy?
Will you be stubborn like Mommy?
Whose patience will you have? Cause if you're going to support Mommy & Daddy by being a pro golfer - we really hope it's Mommy's.
Will you be artistic and crafty?
Will you be shy?
Will you be a snuggler crawling on our laps to enjoy a story? I hope so!
Or maybe you'll be fiercely independent?

And the biggest question of all! Will we be adding a boy or a girl to our family??


What do you think? Join the baby pool to predict Nugget's birthday, sex, and weight! We'll come up with a sweet surprise for the person with the closest guess. Maybe a dehydrated placenta. KIDDING! It'll be cooler than that :)

Currently we have entries open until July 31 - but don't wait too long - we reserve the right to close the pool at any signs of the baby's appearance :)

Some tidbits of info that may be helpful
Due Date: August 4th
J's birth info: 8lbs, 21.5 inches (edited)
T's birth info: 7 lbs - 9 ozs, 21 inches

A name for a little lady

Wow - who woulda thunk finding the perfect name for our little one would be so difficult. I've been jotting down and lovin on names since I was in high school - surely I would have a great list to choose from. There's a difference between names I like (even love!) and names I'd consider using. We don't want to use anything too popular - but... it needs to be easy to spell and pronounce.

We started out with a head start for a little girl since there will be (if we are so blessed) an Alta #4. I may have disliked this name for some of my life - but have grown up to cherish it and the bond I share with Alta #1 and #2. I love the tradition of passing on family names! Hopefully a little girl of ours will feel the same way!

So our only task was finding a name we *both* loved to go with Alta. I poured through a couple name books making lists of possibilities and fell head over heels for the name. It's fun, feminine, unique, and perfect. I can't wait to share it with the world should this little one be a girl :) Funny it just happens to follow our naming MO too :)

There are so many precious names for girls - I found MANY I'd love to use. So many in fact we already have a name for a second little girl squared away :) Watch us only have boys!

For entertainment here's a sprinkling of names I loved but for one reason or another didn't make the final cut. I starred my absolute favorites!

Amelia
Lila
Maisie
Livia*
Talia
Clara
Mabel
Norah
Lola
Finley*
Elsie
Silvia*
Maelle
Charis
Reese

Now boy names - totally different story.

Beaming with pride!

T has embraced the challenge of training for a CRAZY mountain century with zest this spring/summer. He's only picked up a golf club twice as most of his evenings and weekends revolved around building up his endurance and leg strength. Hours on an indoor trainer when the weather is bad is not exactly 'fun'. Some of his weekend training rides took over 6 hours! My man sets a goal and gets after it :)

As most know our local Mountains of Misery was the goal. 104 miles, with 10,000′ of climbing. Unfortunately some wheel/tire issues that seemed to have been plaguing him cut his day short when he broke a spoke. Disappointed but not defeated we set out to find another similar ride to complete!

Enter the 2010 Garrett County Gran Fondo "Savage Century". 102 miles and over 11,000' of climbing. Not only did he sign up for another month of training BUT this ride had a new goal - the option to raise money for the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation. You guys know I'm a 'sunscreen nazi' and skin cancer is on my list of 'hates'. What a great organization to support! Thanks to our generous friends and family T surpassed his goal and has raised $850 for Melanoma research! He's a winner before getting on his bike this morning!

A note posted by the event organizers about the course he's riding today... "We do not exaggerate when we claim the Diabolical Double is as tough a single-day ride as exists on the planet, and this claim is backed by professional cyclists from the Rapha Continental team who rode the route on their 2009 North America Epic Ride tour as well as two ride leaders of a Tour de France cycling tour company who rode the Diabolical Double and claimed they've experienced no Tour de France stage so tough. The Fabulous Fifty and Savage Century are just as extreme, simply shorter. Please do your homework and come prepared for the ride of your life!"
I really hope he's having the ride of his life and can't wait to see him cross the finish line in a couple hours!

Babe you inspire me! I'm so proud of you :)

------------------------------------------------
The 2010 Garrett County Gran Fondo raised over $20,000!!

The Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation is a non-profit charity, known nationally as "the voice for melanoma prevention, detection, care, and cure!".

Alarming facts about Melanoma:
~Melanoma is the most serious and lethal form of skin cancer.
~One person dies every hour in the U.S. from melanoma.
~Melanoma is the most common cancer for young adults ages 25-29; and,
.......Second most common cancer in adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old.
~Over 121,500 new melanoma cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2009; and,
.......8,650 people are expected to die.
~The lifetime risk of developing melanoma is 1 in 53

Baby DIY #2 - Pinwheel Taggie

Mom came to town a couple weekends ago to hang out and see my belly first hand :) Just her luck I'd brainstormed an awesome project for her to help me with! It was a great girls weekend that included lots of cooking, pedi's, a trip to Floyd for fabric, and of course a couple hours in the 'sweatshop' (my craft room). Can't think of a better way to spend time with Mom!

I brainstormed making the Taggie with a quilted 3D pinwheel top and Mom helped me bring it to life. We make a great team. All the cutting, ironing, sewing, and more ironing seemed to go by faster with two people too!

The pieces ready to go together

Our first trial block

The first top all sewn together. I'm lovin it!

Placing the 'tags'

A glipse of what's behind the scenes

Voila! The first one with a little 'western' flair.

The second one, with brighter colors.
You can see the 'minky' used for the back, SUPER SOFT!

And this is how I imagine finding it all scruntched up after being 'loved' on by our little one.

This really was a pretty simple project to complete and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Pinwheels have got to be one of my favorite quilt patterns. I can't wait to get share it with Baby M!

Nugget meets the Hokie Bird!

Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes,
Boy or Girl, No One Knows

But we do know Baby M is a Hokie!

87 Days

I just finished my first nursery DIY :) I can't take all the credit though - the idea came from shortcake. It's a cute little sign for the nursery door with velcro numbers so we can countdown the days until our little one arrives.

I'm sure there's other more important things I should have been doing over the past two weekends - but I LOVE any time I get to spend in my craft room. I can change out the background and use the numbers in the future to countdown to things like Birthday's, Christmas, Vacation, and Siblings :) I love the way it turned out!


Here's an updated shot of the 'bump' from last weekend. 26w4d.


Mom is coming to town next weekend and I'm SUPER EXCITED about the next DIY I (we) have planned!

Clever Companies

I REMEMBER companies that have AWESOME customer service (Athleta) and/or make your interaction with them FUN (MyEmma)!

I was wondering when a product would ship so went back to look at the order confirmation email I got last week... the email had me 'reading' and laughing.

Thanks for picking us. Your new bag is gonna ROCK!

Here is your order summary email.

We suggest that you actually read it and like it because this is what you are getting and the Lucky One's address below is where we are going to send it. If you must be That Person, we can TRY our best to make changes or cancel your order. This is only if we have had enough coffee and our warehouse hasn't. You will need to send your email to changeorder@timbuk2.com. Remember, this is only if your order is NOT IN PRODUCTION. Once your order makes it to our production line, we can't change it for you and if it's custom, we can't take it back. Not because we don't love you; but because we already have really, really nice custom made Messenger bags from Timbuk2. It's part of the uniform.

WHO PAID (billing address)
THE LUCKY ONE (shipping address)
WHATCHURGETTING (items)
HOW MUCH YOU SHELLED OUT (total)
(I added these notes - not on email)

How often do you write an email that you 'know' people won't read - yet it's so important they do? Add some 'character' next time! I'm not even the least bit disappointed we probably won't our new diaper bag until next week. (Granted we won't need it for a couple months - but new toys are fun!)
Good Job Timbuk2