All Things New

Hope your Holidays are Bright and Joyous!

We had a lovely first Christmas as a family! After nursing a severe headache for 3 days straight, I'm finally getting relief med-free but still have yet to edit the Christmas pictures.

In the meantime, did you catch Skip to My Lou's FREE Printable Calendars Roundup yesterday? Well if not, you should skip on over to see the lovely offerings {HERE}. These are my top 3 faves:

1. Mibo Studio's 2011 Planner

2. Anna and Blue Paperie's Calendar {sized for a CD case...fun!}

3. Switcheroom's Month-by-Month Full Page Calendar

What a wonderful FREE find too- lovely and they don't cost a thing!

Since I've done absolutely nothing the past 3 days while recovering, I guess it's now time to print these up and try to get a head start by planning things out for 2011.

To Dos:

1. Put away Christmas decor *sniff sniff* The house will seem so boring now
2. Plan Toddling M's Party...he turns TWO in 6 weeks!
3. Nest in our home, of which I've done nothing on the To Do List {HERE}
4. Design Baby D's Nursery...she arrives in 4 months!

From Our Family to Yours...

My List for Santa

Comfort

1. Philosophy's Falling in Love Scent 2. Abercrombie & Fitch PJs

Joy

3.McWane Membership 4. Isabelle Oliver's Maternity Pocket Tunic

Peace

5.Marrakesh Ikat Print Pillow 6.Ikea Arstid Wall Lamp

LOVE

7. Canon Rebel T1i
8..Frye Paige Tall Riding Boots 9.Tory Burch Tote

HOPE

10. Merry Christmas to ALL

Tis the Season

Well, while Toddling M and I have been doing some crafting together {HERE}...

I found some other really cool printables and ideas to tackle myself. Like this paper Santa Claus with free downloadable {HERE}. We surprised Scott last night and put it in his computer office. I thought the little guy was fun and quirky!

And I just put up our Merry Christmas banner in the living room...framing our lovely huge TV above the fireplace {yeah. not a fan of exposed electronics...hide them if you can!}.

I first saw the "Believe" banner featured on I Am Momma Hear Me Roar {HERE} and then there's the "Merry Christmas Banner" directly {HERE}.
And we went about a week without a tree topper, so I wanted to try my hand at one of the oversized boutiquey bows. But when I went to a local shop to buy the big ribbon, they had some already-made ones on sale for less than the original cost of the ribbon. SOLD! They also have some pink ribbon too, so I'll probably make one of these for when Baby D arrives too.It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The Old, The New, Some Shopping, Bye Bye Blue

Well yesterday we found out that Baby #2 is a GIRL!

THE OLD

After a 14-wk ultrasound, the tech had me thinking this baby was likely a boy. She "saw a nub" and while she strongly advised to not buy anything gender-specific, Scott and I prepared ourselves for a little boy. So originally I'd dreamed up a more modern nursery with slimline Ikea furniture...

...and an Ugly Doll theme with these critters scattered on wall shelves throughout the nursery

...some fun, funky touches like this

...paired with a green, yellow, and hints of blue throughout the room {walls were going to be very wide horizontal stripes of green/yellow}.

So imagine our surprise when the sweet baby girl was finally detected {after about an hour she cooperated!}.

We're elated!

First of all we wanted a healthy baby, but if you twisted my arm I would have admitted I secretly wanted a little girl so that we'd have one of each. Scott won't admit this, but he wanted one too. I warned him that if Baby #2 was a little boy that we'd have to keep trying for a girl and I think this had him petrified were this baby a boy {this pregnancy hasn't been the cheery one I had with Baby M}. And Baby M will definitely be a fantastic big brother to his little sister!

THE NEW

So we're going Team Pink now. And that means all new preparations: new clothes, new accessories, new mindset, and back to the nursery drawing board. Oh and we're still not certain about plans for the nursery since technically all rooms are being used in the house. Design Challenge: ACCEPTED!

And I'm holding off going crazy on shopping for Baby D. While I want to go wild, we obviously can't do it financially and there are other priorities before her May arrival.

TO DOs:

1. CHRISTMAS- all presents purchased, but must make/bake Christmas treats & finish planned crafts for Toddling M {by the way, since he's no longer a Baby, I suppose Toddling M fits him better}
2. TODDLING M'S BIRTHDAY- must find a cheap venue, preferably indoors because it seems to be particularly cold this year and I'm not going to trust that mid-February will be warm enough for an outdoor event...although our new backyard would have been perfect. At least I've decided on a theme: Mickey Mouse, since his absolute mostest favoritest show is Mickey Mouse Playhouse. Every. Single. Day.
3. ALL THINGS GIRLIE for BABY D- I'm going to try and DIY as much as possible for Baby D. I'd like to make a lot of her nursery decor, clothes, hairbows etc. to try and save money.

SOME SHOPPING

But for those of you who haven't yet exhausted your Christmas shopping list and/or you just enjoy shopping in general, did you know that this Friday, December 17th is Free Shipping Day? Omigoodness...I'd take advantage of it like crazy if I could =)

But thought I could at least pass this along {HERE}BYE BYE BLUE!

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

When the temperatures drop, that cues my mouth to crave deluxe comfort foods. Enter: Campbell's Recipe for Shrimp & Corn Chowder with Sun-Dried Tomatoes. I made this last night and doubled the recipe...for good measure of course.

YUMMMY

• 1 can Cream of Potato Soup
• 1 1/2 C Half-and-Half
• 2 C Whole Kernel Corn
• 2 Tbsp Sun-dried Tomatoes, cut into strips
• 1 C Small Shrimp, cooked & tails off
• 2 Tbsp Green Onions, chopped {original recipe calls for chives}
• Black Pepper to taste

1. Heat soup, half-and-half, corn and tomatoes in a 2 Q saucepan over medium heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low.
2. Cover & cook for 10 min.
3. Stir in shrimp and onions.
4. Season with pepper.

Brownie Fudge Pie

I'm stealing this recipe from our church cookbook, but let me tell you this thing is so stinkin' yummy that I literally ate HALF the pie all by myself in one sitting. YES. It's that good! Oh and it's easy to make too!

• 2 Eggs
• 1 C Sugar
• 1/2 C Butter melted
• 1/2 C Flour
• 1/3 C Cocoa
• 1/4 tsp Vanilla
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 C Nuts chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Beat eggs & blend in sugar & butter.
3. Combine flour, cocoa & salt; add to egg mixture.
4. Stir in vanilla & nuts.
5. Bake @ 350 for 25-30 min.

Nesting Challenge

Alright, alright, alright. I know I've completely slacked on this blog, but it's been with good reason.

To catch you up, in the past couple of months I...

1. got married
2. moved me & Baby M into Hubby's house
3. put both houses on the market & have kept them both "show ready"
4. held my first yard sale
5. oh & PS, we're expecting in May!

I posted some pics on Baby M's blog, but today I pre-dated the Wedding details over {HERE}

While we definitely want to sell both homes, my house is a bit larger & very nested already. Our strategy for the move was that one would sell faster & Hubby's almost-empty garden home was in dire need to be staged.

Now here's the challenge I'm starting to tackle after moving into Hubby's house:

With the tiniest of a budget {as in $ZERO if possible}, make this house a home to live-in until it sells AND decorate, but not overdecorate so that it's "show friendly."

I'm almost embarassed to share this, but we currently have no curtains, minimal furniture and decor. There's been some debate with Hubby as to painting the walls; they're in dire need of a new coat, but he says builder's grade and I say warm & friendly. So thus far, they've been left untouched.

For the Christmas season, I've tried to add little sprinkles of holiday decor to warm things up.

Mistletoe in the entryway...

Little vignettes on the shelving...
Tabletop decor...

And who needs curtains if you deck wreaths on the windows? {joking...no, we really NEED curtains/window treatments to warm things up}

And then stockings hung by the chimney with care... {thanks to Gigi for Baby M & our pug's stockings in the center}
Nesting To Do List:

• Paint Walls-arrrrrggggghh, pretty please dearest Hubby?
• Make curtains
• Create wall art
• Headboard for Master Bedroom? {am really loving these temp options HERE}
• Sew pillows

And then of course, we'll soon have to tackle the bigger challenge of making room for Baby Deuce. Right now the 3rd bedroom/closet is Hubby's necessary workspace.

*SIGH* But I suppose these are the types of challenges that allow our creativity to thrive...