it's a BOY!

yesterday we had our anatomical scan and got to watch Baby King live and in all his glory for about 25 mins. i started to feel his kicks last week and now a day doesn't go by where I'm not poked, prodded or kicked throughout the day. he (yes, i'll get to that part) was very active at the scan - alternating between sucking his thumb, giving the technician a few punches back when she wanted him to move her way, and when all was quiet looking at his heart and other internal organs - giving a few swift low-blow kicks to remind us he was there.
(i think he was waving at us in this one!)
him being a 'him' came into view quite clearly. and more than once! he definitely doesn't seem to be camera shy (who had any doubts?!) and he had a blast showing off his goods every time the camera came near his tush. quite the little acrobat already. she knew we wanted to know the gender but before she even had a chance to point it out it - i knew it was a boy!
it's quite fascinating all the measurements and photos (like 75!!) they take. they spent quite a bit of time on all the internal organs measuring all 4 chambers of the heart, the blood flow, size of the kidneys, lungs, spine measurements, stomach and brain scans. so far everything is looking good and the little one is measuring a week ahead of schedule.

everything is pretty easy to follow when you have a technician explaining everything but i'm afraid the recording may not have taken audio. i wouldn't know though b/c a) i forgot to ask and b) it's a VHS! i'll need to get that converted to a technology of this decade so we can watch it again.

until then - we're holding onto these memories of our already perfect baby boy!!

witch finger cookies.

now this recipe was tasty, festive & fun!

To take a break from attic renovations last weekend, we didn't go to Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe as planned b/c we had already made witchy finger cookie treats!!

Here's the recipe:
1-1/4 cups Sliced Almonds
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups flour

HEAT oven to 325ºF.

RESERVE 60 almond slices for later use as finger nails; chop remaining almond slices.
Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar, extract and salt in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in flour. Stir in ground nuts.

ROLL dough into 40-60 (3-inch) "fingers," using 1 Tbsp. dough for each.
Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray.
Press 1 of the reserved almonds into dough @ end of each finger.

Shape for appropriate 'witchy-ness'. (Try using a sharp knife to make slits in top of each finger for the knuckles)

BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until lightly browned.

Cool a few mins; transfer to wire racks. Cool completely.

(here's my mother trying to imitate her exact finger) (i perfected the female witchy fingers)


they're like a dense almond shortbread cookie & are the perfect match to coffee or tea. (they perk up my decaf!)

objects in mirrors

are closer than they appear!

woof!

lucy's excited b/c we were headed for stroll @ the beach.

sugar mountain high.

uh oh.

a gourmet cupcake shoppe is opening within WALKING distance from my work. (0.08 miles, to be precise)

they have a rotating cupcake menu which appeals to me most EVERY day of the week. (with 35 flavors, it's not hard)

i'm sensing TROUBLE!!

i tried to have an emergency meeting there at 5:30 last night but they're not opened yet. my co-worker and i walked away sad.

a little birdie told me they may have free samples on their opening day, which is this Saturday for anyone local.

Mom - since you'll be local this w/e I think we'll need to break from attic renovations and have a mandatory 'naming baby king' brainstorm session at the shoppe...

Yay for cupcakes!!

(and, if anyone from sugar mountain bake shoppe is reading my blog - your signage could be improved tremendously. like put one up please! (those interested - it shares the building with La Tea Da) oh - and there's a spelling error on your website. it's spelled Rochester. since we're dealing with CAKE here - i won't hold any grudges)

ode to my singer.

dear ms. singer,

i thank you for your hard work & dedication the last few years. from the first moment I swept (read: stole) you from my mother (who demanded to have it returned but i managed to steal you back) you have given me all the attention, love and most of all PATIENCE a sewing novice could ask for. and i thank you for that.

you're about as old as me, but much, much wiser in sewing years. you've stood by me with all my rookie mistakes, and despite the lack of online help/tutorials for singers 3 decades old - we've made it through several rough patches together. you've allowed me to create clothes, aprons, placemats, pillows, and oodles of other FUN projects!

a month ago, when i thought you gave up on me, i was happy to part ways given our last hurrah together was this itty-bitty baby dress (free pattern courtesy of one of my favorite sewing blogs, madebyRae). i fully admit to shopping around, taking demo classes on newer machines with LOADS more features, and even flirting with the idea of spending nearly 2x our mortgage payment on a younger model. even worse, i day-dreamed about all the good projects to come...

i shamefully admit this to you b/c thanks to my mother - we're back in action again and i don't want any hard feelings. she's reminded me, once again, that most all my sewing hurdles are related to operator error. i don't want any hard feelings as we glide back into our normal pace again, ok? we've got quite the backlog of projects as well as new baby ones on the docket... so let's get to it!

yours truly,
miss sewing-novice nicky

ps - in the spirit of full disclosure, i refuse to take the Emerald 830 off my christmas list. there is room for two in my craft room :)

team pink or team blue.

t-minus 10 days until we find out if baby king
is a prince or a princess!!

i love lists.

most close to me know i'm a list person. lists, lists and more lists! I LOVE LISTS. usually my lists take shape on whatever extra recycled paper or notebooks i have handy. but not anymore!!!

i've been following this valedesign blog for awhile now. their style is clean and fun, not too modern and they have TONS of free, crafty downloads in the shape of FUN labels, tags, stickers, cards and to-do lists. (and even more!) i've used a bunch of them but for the record, haven't needed to pull out the happy husband kit yet!

i can't wait to use their new HONEY-DEW list. i'm hoping this fun, bright, cheery list increases the conversion rate of being able to cross things off it!! wish me luck :)



just skip on over to their site, download and ENJOY!

pregnancy announcement.

sharing the news with our family was one of the biggest excitements we've had since getting pregnant. we wanted to make the announcement extra special.

baby king picked out the CUTEST shirts on cafepress.com to gift to our immediate fam. they all have fun sayings like 'grandma to bee', 'great dads get promoted to grandpa', auntie', and (my personal favorite) 'say uncle'.


one of baby king's grandmas is quite the m&m lover. (there are ALWAYS m&m's on hand at her house and she rarely travels without them) we thought it'd be cute to gift personalized m&m's with the due date on them in blue, pink & white. some say 'girl?' same some 'boy?' grandma was pleased with this part of the surprise!!


finally - there was a photo of baby king. depending on whether the gift was hand delivered or mailed, some got a photo of the baby when it was the size of a lima bean @ 7 wks and others got a photo of our 12 wk ultrasound. either way - baby king looks pretty darn cute.

our families were thrilled with the news and hopefully their little gift packages too!!

happy bday hubby.

my hubby has a birthday today!! i wanted to make him a special bday dinner however he got roped into working a night shift. (boo) so we scooted out to a late lunch in between meetings @ the Gate House Cafe in Village Gate.


i've been there a few times for lunch. they have really YUMMY wood fired pizzas and gourmet burgers. it was no surprise (to me atleast) the birthday boy picked a burger with bacon and blue cheese. topped with pesto mayo... YUM. i got a pizza and will be enjoying the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. double YUM.



happy birthday mcallister!!

meet baby king.

i had an idea of what i was gonna yack about today. but then i realized there were a few milestones achieved on this brisk, fall October morning.

1. this will be my 350th blog post.
2. i am 100 days pregnant.

yup - that's right folks. i fell off the face of the blogging earth quite some time ago for several reasons I won't go on to mention because i'd rather revel in the best news we've had this year:

mcallister and i are gonna have a baby.

words cannot even begin to describe how blessed we feel and how ecstatic we are that our home is going to grow by two feet. we'll be meeting baby king for the first time next march but until then... i share with you a few glimpses of he/she that we've seen so far:




we love you with all our heart baby king!!

happy fall ya'll.

Fall is my FAVORITE season so cheers to the first day of October! And to not being behind on my FALL decorating for once!



Bring on the layers :)