trick or treat!

"trick or tweeeeeeeeeeeet!"

examining the pumpkin.

trying to reattach the stem, "put together mama! put together!"

guarding her loot and scoping out the scene. notice she decided to take the pumpkin with her!

halloween... round one!

here are some pictures from isa's halloween morning. she insisted on wearing her "monkey suit" from the moment she got up! she and daddy went to the party at the children's museum and will be trick or treating on main street this afternoon. the mommy has been sidelined with a kidney infection (great. like that's what we need, right?) but has given strict orders for daddy to take LOTS of pictures!

or not.

i guess fun pictures of isa in her costume will just have to wait. the little party pooper woke up in a horrid mood from her nap and absolutely refused to put on her monkey costume and head to the library open house party. not even words like treats, fun, and candy could persuade her. i wave my white flag of surrender. toddlerhood has won. again.

the baby prepping continues...

not that i don't have a very long list of other things that i should be working on, but baby prepping in the ole sweatshop is alot more fun these days! of course, i can't seem to stop making scarves either. and while both of these things are a nice change from the usual sewing, i really should crack the whip and get on top of the growing list of christmas orders. in the meantime though, this lovely little baby gown will do! too bad the shop is going on maternity leave soon, otherwise these would be a nice addition... soft, sweet, and custom. not too shabby.

in other news, stay tuned for some long anticipated goosey pictures. the halloween festivities have begun already around here, so there will be some fun blog posts to come!

yep, still here.

just really, really busy. you know... with a toddler (a clingy one at that!), a 33 week pregnant lady, a small business, a full time job with travel, a bathroom half finished and a kitchen in the middle of renovation. yeah. busy. very. very. busy.

flashback! friday!

isa says, "hey! what'd you say about my chickens?"

here's a special flashback friday tribute to kathleen. these are (were) her chickens, which isa got acquainted with this time last year, over in teton valley. we thought this would be an appropriate flashback this morning since 1) we learned that kathleen is a secret blog reader and 2) the goose and i are headed to teton valley tomorrow morning for a little adventure! what's the adventure, you're asking? well... isa and i going on a weekend roadtrip together while daddy demolishes the kitchen! let's hope his project turns out to be less adventurous and that maybe they'll be closer to done when we get back on monday! here's hoping right? hope everyone has a fabulous weekend, we'll be back with lots of photos on monday evening. ciao!

the almighty date...

as in, the c-section date... was made today with the new doctor. some of you have likely heard that there is a severe ob/gyn shortage in this here county (which for the record, is larger than the state of massachusetts). this has meant that it's really difficult to get appointments, be seen by an actual doctor on the day of said appointment, and get any kind of questions or concerns answered.

unfortunately, the lovely doctor who delivered isa moved away and our favorite certified nurse midwife doesn't have delivery priviledges (read: small town politics). so that left us in a bit of a lurch. but as of today, atleast we have a doctor who will deliver this child! miracle of miracles! granted, we will be having a repeat c-section (long story, not for blogging, all politics aside) so it's not like we have that many choices... but i digress. what's the magical date? december 11th. so assuming this little one doesn't decide to come before 39 weeks, that's the day it will be born. of course you wouldn't hear me complaining if the arrival was closer to 37 weeks, like miss isa ;-)

more importantly...

how did that carrot cake taste? little julia says, "magnifique!" the candle was just for fun, and because isa seems to think that all pastries should have candles. i won't argue.

little julia

it's been a weekend full of fun stuff around here, which is a welcome relief after all that bathroom business. yesterday involved trips to the park, making footprints in the snow and homemade chicken soup. today was more of the same... plus baking! since mommy is trying to cram alot of work into the "weekend off" from home improvement, isa and daddy are getting in some good quality time. this morning, that entailed pulling all of the carrots out of the garden, which is now snow free. but what to do with so many carrots, we wondered? two words: carrot cake. apparently me being pregnant has given both of us a sweet tooth. so isa and daddy had an adventure in baking this morning. isa was quite the helper, hence the new nickname of "little julia."

here are some pictures from the endeavor. take a good look at the old cabinets and linoleum in the background. as of next weekend, they will be gone! that's right... next saturday the kitchen makeover begins. let's hope it doesn't take quite as long as the bathroom though, being that the clock is ticking until we re-enter babyworld again!

flashback friday, finally!

see that face? that face is saying, "Yay! It's Friday, finally!" and that pretty much sums it up. happy weekend folks, this week is over!

washable, huh?

well, let's hope so. this is what happens in the time it takes for me to go to the bathroom. the coloring book gets tossed and isa gets really creative. *sigh*

ta da!

well, it's finally finished enough to photograph... the newly remodeled bathroom! granted, it's not completely done, as there are some trim and door details to be finished and what not. but that's ok for now! overall it turned out really nicely, after much toil and sweat on phil's part. good job daddy! the paint color is about two shades lighter than i would've liked, but at this point i am not too interested in repainting anything. the saltillo tile on the floor will be continued into the kitchen, which is that red wall you see in the first picture, once the new cabinets are installed in a few weeks. the colors in both rooms and the fabulous tile will make them both look really nice together.

so there you have it... a 90+ year old bathroom, completely gutted and redone. for the record, i hope we never have to do it again! but for now, i will enjoy every last second of it... particularly the sparkly, clean bath tub!

first snow!

this has turned out to be quite the first snow! we got over a foot accumulated in the driveway last night, so there's alot more than that in the yard. and the best is yet to come... sounds like the bulk of the snow is coming today and tonight. we even made the weather channel. as you can see from the photos, isa is living it up and getting her fair share of snow eating and snowball making. enjoy!

flashback friday

can you say coooooookie? the goose at 18 months.

expect many snowy pictures to come over the weekend. it started falling last night and is suppose to keep up til sunday. isa has already gotten lots of use out of her snowboots. everyone loves the first snow! this morning isa woke up and looked out and the window and said, "snow on the ground! grass is white! snow is white!"

since we're on the subject...

...of winter: this is the newest craftiness to hit the household. making these lovely minky patchwork scarves is a good way to use up the mountains of scraps in the shop. and it's resourceful to boot. and since the economy (and the weather) is seemingly headed for the deep freeze, resourceful items that help keep us warm might be even more useful than we previously though, eh? me thinks so.

be careful...

...what you wish for! the mommy wanted autumn weather, but instead it looks like we've got winter on our hands already. we're supposed to get between 6 and 24 inches of snow in town this weekend! wow. good thing isa's snow boots and another pair of winter shoes came in the mail today. break out the blankets and turn on the heat folks, summer (and autumn too?) is gone!

finally fall...

it's finally fall around here and we couldn't be more pleased! after all this hype over a cold winter, i was starting to wonder if it would ever really cool off. i mean, not that it's been that hot, but it has been unseasonably warm for september and october. apparently the weather gods were listening and as of this weekend, it's been picture perfect autumn weather. so the goose and i celebrated with a trip to see the horses this morning. there is a big field next to the park with three very sweet and friendly horses. so we dug up some of the last carrots from the garden and took them a treat. isa loves going to visit them and the first thing she said this morning as they walked up to the fence was, "hi buddy! have carrots!"

daddy's little helper

isa decided it was time she got in on the action. yes, that's right. the bathroom is still a work in progress. but there will be priming, painting, tiling, and installing of stuff this weekend... stomach viruses be d*mned.

here's a little commentary from this morning...

isa: helpin! i helping daddy!
phil: yes, you're helping. thank you.
isa: yeah. i welcome.

SALE! this weekend only!

all dresses are on SALE this weekend! woohoo! don't miss out, it's only good for a few days!

flashback friday

and thoughts of what's to come around here. brrrrrr. this was taken when isa was about 4 months old, on a very cold december day!

is it friday yet?

nope. too bad. though it feels like it should be, as loooooong as this week has been! a round of a particularly nasty stomach bug got the best of us this week. what's worse than tossing your cookies with a horrid stomach virus? uhm, tossing your cookies when you're 7.5 months pregnant. yeah. though to be fair, phil (who is not pregnant) was awfully sick too, so he has my full sympathies as well. as for isa, so far so good. though i am not naive enough to believe that we could be so lucky... i mean really, what are the chances that phil and i get the nastiness and the toddler doesn't? not that i want to jinx us or anything, i'm just saying... here's to making it through to next week with no more puking, m'kay?