Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

from the Melton Point

Halloween means Julius!

We're totally behind in our Halloween decorating at the MP, but as a friend pointed out the other day, we have plenty of time--Halloween isn't until Wednesday!  We did manage to add an important piece to our Halloween decor this weekend--

Julius came out!  Here he is posing for his first picture with the Parasite!

Anniversary Flowers--Yellow Roses

Remember back in July when I shared one of my anniversary arrangements?  Well, I actually bought those pretty pink and white roses the day J and I got our BFP.  Even though no one else knew, it was nice to have those flowers as an outward sign of our little (huge) secret.  Yesterday, I dropped by the florist to pick out another arrangement.  I've been in a few times since, but it's the first time I'd seen the owner since July.  Needless to say, she was surprised (and excited) by our now rather obvious news.  I'm so glad to have this special relationship with her, and so grateful for her help in picking out flowers whenever I drop in!  

On this trip, she'd just received some yellow (buttercup) roses, that made a great foundation for a Murray State-esque arrangement for our kitchen table!

Around the MP

Happy Monday!

I promised to give an MP garden update today, and I've actually been thinking about writing a general MP update, too.

First, the garden!  Back in May when we planted the garden, we had great hopes for our garden.  Those hopes were half-fulfilled.  The bad news is that this was not a great year for tomatoes.  Not only did the first two plants not make it, we tried and failed with another five plants later in the summer.  Friends with successful tomatoes this summer told me that they only did well with the earliest plants (like, back in April).  That made me feel a little better...

Now, our second container was incredibly successful.  The basil bush (yes, bush!) has provided (and still is) months of pesto, fresh basil, dried basil, etc.  The pepper plants continue to produce peppers, and the other herbs are holding their own, too.

In other MP news, my dad asked the other day what we'd done around the house this year.  Um...  The only thing that came to mind is the new gutters/trim work around the house.  But that just happened, and I felt awful thinking that was it!  So, I scrolled back through our MP Mondays posts from this year (there aren't many, and it didn't take long...).  On the list of things we've accomplished outside this year:

• New gutters!  (longtime readers know this was a longtime project around here!)
• Wrapped the wood trim in vinyl to match the gutters
• Painted shutters and back door black
• Had the phone line into the house cut down and the cable line moved to a less unsightly point
• Added lights to the back deck

We've not done nearly as much inside, though I did make the headboard for our bedroom and add storage to my craft room upstairs.

I figure the reason I couldn't think of most of these things has something to do with the fact that most of them happened before our biggest project of the year--gestating a baby!

So that's what we've been up to this year.  With only two months to go, I'm not sure what other projects are going to be crossed off our list.  You can be sure I'll let you know!

 

Half-Baked!

Finally back with a picture!  Here's our baby girl!

Tap...Tap...Tap...

Anyone still out there?  I'm both surprised and shocked to see that it's been two weeks (TWO??) since my last post.  Last week was a busy one, at work and with DAR, so it was easy to push the MP to the back burner, but I still didn't realize just how long it had been.  I do apologize for that!  I'll be better (maybe not back to daily blogging or anything, but certainly better than a couple posts a month!) and promise to give an update on our container gardens before the frost sufficiently kills everything!

So what makes today special enough to actually write a post?

The baby is half-baked!  I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant today, and we go this afternoon for the 'big' ultrasound--the one where we get an extensive look at the heart and hopefully confirmation of the sex.  At our appointment four weeks ago we got a good guess about that, but have been holding off on any announcements until after this appointment.  If you popped in today hoping against hope for a picture, come back later today--I have one in mind to share!

So.  We're halfway there.  I guess it's time to actually start believing this might happen?

Harvest time!

If you've been reading the MP for any amount of time, you probably know how much I love going to the pumpkin patch in the fall.  J and I have a busy October, so I'm not quite certain when that trip will happen this year.  Luckily, this year we had our very own pumpkin patch out front!  Now, I told you about the ups and downs of front yard farming about a month ago, but I never came back to share the result:

I do regret not putting something in the picture for scale, but the pumpkin ias about ten inches in diameter and a foot tall.  And, thanks to J's diligence in regular turning, it is fairly pretty from all angles--no unsightly flat sides!  We're incredibly proud of our pumpkin, and we're still enjoying flowers on the plant out front (though no other pumpkins have developed).

Also in our front yard 'plot' we have the mums that I bought last year for the pot on the front steps.  I was certain I'd killed them a couple of times, but they are incredibly hardy!  I noticed buds last week, and am thrilled that they are starting to bloom!

Woodn't it be lovely?

Pardon the horrible pun, but J and I celebrated five years of marriage on Saturday.  The traditional gift for the fifth anniversary is wood.  While we haven't yet purchased gifts for each other, our plan to give each other a new deck this year, which works well for a wooden gift!

In an attempt to keep with the wood theme of this anniversary, here is a picture from our honeymoon--the wooden cabin we called home for a couple of days and nights at Jasper National Park Lodge!