Progress.....

Well here we are...week 26 starts on Wednesday. For the most part, everything has been going very well. The baby has been very active....she seems to be on a similar schedule as me, which is good because I am resting at night...other than the typical toss and turn. She kicks and punches off and on throughout the day..making sure I remember that she is in there. Sometimes she squirms so hard it hurts, but its great feeling her move around! After our next appointment we will start visiting every two weeks....very exciting. Having appointments every two weeks makes me feel like we are getting closer!
Wes and I have been working very hard in the nursery the past couple of weeks. My dad came up weekend before last to help with several projects, the closet being the biggest one. Several people have asked how it is looking so I thought I would post a few pictures today. We still have to finish painting the stencil on the walls as well as hang the curtains and add all the fabric items...pillows, crib skirt, changer ruffle, ect. Also, we are hoping to paint a little more on the changing table....

** Please note the lighting in the room made the green come out very yellow/lime in the picture...does not represent color well as seen in person

This week I stared painting the stencil...hope to have it complete by the end of the week!

Giant Skunk in our Garage!

So this morning on our way to work....Wes and I ran into a giant skunk in our garage.......


Thankfully he was very friendly.......

Wes put him in the back of his truck to haul him off.....(well took him to work with him)

Happy Halloween!!

If your looking for a good Halloween treat........

KITTY LITTER CAKE!!! Yum Yum. So before you look at the picture, hear me out. Two years ago I worked for a company that was having a Halloween brunch in our department for Halloween. They were going to have a cooking/baking contest on the grossest food item brought. I knew I wanted to take something, but was not sure what. Well, my husband heard about this great cake....so I started doing some research on it. The cake was Kitty Litter Cake....that's right folks.....it looks like a real pan of kitty litter. Although it may look gross, it is sooo good! It does take some time to make due to the two cakes you have to bake and cool and the other ingredients but it is worth it in the end.

So I took the cake to work (some people could not bring themselves to eat it but those that did loved it!) and won the grossest dish award! It's kind of hard to get any grosser than that.

If you are looking for a great Halloween dessert, you should go with this! Fair warning it makes a lot of cake......

CAKE INGREDIENTS

1 box spice or German chocolate cake mix

1 box of white cake mix

1 package white sandwich cookies

1 large package vanilla instant pudding mixA few drops green food coloring12 small Tootsie Rolls or equivalent

SERVING "DISHES AND UTENSILS"

1 NEW cat-litter box

1 NEW cat-litter box liner

1 NEW pooper scooper

Prepare and bake cake mixes, according to directions, in any size pan. Prepare pudding and chill.

Crumble cookies in small batches in blender or food processor. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup of cookie crumbs.

Mix with a fork or shake in a jar. Set aside. When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with half of the remaining cookie crumbs and enough pudding to make the mixture moist but not soggy. Place liner in litter box and pour in mixture.

Unwrap 3 Tootsie Rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable. Shape the blunt ends into slightly curved points. Repeat with three more rolls. Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture. Sprinkle remaining white cookie crumbs over the mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top. Heat 5 more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from the litter box. Heat the remaining Tootsie Roll until pliable and hang it over the edge of the box.

Place box on a sheet of newspaper and serve with scooper. Enjoy!

For More Halloween ideas check out http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/

New York City!

Here are just a FEW picture from my "Ashworth Girls trip to NYC!"

There will be more to come....

Time Square




We went and saw Mamma Mia on Broadway at Winter Garden Theater....it was Amazing!


Friendly Raccoon at Anthropologie

Views from Central Park

The Empire Stat building: a view from the ground and the top

Heading over to see Lady Liberty.....

Her original torch...

Life Size Scale.....

We didn't climb all the way to the top of her crown...just half way, which is the top of the monument that she stands on. Here are pictures looking up to the top from inside...

I have many more pics....which I hope to post soon!

IT'S A.......

GIRL!!!

We are having a little girl, scheduled to arrive February 10th, 2010!

We are very excited!! I am ready to get started on the nursery! I have several ideas... here are a few pics of inspiration. I am using the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit theme. I have a collection of characters, books, and figurine's from when I was little I plan to use to decorate! We have SOOO much to do! We hope to build shelves in the closet, rip up the carpet and put hard wood floors down, paint the walls, and paint some of the furniture... I don't know where to start but it is soo exciting!

Houdini, Still Loaded and No Phone!

So today is a catch up day for a few things I have wanted to blog about, but let time slip away. Since we now have the nursery empty the dogs have been sleeping in the hallway. The trick has been to keep all three corralled. Montana and Ranger both weigh over 65 pounds, and when standing on their back two legs are roughly 4ft or taller....so they are big dogs and a 2ft baby gate would never be able to keep them in or out..... but they have never tried to escape until they were moved to the hall. Each time Wes and I would come home Montana was out and the other two, still locked up in the hall behind the gate. We even put two of our counter height dining room chairs in front of the gate and he still escaped! Just call him Houdini. Here are a few pictures:

This week, he has not tried to break out, so he has either accepted his fate or we have done a good job wedging the chairs in the doorway.

This is a picture of one of my tomato plants that is STILL producing tomatos. Since last weekend, the family came over and cleaned me out, but I still have more coming on....and still have more blooms!!! Will this ever end!

Lastly...... there has been a tragic incident with my phone. Somehow, it jumped off the arm console in the truck and took a dive head first into my grape kool-aid! So it is dead.....well just the battery, I will replace it sooner or later. It has just been really nice not having to worry about where my phone is or if I received any e-mail's from work! My chains have been cut free!!!!! For a brief moment anyway! LOL!

Pap's Memorial Derby: Labor Day Weekend

Meet my best friend of all time:

He went by Pap, but he was so much more! I would not have learned half the things I know without him. One of the most important things he taught me was how to fish. He loved fishing and passed all his knowledge and secrets on to me. At the time, I didn't realize how special the time was that we had, taking a can of worms and a cain-pole up to the little pond in town, but I would give anything to go back to those days!

So as you can tell, Pap is no longer with us here on Earth. In order to keep his love for fishing alive, the family has begun an annual tradition of going to one of his favorite places, Spider Creek, on the White River, and having a family fishing derby. So each Labor day weekend we all head out to the river for some food, fun, fishing and great memories! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Group Shot

Silly Group Shot

The Trophy

Beautiful Moon!

The derby last year was won by my aunt Melissa, the first of Pap's fishing prodigy's. This year the derby was won by a girl as well, me! LOL! The guys, struck out. As you can see in the picture above the traveling trophy is a huge stuffed trout, embroidered with each year's winner on the fin. The trophy is now at the Ashworth house!