Seasons Greetings from the McBrides

  As we get through another hectic holiday season, the McBride's are pleased to say that we are done with our Christmas shopping and feeling pretty darn prepared for baby thanks to the generous baby showers hosted by family and friends. We are adding the finishing touches to the nursery and gearing up to hibernate until he arrives...

  We are so happy to be together as a family this season, especially as we said good-bye to our beloved Finch last week. We are so thankful for the 8+ years we spent with him, and especially these last 7 or so months that Finch battled cancer. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to enjoy Finch, his love, loyalty, and his silliness for so long - he was our best friend.

  Finch taught Rigby a thing or two as well, and we are very grateful for the positive habits that Rigby picked up from him. Even though this is the crappiest ever, so many family and friends really helped us out with their concern and support. Finch is so, so missed - we really would've liked for him to meet the "little nugget" when he arrives this coming February.

AND thank goodness for Rigby - not sure if we would be making it through this without his cuddles.

  Before it got *too cold, we had the chance to get these great family photos with our good friend Erin of Erin Smith Photography - they turned out perfectly.

we had to laugh and play around about some of those over-the-top couples pregnancy photos
it just got a little silly after that...

Super Friendly Baby Shower

  Two of my best gal pals threw a 'friends baby shower' for me this past weekend! They cooked up a wonderful brunch, served mimosas, AND I've never heard of this before: they purchased 21 birthday cards - the kind with ages on them, so ages 1 through 21 - and had each of our shower guests write out birthday messages (one card per person), and seal them up for us to save for the little nugget's birthdays to come! What a cool idea + so thoughtful! (the card for 21st birthday even comes with a bottle opener!!)

Thanks so much Kym & Tabitha! You're the best!

Nursery Progress: Artwork

With so much fun artwork, Baby McBride's Nursery is becoming a little gallery…

We ordered this sweet "Muppet Alphabet" print by Mike Boon off of Society 6

Left: An illustration I did in college from my first little storybook "Jimmy's Tree" - the colors work out really well in Baby's Room.  Right: A super cute screen print from Sara Lintner of Too Many Suitors

"Nuggets in a Carton" - an illustration I doodled on a napkin one evening, scanned, and color digitally - became the start of many a Nugget projects - stuffed friends, tooth fairy Nuggets, Nugget finger puppets and wash mitts, etc…..

Yay! Raccoons on a tandem bicycle! This is an original screen print from my friend/co-worker Alyssa Nassner.
All of her work is the bee's knees!

Left: Here's "Robit Robot "rolling along by me + Right: Calla the bluebird and her babies in a little nest. I loaded this texture in the background: a scanned piece of Eucalyptus & Flax paper that Kevin and I made together back in school!

And a little something that's right up Kevin's alley!! Left: Our version of "Keep Calm and Carry On"
+ Right: a fun R2-D2 illustration I created, and Kevin approved.

When someone asked me if I was planning to add some of my own geekiness, I figured I'd better infuse some of what I get a little geeky over too :) Left: Got this great print from Painted By Renee out of Los Angeles on Etsy who sent it my way quite promptly +  Right: I found a pretty decent resolution version of this Platform 9 3/4 Hogwart's Express ticket online and printed it off for a little 3" x 5" frame

Last but not least, our McBride's family illustration I created over 2 years ago when we started this blog - and I've been adding family members to it ever since….

The Nursery is really starting to come together! Can't wait to share it with you!

Cozy Baby Shower with Family

  This past weekend, my sisters-in-law hosted a baby shower to help us prepare for our soon-to-arrive little one! It was perfect ladies - Thank you!

This adorable handmade banner hung from the mantle - super cute!

Cute Popcorn Cake Pops (complete with mini marshmallow 'popcorns' on top) from sister-in-law Anna + partner April from Birdie & B's Sweets, fit right in with the "About to Pop" theme :)

Much needed bright color palette on a cold, wintry day :)

So many thoughtful gifts - and a few big ones! Thankfully my niece, Brooke, was there to very carefully and meticulously open them for me. Phew! ;)

Tis The Season Boutique - Sneak Preview!!

With Finch's annual sale taking a pass this year, we are excited to help promote & encourage you to visit  Tis The Season Boutique in Chaska, MN.

You'll find TONS of great gifts for the holidays + several Finch's Boutique artists as well! including...

7two7 Glass
Birdie & B's Sweets

Metro Mitten Company

Yellow Finch.Gray Day

Come on by! Starts this evening!

Friday, December 6th   5pm - 8pm

Saturday, December 7th   9am - 6pm

Sunday, December 8th   11am - 5pm

Friday, December 13th   5pm-8pm

Saturday, December 14th   9am - 6pm

tistheseasonboutique.com

+ Last night we attended Tis The Season Boutique Preview Night - a fundraiser event with ticket proceeds benefiting American Cancer Society - It was a blast! So! That means we have sneak peek photos of some of the goodies you'll find at the boutique! Take a look…

Keep cozy with comfy scarves - plus! I spy sweater mittens from Metro Mitten Co!

Oh man. You'd better believe there are some yummy treat awaiting you…mixes for amazing dips, jams, candies and homemade caramels...

Tasty Cake Pops from Birdie & B's Sweets! Vanilla Snowmen and Penguins + Chocolate Trees and Stockings!

Lots of clothing and toys for Kids + Baby! Plenty of Nuggets from Yellow Finch.Gray Day!

+ we can' forget about gifts for pets! Coats, treats, and toys galore!

Hope you get a chance to stop by! Brave the cold and warm up at Tis The Season Boutique!

Laundry Room Floor = All Fixed Up

  Remember all the rain we had this last summer? And all the water that came into our basement? And our 5 day power outage? (refresh with: McBrides Back On The Grid post) We had to pull up the carpet downstairs, remove all the carpet padding, and pull up the linoleum tile from the laundry/utility room... To help remedy the whole situation: we had our front yard regraded, the front of our house excavated and resealed + new drain tile (see The Excavation Site post), + we NOW have gutters...
  So now - FINALLY! - we have our laundry/utility room back in business. Kevin sealed up the floors with a 2-part Epoxy and it looks great! Time to put this place back together!

  Before Floor:

left side = the dehumidifier we had to purchase to get the place dried out and SMELLING dry -  Sheesh!

 
  After Floor:

Kevin sprinkled the the little flecks by hand :)

Slowly but surely we will get this house put (back)together! Good job Kevin!!

Nursery Progress: Layout

  So much to do and never enough time! We have JUST reached the 3rd Trimester mark - yikes! A milestone that seemed REALLY far off not that long ago...
  We're trying to get the nursery started and mostly done before we get all that Minnesota snow and all we feel like doing it holing up in cozy pants and vegging out until baby arrives...

  The Nursery: Here's what we have to work with...

Yes. We have a bookcase - Expedit from IKEA. Yes, it needs to get cleaned off + prob relocated to another wall...

Kevin's been patching the drywall around the vents. (shorty after we moved in, we had a company come out to clean all the duct work in the house - they weren't gentle when removing the heat/color air return vents...)

    Nursery To Do List:
  - pick out paint color(s) - check! you'll have to wait and see...
  - paint walls
  - new light fixture?
  - order crib + mattress
  - put together new chair + dresser
  - drop off fabric & chair cover at Sara's mom's house, so she can made us a lovely cushion cover
  - pick out fabric for roman shade window treatment
  - swap out old, almond color outlets/light switch for new, white - check!
  - create some cute new artwork?
  - hang shelves + artwork
  - empty all the junk out of closet...
  - order cute rug - check!

Wish us luck!!