Fall is here Fall is here!

Fall is here, Fall is here, my favorite favorite time of the year!

October

The Fall has brought even more activity than Summer. Pagents, cooking, birthday parties, road trips, and festivals. We have been busy and loving every minute of it!

Casey County Jr Miss

I bet all of you were thinking I had enrolled Harper in her first pagent. You guessed Wrong!

I mean, nothing against them of course, I just prefer to keep her in the cheering section at this point.

We went to the Jr Miss to support Baylen's (my 16 year old nephew) girlfriend

"Ash a lee" as Harper puts it.

Ashley quickly became the star in Harper's eye. I am not sure if it was all the "Big" girls on stage, the dancing and singing, or the fancy sparkly dresses but she was perfect for over 3 hours. She sat on the bleachers and clapped so hard and yelled out for "Ash a lee, go numba SEVEN" over and over and over. It was adorable and believe me when I say when it was time to go she was NOT happy. She is still talking about it.

Cooking Again

I'm not sure if it is being indoors more or if Harper is beginning to play more independantly but my cooking gene has risen from the dead. For so long I have cooked but really didn't look forward to it or daydream about recipes and quite possibly could have been in cooking depression:( The truth is, when you are so busy with everything else, it seems to lend no time to creativity or lust for delicious laboring recipes. So since I have come out of my cooking coma, I have been making Sunday Dinners and with lots of help from Harper. We have been reading cookbooks and looking at pictures of food we want to cook. Harper likes picking fun desserts and I of course lean toward the pasta!

Here we have the classic recipe tester job assigned to the best friend a cook could have.

The girl that loves all things food.

Someone that loves food this much will always make you feel good about your cooking:)

Happy Birthday Henry

Our sweet neighbor bestie Henry turned 1 year old!

Angela and Will did an amazing job on this boy's day.

It was the perfect vintage toy party.

All of these old toys that take you right back to your play room, play closet, or wherever you got lost in your toys as a kid.

The candy bar was amazing and the cookies stole the show. Well, 2nd best to the beautiful boy!

Harper and I arrived just in time for what normally is the beginning of her nap time and I crossed my fingers, dressed her up, and prayed we could make it through with lots of smiles, crumbed and stained clothing, and minimal tears.

We did just that and Harper had the most fun sneaking over to the cookie collection and hoisting up her little hand to fish around for more and more cookies. She probably had 3 or 4...and so did Mommy:) They were divine.

Henry had the best time and was hilarious diving into to his cake.

He literally face planted his tiny little noggin right into his cake and just nodded back and forth as a sign to say "Yes, Yes, Yes, I love love love it!"

It was perfect Angela! I know how hard having that 1st birthday is and she did great. Just a few tears of her own and a few of my own. I saw Angela tearing up during the Happy Birthday song which brought me right to that place which makes you want to freeze time and never let them get older. I don't know what you call these feelings of loving the moment you are in and having no idea that it could get any better and then out of nowhere you love the next milestone and hope you can never leave it. Parenthood? I don't know, but I like it.

Fall Festival

Harper's school hosted their first Fall Festival. They had advertised games, silent auction, and a DJ. I had told Harper all about it the week leading up to it and she could not wait to go to the "Dance Party." When I read the newsletter to Bob, he asked me what do you do at a Fall Festival? I couldn't believe he didn't have the same affinity I did for Fall Festivals!!! He mentioned he didn't really go to them as a kids and I said this was a great time to start!

I was like front row Joe as a kid at our Fall Festivals. Bobbing for apples, great games, silent auctions, freshly popped popcorn. Maybe that is why I love Fall so much, it was always the best time at school and of course preempts the holiday season.

Harper was sort of into the games, and stood still long enough for her bestie teacher friend to paint her face, and LOVED the dance party. Once she saw the DJ and all the other kids dancing, she had found her spot at the Fall Festival. I thought to myself, this is it...she is going to break it down tonight! No! Nothing! Nodda! She stood by my side and observed all things around her. All the kids in costumes bustin a move and acting crazy, Harper just watched with those big eyes of hers. That's totally her though, she takes it all in and does her own thing. Bob and I loved watching her and made for a perfect Friday date night with our daughter.

Harper's Fan Club

This is Harper's fan club. Most mornings during drop off or in the evening when I pick her up, several of these girls will come to see her. She knows most teacher's names and has formed some type of bond with each one of them. And most of these girls do not even have Harper in their class. They will tell me, when they are on the playground with her that she will "tell" them to sit down here and hold this and do this. They laugh and laugh and talk about how funny she is. I tell you, I know I have my hands full and that is what I tell them. I always tell them, make sure and tell her to say "Please!" It is so special to see her developing her own little world and mostly to see others take up with her. She knows and calls most of her friends by their first and last names.

It is quite hysterical because the teachers rarely refer to the kids by both names. Harper hears it and locks it in her huge elephant memory. At home when she is playing she will often speak to

Catarina Diaz

Aston Duggar (her best friend)

Ellie Lewis

Emmy Adams

Isabella Diaz

Keegan Medina

Mary Eloise (we are waiting to hear she says)

Hotlanta

The ladies took over Atlanta for the weekend.

My Mom (Nana), Sister (E-Lee), Harper and I went to Atlanta for a girls shopping weekend.

We shopped until we dropped and so did Harper. She spent her naps in the car, thankfully. Almost 3 hour naps most days!

We found lots of goodies for Christmas and ourselves.

The best thing we got was a little girl time. We laughed and laughed and that was probably the best part of the trip. We actually survived the trip with very little footage, imagine that...the Terry's and few photos is like going to Baskin Robbins and they only have a few flavors!

We hope to make it annually!

Kentucky

Harper is a true Kentucky girl. She LOVES horses, just like her Mommy.

Most trips home to Kentucky we venture down to Joy's farm (a family friend) and see all the animals. The horses are Harper's favorite and this particular weekend she was so brave. She met Dolly and decided to give her a kiss and a hug! And then that was it! She was very nervous to ride her but I got her up there for a few minutes!

Roadside Photography

I often take photos while driving in Kentucky because it is so beautiful and rarely do any turn out. I liked this one because it is so simple and relaxed and that is exactly how most weekends are when we visit!

Happy Birthday Jones

April Nodine (one of my besties from college) celebrated another 1 year old birthday. We missed the party itself but I got to spend an evening with a few members from my crew in Louisville. It's always a good time catching up with my girls and seeing their kids. They all grow so fast and are all soo soo different.

I stayed with April and Jones and Whitney (another bestie from college) brought Kate and Jake over to see us. We had our traditional dips and wine and dished while the kids played.

Ahhhh, a Fabulous Friday in Kentucky!

Jones

He is the cutest little thing. He is so snuggly and spunky, I loved hanging with him.

Kate, Whitney, Jake

Seriously, could they be any cuter!

Precious Boy!

Kate and I have bonded. She is the sweetest girl with the best manners. And always asked about Harper. I promised her next time for sure:)

Little Mommy

Harper adores her babies and loves taking care of them.

She lines them up, usually face down, and pats and pats and pats them to sleep.

At night, before bed, she looks around to make sure we have them all and tries to get them settled at the same time I am trying to do the same to her. It makes me smile like nothing else when I see her caring so much, working so hard, and taking such good care of them.

"You ok Baby Lindsay"

"Ohhh, it's ok Mary, I pat you"

"Mommy, she stinks, I change her"

"Want me read to you, Ok!"

The list goes on but make no mistake, Harper's is an excellent Mommy. When I tell her that she tells me she is a "Big Girl"

Holding Congress

This is a common pose in our house which is most or all of us at the kitchen table eating, playing, painting, etc.

I like to call it holding congress because Harper is usually acting judge like or bossing something or someone. If you haven't picked up on it by now she is definitely a leader and a sassy one at that. At least that's the code word I use for bossy.