we're not done yet

we had our annual family fall day

and since everyone still had plenty of applebutter

this year was just for fun.

we got to see my cousin

play football, so that was neat.

the time got away from us though and

we missed out on our apple eating contest

and carving pumpkins,

but there was lots of running around outside

and eating food,

so i'm all good.

maybe we need another day?!

 

 

 

football!  they got killed but it was good to see aden play.

what a pretty day! 

 

 

 

 

 

we should have carved pumpkins either before or

after the game but we were too focused on food.

soup, soup, scouse and chili.

plus homemade bread and donuts

and a ton of dessert.

yes, i'll have seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and after it got dark,

we loaded on our hayride and drove

around the country roads.

the girls laughed and played

while mickie sang them songs i remember

from my childhood.

i punked out half way through and

rode in the truck.

in my defense, i held reid the whole time

and i needed some back support

and a little less yelling.

 

 

 

also while we there my aunt carol

gave out free haircuts...

so i chopped mine off.

it doesn't look like it,

but it seriously feels short.

ronnie approves.

 

 happy fall, ya'll!

 want to see past family fall days?

its always a good time.

2014

 2013 

2012

2011

 

we've been doing this since i was a kid

and obviously its one of my favorite days of the year.

i'm so happy brette and reid get to grow up with it too.

a little baby we never met

 

 

today is pregnancy and infant loss awareness day.

i'm sure you saw it all over facebook.

can you believe that one in four mommies and daddies will go through this?

well, i do because of ALL the people that reached out

to ronnie and i last fall when we lost our little one.

people i never even knew went through this.

family and friends.

its like a secret little club that no one wants to be a part of.

but i know there are so many people out there

thinking about their own little coulda shoulda woulda baby today.

mine would have been 7 months old.

bless our babies,

the ones we hold and the ones we can't.

toddler food tips

i am by no means an expert on toddlers.

brette is my first and she's just in the beginning stages.

maybe, i should call this... what works right for me right now.

that's a little better.

 

i have found that it's best if brette has gone potty,

been fed or has a snack

and something to drink before i try to

get anything done.

 

and sometimes it's way easier
to grab something out of the pantry
rather than find something healthy.
so with that in mind,
here are a few things i like to keep on hand
that might work for you too.
(and brette actually loves.)
 

1. frozen peas and blueberries.

i never thought this sounded good,

but she loves them.

i literally dump them in a bowl and she goes at it.

2. little snack ems' dill pickles.

i just hand her a couple and she walks around eating them.

easy and really not that messy.

 

3. cut red peppers into strips.

the first time i saw brette eat a

red pepper it freaked me out.

it was like it was the best thing ever made.

and you know what,

both her cousins destroyed theirs too.

so weird, but kids seem to love them.
 

4. hummus or southwest dip

on crackers or carrots.
and found in most of my wraps.
a healthy dip.

5. peanut butter and celery.

i thought this might be hard for her to chew,

but she actually loves it.
sometimes she gets the "strings" caught in her teeth,
but whatever.
 i'll take that over eating a
bowl of marshmallows with a side of chips.
(and ps - she actually prefers if i just give her a big
stalk of celery and let her dip it in the peanut butter herself.
so yeah, maybe no one should eat out of my peanut butter jar.)

 

and then there is the power of

6. a tortilla.

we always have tortillas.

for quesadillas.

for little pizzas.
for cheese crisps

for turkey wraps.

for pinwheels.

for breakfast burritos.

and i've started making what i call

banana bites.

it's a fun way to serve up breakfast.

so easy...

spread peanut butter on a tortilla, then

wrap a banana up in it and slice

into rounds.

i make it look like a flower on her plate,

but that's just me.

i recently read another mom that took
cookie cutters and cut shapes out of lunch meat and cheese for her kid.
i think brette would really like that,
so that's next on my list to try.

any other suggestions?
what foods do you feel good about giving your kid
that they'll actually eat?

 

so little time

we had another full weekend.

saturday we had a friend's wedding.

i have a bias toward fall weddings,

they're my fave. obviously.

this one involved cowboy boots,

a whole table of desserts and 

literally a boatload of beer,

so ronnie and i were in heaven.

luckily it was in warrensburg, so

my parents watched both girls for me

and i was able to run home in between the

wedding and the reception to nurse reid.

ronnie and i had a fun night.

i think we both feel the need to make the

most of the time we get out of the house.

just imagine us running toward the light,

yelling  F R E E D O M  like braveheart.

yeah, its a lot like that.

that being said, i'm good staying home until,

lets say, new year's.

it's hard to stay out late and then get up at

5:30am to take care of little ones.

not to mention, pack, load up the car

and fly down the highway back home

so i could spend my sunday with

my college roommates, margie and shannon.

and our 7 kids

(with another one on the way...

marge is due with her third nugget this january.)

let me give a small piece of advice:

if you are overrun with kids and you don't

feel like entertaining just make

your husband bust out some sort of heavy

equipment and let the kids watch.

it gave us some actual alone time on the deck while

the crazy kids watched ronnie on the excavator,

took turns riding with him,

and helped him pick up sticks.

free labor.

i'll take it.

they even found a huge black snake,

which none of them were afraid of,

so they eagerly watched ronnie chopped it up

while i silently freaked out from 50 yards away.

seriously, brette. back the hell up.

and all too soon, it was monday,

but luckily it was columbus day

so the bank was closed.

unfortunately, it's a "working" holiday

so i spend my morning painting an

old lady's house.

no worries though.

i was home in time to put both girls

down for a nap and watch the most amazing

comeback by the royals.

which ps- i'm crossing my fingers for tomorrow.

and now i'm just trying to recuperate and

catch up around the house.

hope you had a great weekend too!

hallow's eve up in here

i decorated for halloween.

i love getting my house ready for the holidays.

especially this time of year.

i think it makes my house feel more homey.

pumpkins, fall leaves, mums...

and then in october i add spiders,

ghosts and jack-o-lanterns.

i still need to buy a mum and get

out my milk carton ghosts,

but things are definitely looking fall around here.

 

i have sunflowers on my mantel,

with leaf garland and orange lights.

i have pumpkin, gourds and my

sparkly jack-o-lantern on the island.

fake pumpkins and gourds with fall sprigs

and orange candles on the dining room table.

spider webs and spiders across the door.

 

 

 

 

next up,

i have a few fun crafts for brette and i to

work on to finish things up.

today i had her paint her pumpkin and

and old egg carton.

i put her name in stickers on the pumpkin

so it would show up through the paint when she was done.

unfortunately, some of the paint peeled off too.

 

 

 

as for the egg carton,

i plan on making some fun bats to hang from our light fixture.

 

 

i want to take our fake bowl of oranges and

turn them into eyeballs! ew.

i've been considering also decorating my front door.

 

 

 

 

 

patches

another fun filled fall weekend.

this time we ventured to the pumpkin patch.

and unlike the apple orchard,

things were a tidbit more expensive.

good thing we invited mimi & papa

and my brother & his girls.

papa generously footed the bill.

(thanks sorry papa)

it was fun for the girls and they

got to run around like crazy people for a few hours.

and then we wrapped up the day with greasy pumpkin

doughnuts and hot apple cider.

tis the season.

 

once again, reid slept through the whole thing.

i'm wondering next year,

when she wants to be apart of the clan,

how well she'll be able to manage.

she'll try to keep up while the older three run wild.

should be interesting.

i'm also thinking that in two years,

things could be even more interesting.

[or crazy.]

i'm pretty sure people will want to steer clear.

 

 

i took about a million pictures,

but here's some favorites.

 

one more fun family fall day and

we should be good until next year.

no wonder this is my favorite season.