Fabulous Fun

I just have to post how much I love this time of year. This weekend has been full of fun fall activities with friends and family. It doesn't get much better than this, that's for sure. I love the leaves changing colors. I love cooler weather. I love the pumpkin patch. I love fall festivals. I love bonfires. I love college football. I love Katie dressed up. I love chocolate. I love my family. I love my friends. I am so blessed. I have lots more posts to do - Katie's 18 mo post, Halloween, bonfire, Pumpkinfest, friend's bday fun, and other fun fall posts. Stay tuned!

WHOOOO's the Cutest Girl Around??

Why, Katie, of course!! She LOVES running and playing at the park. She has also discovered that she loves jumping and crunching around in the fallen leaves. What are we going to do once it gets really cold?! While we think of ideas, we are spending every moment we can outside!

Picky Pancake Positions

So, odd title, right? Well, that's just what this post is about. Most mornings, Katie dines on 4 little teeny pancakes and a banana with some "mih" (milk). Over the last few months, she has been very picky about the way her pancakes are on her tray. I have even tried throwing her off - she prefers the speckled side of the pancake face her. You know the pancake has a solid and a speckled side, right? Well, this little lady prefers the speckled for sure! Please notice in the picture how excited she is! And also notice they are all speckled side up (except for the one she is about to take another bite out of)! And if I try to go solid side up, she will have none of it. At least she knows what she wants, right??

Successful Day for K

Item #1: Today was a landmark day in the life of my sweet little one.....she kept a rubber band in her hair from about 8:30 til about 12:30 (naptime at MDO)!!!!! This is huge. I also put another one in her hair when we got home and played outside - and she left it in until bathtime! Hopefully I can eventually put her hair up and put a cute bow or clippy on the hair pulled back. I'm not gonna push it just yet though!

Item #2: She went pee pee in her little potty again tonight before jumping in the tub. Once again - not forcing the issue, but I'm glad she is getting it!

Item #3: She has learned to climb up the little slide we have. She's been trying for a couple of weeks with no success. I am trying my hardest to teach her that she needs to walk around and climb the stairs/whatever is there, but the look on her face when she got to the top made it all okay today. She was so proud of herself!

First School Picture

Here is Katie's first school picture! They had them at her MDO - love it! She is 16.5 months old in this picture - and gosh, she already has changed so much!!

Snacktime Fun

Isn't this the most happy picture ever? She is such a goofball!

And I think this is a neat one. She had never had frosted Cheerios before, so she was really checking it out!

A Different Kind of #1

The past few baths, I have been meaning to try out Katie's potty. Well, let me clarify. I didn't want to personally try it. I wanted to sit Katie on it before sitting her in the tub. She almost always pees in the tub when she gets in, so I thought it would be a good idea to let her sit on her own potty before bathtime. So tonight I remembered. I brought her in the bathroom (armed with my camera, of course) and got all excited about her potty so she'd want to sit on it. She sat and seemed to like it pretty good. All of a sudden she looked at me with a HUGE grin - could she possibly have known that she had peed and I'd be so proud of her?! I know it was probably a fluke, but I am so proud that she tinkled the first time on her potty! I gave her hugs and kisses and lots of praise. Sadie was in there and got super excited. Katie seemed like she got the idea that peeing on her potty is a good thing. I put her in the tub and showed her where she peed and got all excited again.

With that said, I am not, by any means, trying to potty train her just yet. I'd most definitely love to save money on diapers. But I don't think she is ready - she still wakes up wet from naptime, and her diaper is at full capacity in the morning. Also, at mom's day out, they specifically said that was not the setting for potty training. I guess next summer we will really work on it since she is not in mother's day out then. For now, a pee pee before bathtime is super exciting for this proud momma!

First time on her very own potty!

She was still so excited after I put her in the tub!

*Confession: I did take a picture of her tinkle. I decided no one else needs to see it (except maybe Brad, since he didn't get to witness the great event)!

#1

Family Fall Fun

This past weekend, we were certainly busy most of the time! Saturday was spend getting pictures done for our Christmas card, eating lunch with family, and going to a fun birthday party! On Sunday, we had a family fall day. I was so excited to continue on the tradition of Puckett's and Gentry's Farm. Last year, we went to Gentry's on a chilly Saturday and decided to go to dinner at Puckett's afterwards. I wanted to continue the tradition this year - so we went to brunch at Puckett's and then headed on over to Gentry's Farm. Katie certainly enjoyed the experience at the farm much more this year. They have great activities for kids of all ages - we picked out our pumpkins, and then did the "munchkin maze," saw the goats, played with little tractors, looked at the lake, and then played some bean bag toss. We nearing naptime at the end, so Katie was definitely getting grumpy, but I we had so much fun! I can't wait to continue that tradition year after year. Here are some pictures from our family fall day!

Brunch at Puckett's

Katie posing on the Gentry's truck (we did a similar picture last year - but she was barely sitting up on her own!)

Another truck pic

Daddy trying to find the perfect pumpkin

He found it!

Katie's turn to pick one out

Our family pumpkins

Daddy & Katie in the munchkin maze

I love this one - they had finally found the way out of the maze!

I love this picture - Happy Fall!

Happy Katie

She loved running around to all the different activities

We tried to get her to stand there so we could see how tall she was and do a picture like that every year - she would not stand still!

Looking at the goats

Playing on the tractors

Momma and a very tired Sweet Pea

She got her second wind to play some bean bag toss!

Looking at the "wa wa"

Heading back to the car - what a fun day!

And now our front door is ready for fall!!

So Grown Up

Doesn't she look so grown up now?? Definitely no more "baby Katie" - she is full-blown wild woman now!! We had an old remote from our cable company, and since she absolutely loves remotes, we decided she could have her own. She's so funny with it - she takes it to her chair and just sits there and relishes in the fact that she really has her own remote! When we are watching TV, she will go get it, point it at the TV, and act like she is changing the channel (and she actually presses the right buttons too)! So cute :)

Success!

I am happy to report that I found all of the important documents, wedding negatives, and all of our past Christmas cards. YAY!!! Now, if I can just find my ipod and start running...hm...who knows where that is!

Lost....& Hopefully Found SOON!

Things I cannot find after the move:

copies of all of our past Christmas cards (I keep them all together)

wedding negatives

folder of all our important docs (SS cards, birth certificates, car titles, etc)

my ipod

They have to be here somewhere, right?!

Friday Fun Day

This past Friday, we had quite the fun day. We had some friends come over for a play date, ate lunch, and then went to Target with them! Afterwards, we came home so Katie could take a nap and I could relax a little. Once she finally woke up, we headed back out for more errands and fun. While out and about, we went to the park, as well as a few other things. This picture was one of my favorites I took while we were at the park. Look at those baby blues! A few other things we learned: it IS possible to go to Toys R Us and leave without buying anything....it is not advisable to drive by Krispy Kreme while starving and with the window down - that smell is amazing...Katie loves her daddy so much. He has been traveling a lot for work lately and it seems every week after he has been gone a few days, she says "Da Da" whenever I am on the phone, whenever she sees a man dressed in a collared shirt and dress pants, and whenever a car drives past our house. We always love the day he comes home!!

This & That

Katie has been doing some pretty funny and entertaining things lately, and I wanted to make sure I write them down for us to remember. What better place than on the blog, right?? OK, here we go...

• Katie loves cell phones - and remotes, and keys, and basically anything that isn't supposed to be a toy. We were out to dinner a few nights ago and she was being nosy and looking back at the table behind her. That table's waitress was there taking orders and Katie happened to notice that she had her cell phone in her butt pocket. She couldn't resist - within a matter of seconds (you could totally see the wheels turning in those few seconds), she was reaching for the cell phone. Luckily, we caught her just before she was successful!
• Another thing Katie has always enjoyed is dancing. And she usually finds the beat right away! Well, there is a song out that has a fast beat to it and she likes dancing to it. Well, in the chorus, it says, "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes....". A couple of weeks ago, I was watching her dance while we were at a stoplight, and during that part of the song, she threw her right hand up in the air and danced! I was definitely impressed - I guess she knows what her hand is, and knows where up is! Who knew that song could prove to be educational!? :)
• Last night, we were finishing up dinner. I had bought iced animal crackers and Brad wanted a few, which means that Katie also wanted some. These cookies are iced and have sprinkles on them, which she loved. In fact, she kept calling the sprinkles balls because they are those little round ones. She was so impressed that her cookie had little balls on it that she had to give each cookie a kiss. Oh, what a silly girl we have!

Fun Clouds

Shutterbug Momma Practice: Shutter Speed

Another one of the settings we practiced was shutter speed. I used a fountain to practice and was amazed at the difference it made!! As you will see with the pictures below, the first picture has a slow shutter speed which shows the flowy/misty effects of the water. It gradually goes to a faster shutter speed which shows individual drops of water!

Shutterbug Momma Practice: Aperture

For the informal photography class that I did, we had one session and then had a few days before our second class so that we could practice some of the things I learned. "Aperture" is one of the main settings we learned how to use - it is how to achieve a focused focal point with the blur effect in the background. I tried to practice on Katie but couldn't quite get it right. I decided to try with Sadie and it definitely worked much better. Here are some of the shots I got!

New Employee

Picture Fun

Happy 31st, Brad!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Brad's 31st birthday! We went out with some friends and ate pizza and watched some football on his birthday eve and then he was able to go to the Titans game on his big day. He came home and some family came over to eat BBQ and cake and visit and open presents. I think he had a great weekend of celebration! Here are a few pics of the family get together...

He actually posed with his cake!

I love the colors in this pic - and sadly enough, I didn't have any candles, so we had to use a decorative candle I already had lit...

Katie wanted to help dig into the gifts!

And off she goes with the goods...

Modeling is new UT hat!

Looking like a mummy in the tissue paper!

Cozy Coupe Adventures

Katie played with a cozy coupe at a friend's house and absolutely loved it. Of course, I love that she loves playing outside, so I wanted to get her one. I didn't want to pay full price for a brand new one since it would likely sustain some damage anyway. I was in luck! I found one, just down the street, on Craigslist for $15!!! So, I went and brought it home and waited for a nice day to introduce Katie to her own fun toy. And she LOVED IT! She loves running behind it and pushing it really fast. She also loves getting in and out of it. She has finally figured out how to make herself go forward and backward. And she loves to honk its little horn. Here are some pictures of her first session playing with her new toy!

For some reason I just love this picture. Katie and Sadie both love being outside!

Loving pushing her car!

So sweet - minus the bump on her head. She took a header into the entertainment center and a few days later fell into a sidewalk edge when walking into the mall. It is looking much better - 3 weeks later. I did call the pediatricians office and they did say that sometimes when kids hit their head pretty good, it sometimes creates a calcium deposit, which takes longer to heal.

A look of pure enjoyment

Having so much fun!