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!

A Girl & Her Dog

Helping = Humiliation for Sadie

So as I mentioned in my earlier post, I have done all I could think of to make Katie think that keeping her clippies and bows in would be the best idea there is. Well, here she is about to take the bow out and hand it to me saying "thank you"...it is kind of cute the first couple of times but gets old really fast!

Here is an example of another method I tried - I thought maybe if Katie saw Sadie wearing a bow, she would think it was funny and cute. Needless to say, it didn't work and it humiliated Sadie - look at her expression! Hilarious.

Bow Issue

So, as I may have mentioned before, Katie will NOT, for the life of my, leave a clippy or a bow in her hair. Ugh. I have tried everything from scolding her to letting her watch in the mirror as I put it in her hair. Everytime she takes it out, hands it to me, and says "thank you". At least she has manners, right?? Well, I was out and found these bows that have rubber bands sewn into them and thought that might be the fix. Well, it lasted about 10 minutes and out it came. Better than nothing, I guess. I have so many cute hair clippies and bows that are just waiting for her to leave them in. Hopefully it will be soon because her hair gets in her eyes! I don't want to cut her hair and give her bangs because I want it to get long enough to put behind her ear. Well for now, here are some pics of her first ten minutes of the bow with the rubber band....

She loves this little doggy she can "walk"

Digging through her toy bin at Cee Cee's house

The Whole Crew

Here is a group picture that I forgot to post before - this is my mom's side of the family at the celebration for Meme's 80th birthday!

Meme's 80th Shindig!

On September 12, 2010, my grandmother "Meme", turned 80!! What an impressive milestone. We all got together at my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate. It was great to visit and celebrate with her. Here are some pictures of the get-together!

Four Generations (although one of the generations has her eyes closed - so typical!)

My uncle and my Meme

Cee Cee reading a book with Katie

My brother, Will - a smile so big you can see the back of his throat!

Blowing out the candles!

Posing with her Puffy Muffin cake - I hope I look that good when I turn 80!

Two words - beautiful and delicious!

Uncle Bubba and Aunt Anne gave Katie a cuddly pink bear and she LOVED it. Here she is once we got home running around with both of her bears :)

Status Update

Just wanted to do a quick post to say I realize I have been MIA and not done a post in a while. This is because we moved this weekend! And MAN am I glad that it's over! I really do love our new house and can't wait to see what it looks like once we get everything unpacked. We have made lots of progress already - especially in the kitchen and laundry area! I also have to add that I didn't realize how emotional it would be to leave our old house - it was our first house together! Brad carried me across the threshold when we got back from our honeymoon, we brought Sadie home there, we brought Katie home there, and all of the smaller, special memories. I hope the new owners enjoy it as much as we did. But it was necessary for sure :) More to come, so stay tuned!