Some of The MANY Faces of Minnie...

love her.

Guess What Today Is?

P.S. I'm not ACTUALLY going to ANSWER that question

P.S.S. Those dyer sheets are just about the MOST disgusting thing EVER

P.S.S.S. I thought of Tracy Michele every time I smelled DIRT in my laundry room and thought, this would send her right CRAZY :)

The BEST day of the WEEK

Mama H was coming over for coffee/tea bright and early on Thursday AM. The next day she was going to the Sunshine Girl's house. I suggested the more the merrier and why don't we all meet here. She thought it was fabulous and invited Sweetie and her kidlets! I thought THAT was fabulous and immediately got in touch with J.T. and J w/ CJ and Ho-Hahn! :) THE MORE THE MERRIER :) Before Husband left for school I took "before" pictures...

and now for the DURING!! :) 6 Mommas, and 9 kiddies!! It was a GOOD TIME!!

The BEST part? Enjoying all the YUMMY food and chit chatting with my girlfriends amidst the happy chattering and playing of the little people.

So fun! (Even if CJ doesn't appear to think so :)

Sweetie's handsome little man...

who just happens to look like his sister...

and not to be left out of the action... the oldest sister :) This boy is WELL-LOVED!

Ah my little Dani-Girl... she was a little "off" but you'd never know it except for a few less smiles. She's just so dern GOOD NATURED :) LOVE HER!

Ho-Hahn was ALL about having me take his picture so he could see it in the back of the camera. This child will grow up never knowing about Polaroids or developing film :)

For the most part everyone was scooting home for lunch and naps but Dani was sleeping away the AM in Minnie's bed so J.T. and I got some extra hang out time. Then the CountryRents called to see if they could pick up some files from me and asked if I wanted lunch from BOB'S THE BAKERY!!!! UH... YES PLEASE! :) The sandwhiches are so HUGE, J.T. and I split it and I even cut a chunk off for Husband to have as part of his dinner!!!! :) J.T. and I spent the next hour or so sitting in the warm sun on my deck while Dani played and Minnie slept in her bed :)

When Husband got home I took off for a hair-trim.

Seriously a recap:

Time spent with girlfriends and eating yummy food

Lunch provided by the CountryRents

Warm fall sun

Extra hangout time with J.T.

A haircut

The.Best.Day.Of.The.Week.Period.

STOP THE CLOCKS ~ 11 MONTHS

Minnie, that's IT!!! NO MORE GETTING BIGGER!!! You know what NEXT month brings right?? I'm sure you do, I have been working on the plans for a week now :) but if you want to just stick here at 11 months that would be JUST FINE with Mom!!!!
The past month has kinda been a doozie. You got your first cold and are having a tough time shaking the naggy post-nasally cough. You've had it now for two weeks. It is still waking you up from naps and once or twice during the night. You spent the first 5 nights of it in your bouncy seat just to stay elevated and I think you are on the mend but it's hanging on for a while.

You got your first bloody injury. Auntie Lu-Lu was here for dinner and you tried to get from the couch to the edge of the coffee table. You mis-judged the distance and fell open mouthed onto the corner. You hit the roof of your mouth right behind your right front tooth. Bled like crazy and didn't make you very happy. We carried the coffee table downstairs two days later. No more blood from that particular piece of furniture if I can help it.

Daddy had to spend a lot of time away from home with soccer this month and that definitely started to wear on you. There were some days you only saw him for 15 min or so a day and I heard a lot of "Dada" from your crib first thing in the morning. Sad when you are realizing that you miss him. Thankfully we were able to get away as a family for a weekend though and you loved all the snugly time with him.

You're scheduled hasn't changed too much but I am noticing that you are going longer between meals. You like breakfast by 7AM, lunch between 11:30-12, a snack when you wake up from your afternoon nap and dinner between 5-5:30. You are still snagging an AM nap and I don't mind one bit :) and another nap later in the afternoon. You are still happiest when you are in your bed for the night by 6:30-7PM.This past month your vocabulary both verbal and signing has TAKEN off. You now say:

Hi Dada ~ in response to Daddy saying "Hi Sunshine"
Mama, still in a whiny, need/want something sort of way
Awwww when you give the baby in the dishwasher kisses or we tell you you are a nice girl
Yep
Up
Down
Out
I did hear you say "GramPA" but it takes MUCH prodding right now :)You can sign or do hand signals for:
More
Touchdown/So Big/All Done
Wave hi and bye
High Five
Clap Clap Clap

You are having a hard time with the chunkier baby food but you love to eat anything we are eating. You are a big fan of pizza which works well for you in this house :) cheese, toast, you like scrambled eggs so/so and will do a few bites of your Yo-Baby yogurt but you are still not sold on it. Your Earth's Best ~ Apple Turkey Cranberry dinner is your favorite meal and you are also still loving the avocado and sweet potatoes I made for you and put in the freezer. Peaches I am finding come back on you a bit but you LOVE them along with every other fruit EXCEPT bananas still.

Outside is still your FAVORITE and that has been tough with the colder/rainy-er weather. We are going to have to get creative this winter in bundling you up so we can stay outdoors.

You have started to really grasp the chase and being chased game and LOVE it when we play with you crawling on all fours across the floor. We still have to watch you like a hawk because the first SECOND the gate has been moved from the stairs you are UP 'em! You can walk up to 10-12 steps but only between people and typically only when the "big kids" are around. You are not a huge fan of it with just Mom and Dad and prefer to drop and crawl because you can get there faster.

You love to play ball back and forth and get really excited when we cheer for you and say your name. Tough being an only child :)

This month has come with its fair share of challenges but watching you blossom and understand more and COMMUNICATE more has far outweighed those trying times. You are realizing that we think you are funny and eating that up. Your strong personality is coming out more and more each day and it is a joy to be your parents Minnie. We love you lots and tons!!!

Mommy and Daddy

Wordless Wednesday: STINKIN' Cute

(headed out the door to Droplets aka MOPS aka Bible Study)

*turtleneck courtesy of Nana sz 18 mos, plaid tank courtesy of Grammie R sz 2T, pants courtesy of Sky via TiTi sz 12-18 mos, and BPA-free nalgene bottle courtesy of TiTi and Uncle L who "buys her somethin' " :)

Famous Last Words

I *thought* she was far enough from the table to NOT reach the table runner... apparently not.

Mama H called me shortly after this incident and the first thing she asked when I told her there was a crazy smash was "did she cry?" Uh... no. This is my kid. The louder the better. Clearly she is pleased with the loud noise she made.

This is also the same kid who, while I was beating some chicken flat with a meat tenderizer on Saturday night and causing all KINDS of a ruckus, was sitting in her high chair, clapping. The louder the better :)

Random

We taught her how to say "TOUCHDOWN" which also comes in handy when we say "SOOOOO Big" and "All Done" :) She thinks it is pretty great....

Early mornings...

and family time...

*last pic courtesty of Lady From the Lake

The Man...

Knows me, loves me, takes care of me and thinks about me when I'm not with him... proven.
Thanks baby for the special treat at the end of a long week... I love you!

Unfinished Business...

1) You may (or probably not) be wondering ~ How'd the "No Spend Month" end up? How'd we do? Was it successful?

For me, it was a range of emotions and thoughts throughout the month... until about 1/2 way through I had seriously feelings of "entitlement" like I deserved things and why NOT buy them... uh.... because I have WAY MORE THAN ENOUGH as it IS!?!? (and I'm not speaking of the toilet paper shortage. That WAS in fact a JOKE friends :) As the month wore on though it became more and more interesting to see what I could substitute for what we were out of (cloth napkins for paper). I also found that we went through WAY more flour and sugar than we EVER do because I was baking more and making more bread.

It was also interesting to see our friends and families reactions ~ from "I could NEVER do THAT" to "we are going to adapt a portion of what you guys did from now until Christmas to really try and cut back"

Husband and I have yet to really sit down and go through the receipts for last month and compare them to last May (we figured we'd compare the bank statement from before the summer and our three month VACATION ~ side note: oh sweet summer how I miss you) and see how we really felt we did. We are both certain it is just the grocery trips and the Wal*Mart which we already knew going into No Spend Month but just as soon as we get a few spare minutes alone together we have plans to go over it.

2) I wanted to post regarding the comments in my Please Weigh in and Comment post ~ your opinions did not go ignored :)

I'm now a FIRM believer in Falsies Mascara thank you VERY much GA and HB

I gave the Magic Erasers another whirl and while I do think they miraculously take scuff marks off my walls and doors they also take off the finish. I tried them again on my gas stove and wasn't thrilled and they took way more elbow grease than I was willing to exert on my shower. Grrrr....

I was however PSYCHED with the cream of tarter pointer Tracy Michele and since I can buy that crazy cheap at our local "Family Store" (The Apple one for those of you around here) I will continue to use that.

This week I did run out of hand soap at the kitchen sink and purchased a Mrs. Meyers. Love it. When the bubble bath runs out of the downstairs bath I will replace that with a Mrs. Meyers as well. Big fan.

Still haven't made a trip to the "big city" to replace my body lotion but have plans to do that this weekend... the drier weather is making my legs scary and really there is nothing as good as the Bath and Body Lay it On Thick. I miss it.

Whoever commented about the not shaving biz...sorry. Not an option. LJC has tried to convince me for YEARS to give it up and I'm just NOT GOING THERE :)

Wordless Wednesday: Minnie's New Hat

Another one of those "Catch-up" Posts...

So there was talk of the blog not being "updated"... here's what's been going on... Husband worked 50+ hours last week and that was WITH Monday off so it made for long days of single mommin' it... HB I know that's NAH-THIN compared to what you've done, but for the girl who's USED to being married to a teacher...it's a lot :) couple that with those days when Minnie poo's up her BACK at 4:30 in the afternoon and you think to yourself, I'll just clean her up as best I can until after dinner when she'll get a tubby... to which she responds by peeing all over BOTH her shirts and when you strip her down thinking... it's ok... clean dipe and just throw SOMETHING on her....you stand her up and she wizzes ALL down her legs and all over the changing pad and at that point... she just gets thrown in the tub BEFORE dinner.... anyway.. I digress... it was a nutty week... and towards the end... she got sick for the first time in her 10 1/2 months... I am NOT.A.FAN. Post-nasal drip + teeth + cough = baby that doesn't sleep. Bleck.

So we went away this weekend....far far away to my PARADISE....partly for fun and partly for closure...

We all met at the cemetery around 1PM to bury Nannie and Grampa in their plot that Aunt Audrey gave them....It was cold, beautiful, special and tough....

but it makes me SO proud that this is where my family is from and I felt so privileged to be there this weekend...

It just ended up working out that J.T., The Dude and Dani had rented their timeshare for this particular weekend and offered us to stay with them. We headed up on Friday night and ended up getting there at just about the same time...Saturday AM the guys got up to head out bird hunting but not before they pretended to feed their girls breakfast... please note I said "pretended" :)

Seriously Dani, the CUTEST thing EVER...

Watching the Daddy's take off...couple more years ladies and you can go too!!

After the guys left J.T. and I watched the girls play and put them down for a nap. Thank you for small miracles of them sleeping at the same time so J.T. and I could both get showers and hang out chit chatting for a while before they woke up :)

We took them for a walk to the water... this is one larger cabins in the community... yeah. I wish. :)

Chilly AM but if you look close those cabins on the other side of the lake were where JJ, J and the boys stayed Saturday night... :)

When the guys got back they noticed some wildlife across the street from the cabin... see her? :) Husband only WISHES that he gets this close in just a couple of weeks... Sorry Aunt Audrey :)

On Saturday night we all met up for dinner together... this kid cracks me up. He asked for my lemon and was eating it happily... then I said... make a funny face like it tastes bad and this is what I got :) Love him :)

The more "seasoned" crowd at the other end of the table..

My "date"....

It's all fun and games...

until you try and get a decent picture of these two :)

One of my FAVORITE pictures from the WHOLE weekend...

Silly Mommy

The whole crew... that's Country Dad's cousin and his wife with Aunt Audrey, (Grampa's sister) down there at the far end of the table...When we got back to the Dude and J.T.'s pad it was TUBBY TIME!!! I'm sure they will LOVE us for this when they are about 15/16 right? :)

Minnie had a BLAST and I don't think Dani had ANY idea what to make of her... :)

Early mornings when you have a sleep over with Minnie... but how cute is Dani?? :)

My OTHER favorite picture from the weekend... you wouldn't know from this pic that she's under the weather, had been up coughing two nights in a row, not napped well and had her nose wiped about 25,634 times...

Bumper cars...

We headed out of the cabin around 10:30 to meet up at Aunt Audrey's house... not a bad view from her yard huh? :) I LOVE this place have I MENTIONED that?? :)

I love how Minnie likes to PLAY coy... like I don't know you???

oh... but she does and she LOVES Aunt Audrey :) what's not to love? :)

Always an amazing time in my favorite place on earth. I told Husband on the way home I can't describe how much I LOVE it up there... and it definitely bothers me that it is becoming more and more commercialized... :( I can understand why but I just want to swoop in and protect it, my families heritage and put it into a little bubble that you have to have the password to get into :)