Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our Little Lady (bug)!

Rest assured, there will be LOTS more photos of our little lady in the coming days! 

Have a safe & fun night with your family & friends!  

A Weekend at Home

After a fairly crazy weekend last week and a seemingly very busy week to follow, it was honestly really nice to have basically no plans for this past weekend.  Besides Hubby working on Saturday morning, and our typical Sunday events (church & small group), we basically spent the entire rest of the weekend at home.  Which for us...is a pretty big deal.

Friday night we stayed in and took advantage of the nice weather to grill up some steaks and then we finished the evening with a little pumpkin carving.  Elyse really didn't want much to do with it,  but she was content to play in the garage with all of her outdoor toys...and Bogey.

Contrary to the picture proof, I did participate in carving my own pumpkin, but Hubby never picked up the camera to document the occasion!  ha! Typical Mom Problems!

We also don't get all crazy with our carving, we just freehand a design and normally they are just a different variation of a jack-o'-lantern each year.  Maybe in the coming years as Elyse gets older we'll venture out into something a little crazier, but for now it's more about the process and less about the finished product.

Saturday morning I stayed home with Elyse and then we spent most of the afternoon cuddling, she must have eaten something that didn't agree with her because she was not feeling well for most of the morning and afternoon; however, this just gave us a solid reason to spend another evening at home--watching our beloved STL Cardinals bring home a win on a crazy call!

Sunday we headed to church, had lunch with my in-laws and then came home for naptime for Elyse and yardwork for Hubby & I.  Everything is pretty much ready for winter now...and there's room in the garage for all the Christmas decorations to be brought down in a few weeks!  ha!

We finished off yesterday with a bonfire with our small group--I failed at taking ANY photos, but we had a blast and then came home to watch hopefully watch another Cardinals victory...but no such luck this time!  Oh well, we've still got 3 games to go and we have to win 2 out of 3....we'll see!

And just because she's too stinkin' adorable, I dressed Elyse in her Halloween outfit again for church yesterday and couldn't resist getting a picture of her in front of our porch decorations!  My love spilleth over for this girl and the joy her smile brings to me!

Fall Fun with Family!

Whew...it was a BUSY weekend!  Which seems to be pretty much the norm for most fall weekends, but this time it was full of time with family! 

 

Hubby's half-sister from Minnesota, her two daughters, and their foreign exchange student came to Missouri for a quick trip beginning last Wednesday night and we managed to see them every day, Thursday-Sunday.  I hate to even admit this, but this was the first time that Stacy & her girls had actually met Elyse in person...schedules are just practically impossible to coordinate sometimes. 

 

Thursday Elyse spent the day with them all while I went to a continuing ed class for work and they had a blast at Dogwood Canyon (a nature reserve near Branson).  They had a picnic, did some walking, and Elyse took a quick nap in the stroller--I didn't even know that was possible.  Stacy snapped some fabulous photos that hopefully I'll get my hands on very soon!

 

Friday I took Elyse up mid-morning and all the girls headed out to the mall for some shopping--Elyse stayed at home for some quality time with Pappy.  We had a fun afternoon and then it was back home for some dinner prep & a photo shoot! 

 

We hired a good friend of ours to come and take some pictures of the grandkids and the grandparents...and it was quite hilarious!  Apparently everyone wished they would have had a video camera of what I was doing to try and get Elyse, well all the kiddos actually, to smile and look at the camera.  The things that mommas do to get a good picture!  ha!  Of course anytime I would break out with B-O-G-E-Y to the tune of B-I-N-G-O or Do your ears hang low or any other crazy song---Elyse would get up in dance, which resulted in quite a few hilarious outtakes!

 

I didn't grab any candids of the themed photo shoot, but Mamaw bought bandanas for all the kids and we had plans on getting beards as well...but bandanas were it for the Duck Dynasty themed photos!  I can't wait to see all the shots that Tyler got...I have a feeling he got some fabulous ones! 

Saturday morning I had to work, but then we headed out to Cousin Jackson's 5th birthday party.  It was pirate themed for Jake & the Neverland Pirates and was held at a local YMCA.  We played a few games & then there was a bounce house for the kiddos to play in.  Elyse hasn't ever been too sure of bounce houses in the past...but she LOVED it this time!  Daddy even got in for a little bit of jump-time while the big kids took a break. 

She wasn't quite getting "pin the tail on the croc"!  ha! 

Ring around the rosey, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes...

we all fall down! 

Sunday morning we headed to church and then had one last meal with Stacy & her girls before they went home Monday morning.  I failed to snap anymore pictures, but I did manage to take a couple before we left for church...because let's face it, my little girl was just too cute not to get a photo! 

Her must-haves in hand...Goodnight Moon & Koko from Chuggington

My Loves! 

Fall Fest @ "The Farm"

October weekends seem to just fly by! It's not always with anything in particular that's planned, but the tend to fill up rather quickly and before we know it Halloween will be over, Thanksgiving plans will be being prepared, and Christmas music will start filling the radio waves--not to wish the year away, but time just seems to fly!   

 

And with that being said, sometimes you have to take any chance you can to check something off your Fall Bucket List.  So...yesterday after church we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed out to a local park.  But this isn't just any park...it's a Farm Park!  Throughout the entire year they have cows, and goats, and pigs, and miniature horses, and sheep and some fun play equipment...but during the Fall they have a fun Fall Fest with some extra fun activities! 

 

Elyse is still a little too small to enjoy some of the activities, but the people watching and animal watching is pretty much all she cares about anyway! 

 

We got there right when it began so it wasn't too busy...we got a quick view of the cows but then headed to the pumpkin patch before it got too crowded.  She definitely thought she was muscle woman and could pick them up. 

Yup, this is the best I could do for a picture of us together!

 

My little Pumpkin Head!

While Hubby took our pumpkin back to the car, we headed back to the cows for an extended viewing...man this girl LOVES her cows! 

She really wanted to figure out how to take this one home!

 

 

One of the momma pigs recently had a little of babies so we got to check them out multiple times as well!  They were so stinkin' cute!

We also got to see a dog-herding demonstration with some ducks and sheep, we visited the goats, sheep, and miniature horses and finished things off with some kettle corn for a snack.  And then it was naptime...she crashed out in the car before we hardly got back to the highway and then slept for 3 hours when we got home!  Poor baby girl, I think the farm wore her out!