Happy toddler, happy life.

Life is moving at a steady pace for us right now. Not crazy busy (although I'm pretty sure our "normal" would be considered crazy busy to some!), but not dull (as if that could ever happen). We're busy with work we care about, a church we love, and family and friends that we want to spend time with as this holiday season gets started. But, by far, the best times of my life now are times spent with my girl.

I always try to create "special" times and memories for our family, but some of the things that make me smile most just happen in the day to day with Delaney. This kid is hilarious, ya'll. I know most people adore their kids, and they should! I sure do adore mine.

Delaney loves to laugh. So do I, but I think she gets her love of making people laugh from her daddy, combined with her outgoing personality,  courtesy of yours truly. She is such a ham! The toddler stage is fully upon us, meaning if we laugh at something, we're definitely likely to hear it about a dozen times...or more. The thing I love most is when she gets herself laughing and gets a huge smile and that deep belly laugh. Doesn't get much better than that.

Her personality is cute (let's be honest here, that means MOST of the time its cute, when there is no fit-throwing or general toddler 'tude), but her vocabulary is what really cracks me up. She has expanded to know so many words and she loves to use a wide variety daily. Some examples:

Can't get her hand to fit through her sleeve:
Mommy, this is VERY difficult! I am having difficulty with this!

Talking to our dogs:
Santo and Sadie, you need to eat your food so you can grow big and strong. You have to eat your food so you can get a treat.

Her favorite song to sing to Grannie on FaceTime:
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair! Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair! Fuzzy Wuzzy, Fuzzy Wuzzy, WUZZY!!!!!
(I'm hoping you guys know the real lyrics to this song, or this one seems really stupid).

Prayertime:
God is grape, God is good, lettuce thank'em for our food. AMEN! (pause) Good job Delaney!

Mix this in with her repotoire of favorite songs and all the books that she loves to "read," and Delaney keeps us laughing a good portion of the time. It makes my mommy heart glad to hear my girl's laughter and know she is happy and loving life.

WW: Fun at Grandma's.

History buffs.

My husband loves the history channel. He gets it honestly. My father-in-law is a total history buff, so it is passed down in the genes. I used to read a book or find other entertainment while this channel was on, but I have gotten lazy more interested as the years have gone on. I do love listening to Andrew talk about history, it is definitely an area he is more well versed in than me, and he can always teach me something I don't know.

Most recently, we've started watching 10 Things You Didn't Know. It is a series of short episodes about different topics, telling you 10 oddball facts about it (hence the super catchy title). The guy who hosts it is pretty obnoxious, but the episodes are interesting.

We've also seen one episode of The Men Who Built America. There are 8 of these, each 2 hours long. I really love these so far. They talk about early power men in America, how they came into power and how they interacted with each other. Can't wait to watch the rest of these. If you are interested, I am sure you can catch the reruns on the history channel.

Do you have any favorite shows like this?
Are we the only nerds who sit around watching the history channel?
Bueller? Bueller??

Weekend recap.

We had a great weekend full of family time. Saturday we ventured out to Opry Mills to get Ghost Armor put on Andrew's phone. If you haven't heard of this stuff, it's pretty cool. While we were there, we got to do some other shopping as well. In an effort to be more frugal and save up for the fast approaching holidays, I haven't done any shopping lately, so I was in Heaven! We didn't buy much, mostly just window shopped and scouted out some Christmas presents. Delaney did end up with a new pair of canvas Tom's and a couple of clearance rack clothes items that I couldn't pass up. I was able to get a few items crossed off my holiday shopping list as well.

We went to lunch at Chuy's. I have to say I was completely underwhelmed there. Maybe I was expecting too much after seeing such rave reviews on Facebook. It was good, but didn't knock my socks off or anything.

After lunch, we drove around and finished up our errands. The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. We spent some time visiting Graanie and Pop, went to church, and watched the Titans win (whoop!). Sunday night, we had our second ever family movie night, this time trying Toy Story 3. Delaney still lasted about half an hour. We enjoyed the rest of the movie though! I think I cried through the last 30 minutes - what a tearjerker!

What did you do this weekend? In the midst of a hectic season, it was nice to take a weekend to relax!

Trick or Treat!

I'll end my fall posts this week with our evening trick or treating on Halloween. I went back and forth about going, mostly because the weather was bad, Delaney was a little cranky that day, and we were back and forth at the hospital with mom last week. But luckily my hubby is a big fan of trick or treating, and we decided we didn't want to miss it!

Delaney was a witch this year. I made her tutu, ordered her a witch hat headband and she was good to go! The leggings she wore she already had, which is what originally gave me the idea for the costume. She said she was a "ballerina" witch, as anytime she wears a tutu that automatically turns her into a ballerina!

This year, we repeated our last year's event of going over to some friends' house for dinner and trick or treating. All the kids are within a couple years of being the same age and it is so much fun to see them all dressed up and having so much fun together! Delaney and I had been practicing for a while what to say ("Trick or treat!") and how to be polite with her thank you's. She made us very proud and did a great job. Between houses, she would say, "I'm getting candy! Look at all the candy!" I think she was more excited about hoarding the candy then she actually was about eating any of it!

 

It was a nice, chilly night and I am so glad we were able to spend it with friends. Happy Halloween!

Best of Fall: Fall Festivals

There are so many fall festivals around Mt. Juliet during this time of year. I wish we could go to them all! But, we try to pick the best ones and have lots of fun at those. This year, we even had an outdoor fall birthday party to attend, plus our annual family fall festival.

In late October, we went to White House for our nephew Jackson's first birthday party. It was a fall extravaganza! Pumpkin decorating, a hay ride, cornhole, bonfire with hot dogs and s'mores, and Delaney's favorite, a bouncy house. We had a great time celebrating an awesome little guy and enjoying the beautiful weather!

The next week, we got to attend the Fall Festival at Grace Preschool. I have known about the festival as a church member, but this was our first time attending since it is Delaney's first year at the preschool. She had a great day! There were games and prizes, face painting, cookie decorating, and lots of outdoor fun. Andrew & I both got to attend, and we mostly stuck together with Delaney's classmates. She loves them all so much and Mrs. Deana says Delaney is definitely the mother hen of the class. This doesn't surprise me at all! She seems to be a little bit bossy and a great caregiver - good material for a mother hen if you ask me! We are so blessed that Delaney is a part of this great program.

We capped off fall with the church's fall festival this past Sunday. After the crazy week we'd had, I had some work to do Sunday, and Andrew went to the Titans game with some friends, so Grandma & Grandpa offered to take Delaney to this festival. She had a blast! There was another hayride, chili, and a HUGE bouncy castle. When she saw that from the parking lot when I dropped her off, she could hardly wait to get inside! Grandma is a great sport and got in too. This is a great event for our church every year. I hated to miss it, but was glad Delaney still got to be a part of it.

What fall festivals did you go to this year? We missed the City Trunk or Treat, but hope to make it next year!

Wordless Wednesday: Witchy Woman

Best of Fall: The Pumpkin Patch!

Since I've been busy doing life (and taking lots of pictures) instead of writing about it here, I thought a good way to get going with the blogs again would be to share with everyone the highlights of the fall season. Yes, I know its still fall, but once Halloween passes I go into "holiday season" mode with all the great fesitivies coming up in the next couple of months.

At the beginning of October, we went to the pumpkin patch with our dear friends, the VanSickles. Gavin & Delaney are great friends, and Delaney loves sweet Linley too (as we all do!) The day started out a little chilly, but by mid-morning it was beautiful and the kiddos had an absolute blast! I think they could have easily stayed and played all day long, but after a full morning and a lunch, everyone was ready to head home for naptime.

Here are some pictures from our first real "fall" outing this year!

Catching up.

Life is going by like whoa. I looked and couldn't believe that its just been three weeks since my last post - it seems like SO much longer! Our life has been filled with fun, love, and a few curveballs too this busy fall season.

First and foremost, my mom took a crazy fall Monday that landed her in the hospital with a surgery and now she is the Bionic Woman! A titanium rod in her leg and plates and screws in her wrist. She'll hopefully be coming home tomorrow but need lots of help, and that is where I need to be right now!

We've also had Fall Fests, Halloween, and a whole slew of other fun things happening. In fact, Delaney is at our church's Harvest Festival as I type. Grandma & Grandpa were nice enough to take her while I catch up on emails, work, and other computer-related stuff that Delaney doesn't find so fun!

I'm going to try to get caught up in pictures on what we've been up to the past couple of weeks over the next few. November is going to be a little slower for us (I hope!). We are looking forward to all the holidays and everything that is in store, as well as helping Mom as much as we can and getting her back to great health.

I love the 30 Days of Giving on Facebook and reading what everyone is thankful for. It really helps to keep in mind the reasons for this busy season and how much each of us has been blessed with. I love starting my day by thanking my Lord for all my blessings, and reading how others have been blessed as well.

Here's to a great holiday season, with a twist this year!