Saturday Photo Hunt - Surprise

I love taking random pictures of people/places. This one I took at the Indiana State Fair last week. I thought this little old man just screamed the state fair. He was so adorable eating his ice cream from the Dairy Barn. However, immediately after I snapped this picture he looked up at me with the oddest expression. He was certainly surprised by me taking this shot!

This photohunt meme is sponsored by www.tnchick.com ...stop by and visit and join in the fun!

10 Smile Tuesday

Another week has gone by, and what good it does to sit back and remember what has brought joy and smiles for the week. It can be very hard to be a stay at home mom, when the days seem so long sometimes and you feel like you are waiting for nap/bedtime. Yep, I have those days quite often. Lilla still has a hard time with me giving attention to Anna. If often results in negative behaviors, discipline and just sadness all around. Don't get me wrong, she loves Anna, she just wants to be my whole world, and learning that she is not has been a constant struggle for us. So, I give her an extra cuddle or hug here or there and am forever telling her I love her. However, I am trying to also be mindful to remind her that I love Anna too. Quite the balance my friends, quite the balance.

1. Hammock. On the note of peace, I have to say my first smile would be my hammock. Yesterday, Anna was taking a nap and Lilla was watching a cartoon while I worked in the yard. I decided to take a short break so I layed in the hammock and I just starred up at the clouds looking for funny shapes. Ahhhh...the refreshment that brought to me to even have five minutes to just lay there. Very sweet smile indeed!

2. Tomatoes. Holy cow, have we got tomatoes! Even though all of our plants have been through heck and back this year due to all the rain and odd weather, we still have lots of tomatoes! So, I have made pasta sauce for the winter and a ton of salsa that I passed on to Michael's family. The cherry tomatoes have been my favorite, mmmm, to pop them in my mouth straight from the garden. Good eats!

3. More tomato. Speaking of tomatoes, I put Anna down next to the garden on Sunday, and she suddenly grabbed a tomato and just started chomping away. I was trying to get a good pic but unfortunately had the long lens on so I didn't get quite it. Hilarious though to watch her just having a ball with a big, red juicy tomato!

4. Free. In last Sunday's paper they had another free coupon for the state fair, so back we went. You can't beat free! Although of course it doesn't wind up being free when you have to pay for the food, rides and if you are like my husband, a rubber kind of broom that honestly does sweep better than I thought it would.

5. Ferris Wheel. Which, unfortunately I did not get a picture of us on. Lilla and I rode it for the first time together, and she loved it! She laughed and got excited...I of course, wondered if we would tip, when the wheel stopped us at the top. Whew, exciting stuff! Ha, ha!

6. My new ride. A couple of weeks ago Michael's car, which we bought used 6 years ago, started going on the fritz so we decided it was time for a minivan. We'd been talking about it for awhile, we just didn't want a car payment again. We decided on a very used one with a very low payment. So, it's nothing fancy, but it is super nice to have so much more room and not feel so overcrowded with the baby gear!

7. Preschool. Lilla is loving the start of a new school year for us. We worked a little this summer but not much. So we have been doing a lot more this last week, working on the letter E, tracing, cutting with her very own scissors. She just begs to do more. School definitely makes Lilla smile! And makes me smile too as I see her enjoy it so much.
8. Growing up. I can hardly believe how much Anna is growing up all of a sudden. She does a walk crawl now and will stand on her legs if you pull her up. She's babbling all kinds of syllables and is getting into everything these days. It's all going so fast and I can hardly believe in less than four months she will be 1!9. Flowers. Suddenly these lovely little flowers have sprung up around my deck. I just love seeing their bright shiney faces when I open my window in the morning!
10. Delicious! We gave my best friends inlaws a bunch of stuff from our garden and they (who are Italian) brought us back fried zucchini and eggplant parmigiana with garlic linguini. Oh my goodness...yummo!! Even the girls were munching away at it. Mmmmm....

What are you smiling about today?

Just a taste

These past couple of weeks has just contained milestone after milestone for Anna. She started out scooting toward a cup for a drink. Within days she was moving across the floor and now can get anywhere her little heart desires. I had her at the library last week and she was practically doing laps around the bookcases to get between me and some friends.

She then started saying, out of nowhere, "Mama". A week later I promise I'm hearing "Hi" and "Dada." She is singing, humming and screeching in large rooms just to hear the echo.

Today, she has decided to start pulling up on everything she sees. She wanted to get to Lilla's puzzle and she pulled up so hard on my leg she was standing clear up on her feet to get over my leg. She throws her body anywhere she wants to go and she is fast I tell you!

She is also eating anything and everything she can. Today she was mowing on spaghetti, pizza and macaroni and cheese are also some faves. Peas and blueberries are always yummy. She is just loving tasting it all!

Oh...and the cute factor has only increased...

Down on the Farm

This week we went to the state fair. Always a fun time I look forward to every year. Lots of animals, fried foods, people, music and random eye candy to boot! Of course I took lots of pics, so I thought I'd share a few.

That family shot...gotta do it!

Giddy up

First time eating that yummy corn!

Smooches

Taking a rest before the next exhibit

Little hands on the farm. The kids get to be farmers!
The sister shotIt''s great to be a kid!

Tick. Tock.

And so the days go. One by one. Faster all the time. Yesterday Anna clapped for the first time. She’s getting better and better at crawling every day. She started saying, “Ma, ma” at the beginning of the week.

Lilla eagerly looks at me with pride as she shows me how she is writing, very legible, D’s now. She uses the word please without prompting. After weeks of repeatedly asking, she was baptized on Sunday.

Yesterday, my husband turned 35. I just thought, wow, how can we be half way to 70 already? I often still feel like a 20 year old. Shouldn’t I be sitting in a lecture somewhere finding out about Pavlov’s dog? Who the heck would give this little girl two kids, a husband and a house to take care of?

It’s just amazing how these years have gone. Our family has grown. We’ve lived in our second house for over 2 years now. It’s been two years since we’ve been to Hungary.

I’d just like to stop time for a minute. Maybe sip some lemonade as I lay in the hammock, enjoying my still small children and NOT watch the world go by!