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!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Today was my peanut's 3rd birthday. Three years since our lives changed forever. Three years since I learned what unconditional love is all about. Three years since our house has been hosed down in a pepto bismal fashion. :) Three years since I sat crying in a delivery room full of people because I loved a baby so much I was devastated at the thought of returning to work. Three years since my husband loved us so much he said we'd find a way for me to be with that baby. Three years since beauty became a breath, a little laugh and blonde pigtails.

What a great three years it has been. Too fast, for sure, but altogether lovely. I am so thankful to the maker and author of my life for putting my little peanut in it. Indescrible love and joy.

Happy 3rd birthday Lilla Michel. You are one loved little girl!

Good Theology

The peanut and I have been talking a lot about the nativity lately. I tell her about Jesus, his birth and his family. As we get closer to Christmas I hope she will have a better understanding of the real celebration, rather than the man made one.

Anyway, I was quizzing her the other day on what she has learned and here's how the conversation went...

Me: Who is Jesus' mom?

Peanut: Mary

Me: Who is Jesus' dad?

Peanut: God

I was looking for Joseph, but I must say, that is pretty good theology for a 2 1/2 year old!! :)

My aching back

So recently I have been telling the peanut I can't pick her up as often because my back has been hurting. Totally true as I have normal backpain and with the added pull from my big ole belly, it's not good to be lifting this extra 25 lb. kiddo. Still, I do, as she is short and needs to be lifted for some things.

Anyway, she has been wanting more and more to do things on her own lately. "I do it by self Mommy", is what I hear all the live long day. Particularly to get out of my car, which sits pretty high, so I still stand nearby.

Well today, I was in a bit of a hurry to get her out and in the house when I began picking her up. She replied, "I do it by self Mommy...your back hurt." Oh, she kills me!! :)

Saturday Photo Hunt - Pink

A few posts down I posted some photos from our little photo shoot the other day. The dress the peanut was wearing was definitely pink. I played with it in photoshop to make it pop out. I seriously have no idea how I did it but it's kind of cool, eh?

Wordless Wednesday - Taking Care of Baby

Autumn Photo Shoot

Today the peanut and I had a little photoshoot in our backyard. There were a lot of pictures taken but let me just tell you how there were few smiles. She was definitely not in the mood for it. I think this is going to be the last day warm enough to do one in this dress, and I've waited over a year for her to wear this dress, so I just had to get it done today. However, there were a couple of random smiles so I think I got 2 or 3 good ones out of the bunch...what do you think?

I think she's pretty darn tooting cute if I do say so myself. You know, not that I'm biased or anything like that! :)

Guess how I got her to finally stay seated and smile?

God love Ellie Mae!

All the leaves are brown...

So it seems that Autumn may finally be coming to the Midwest. It was cold enough to wear a long sleeve t-shirt yesterday. OK, I did see some people wearing shorts and t-shirts but I'm so ready, I just sweated it out! :) You know, it's not like I don't like summer, I love it. And, I will dearly miss my flip flops, I'm just ready for the heat to end. Plus, I love fall weather. All cuddled up with a hot cup of cider and my old sweatshirts...what's not to love?!?! So, today it was supposed to be like 80 but it's going down to the 50's by the middle of the week. Weird, I know, but that's our part of the country for you!

Yesterday we made finally got around to taking the peanut to her first pumpkin patch. And, let me tell you how my husband was kicking and screaming the whole way, and then he had so much fun. Now, let me state, he's not a fit thrower by nature but we are broke and it did cost per person. However, the peanut was free and then our pumpkin was only 38 cents. I'm so not kidding. They are by the pound and we let the peanut pick out which one she wanted and here it is...

Here are some pics of our family at the patch. Unfortunately the peanut wasn't really feeling good yesterday (I've been sick for days and am afraid I gave her it too!) so we didn't get too many smiles out of her. We never get pictures of our whole family as I'm always the one behind the camera so that was fun!

Oh, and the peanut went on her first hayride...

...yeah, it was really THAT messy!! She had a good time though so we didn't mind at all. We've come to learn that she is very tactile so it was fun for her to get her hands in it.

Speaking of getting her hands in it...last week the peanut also made her first mudpies. Yep, you heard that right...MUD PIES!! We were walking around our yard when she spotted a big bunch of mud and just couldn't resist sticking her hands down in it. My first reaction was...NOOOO!! But before I could say it I remembered how that never would have been allowed in my family and how I would have loved it as a child! Well, the peanut would too so I just let her do it. I mean, it's just mud, it washes. Of course she had a new shirt on and the mud didn't all come out, but I just rationalize that it was a $2.50 shirt from Wal-Mart and you can't put a price tag on a childhood. And boy did she have fun! My only regret is that I didn't have my camera. Oh well, I'll just save that memory in my heart!

Have a good week all!

These are a few of my favorite things...

So tomorrow (Friday) for MOPS we are supposed to bring in our favorite thing. Something from our home that we love, whether priceless financially or priceless to us for sentimental reasons, just something that we really love. I've been thinking about it, maybe my scrapbooks, or pictures, they are my favorite things for sure. But I couldn't decide which or what. Then I finally got it...my camera! It kind of encapsulates the whole thing since without it I wouldn't even have the former.
I love my camera. It's a Canon Rebel XT and it is really a great camera. I do wish it were smaller as there is no way that thing is going in my purse, but it takes great pictures and I really do love it.
I was also thinking about how I have very few shots of me since I am always the one behind the camera. Even when the peanut was really little, there are like three pictures of me with her. Bummer. So, today, on what may be the last warm day we have for quite a few months (it was like 80 today and is supposed to hit a whopping 65 tomorrow!) I took a few outside shots.
Enjoy!

Oh, and this last one I just had to show you was taken once we came in...ya think the peanut likes peanut butter?

We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship...

For those of you who questioned what the peanut's birthday theme will be in my post about the heater, I actually have decided already. We are going to have a Little Einsteins birthday party. For those who don't know, Baby Einsteins and Little Einsteins are two seperate things. Probably by the same company, I have no idea, but they are different. The peanut loves to watch Little Einsteins. All the classical music, cool insturments and well known artists they highlight make me love the show too. It's so educational and so fun, I think that's great! Anyway, so we, strike that, so I decided to do Little Einsteins. You can go to Disney's website and print off personalized invitations and then the decorations just need to be in primary colors. I am thinking of doing little bags for the kids with toy insturments you can get at the dollar store.

And, I found the recipe for this adorable rocket cake online. My mother in law can make some great cakes and this one really doesn't seem to hard...isn't it too cute?

I think I may only invite a few of her cousins/friends her own age and her grandparents. That way she can have fun and we won't have to do all kinds of activities that she couldn't possibly understand at her age. I thought I could print off some Little Einsteins coloring pages, maybe let them make their own cupcakes and possibly do a little spin off of Simon Says. Dancing since that's what they do on Little Einsteins.

What do you think?

Wait for you

So I know I’ve been absent with the exception of memes and pictures for the most part. This weekend was busy, busy. Trying to fix the very leaky faucet and lawnmower, having dinner with my parents, church, dinner with missionaries from Hungary, baby shower, etc…, just altogether busy. Mostly a lot of running around, which I am going to continue soon. Michael’s going to be home shortly and then off to Wal-Mart again. I tell ya, now that we live in this small town, we live at the Wal-Mart. There’s just not much else to go to. I’ve really been wishing there was a Menards, I love Menards. They have everything there, it’s the best!

Little Ms. Independent no longer holds my finger when she wants to go somewhere, she just goes. Today in the library she wanted to go one way and I wanted to leave. So, I started walking out the door, saying, “Bye, bye” the whole way. Yeah, I had to pull that one out. Anyway, she comes running up to me, holds up her hand and clear as day says, “STOP!” The same way I talk to the dog. Oh yeah people, my hands are really full here!

She’s also decided she likes cartoons. Particularly Little Einsteins, which is a good one for her to like. She’s so funny though, she’ll go into the loft, grab the remote control and give it to me as if to say, “Turn on my cartoon Mama!” Smart she is.

And, the magic eraser has become Amy’s best friend. That thing takes off crayon, can you believe it? Right off her toys. Mmmm hmmm, that’s my new nemesis. Writing utensils.

So now you’ve gotten the update. Exciting I know, just a day in the life…

Wish you were here

Do you know the Pink Floyd song I named this post after? There is a line that says, "Like two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year." I don't know why, but I really like that song. Weird.

Anyway, I do have a reason for not posting for so long. I mean I've posted, but just a picture here and there. Life has just been hard and frustrating and busy lately.

On Monday the peanut ran out the front door chasing the dog and almost ran into the very busy (people driving 60mph) street in front of my house. Fortunately we have a long driveway! She has never left my side like that before so you know my front door has triple locks on it now!

On Wednesday our mailbox got hit out of who knows where so we had to replace that. Now our lawn mower won't start, which may send us over the edge as our lawn is way too long! Hopefully we can get that fixed pronto!

Like I said in my photohunters post, we had to give up the dog. Poor Michael was so upset. He looked for anyway to keep him, we just couldn't for safety reasons.

That same day we got a call at 2 am that his grandma had passed away. Although we knew it was going to be coming last week, it was still terribly sad. She was the kind of grandmother that you wish you had. So kind to everybody all the time. Just welcoming no matter who you were, she wasn't judgemental at all. Really had a heart to serve Jesus and lived that way. I really loved his grandmother and wish I had had longer with her.

So, she died on Thursday morning, the viewing was on Friday in Louisville, KY and the funeral was there on Saturday. That's about a two and a half hour drive so we stayed the night. Spent some time with his family, they were all heartbroken too. She was really the one that kept the family together, as is the case with so many mommas.

Grandma will really be missed!