No Bow

The dreaded day has come. Sweet girl has learned to rip a bow off her head in no time flat. Sad day for this bow loving mommy! I'm hoping she won't fight me too hard on this one...

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch at Holiday Farms in Ridgeland. It was the perfect day! The weather was gorgeous, and the kids were happy as can be. Eli had been talking about going for the last month, so I'm glad it was all he hoped it would be!

 Our two little pumpkins weren't too interested in picture taking that's for sure.

 We couldn't resist picking up a few mums to bring home with us this year. Here's to hoping they survive the fall!

 The hayride was Eli's favorite part, just like last year.

 He took his pumpkin picking job very seriously, and found the 'perfect one' about 30 times before settling on this one. :)

 Next year she'll be picking her own pumpkin too!

Last year Eli's little legs were way too short for the big John Deere trikes. This year he was zooming around the dirt race track like a pro! Really shows how much they change in a year.

 Layla would spend hours swinging! It was fun for her daddy to see her too, as he doesn't get to hit the park with us too often. She just squeels and laughs the entire time!

And why not cover yourself in hay before heading home? You only live once, right?!

 

Unfortunately we didn't get a family picture this year. I'm so bummed! This is us last year...

I remember the excitement I had about coming back the next year with our little girl. It was certainly as sweet as I had pictured in my head!



Baby waves

We've been trying to get some good videos of the baby's new tricks lately. Seems like everyday it's something new! She waves "hi" and "bye" to everyone she sees now. So sweet!

 

9 Months

Layla Grace, you are 9 months old! You’ve officially been a part of our family for longer than you were in my belly. You are healthy, happy, and growing beautifully. You are such a ray of sunshine, and I can honestly say that your smile grows bigger and brighter each month.

*This week at the Doctor you weighed in at 17.2lbs. Much lighter than I expected!

*You wear size 6-12 month clothes, and size 3 diapers.

*You have been sick quite a bit this month. You are on antibiotics for your first ear infection, and have a nasty cough.

*You are a mommy’s girl! You are super attached right now, but I know being sick has intensified it. The extra loves, oh they are wonderful!

*You are a wonderful eater for such a little girl. You prefer table food over baby food, and other than your morning oatmeal/fruit, you are getting mostly table food now.
*You nurse/have a bottle at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and have 3 meals.
*Still no teeth! Any day now…
*You are army crawling, but not up on all fours yet.
*This week you stood on your own for a few seconds!
*You sleep 11-12 hours at night, and take a morning/afternoon nap.
*You say ‘dada’ and make other ‘d’ sounds. You babble all day long.
*You love the dog, your brother’s toys, and anything that involves being outside.
*You’ve started crying when I leave you in the church nursery. I hope it’s just because you haven’t felt well the last month, and that this phase won’t last long!
*We all know that we’re in t.r.o.u.b.l.e when you start crawling and walking! You are busy, busy and don’t like to sit still for long.
*Your list of nicknames is ever growing! Most of them come from your crazy brother.

 What pure joy the last 9 months have been! In the blink of an eye we’ll be at your first birthday party, but until then, I’ll be soaking up the baby loves! We love you sweet girl, so incredibly much!

End of Summer

Even though it doesn't necessarily feel like it, summer is over and we're begging for those cooler temps to come our way and stay for a while. We've been spending much more time outside, especially in the evenings. We love to eat an early dinner and then head outside to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having.

Here's what the rest of our summer looked like...

Mimi stayed with us for a few days after the drive back from VA.

 

We were VERY sad to send her off to the airport. It's just never long enough!

 

We spent a morning showing my mom around GG & Goomba's new place here on the island.

 Love, love, love this! Layla awaiting a smooch from her Goomba. ;)

 GG got out lots of fun new things for the kids to play with.

 Eli had the best playmate!

Everyone came over to cook out on Labor Day. Goomba never hesitates to get right down on the floor with the kids. I love that about him!

 

 Eli is still an excellent helper, and loves to feed his 'sister baby.'

 We've spent countless hours at the park.

 And Layla learned to drive...yikes!

 One of the great things about being a second child, is being able to enjoy these fun toys a little sooner!

We hardly ever have time for pictures before church these days, but I did get this one of my beautiful girl one Sunday.

 

Again, lots of outside time! This girl is happy as can be out in the fresh air.

She loves to play with a ball!

 Somebody is on the move! She's trying so hard to be everywhere her brother is.

 Oh the tongues!

 We cleaned out the playroom last weekend and baby proofed the area. Layla is loving it!

She loves to stand. She locks her knees when you try to sit her back down to play.

 

That's all for now...very ready for some Fall activities soon! Eli has been counting down the days until our favorite pumpkin patch opens.



My Little Cubbie

Eli started AWANA's last week at First Baptist, and our little Cubbie is loving it! Last night he got his vest, and was seriously SO proud. He's doing great at practicing his memory verses during the week, and I love the lessons that he's learning through this program.

Last night was bring a friend night, and he brought his favorite neighborhood friend, Lakin. I'm excited about all that our little guy is being able to experience this year.

Week in Virginia - August

Our month of fun continued on well into September! We had several visitors come to stay with us, and then the kids and I were off to spend another week in Virginia at my mom's house. This was only possible because of some seriously amazing family members volunteering to help get us there! There was no way I could do the 8 hour car trip by myself, so the trip was made possible by my cousin Elizabeth and her friend Alexa, and my mom (we'll just refer to her as super Mimi).

On Friday morning, Elizabeth and Alexa flew into Hilton Head airport via private plane (rough way to travel, I know!). They spent the weekend here visiting, and then we got up before the sun on Sunday morning and made the trip back to Virginia together. I drove for all of 30 minutes, and Aunt Liz drove the rest. The first half of the trip was pretty miserable for Layla, but from then on it was up hill.

The kids loved having built in playmates for the weekend! I, too, enjoyed the extra helping hands! Aunt Liz was definitely a second mother to my kids for the week plus that we were together.

Our time in Virginia was great, though I really missed having my hubby there. Thankfully I had many willing to help out with the kids when needed. Layla was having a bit of an off week, and really just wanted to be in my arms most of the time. I think it was a combination of teething and just being away from home, because she's been back to her happy self since then.

We spent most of our time just hanging out with family. We had 4 big family meals/get togethers and that was just what I needed! Missing all of the family functions is still hard, so it was good to catch a few birthday and 'just because' dinners.

Sunday night my mom had everyone over for dinner and to see us.

 My mom picked up this Dora kitchen at a yard sale, and it was/still is a huge hit for my kiddos! Eli insisted that Uncle Bob play kitchen with him.

These two are like two peas in a pod. Showing off their firefly catches of the night. Uncle Patrick is constant entertainment, and comes up with the best stuff for them to 'play.' Needless to say, the first words out of Eli's mouth every morning where, "is Uncle Patrick here yet?!"

 We spent a lot of time at my grandparent's house. Notice Layla's 'don't go too far' look on her face!

 Ohh the thing's Eli gets away with at Mimi's house...like puddle jumping!

 Spent an afternoon at a really cool park. Eli was in heaven, and Layla enjoyed lots of swing time.

Eli still loves to 'help' in the kitchen. Especially with his Mimi who lets him help a little more than his mommy does :).

We celebrated Uncle Bob's birthday with dinner at my Grandparent's house, and the best carrot cake EVER!

 On Friday, we left sister at home with Mimi and took Eli to the zoo. It was a pretty hot day, so we went early and tried to beat the Labor Day crowd. We hadn't been to the zoo since Eli was 18 months old, so he really enjoyed it!

 His favorite part definitely being the train ride we took around the zoo. Unfortunately, you only get one train ride with your token, and this was very hard for my train lovin' boy to understand!

 Taking a rest with Aunt Liz in the butterfly garden.

 

We remembered to take Eli's swimsuit for the large splash park this time. It was a great way to cool off on the way out. After he slipped and fell about 5 times, we decided to leave before any bones were broken :).

 

On Saturday night we had one last get together at my Aunt's house, and it was a big seafood dinner!

 I've noticed that I'm in WAY more pictures when Liz is around. She is always good about grabbing the camera and making me stop for pictures.

 

My grandad is always so full of joy when we're in town. I love how excited he gets over his great grandchildren!

And then it was back in the car for another 8 hours...yuck! Layla did much better on the way home, thankfully! She's just like her brother though, in that she isn't much of a car sleeper. She took 3 cat naps and that was enough to get her by. Eli is a great little traveler, except for the fact that he HATED to leave VA, and fussed about it every 10 minutes the whole car ride home. He forgot about it once he got back home to his toys. :)