It's A Walk In the Park

Last night, we visited Mel's store on the Square and walked around the park. Bells is finally getting big enough to be able to play in the area that they have set up for kids. They have a big train for kids to play on and a little train depot.

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All bundled up and ready to go! It was really chilly; once we got to the park, we had to add her new hat.

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Checking out the train depot.

Playing in the "engine room"

Thanskgiving Yumminess

We had a great week with my side of the family - Mom, Dad, and Rachel got here on Monday night and we had a great time Christmas shopping, visiting Mel's store for lunch on the Square, and Thanksgiving! Some pictures from the week...

Sweet potato puree with a maple syrup and pecan topping.

Fabulous apple pie...Mom Wires' recipe with a lattice top. It was delicious!

Mom on the motorcycle...had to have a "bike" picture in here! Mom had a blast!

We had "fake Christmas" on Friday morning. This was our chance to have Christmas with my side of the family, and it's a fun way to have two Christmases! My favorite gifts were a food processor from my parents and a robe from Steve.

Mel got Steve a Harley Davidson Atlas; it shows where the good bike routes are and describes the motorcycle laws of each state.

Bella and her stocking - she got a lot of baby powder and socks (It sinks when Mommy shops for you!).


Bella got a girl's bomber jacket and a set of puzzles from Grandma and Grandpa. Loved them!

And finally...we took some family pictures on the swing in the backyard for our Christmas card. We just took some family pictures, but for the Christmas card, we like to include Mel, too. I don't want to give away the picture yet, but here's a cute one of Bella that I cropped.

Pear and Fig Pandowdy

I love Martha Stewart! Reading her magazine is when my crafty, nerdy, baking, scrapbooking side gets to come out. I really like the holiday issues, because there are a ton of recipes. I am not a great cook - my mom and sister definitely have the skills in that area, but I can (usually) follow a recipe.

My family is coming into town tonight and since I'm sure we'll be quickly overwhelmed with all of the Thanksgiving yummies that are our traditions. I wanted to make a new recipe ahead of time.

Here is a recipe I found in Martha Stewart; it's a pear and fig pandowdy, which I read is the New England version of a cobbler. It smells divine!

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The Price I Pay For Being Stubborn...

Okay, so I'm sure over the course of my life, I've paid worse "prices" for being stubborn, but this one is current...

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When you have a baby or toddler in your home (in my case, three toddlers), you have to decide just how hardcore you want to be about child-proofing. I've read a lot of articles that suggest accepting your current state and removing anything that has decorative or sentimental value from your home until your child is about 5 years old. This is just not me; I can't remove everything I love from my home, and especially my living room.

As a stay-at-home-mom who has to see the inside of her house all day, I want to take pride in my home and how it's decorated, and I don't want the whole room to be decorated in exersaucers and sippy cups. I want to be able to clean up at the end of the day and have it look like a "normal," adult living room. Maybe this is just asking for a headache, but it's what we've chosen so far.

The risk you run, of course, is when a small human and your decor collide. In this case, Rex (one of the toddlers I watch) decided to use my caroler figurine as drumsticks against the side table. And since I've already put way to much dialogue into this blog, can I just whine for a moment and say that chasing three toddlers around the house, while also trying to keep the room intact, can be EXHAUSTING! There, I whined. Now I'm off to find some super-glue...

Gobble, Gobble

Worked on our Thanksgiving craft this week. We traced her hand to make the turkey's body, and I cut out feathers, an eye, and whatever the weird red thing is that hangs down (I'm too lazy to Google it right now). Then she colored the little body. I did it for all three toddlers and made extra of Bella's hand for both grandmas. Coming in the mail soon!

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The back that shows the outline of her hand. She's so cute and pudgy!

'Tis the Season...

...for footie pajamas and runny noses!

Steve absolutely LOVES seeing Bella in footie PJ's, so whenever the weather gets colder, I find some new ones for her to wear. It's so cute to see her walk around in them - she's so cozy and fuzzy!

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Bella is also working on her first cold of the season, and I think Rex is, too. I always make sure I'm stocked up on tissues - they sneeze a lot and toddler noses are not cute with snot! We're extremely thankful that Bella's colds tend to be mild. Steve and I were commenting last week about how thankful we were that we had never had to take Bella to an E.R. or urgent care facility. I think that's a miracle for a toddler! We have a tough little human!

Steve's Deacon Ordination

Sunday night was Steve's deacon ordination. Pastor had each of the men stand, one at a time with their wife, and he read a short testimony about each man. Then the men sat down on chairs at the front of the sanctuary, and their wives stood behond them. Pastor invited any man who had been ordained as a deacon or elder to come and pray around the men in groups. Steve and I had about 6 or 7 men around us, most of whom we knew well, and it was a really special time of prayer and blessing.

Believe it or not, Steve wasn't nervous...I think this is his "waiting" face. :)

We had eight people on the other side of the camera trying to get Bella's attention and make her smile, but no such luck! I think she's staring at Auntie Mel right here.

Garage Sale Finds

Found these two pieces at a garage sale this morning. I spent a total of $3.91. I love them!

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On the bottom one, I just bought the print and put it in a frame I already had.

My Man and Christmas Decorations

I guess those two titles should have been separate...first, my man! Steve received an award at the bank for Credit Analyst of the Month! It is the first time the bank has ever given out the award, so it's pretty cool for him. His bosses are going to take him out to lunch, but more importantly, he received a 1/2 day off for free! This means more time with the family for Thanksgiving! Wahoo! Bella doesn't exactly bring home a lot of artwork, so I taped Steve's certificate to the fridge.

Next...I know it's early (okay, VERY early), but I've already decorated for Christmas. I usually hold off a little longer than this, but we had a free weekend - very rare for us - so I decided to drag the boxes out of the attic and get some of it done. Having Bella be a little older inspired me to make some homemade decorations. I might be able to claim that Bella made them, because they definitely look like a child did them! I'm just telling myself that it makes it more "homey".

This is the only picture I took of the homemade crafts. I made a snowman and a bunch of paper snowflakes to hang in the windows. It won't snow in Georgia in time for Christmas, so this is the best I could do!

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Our mistletoe! Hung in a very convenient spot with lots of traffic! The little neighbor boy that I watch in the afternoon (he's 9) is terrified that he's going to walk beneath it at the same time I do. I've promised him that I won't attack him.

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And my favorite...a nativity set given to me by Steve's mom. It's from the Willow Tree company; I have quite a few of their pieces that are "maternity" or "parenting", and I just love this set! It always goes on our mantel.

I'll put up some more pictures when it's closer to the actual season!

Playground on Sunday

We finally had a relaxing weekend! It's been about 6 weeks since we could claim that, so I was excited. Saturday morning was our photo shoot with our friend, Ellen. It was really cold and a little windy, but we were determined to persevere. Ellen got some gorgeous shots! She sent us a few samples, and I love them! I'll post some of the final shots when they come in.

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I woke up feeling sick on Sunday, so we didn't go to church. We just took it easy and after lunch, we walked to the playground in our subdivision. Bella is still figuring out that she can do things on her own, so it's fun to watch her realize she can do it by herself.

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Going to post a short video of her on the slide by herself! She loved going down and didn't even seem to mind plopping on her butt at the end. Once she realized she had sand on her hands, THEN she started fussing. Go figure! It was a nice, relaxing family experience.

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I Am THAT Parent...

1. I let my child play with a toy (even in her mouth) while walking around Target, and then just put the toy back before we check out.

2. I no longer think it's disgusting when she eats something off the floor without even using her hands.

3. I go the the bathroom with the door closed and the lights off just to have a moment of peace and quiet.

4. When I go to the Kiddie Play area in the mall, I want to hit the other children.

5. I let the three toddlers in my house trade sippy cups like it's their job.

6. I strongly believe that "Repeat Play" should be an option on every Disney movie's menu.

7. I gave up forcing my child to eat green vegetables and now just feed her pears from a can.

8. My proudest moment was when my child blew on her own french fry to cool it down.

9. I've yelled at my child while she was throwing a tantrum.

10. I've had to call Poison Control three times in the last year.

Signs Of Fall

Fall officially hit North Georgia this week! We've woken up to freezing rain most mornings, and it seems like overnight, people have gotten out their winter coats. I realize to people actually living in cold climates, it doesn't seem cold here, but 40 degrees is definitely cold enough for this Florida girl to start wearing turtlenecks! Here are signs around our house that Fall has arrived...

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Having so much rain made my dahlia bushes explode! These beautiful peach blooms came like crazy at the beginning of the week, so I used them as a centerpiece for a dinner with friends on Monday. I love having fresh flowers in the house!
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Our pumpkin dressed as a pilgrim turkey! When we went to the Pumpkin Patch, I specifically bought a pumpkin just to dress him up! These wooden pieces are made by Steve's dad and they look great! I've even had my neighbor ask how she can buy one.

Nasty grey clouds! I've actually been looking forward to cooler weather for awhile now - it's hard to get excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas when it's still 80 degrees outside. Unfortunately, it also means that my time outside with Bella is extremely limited.

Stopped at Target last night and couldn't resist this adorable pea coat for Bella! Steve's blue eyes look great anytime he wears red, so I'm thinking Bella's will do the same.

We have our "Official Wires Family Photo Shoot" this weekend with Ellen, a Senior in our youth group. She has done portraits of a lot of the families that we know, and I'm excited to work with her! Pray that Bella is in a good mood on Saturday morning!

Voting

This is my second post today, but I had to post about voting! The event itself was pretty low-key, but I was still excited to be there. the women handing out paperwork clapped when they heard it was my first time; that made me chuckle. I have always considered myself pretty uninformed - I want to know more about politics, I just haven't taken the time to learn more.

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So for this first election, I was a wimp and tended to just vote down the line Republican. It has sparked some interesting discussions with Steve. We like some of the Libertarian candidates, but then we wonder if it's better to vote for someone who actually has a chance of winning or who you truly think should win.

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We're still talking...

My Favorite Faces

I'm a totally biased parent in thinking my child is super-cute, but every once in awhile, she makes a face that makes me laugh out loud! These are two of my favorites....

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This is her "Tickled Pink" face! Today, she made this face when the theme song to Super Why came on. She loves music and loves her PBS shows! It's a silly face that I rarely get to catch on camera, so I was excited to get it today!

This is Bella's "Get Out Of Jail Free" face. When she is scolded and I use my best "stop that or die" voice, Bella will turn and stare at me. She doesn't cry. She doesn't laugh. I'm pretty sure she doesn't blink. She just stares with this look on her face. It takes all of my power not to laugh, and I usually fail miserably!