Thank You, Jen!!

Jen gave me this great blog award. There are just a few rules: Answer the questions with one word answers and pass the award along to six of your favorite bloggers. Here it goes:

Where is your cell phone? In my car.

Your hair? rain-ified

Your mother? In Atlanta

Your father? In Atlanta having a busy week.

Your favorite food? Pizza

Your dream last night? Can't remember

Your favorite drink? Diet coke

Your dream goal? To be the best wife and mother I can be.

What room are you in? Living room

Your hobby? Cooking, reading

Your fear? Something {bad} happening to Brad or Kate

Where do you want to be in 6 years? At home with a couple more kiddos.

Where were you last night? Home

Something that you aren't? A fitness buff..ha!

Muffins? Um, yeah, especially Starbucks blueberry muffins

Wish list item? A piece of original art.

Where did you grow up? Fort Smith, AR

Last thing you did? Helped set up for the silent auction at Kate's school carnival.

What are you wearing? Jeans and a t-shirt from our crazy trip to Hofbrauhaus

Your TV? Saying that the DVI/HDMI output is blocked...Brad needs to fix this asap.

Your pets? Sweet Dixie

Friends? Great gals...miss them dearly.

Your life? Blessed

Your mood? Pretty good for a rainy day.

Missing someone? My parents, my sisters, and out of town friends...I miss a lot of people!

Vehicle? Jeep Grand Cherokee with a layer of Cheerios and Goldfish covering the floorboards.

Something you're not wearing? Earrings, I lost one in our most recent move.

Your favorite store? Hobby Lobby...could spend hours there.

Your favorite color(s)? black and white

Last time you laughed? Today, watching Kate tell me about what she was writing

Last time you cried? A few weeks ago

Your best friend? My sweet Brad

One place you go over and over? The grocery store

One person who emails me regularly? Facebook...does that count?

Favorite place to eat? Hideaway Pizza, Mahogany, and there are lots more but I'm trying to keep this short.

So, I tried to use just one word but that's impossible. I would like to pass this award along to: Sherry, Laurie, Beth, Melissa F., Mary, and Melissa T. However, I think all the blogs I read are "Over the Top"!! Have a great Thursday!!

Elmo!!

Kate has a crush. His name is Elmo. She loves everything about Elmo and who wouldn't...he's very cute! We thought about letting her be Elmo for Halloween but we decided that was a boy costume. A couple of weeks ago, Kate got a package in the mail from Grandpa and DeDe....it was a pair of Elmo slippers. She was in awe....and here is a video of her opening her prize!!

Kate and B got to spend last Saturday together. They both looked soooo cute in their Razorback gear. Thank you to Sherry, Damian, Vivi and Baby 2 for sending Kate this adorable cheerleader outfit. It was such a fun surprise!! Now, if only the Hogs had won...yikes, that was a terrible loss!

This is Kate showing her MIGHTY disdain for me holding B. I'm hoping it was the sheer exhaustion from which she was suffering because she's never gotten upset about me snuggling with another kiddo. I guess time will tell just how well she does with sharing me...she's not going to be the only child in this family forever!! We had a wonderful time in Lawton...Laurie and Will cooked up a storm and it was all so yummy and so fun getting to visit, as always!! Since mean ol' Mommy and Daddy didn't get the Elmo costume, Kate is going to be a fish! Originally, I was searching for a flower costume but when I saw this a few weeks ago, we had to have it. When we got it, we decided to try it on for size. Here's Miss Priss previewing her costume:

Picky Patty and Some Fun

I titled the post "Picky Patty" because that is exactly what we've been calling Kate lately. She has recently decided that she no longer likes most vegetables. She still gobbles up every kind of fruit offered her, but it still stresses me out a little bit about the veggies. I did discover that she still likes canned green beans (but not the normal steamed green beans) and I "hide" spinach in a lot of things I cook and she seems to not mind. I suppose I'll just keep putting all kinds of veggies on her plate and eventually she'll remember her love for them. One good thing is that she has rekindled her love affair with cheese. She still won't eat the mozzarella string cheese but she loves cheddar and colby jack.

She is picking up new words and phrases daily. She is beginning to seem a bit frustrated when I don't understand what she's saying. Usually, she'll repeat a couple of times with a look of frustration and then move on. I just can't wait to know what all she is actually saying...I think it's going to be A LOT!! She has also picked up quite the not-so-nice looks these days. When I tell her "no" or take something away, she cuts those eyes at me and furrows her brow. It's the darndest thing I've ever seen but I can't help but laugh (on the inside) when she does it...it IS pretty cute.

During sunny days, we have been playing out front with push/ride-on toys and chalk. She could draw with chalk all day long. We enjoy going to the park close by also. In fact, we're going today...it's a GORGEOUS day!!!

On Saturday, we joined some friends at Orr Family Farm. It was soooo fun! Kate and I had gone earlier in the week with a playgroup so we were thrilled to get to go again. And, of course, we loved getting to visit with the S fam!! After the farm trip, we headed back to our house to watch the Hogs...what a game!!! It's a shame that we lost, but I think the solid match-up against (then) #1 Florida left for a great feeling of pride for all Hog fans around. Go Hogs!!!

After their naps, Kate and B played REALLY well together at our house. Laurie and I got so tickled watching them and listening to their little conversations.

At the farm, Kate fed the sheep.
There was also a great playground. B and Kate loved that the most. Although, B really loved the pony ride. Kate, not so much....her top pick would probably still be the playground!
Boy did they play hard!! B was big into throwing the hay and Kate thought that was pretty funny. She didn't really care for getting the hay on her hands though. Here is Kate with her beloved pumpkin. She hugged it and cuddled it like it was her little baby. So precious! This morning, when she came into the living room, she said, "Hi Pumpkin" and ran to give it a squeeze...melted my heart!
The weekend before last, we headed to Fayetteville for the weekend to stay with Lucy. Brad went to the AR vs. Auburn game with one of his best friends and Lucy, Kate and I ran around town. We were so excited that we got to stop by and see Sherry, Vivi, and Grace. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera because the girls had a good little time playing together. Can't wait to see them again!!

I got a couple of pics of Brad and Kate in front of Old Main...what a beautiful setting.

And then we all put on our comfies and Lu and I hit the wine. It's been so long since we've gotten to spend time like that together. We get to chat on the phone just about every other day but it was great getting to actually "see" her and spend time with her.

When we got home, Kate got a package from her Boomer with a new book! We read it daily (like 8 times/day at least)! There is a pop-out pizza in the book and the VERY FIRST time we looked at it, Kate pointed to the pizza and said, "pizza". I swear, the child has had pizza only three times in her life up to that point (we had pizza with our friends on Saturday...so that makes a grand total of 4 times for Kate now) and she remembered what it was. Yikes...she's definitely our child when it comes to appreciating yummy/fattening food.

Also, I have a couple of Happy Birthday wishes to pass along:

Sherry (my sister-in-law) Oct. 15

Eric (Em's bf) Oct. 13

Emily (my sister) Oct. 26

We wish you all a WONDERFUL year with lots of continued blessings!!!

Oh How We LOVE Fall!!!

Wow...the weather lately has been WONDERFUL!! It has been a little overcast here the last few days but I definitely can't complain about the fact that the temperature hasn't exceeded 65 degrees...love it!! We have been enjoying the start of the Fall Season with homemade chili and soup, lots of football, lots of school activities, and lots of outside time.

Kate really seems to be enjoying going to school lately. She doesn't cry when I drop her off anymore and that gives me a lot of comfort. The big fundraiser for FPS is a Halloween Carnival and Auction at the end of the month. I have been able to help with Kate's class' art project (they'll be for sale at the carnival) this week and it's been a blast!! The best part has been getting to have a bird's eye view of Kate playing with her classmates and teachers. Let me just tell you....it melts my heart! She is the oldest in her class and, for sure, demands the most attention...ha. She plays by herself a lot but also goes around to the other kids and "checks in" to make sure they aren't doing something she would rather be doing...it's the funniest thing. She also likes to hang out around the snack table and her teachers were so glad that I cleared up the "tootoo" mystery. Apparently, she always asks for cookies ("tootoo") at school as well..haha!!!

We took Kate to the Oklahoma State Fair a couple of weekends ago. We went at 9 am on a Saturday morning and, thankfully, missed most of the normal Fair action. We stayed around the barns and children's area to see all of the different animals there.

Here is the sheep exhibit in Agtropolis. Kate got to showcase her animal sounds a lot and the people around us got a kick out of her "Baaaa, Baaaa" when she saw the sheep!

Here she is coloring with Daddy. She really loves sitting at her table and chairs to color. Most days, we color in the mornings and I will, eventually, get up and do some things around the house while she sits at her coloring station. She talks to me the whole time: telling me what she's drawing and making sure I'm not too far away, I suppose. She has become quite the chatter box lately. I tried to get a video of her coloring at her table but she was in the mood to be up and at 'em. We are working on counting and so far the only number she knows is 2. She says it 5 times and thinks she's counted along...presh!!! You can kind of see her mad counting skills in the video..ha!!

Every evening when Brad gets home from work, she runs straight to him for hugs and kisses....and then grabs his pen that he keeps in his shirt pocket. Just one of those things I don't want to forget.

She is a big helper when it comes to anything going on inside and/or outside. Here, she has a little digger thing that I was using to get the sign to stay put in the bed.

Here she is wearing one of Brad's hats. That's a big thing for her lately!!

Here she is, helping put together the carpet steamer. Dixie stepped in poo poo (gross, I know) the other day so we had to go out and get something to deep clean the carpet and rug after we spot cleaned for hours. Like I said, Kate loves to be a big helper!!

Hope you all are enjoying the Fall weather and festivities!!!