Getting Ready for Church

Every morning Hayes likes to run to our closet to help Nathan get ready. She will grab belts, shirts (wrong ones of course), and shoes to take to him to put on. It's so funny because she does this every day. This morning she put his socks and shoes on her all by herself. Lately people have asked me if she is a Daddy's girl, I think that is a big understatement, but I'm pretty sure she loves me equally! She likes to have BOTH of us in her sight all the time and calls us DaddyMommy when we're all together.



"Now I'm ready for church! Haha not quite Miss Hayes!!"

We're so happy to be home from our Thanksgiving trip to Dothan. It was great and we were able to visit and see lots of people and eat a TON of good food, but there is no place like your own home and bed. Pictures to come soon. Hope you all had a great long weekend!

It's Thanksgiving!

It is Thanksgiving week and we are home and I LOVE it. We are excited, excited to be able to spend the next few days with all of our family and enjoy being together, eating, playing, and resting! As of right now only my husband is resting, though! We've already had a big time and we just got here last night. This morning we met friends for coffee and play at Chick Fil A, then we went to the new Miracle Park in Dothan-awesome-great place for little and big ones, and then lunch at Honey's Hot Dogs-the only place I ever eat a hot dog, besides an Auburn game of course. My little one decided there was too much action for her to nap this afternoon, so she's outside in the wagon with her Papa pulling her, which is heaven on earth for a toddler and for this mama-because I wouldn't be so happy about a no-nap afternoon if it were at home with just the two of us! But anytime a grandparent is in charge of playtime that equates to a nice little break to me. Wow, I just cannot imagine if we had any grandparents close by-it would be too good to be true and we absolutely wouldn't know what to do.

Unfortunately my camera battery door has been jammed for 2 weeks and I haven't had time to try to fix it, so no new pictures! But no fear, Papa (aka Gregg) fixed it in 2 seconds this morning, so I'm all set for lots of picture taking this week with the fam. I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I won't go into listing the many, many blessings in my life, but I will acknowledge that all of it comes straight from the Lord. Without Him my life would be nothing and I would have nothing. He is absolutely the source of my joy and strength and I pray that every single day-not just the weeks around Thanksgiving-that I would honor him with my life and be completely thankful all the time for His presence and blessings in my life.

I hope to have some fun news to share next week when we get back.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” - Colossians 2:6-7

The Cowgirl

I know the grandparents are ready to see something new on the blog, so here is a little video from Baker's birthday party. Baker got a fun new rocking horse for his 1st birthday that sings and makes noise from his Uncle Hank and Aunt Regina, and it's the cutest thing! Hayes did not care for it much the first time she saw it, but then decided the next weekend at Bake's party that she really did like riding the horsey!

New Pictures

We had some pictures taken a few weeks back in hopes of finding a good one for our Christmas card. My friend Margaret took these and I think she did a great job!!Please do not think I am on the ball because I am NOT!! I used to be, not anymore. She was having an October special, so that motivated me to get myself in gear to start thinking about Christmas (which is only weeks away-crazy!) I've pretty much decided which one I'm using for the card so I won't share that one, but these are some of my other favorites. I love outside pictures!





This is our 110% thumbsucker. There is rarely a moment when the thumb is not in the mouth, so this is all we see 24/7. Hard to get a straight shot w/out her face being covered!


She wasn't feeling her best that day, because October has been an extremely CURSED month for us with sickness, but I think they still turned out sweet!

Margaret's website if you are local:
Margaret Lee Photography

Lana's Baby Shower and the Peanut Festival

We went to Dothan this past weekend for several reasons-to see our family (who we didn't see enough of), Lana's baby shower, and to take Hayes to the Peanut Festival for her first time ever! It was a busy weekend and I took lots of pictures so get ready for an overload.

Saturday morning I spent with the cutest girl in Dothan, my niece Holley. I love her so much. She's so sweet and easygoing and smart. She wanted to go w/me to the baby shower, even though it would be all adults and no kids. I didn't really think she would have fun, but she didn't mind. She was super polite and sweet the whole time and never complained one time, and the morning probably lasted forever to her. I cannot tell you how much she loves Hayes and vice versa. Actually it's that way w/all 3 of Alyssa's kids and I love it!! they're crazy about each other.


The hostesses plus Lana. She looks great and just has 5 weeks to go until the new baby gets here. Can't wait to meet him or her!


Saturday afternoon we made it to the fair! Hayes LOVED all the animals. She loved letting them eat out of her hand. There were about 50 goats all in a big cage and you just walked around to feed them carrots. She really likes to pet animals and is not really afraid. I'm so glad she loves animals!


Checking out all the goats...








Our family of 3 (almost 4!) outside the pig and sheep barn


Nathan bought some tickets and we found a few things that she could ride. Some of those little kiddie rides are fast!! We stuck w/the train and merry go round and she was happy on those.






This girl loved her some corn on the cob. I was glad since she only seems to want to eat CRACKERS these days. She wakes up and goes to bed wanting crackers of any kind. I hope it's a stage. But I'm glad to know another food she does like!!




Sunday we met Nana and Papa and Alyssa and Cory and the kids for lunch. We did not get to see them enough! We wish we could seem them all the time. They're all getting too big!



And that was our weekend!! We did absolutely NO trick or treating whatsoever since we were out of town, we missed our fall festival at church, and a sweet little friend's dress up b'day party which I am still sad about. But Hayes did not know the difference and we have many years of trick or treating and festivals ahead of us! And actually it didn't even occur to me until we got back Sunday night that it was even really Halloween night-how crazy!!
Hope everyone else had a fun weekend!

Pumpkin Patch Pics and a Video

We squeezed in a trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday morning before we went to Tuscaloosa for Baker's bday party. It was Nathan's idea to go that morning and I'm so glad we went. We haven't had many free weekends, or days when everybody is well! Plus I missed out on a trip there on Thursday w/some girls b/c I didn't think Hayes was up to par. It was a great place and I took way too many pictures. I will try not to share too many! I think Hayes was the dirtiest child there! Her favorite thing was kicking up the dirt w/her boots and playing in it. She loved it and was a big mess. She had a nice baby wipe bath in the car before we headed to the b'day party! When I saw her in this pose pretending to be a chicken, I knew I needed to switch over to the video camera.


This video is for the grandparents!



Jack the donkey




I have another little video of her pulling this goat's tail









I think she would have been just as happy playing in the dirt at home!!



She loved the wagon ride, but didn't care a thing about the pumpkin picking. Climbing the hay bales was her next favorite thing to the dirt and farm animals.







We ate lunch and played a bit more and then hit the road. It only took a few minutes before Hayes was asleep. It was so fun and we'll definitely be back next year, but next time w/our TWO little pumpkins!

Pumpkin muffins and Ghost cookies

It's finally naptime-yea!! Our mornings have been starting really early around here. Miss Hayes has decided that she likes waking up for the day between 5-6. Sometimes that's a long stretch until 1 in the afternoon. Yesterday she had different plans than me and decided she would not have naptime at all so I'm hoping she'll make up for it today with an extra long one-hahaha we will see. Therefore, we have plenty of time in the morning for some yummy breafasts so sometimes waking up early can be good!!

We had these little pumpkin muffins for breakfast this morning, and they were so simple and delicious. So if you don't already have a recipe for some yummy fall pumpkin muffins, here you go:



1 box spice cake mix
1 can pure pumpkin
2/3 cup water
1 egg

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Grease and flour muffin pans (this recipe made 12 large muffins and then I still had batter left over for about 10 mini-muffins.) Fill each cup 2/3 or almost full. Bake at 325 for about 20-25 minutes. I cooked my muffin pans separately, so I'm not sure how long it would take putting both pans in together. Just watch the muffins. Once cooled sprinkle with confectioners sugar. They were moist and delicious, and I'm just about to have another one for my afternoon snack!

Also, our cousin Bake Bake had his 1st birthday party on Saturday. It was a really cute party and he thoroughly enjoyed himself!! I have lots of fun pictures to share, but I'll let Lindsey share hers first!
I found these little ghost cookies on a website a few months ago and made them Friday night for the party. They turned out really cute and were really easy to make, just a little messy. Just an idea in case you need something for Halloween this weekend.



1 package nutter butters
1 lb. almost bark
mini chocolate chips

Melt candy coating in microwave, keep stirring and watching for it to melt, it took mine longer than the package said. Dip cookies into melted bark and then lay on parchment paper. Put chocolate eyes on the ghost while they are still wet-might need another person to do this part-like an hungry husand who likes sweets- b/c you're hands are so messy. Let cool and then enjoy! This recipe made 32 cookies.

*HELP!! Anyone have any good tips for getting back on a normal wake-up schedule for an almost 2 year old? Getting up an extra hour or more earlier for her is definitely contributing to the whininess factor during the day. It's been about 3 weeks so I'm afraid it's becoming a habit.