October Update and Maternity Preview

As promised, I am finally updating with all of our fun activities and updates from October! As of yesterday I have (almost) completely finished my classes... I took my final exams and I'm praying I did well! All that's left now are 3 labs which I'm hoping to complete tonight! So yay! If all goes well and I pass (oh please!) then I will have officially completed my Associate in Arts Degree!

Now... here are lots of pictures and such from October and a few pictures from our maternity shoot!

We played outside and raked leaves...

We acted crazy and smiled a lot!

We painted pumpkins...

and created other fun art projects for Fall and Halloween...

Had our first experience with Elmer's glue... and were not impressed!

Ate HIGH in sugar snacks...

Went to the pumpkin patch...

Shared lots of slobbery kisses...

Discovered new and exciting things...

Pretended we were butterflies...

Colored on the sidewalk...

Sat in our artwork...

Learned how to blow dandelions...

Dressed up as an owl...

Conquered the wet and cold to attend the Fall Festival...

Went trick or treating...

And finally ended October by visiting Papaw and Mawmaw to get ring pops!

Elah had a blast in October and she continues to grow and amaze me! November is going to be life changing for her but I can't wait to see how she grows and changes in these next few weeks!

Now... for our maternity preview!

September Has Come Again!

My favorite time of year is Autumn... and when September comes around it's time to start preparing for cooler weather, falling leaves, and fall decor! Woohoo! I love it! We started off September by taking Boogie  for a stroll around one of our favorite lakes, she loves to watch the ducks (and usually they have two swans... however they were missing in action this trip), running on the bridge, and throwing rocks into the water. She's getting so big and so independent, she is becoming a little girl before my eyes... my baby is a distant memory!

We had a hard time getting her to look at us for pictures... she just wanted to quack at the ducks!

Sometimes she still gives kisses... but they are few and far between these days! She's "too big" to give mommy and daddy kisses!

She was about to be naughty and go down the steps (to the left) by herself.

Throwing pebbles and rocks into the lake with daddy.

Looking for some more skipping rocks.

You can't tell... but it's getting harder to hold her on my hip. My belly is starting to get in the way!

My beautiful big girl... she gets prettier every day.

Boogie is such a joy, she drives me absolutely bonkers some days, but she truly is a precious blessing. Those big brown eyes melt me, and I imagine that when Bubby finally gets here he will have deep blue eyes like Boogie did and slowly they will be these same beautiful big brown eyes! It will be interesting to see how our family dynamics change with a little boy added to the mix. I can't wait to meet our little man!

In other news, school is becoming more overwhelming every day. I think I'm going to have to redo my schedule so that I can lessen the workload I've dealt myself. I've been playing catch up for over a week now and it's just not working. I can't possibly take care of Boogie, myself, our home, and accomplish the workload I've planned for myself. I had high hopes of being done with everything aside from my finals by the first week of October... but I may have to settle for the last week of October instead. That's still a large workload, but not nearly as much as I planned before. That is also less time to get a few things done I'd like to get done before Bubby is here. Ay yi yi!

Also, don't forget to head over and enter my giveaway for three BOGO free coupons for UNREAL candy! They seriously are SO good!

It's Almost Fall!

Fall is in the air! It's the middle of August... and fall is in the air? The weather has been fantastic lately, it was cool enough (with a breeze) outside today that Boogie and I sported our favorite hoodies! It was awesome! We spent the morning buying groceries and then headed to Mawmaw and Pawpaw's for a day of outside fun! Boogie played in the backyard and then we headed next door to check on our garden. Dad pulled up all of the tomato, zucchini, and most of the squash plants about a week or so ago and planted new green beans, more pumpkins, and our corn is starting to ripen! Boogie loves going over there to run in between the rows and to see my parent's neighbors. Here are a few pictures from our outdoor adventures today...

ps. I tried a new watermark on these pictures.... not a fan, it doesn't look as clean as the other one I use. Blah.

Change is in the Air

Change is wonderful. I LOVE CHANGE. Ask J, I love to rearrange our furniture, I love to change up our decor, I like to try new things, explore new places.... change rocks. J made a BIG change today, he got a new job! It pays a little more than his last job, we get affordable health insurance, AND my favorite part.... he will be home for dinner EVERY night! His schedule goes something like this: every work he works from 5:30am-5:30pm and he has a set schedule. He works Monday, works Tuesday, off Wednesday, work Thursday, off Friday, work Saturday, work Sunday, off Monday, off Tuesday, work Wednesday, off Thursday, work Friday, and off for the weekend.... and then you start all over again. He's excited, I'm excited... and Boogie is ALWAYS excited! I guess you can tell when I'm excited in my blog posts because I do THIS! LOL!


The only not so fun part about this new job is that we're having to change up our vacation plans. We originally had planned on taking a week long vacation in Gatlinburg with a day trip to Knoxville... but now that he no longer works doubles on weekends with week breaks in between that just isn't possible. So. New plan. We'll leave on a Sunday night after J gets off, spend Monday morning in Knoxville, Monday evening in Gatlinburg (with a fun dinner at the Melting Pot!), and Tuesday will be spent in Pigeon Forge and driving home. Justin will work Wednesday, be off Thursday, and then work on Friday. That night we'll drive to Asheboro, stay the night, and then wake up on Saturday morning to spend the day at the zoo! Then we'll drive to Concord, stay the night, wake up and spend the day shopping and then drive home. It's definitely more driving, and not what we were hoping for in a vacation, but it will be fun nonetheless!



What else is changing? Boogie took 2 crawling "steps" today... and I missed it. Lamesauce. So hopefully that means she'll be mobile very very soon! She's also on the verge of cutting her second tooth! You know what else all this means? I've had a cranky, tired, non-sleeping baby this week! This whole sleep thing is hard. I'm stuck in the middle of wanting to just co-sleep and enjoy the baby cuddles and lovings I get... and wanting to somehow get her to sleep in her own bed, in her own room. It's a tough decision. I'm not a fan of cry it out methods, I hope to find a method that won't involve so much hysterical tears and crying. The way I see it... no matter what happens, she's not going to be sleeping in my bed forever. Someday she will want her own space... until then, I'm just along for the ride!


Guess what else is changing? THE LEAVES. No, really. It's not a drastic change yet... but a tree in our yard is slightly turning and there were leaves in our yard today! That means FALL is just on the horizon! Hallelujah! I can't wait!


I'm changing in many ways as well... I don't feel much like writing about it though because I'm not exactly sure how to put what is changing in my life into words. But it's good. VERY good! So... anyways, I'm going to leave you with some of Boogie's 8 month pictures. 8 months... hard to believe!