Time

For the first time in a long time I feel like I'm too busy enjoying life to blog about it. I think it's a combo of fall activities, house projects, hubby being gone a lot (but what's new in that department? ha!), planning Emma Claire's first birthday, and having a VERY mobile baby. I know I'm not the only momma in this bind. I am hoping to find a nice balance of living life and recording it.

 

 

I know Emma Claire's days of babyhood are limited and I am determined to soak them up while I can.

 

I couldn't resist sharing this picture. Is this  not such a typical "dad" picture? ha! She has a dress on and he holds her like this for a picture! Such a goof!

 

I am just feeling time slipping through my fingers more and more these days and I am so behind on my memory keeping. I am six months behind on EC's monthly books and I am determined to have them all made and out on display at her birthday party! I have lots of work ahead of me in the next few days.

 

 

 

Life Update: List Style

Well I don't know about y'all but with the start of fall our life has gotten really busy. With church, bible study, photography sessions, and the hubby traveling we are on the go a lot now a days. MOPS also starts this week and I am SO excited for that! It will be my first time participating and I can't wait. I realized it has been a while since I've done a general update on what we have been up to on a day to day basis so I thought I would just do a little random list style update.

 

My mums are in full bloom and I LOVE them! I bought a pair of black urns this summer with one thing in mind: overflowing yellow fall mums!

 

I haven't busted out my fall decor storage container  yet but I did pretty up our front door with a decal and some burnt orange silk hydrangeas.

I am loving my bible study this fall. I am doing Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) and we are studying Genesis. I am already growing and learning more than I thought possible.

 

Any other BSF-ers out there?

 

Emma Claire and I went to IKEA the other day. The last time she was there she was in my tummy. Needless to say she was in awe and loved it!

 

Yesterday it was a little chilly so I busted out one of EC's fall fleece carter's outfits. Could she BE any cuter?! The hood just about sent me over the edge, the cuteness is too much!

Bath time now consists of me sitting Emma Claire back on her tush every 2 seconds. Which she thinks is hilarious. Wonderful.

This little goodie came in the mail yesterday and I CANNOT WAIT to take her to a pumpkin patch in this.

 

I've been working on several furniture projects lately. I've sanded down and primed my bar stools, and two days ago I sanded down the kitchen table. Whew. This little baby has gotten a lot of use lately and we have a love/hate relationship! I just want my projects to be D-O-N-E!

This picture is blurry but perfectly depicts our days. Laughing, giggling, house is a mess, dishes on the counter, laundry needs to be done...but it can all wait. We are having too much fun to worry about silly things like housework.

 

That being said...I really need to wrap up this blog post and get to cleaning nap because nap time is quickly ticking by!

It just takes one...

Today I was really excited to go out and find some good deals. One of the large communities in my area was having their fall community yard sale. I drove around for half an hour and went to about a dozen garage sales with zero luck. Then I stumbled upon a little gold mine. At first I glanced around and was about to walk off because it was a "boy" garage sale. It was also a "just get rid of it" garage sale. AKA mom was no where in sight and dad was just supposed to get rid of everything! ha! I browsed through the toys and was surprised to find some great toys that had barely been touched. The guy kept telling me he would give me a deal to just take all of the toys if I wanted! However there were a TON so I asked if I could fill a storage container and then figure out payment once I had picked things out.

 

I managed to fill it all the way with toys, a few straw sippy cups, and a little Ralph Lauren dress {that he told me just to take and he wasn't charging me! ha!} I also snagged a rockabye Caterpillar rocker. Once I had gathered all of my little finds I asked if he would take $10 and he said sure! I was tickled to get everything for that price. {Plus a new storage container with lid!} The rocker alone retails for $120!

 

I can now happily report that I have all of Emma Claire's birthday presents! I think she is going to love all of her new toys and go nuts for her rocker.

 

See, it only takes one. In the middle of all of the other garage sales I just needed to find that ONE good one!

 

Tasty Treat Thursday

If you are in need of a quick and easy dinner that is also DELICIOUS I have the solution!!! 

Let me tell y'all...if I could have dairy I would TOTALLY be making this for dinner tonight. It's the perfect fall dinner

Now I'm going to give you the original ingredients/directions (in blue) VIA The Girl Who Ate Everything and tell you what I substituted/omitted! (in pink!) Just because I didn't do everything exactly like she said!

Ingredients/Directions

Mix Together

8 ounces cream cheese, softened {I only had 4 ounces}

½ cup sour cream {Omitted}

{Added some of the cream of chicken soup, shredded cheese, dash of milk, and Parmesan cheese}

Add In

½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 ½ Tablespoons dried chives
1 ½ Tablespoons fresh onion minced {Omitted...was feeling yucky and didn't want to deal with onions ;-)}

3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (around 3 cups) {Used one can of canned chicken...again, didn't feel good and was feeling lazy}

Assemble Pillows

2 (8 ounce) cans Pillsbury crescent rolls {Used one can of grands biscuits}

1/4 cup melted butter
Italian bread crumbs (around 2 cups) {Didn't have any...made my own}

***At this point scoop a spoonful of chicken mixture into flattened biscuit and fold up, dip top into butter and roll in breadcrumbs. Then place on baking sheet.***

Gravy

1 (14.5 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 (0.87) package chicken gravy mix {Omitted...just used water to mix with soup}

Seriously y'all...these were SO GOOD! The hubster kept saying that this was his new favorite dinner over and over! Now, I love my husband and he usually has nice things to say about my cooking but he went on and on and on about these. I take it he liked them a little more than our usual dinners ;-)

I served ours with some mixed veggies. YUM! We also had a salad before dinner.

I HIGHLY recommend these..does this not make your mouth water!?

 

{Pinterest Link}

{Original Recipe VIA The Girl Who Ate Everything}

 

<center> <a href="http://the-happyhome.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="YOURNAME" src="http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg575/malloriegayle/a4de21a5.jpg"/></a></center>
 

Letting Go...

How does it happen so quickly?
One minute you're peeing on a stick and your life is changing, then you blink and you're bringing a tiny person into the world, and before you know it you are leaving him/her with someone else to care for them for an extended period of time. For some this transition happens quickly, just weeks after birth. And for others it takes longer to make this change. For me the longest I have ever left Emma Claire with anyone was with her Daddy for about an hour, and Aunt Paige for about half an hour. It's not that I have a problem with someone else caring for her, there just hasn't been a need to....yet. Since we don't live near family there wasn't ever another caregiver that knew Emma Claire like her daddy and I did.

 

To some this post may sound silly, and I'm sure plenty of other stay at home mommies feel my pain. On Sunday Emma Claire stayed in nursery at church for the entire service and for us that was a B-I-G deal but today was a true test. I have bible study on Wednesdays and last week Emma Claire stayed home with daddy while I went, but today it was time for her to come with me and play in the nursery. My bible study is two hours long and for me this is a VERY long time to be separated from my little side kick.

 

I am SO happy to report that I never got a phone call and that Emma Claire stayed in nursery for OVER TWO HOURS. I was able to peek in her room without her seeing me and check on her several times. The first time she was still crying but when I came back after small group she had stopped crying and was sitting in the middle of all the other babies and was playing with a ball. {Let's pretend that her hair wasn't all messy/bow missing, her nose snotty, and her eyes were red from crying.} I was just thrilled she had stopped crying! The large group sermon couldn't have moved ANY SLOWER for me. I practically ran out of the sanctuary. I'm also not going to lie...I cut in the baby pick up line and demanded my child. I knew she had started crying again and I wasn't going to wait for it to be my "turn". Hopefully people saw me extract the screaming child from the room and understood why I had cut! ha!

 

All that to say that today was a big day in our little family and while there were a few tears I am SO proud of us. It was a big step for me to leave her for so long but I am so glad we are doing this. MOPS also starts next week so she will be in the MOPPETS program as well. My hope is that she will grow into an independent little toddler who loves going to church and playing with friends. As a child I had separation anxiety that was pretty bad and I cried a lot {read: every. single. day} when I started pre-school and kindergarten. I just had the best mom ever and I didn't understand why in the world I couldn't stay home with her :-)

Here are a few pictures before we left this morning.
It was chilly so Emma Claire donned a sweater. I just about died from the cuteness of her in this outfit.

When did she get so BIG?!

Momma and the little lady. We both had a brown theme going this morning.

I have to say thanks to my cousin Sarah for the adorable little outfit Emma Claire is wearing. I just love it on her! And to the hubs for pausing his getting ready for work to take our picture. I feel like I'm always taking the pictures and try to make an effort to be IN some!
 

 

 

Family Fun

This past weekend our little town had a fun festival. Since we live minutes from down town so we were able to load up our little crew and walk to the festivities. The weather was beautiful and crisp with not a cloud in the sky. Emma Claire got to wear her very first sweater, a yellow cardigan, and looked just darling.

 Emma Claire wasn't sure what to think of the parade so early in the morning.

 Apparently there were 20,000 people that came to visit downtown that day!

 There was an area of the town that had a ton of food vendors. We got some crab cakes {that were wonderful} and sat under some trees to eat lunch.

 

 

While you know that Gracie loves to ride  underneath the stroller bet you didn't know that Dixie likes to as well! However in our new stroller there is a basket up front! So on the way home Dixie rode under Emma Claire's feet. We got stopped about a dozen times beacuse of our full stroller.

She was quite content up front!

 

It was nice to feel like a "normal" family on the weekned. Even though the hubs did have to go to work we got to do some every day weekend activiites before he left for work which was fun.