Fall Decorations

So I have decorated my house with fall decor and the daycare with some Halloween decor. I didn't go all out this year for some reason, I think because we tossed a lot of decorations when we moved last year so I'm kind of starting over. I still haven't been able to decorate the outside much yet because the hubby has been working out of town this week so the girls and I have been flying solo. That's on my to-do list for this weekend!

Window clings for the daycare kiddos to look at when they come in the morning

Light up garland for the daycare kiddos as well

Bag of garland and misc goodies for the outside. All I have left to get is a hay bail and some pumpkins... oh and maybe a scarecrow.

Outdoor decoration

One of my current favorite Yankee Candle scents, which also happens to be on sale currently so check it out!

Miscellaneous kitchen decorations to spice it up a bit

Another one of my current Yankee Candle faves... SO good!

Kitchen table centerpiece, simple but still cute!

Stopping to Smell the Roses Watch the Leaves

So I decided I'm going to follow suite and do a post about fall. So many of us love the changing of seasons and the weather change, scenery change (depending on where you live), etc...

As embarrassing as it is to say, I have always loved the changing of seasons but never fully stopped to appreciate its beauty until today. One of my daily reads and fellow blogger Heather over at 'Step Inside', did a posting the other day about how much she loved fall and how much she knew she was going to miss the changing of the seasons/leaves after moving from Tennessee to Texas. I didn't think much of it when I read it to be quite honest, I just read the words and nodded my head thinking she was right. Today Addaline and I were turning into our neighborhood and it was like something smacked me in the face and told me 'Wake up and appreciate the beauty around you'... so I did! Addaline and I drove through the neighborhood admiring all the beautiful trees changing colors, I knew that was God's way of telling me to once again slow down and appreciate the beauty of this world he has given us!

It's something SO simple but yet so amazing! I can't wait until the 2 huge trees in front of our house start changing and I'll photograph them. I'm still working on our fall decorations and will definitely be posting pictures soon for you all to see what we decided to go with. The hubby actually agreed maybe we should go more towards Fall decor than just Halloween so the decorations can stay out longer (and look much better).

I googled some fall weather pictures this afternoon and just loved these photos in particular~

So beautiful

As fall approaches, so does winter and an exciting even happening in our family again this year... The Nutcracker. Macie tried out for the Nutcracker in August (on my birthday actually) and we found out last month that she was cast in it, as one of the Soldiers. She is beyond excited and actually moved up about 4 steps from the part she was cast last year, my little superstar dancer! She is practicing every Saturday evening until December and then it will become something she practices more frequently until the 4 performances take place the weekend before Christmas. I'll make sure to keep you all up to date on how this is going and take TONS of pictures when it gets closer and we get her costume, etc....

So when is the last time you took a minute to just stop and smell the roses admire God's beauty in the changing of seasons? If you haven't, you definitely should!

And The Costume Winner Is...

After shopping for entirely too long Saturday morning/afternoon with the girls Macie and I FINALLY made a decision about what they are going to be for Halloween. Addaline's costume was on sale at Toys'R'Us/Babies'R'Us so that kind of helped us make the decision as well... Without further adieu...

Addaline is going to be 'Super Girl', and the cutest one no doubt about it!!

And Macie is going to be 'Bat Girl'... also the cutest one no doubt about it! I am going to have her wear a long sleeve black shirt underneath this since its obviously going to be a little chilly outside. She isn't too happy about that but she's 7 and will soon get over it :)



This weekend was a great one for sure... We hung out with some awesome friends Friday night at our house and had an overall good time. The guys played Wii the whole night while the gals chit chatted, what we do best!

Saturday was Macie's school carnival and it was SO much fun. I volunteered to work her classes booth for an hour so I had fun applying temporary tattoos to tons of kiddos. The girls had a great time, the hour I volunteered I entrusted my camera with my hubby.... guess how many pictures he took? 1, seriously honey, 1 picture from the carnival... you're fired from camera duty.

While the girls and I were on our quest for Halloween costumes I was also on a quest for tennis shoes for Addaline. The goal for the day was to get the costumes and shoes, and I wasn't going home without either one of them. And so we shopped, and shopped, and shopped some more. Who knew it was so hard to find shoes for toddlers that are cute and don't cost a fortune. I ended up getting Addaline this Nike pair of tennis shoes and she LOVES them. She put them on immediately and talked about them the rest of the day (as much as a 2 year old learning to talk can communicate), it was pretty much 'new shoes, new shoes, new shoes' all day, SO cute! These are the shoes we ended up with, pretty stinkin' cute. These are the women's version, obviously hers are MUCH smaller!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Show Us Your Life- Baby Gear

I haven't participated in one of these for a while and this one is definitely something up my alley so I thought I'd join back in on the fun over at Kelly's Korner!

So this week the topic is baby gear... what worked for you/your baby and what didn't. These are some of the things that DID work for us and the brands/locations where I purchased them.

Addaline LOVED this smooth motions glider and spent LOTS of time in it over the first month to 2 months. Got this for a baby shower gift, thanks again girls!

The swing was a close 2nd favorite and was used quite frequently until she was about 6 months old or so. Definitely a must have for any new mom (or even a veteran momma)!! This is the swing we got from Babies'R'Us on sale, very affordable.

She also loved the bouncy seat because I would put her in the bathroom with me while I was getting ready and she could see me at all times, I would also use this while I would take a bath/shower sometimes too. Another must have! This was the one we had, just different print. Very affordable at Target.

I am a researching NERD when it comes to baby safety/child safety and I HAD to have the safest car seat/stroller set on the market so we went with the Chicco brand travel set, in the Discovery print. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED IT!!!

She also spent lots of time in the high chair while I was cooking dinner, doing dishes, cleaning, etc... we had hard wood floors throughout our old house so I could wheel her around everywhere with me and she loved that! We didn't start using it until she was about 4 months old though. Purchased from Babies'R'Us.

This Chicco Hippo portable high chair was BY FAR a wonderful investment for our family. We love to go out to dinner and I could not stand the thought of putting my baby in a filthy dirty high chair when she was little so we used this all the time, we STILL use it and Addaline weighs somewhere around 27 lbs or so, it is good for kiddos up to 36 pounds. We've used this thing for almost 2 years and still love it, get one if you're having a baby or have a baby already!!
Another thing I absolutely ADORE is our convertible car seat, again I researched to the high heavens on this one and wanted the safest one out there for my baby so I went with the Britax Marathon car seat and haven't regretted my decision one time! LOVE IT! We have one in each car and they are SO simple to install/use!! Purchased from Target.

Addaline wasn't the most conventional baby and ended up sleeping in the bassinet until she was 5 1/2 months old so we definitely got our money's worth out of this thing. She was nursed until she was a year so having her close to me in the middle of the night was SO nice for those first few months when she woke up at all hours of the night! Purchased this from Babies'R'Us.

Other things I loved: *Bumbo Seat* Wipe Warmer* Diaper Geanie*

The things that DIDN'T work for us...

This isn't to say they won't work for you so please don't take my word on these things, every baby is definitely different. I'm only going off things Addaline liked since she is my most recent baby as well.

*Pack'n'play... I bought a SUPER nice $120.00 pack'n'play and she HATED it, never used and refused to have anything to do with it. Most people I know couldn't live without them but my girl did NOT like it!

*Jumperoo/Exersaucer... Addaline was OK in the exersaucer for the most part and enjoyed it, but the jumperoo she did NOT like and maybe used a handful of times, not worth the money I spent on it by any means.

*Boppy Pillow... again just my preference but I didn't use this much. I did use it almost every feeding the first month or so, but after that it was just easier to feed her without it or use a couch pillow to rest her head/my arm on. I know lots of mom's that loved their boppy and used it a lot.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my baby gear list!!

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!

Because We All Know I like to Keep It Fresh...

I changed my background AGAIN! Ya'll probably think I change my background like I change underwear, ha ha! I found this one and thought it was SUPER cute and just had to have it! Maybe I'll actually keep this one for a while, or maybe not ;)


On a different note... the hubs and I are going shopping tonight for some outdoor decorations for Halloween/Fall. I have a feeling its going to be a war of the wills because he wants things like this...

Or this... without the coffin of course, that's creepy!

And I want simple and classier looking things that we can leave out until Thanksgiving like this...

Another simple approach with just a few pumpkins and a nice wreath...

Like this...

So if our yard looks like a mixture of fall and Halloween all wrapped into one, you'll know we both fought to the death!! I'll post pictures after our shopping trip and when we're finished decorating.

(Great) Wolf Wordless Wednesday

'Mom I can't believe you're finally taking us to the Great Wolf Lodge, WHOO HOOO'

My water bug

Water bug #2

The girls

Macie and Daddy

Getting wet under all the fountains

Daddy and Addaline playing in the water

Look out below!

The view of the entire park, SOOO much fun!

A Fun Giveaway

So my friend Caroline over at 'Oh Pickles' is having a cute giveaway for her 100th post. She is super talented and come up with these adorable waterproof labels for your kiddos to put on all their belongings or even for you to put on things if you don't have kids. Head on over to her blog to check it out and enter to win here!!