Punkin Chunkin :)

While Matt was gone in West Virginia we decided to keep ourselves busy! I had lots of fall memories to make with Bailey so where did we go? Ashland Berry Farm!! Of course, going to a berry farm the second weekend in October on a beautiful 70* day was going to be BUSY. We stood in line for about an hour and a half... but we finally got on the hayride! :)



This is what happens when I try to take self-portraits. Oops :)





Bailey was not sure what she thought about the pumpkins. We're still working on her walking anywhere that's not flat. She hates grass, and the dirt was definitely not her favorite :)





This is how Bailey saw most of the pumpkins :) Since the walking (more like falling ever 2 steps) wasn't working... we went for this. She looooved it! Giggled the whole time.





Ashland Berry Farm has a $20 "All You Can Carry" deal. You only had to take 3 steps!! So Grampa Bruce gave it his best shot!



How Tall This Fall?
One of my new favorite pictures of the Bean.



Chilling with Uncle Jake :)





And we finished the day off with a box of homemade doughnuts!! Don't mind if I do :)



There are so many things I love about the Fall. I love feeling the change of seasons and the promise of fun things to come. I love the smell of anything pumpkin, the falling leaves and Halloween! I can never pick a favorite season, but currently- this is it!

September Catch Up, Pt. ONE

We got to spend the first half of September enjoying spending time with Matt before he had to go out of town for 6 weeks. Labor day weekend we went down to Virginia Beach to spend time with friends and took Bailey to her first baseball game.






She wasn't too sure about the Fireworks after the game :)



This is such a rare occurrence now I had to document it. Little Miss never sits still for more than 30 seconds!



Now that Bailey is getting older, it's harder and harder to find ways to entertain her for more than 3o seconds. I've started getting creative :) So we built a FORT!



She played in the fort for over an HOUR! I consider that a success!! :)



This is why I don't blog as often :)
Whenever Bailey is awake this is what happens when I am on the computer. I'm lucky my screen doesn't have teeth marks yet!



Food is becoming such a big part of our day! I spend hours trying to figure out what to feed Bailey. I was determined that she would not be a picky eater. I failed miserably lol. She refuses to eat anything green. I can't get her to eat a noodle to save my life! (Is she my child?!) She actually turned up her nose at mac n cheese. I take that back... she sucked the cheese sauce off and then spit out the noodle. Goober. Some things she WILL eat (since that list is much shorter lol) Chicken, toast, yogurt, cheese, pears, peaches, bananas, goldfish, sweet potatoes, cheerios, puffs, grilled cheese, occasionally a green bean or two, we found out tonight she loves Saltines, she loves juice, and she still nurses a few times a day. At this point I try to get her to at least try what we're eating and then go from there. I'm trying to expand her palate so we'll see what we can get her to eat next! Sometimes it takes me so long to get my dinner, her dinner and Betty's dinner ready... this is what we end up with:



Or when she's really just OVER IT... I get this :)



Matt had a whole week off from work before he had to leave for West Virginia, so we decided to have a week of fun! We took Bailey to Maymont :)I didn't realize until we'd taken a bunch of pictures that Bean had left drool on the lens of my camera when she was chewing on it =/ So there are some blurry pics, but they're too cute not to include!



I almost forgot- Bailey loooves Graham Crackers. Her first experience with them didn't go so well (video here) but now she would eat a whole package in a day if I let her.



I have never seen anybody sleep as silly as little Miss Bean does :)



Anyone who has ever been around kids for any amount of time knows what it means when the baby gets quiet. Find out what they're doing QUICKLY!!! This is what I found :)



Apparently tissues are AWESOME. She does the same thing with toilet paper and every now and then I'll find a little trail of it around the house.

Grammie and Grampa got Bailey a toy to ride on. Of course I said, "Oh no way she's big enough for something like that"... boy was I wrong! She LOVES it! Not as much to sit on it... but to push it around and play with it. I can't believe she's big enough for a toy like this!!



We went out to celebrate a friend's birthday and got all dressed up as a family :) The weather finally got a little cool and it is so fun to dress my mini-me :)



Oh how much we missed Daddy when he had to leave after all of the fun we had when he was off for a week!

August...

I've been reminded of what a horrible blogger I am. I know, I know... it has something to do with the highly energetic ELEVEN MONTH OLD I have running around my house. So here goes- the rest of August went a little something like this:

Milk Coma
Dog Crate Adventures
Target Shopping
Silly Sleeper
First Olive Garden Breadstick
Midnight Cookie Dough Mmmm :)
Veggie Puffs
Bailey hates grass
New High Chair
Happy 3rd Birthday Isabelle!

And in photos: ENJOY!

Corn, State Fair & Alts Alts Alts!

That's what Indiana has!

Matt's Grandma Bocek passed away the day after his birthday :( She had Alzheimer's Disease and had recently been placed in a nursing home. We went to Indiana to be with family and celebrate her life.

We spent 7 days there (Bailey's first big trip out of state!) and Bailey got to meet her Great Grandma Alt (Mayme), her Great Uncle Joe, Aunt Pat, Aunt Abby, Uncle Barry, Aunt Jacque, and second cousins Anna, Maggie and Katherine. Needless to say she got LOTS of attention! She also got to visit with her Aunt Jenny who loves her to pieces! Although the reason for the trip was a sad one, it was very nice to get to be with family.

Bailey with Mayme (and her Bingo Buddies)



Mayme with three of her grandchildren (Jake, Matt & Jen) and her second Great Grandbaby!



Bailey with her Aunt Jenny (who ADORES her!)



You hear all about it- but until you taste it... you really have no idea. Indiana has the MOST AMAZING corn!!! It is delicious, even Bailey loved it. Although she loves just about everything.



Bailey had so much fun playing with her second cousins all week long. Their favorite thing to do was to put her in the middle of their air-bed and jump up and down to make her fly in the air. I had a mini-heart attack... but she loved it so much I couldn't make them stop! Luckily nobody got hurt... and Bailey smiled and laughed for hours at a time! And anything that can entertain my 8 month old for more than 5 minutes is worth it.

We even checked out the State Fair while we were there (yes the same fair that had the stage collapse at a Sugarland Concert 3 days after we were there.) It was just like every other fair- with lots and lots of roasted corn!


Believe it or not, the two girls on the outside are TWINS!!! Anna and Maggie :) Their younger sister Katherine is holding Bailey.

All in all Bailey did fairly well on the long drive to and from Indiana. On the way there- we drove overnight. I didn't sleep, but Bailey slept most of the way, only waking up a few times.

The way home was a little different. We bought a new car! (We actually bought Mayme's car since she can't drive it anymore.) So we had 2 cars to drive home... we decided to caravan with Matt's parents so we could all get home safe! 12 hours in the car alone with an 8 month old was NOT going to be possible for me!

Here's Bailey being goofy at one of the many stops on our way home.



Gimme that camera- I'm bored in the back!



It was a hard trip. Lots of running around and working with other people's schedules. But in the end, I'm very happy we went and got to spend lots of time with the Alts!