Birthday and Fiona

What a fabulous birthday! My wish came true...I got to spend a ton of time with Fiona watching her play and grow. We played outside, we went to Marbles, we played with Dada's cows at the dairy, and saw a ton of family. Below are some of my favorite Fiona moments from my birthday weekend.
Fiona at Marble's Kids Museum pushing the shopping cart around. She is definately her Daddy's child...putting whole bacon in the cart!
We have now discovered the slide at Marbles and is our new favorite thing to do.
Fiona eating some birthday cake at Giggle-Giggle's house.
My very determined Fiona climbing out of the sandbox. Gotta love that tongue!
Fiona and Mommy petting the baby calf. Only a few weeks old. Fiona wasn't too thrilled when the calf tried to suckle on her arm.

Halloween

Halloween is one of those holidays that I absolutely loved as a child but somehow forget to plan for as an adult. I just couldn't make up my mind on what Fiona should go as - so at the last minute I bought a t-shirt from Target and sewed a little rag skirt onto the bottom. Functional, easy, cute...and most importantly did not involve anything on her head.

We had a great time at our friend Oscar's party - he was one of our most favorite characters, the caterpillar from the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

After the party we returned home expecting trick-o-treaters, but had none. Fiona was thrilled to find that the bowl of KitKats was still full, and now every time we walk past the counter she points and says "Um um um!" I have never seen a toddler devour chocolate so quickly.

And now its time to plan for the rest of the holidays...Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and all of the birthdays in between. If you're on my Christmas list...and you know who you are...your deadline for gift requests is Thanksgiving. Just FYI.

Fall and Friends

I absolutely LOVE the fall. It is my favorite time of year. There is just something about pumpkins, the cool weather, and the State Fair that is rooted deep within my soul. Ever since I was a small child, I looked forward to picking out my pumpkin and jumping into the first pile of raked leaves. This year I've had the delight of watching Fiona enjoy my same passions as well.



We've also spent some time out with our friend Grace at the most amazing place on earth for toddlers called "Fit For Fun" in Wilmington, NC. A giant padded warehouse with a million toys and activities for 4 and under only. It was a mommy's dream! Thanks friends! Hope we can do it again soon!!!

Out of Town, Part 1

Phew, I've finally gotten a chance to write. I feel like I haven't been home in forever!

Starting last Thursday Will, Fiona, and I traveled from NC to Alabama to see Will's grandmother "Mamaw." The last time we had seen Mamaw was when I was 7 months pregnant, so it was past-due time to introduce her to Fiona.

Before traveling to see Mamaw, I had been warned by Lea (Will's sister) that Mamaw would try to fatten us up. And trust me, I know a thing or two about the Southern hospitality of feeding people...but I have never been offered so much food in all my life! As soon as we arrived, she gave us hugs and kisses, and then coffee, cereal, orange juice, and sausage-egg-biscuits (in that order). When breakfast was done, she said "Now I've got a roast with vegetables, cornbread, salad, and potatoes for lunch." Not to mention the sweet-potato pies, and two cakes she had baked previous to our arrival...YUM! I am all about home-cookin' so I was thrilled to be in Mamaw cooking heaven. Thanks Mamaw!

Mamaw is also an avid quilter and I was able to secure some fabulous tips on putting together my quilt-tops. Fiona also decided to take up quilting and borrowed one of Mamaw's hand-quilted baskets to study.

The weather was incredible while we were in Alabama. Fiona definately enjoyed playing some soccer with Dada.


We also got to visit with Will's Uncle Ed and Aunt Ruby while in Alabama. Fiona just thought Uncle Ed was a hoot and would just chuckle when he played hide & seek games under the tablecloth at dinner.

However, the trip had to come to a close, and we headed back home on Sunday. On the way home we stopped at a grocery store to give Fiona's behind a break from the carseat...so she decided to help me do some impromptu shopping.

And once back to home sweet home we repacked the car on Sunday night and headed to Bald Head Island on Monday. I'll write all about that adventure and post pictures soon.

Copycat breakup...

Well friends, I hate to admit it, but when I see a good thing going I have no problem being a copycat to whatever that good thing is.

Recently, my BFF Catherine (What Lies Within) deactivated her facebook account. At first I was shocked and in horror. I'll admit I threw a pity party that I could no longer simply fb her or just check her status reports to see what she was up to. But today I got caught up online between Twitter, Facebook, The City, email, and blogs. Its just too much.

I began to think how I could simplify this matter. I could link The City to update Twitter to update Facebook...but then I couldn't see what people wrote back on fb. It was all making my head spin, so I stopped into Catherine's blog and read this quote "The constant connection to a whole lot of people who don't all know me on an intimate level is not necessary to live a full life!" Why in the world didn't I think of that sooner?

Long story short: in T-23 hours and counting my fb page will be deactivated and I will relinquish myself to this blog (where I'll be updating pics), The City (our church's website) and Twitter.

Facebook, I'm sorry, but its not you, its me.