fall favorites

since i have been a slacker blogger the past several months...

here is a few of my favorite fall photos!

kate on neighbor's trampoline! she loves to "bounce"

messy treats!

at the park with the oqunn sisters

first time on skates

girls trip to raleigh, north carolina

love princess shoes on little feet

protesting my sewing...bertie b-ing

fenders farm pumpkins

picking out a pumpkin at the blevins' farm

very sweet two year old

ikea trip - charlotte, north carolina

halloween...cutest minnie mouse!

my kitchen helper

my kate is two

...happy birthday kate...

daddy's day!

the mall at johnson city let children decorate cookies from the great american cookie company as a father's day "card"

here is kate and her friend "g" "decorating" their cookies!

this was totally free...

we didn't really take any father's day pictures...i know i am a total slacker!

lara's family came to visit, girls went shopping, kate napped, guys played golf, then we had a bridal shower for josh and lara..s0 it was a busy day...

measuring tape

i love saturday mornings. they are especially nice when you have nothing planned for the whole day!

kate found a new toy...measuring tape...

shiny shoes

we were shopping at gap a few weeks ago, and kate spotted these shoes...she said "mamma wook."...of course, these are the ones she likes....so i thought, why not, they are on clearance...

...on clearance for 17.99...seriously?!?!...so we made a mad dash out of gap with a hysterical child screaming for the shoes...

yesterday, i went to the mall all alone...i thought i would check to see if they still had these shoes and if they were cheaper...and they were marked down to 6.99...

so, i got them for kate...

she laughed and smiled and showed everyone her new shoes...i even let her wear them to church last night...i guess it's the little things...i really don't hate them as much as i once did!

faux easter

since we were traveling in the car on easter sunday, we decided to have a "faux easter" the next sunday...so kate and i dyed easter eggs on saturday, the easter bunny stopped by and left some goodies saturday night. kate wore her easter dress to church. i hosted an easter dinner and egg hunt out our house.

the loot

kate's favorite things from her easter basket were rubber boots, boots the monkey and the glitter ball...

"lucy" brought kate an easter "basket" with all kind of goodies...and yes, it is a potty, luckily it was clean and brand new. candy in the toliet, i know, a little "different!"

my sweet little kate...21 months old...

quick trip

easter weekend we headed to west tennessee to visit jason's family...here are some highlights from our visit...

aunt charity and i took kate to the park in lexington during uncle mark's baseball game...there is only so much baseball a one year old can sit through...

she had so much fun and played so so hard...the weather was perfect!

notice the blue lips...charity bought her a ring pop, and it wasn't worth the fight to try and get it off...

she adores her aunt charity...

she also loves to play with her cousins...ethan, madison and haven...

we dyed easter eggs...kate really just wanted to play in the water and with the eggs...

this is her egg...can you tell she did it all by herself...

strawberry cupcakes for my birthday...yum yum!

we had an easter egg hunt...

in this picture kate had just found her easter egg...

she looked at me and said..."ewwww"...very dramaic of course! she would not pick it up...ha ha!

after the egg hunt, the "kids" had a silly string fight...kate was less than impressed...and was more concerned with silly string on her shoes!

all in all, we had a really great visit!

so hard to say goodbye...

...to my 20's!

on easter sunday, i turned the dreaded 30! i am embracing it and liking the new decade so far...

but so much happened during my 20's. here are some things i remember the most.

i graduated from collage.

i went to tanzania, africa. i met my husband.

i moved to nashville, i taught my first art class.

i got engaged.

i got married!

i adopted duke! i moved to my hometown!

i got pregnant!

i had kate!

i got the job i have always wanted. i bought a house.

and other random things...i lived in west, middle and east tennessee, i taught every grade level of art, i was on the front row of an offspring concert, i became an aunt, i went to grad school, i lost two of my uncles, i was in two makin' music shows, i visited brandi in chicago, i was a bridesmaid more times than i can count, i watched every episode of friends, i learned to paint with oil, i spent the night in the fhu art house, i broke in to a house in henderson (acidentally), i visited alabama for the first time, i went to see mamma mia, i went to lima peru, i drove from michigan to east tennessee all by myself, i gained weight, i lost weight, i gained weight, i bought my first new car, i discovered aveda, fiestaware, anthropologie, ikea, urban outfitters, and pottery barn, i learned to decorate cakes (sort of), i met faith hill, i read all the twilight books, and so so so much more.

saturday fun

well, we talked about it all week. we went to see elmo (at walgreens?!?)! i was totally shocked that kate went straight to him.

after our elmo visit, and a quick trip to johnson city, we went to the park across the street from our house. it was packed since the weather was so nice.

this picture totally cracks me up. i took a series of about 10-12 of them. she is trying to stand up without having to put her hands in the grass. i finally gave in and helped her up.

floral shoes + flower girl

kate is going to be the flower girl in josh and lara's wedding in july (the day after her 2nd birthday). so yesterday, we headed off to david's bridal (where lara works) for some fittings and to visit lara. while i was trying on bridesmaid dresses, kate found this floral pump on display. lara let her play with it. she loved to scoot around the store in it, waving, smiling and watching herself in all the mirrors.

...but then it came time for kate to try on dresses. i really hope this isn't a taste of what is going to happen in the wedding. she was terrible. she hated the attention and the crinoline. oh my...

cookies

kate and i decorated some sugar cookies to take to her great-grandparents!

she was a little partial to one cookie!

i am not sure she was totally ready for this activity...

i am still finding sprinkles!

finally kate got what she wanted most...tasting the product...

we paid dearly for this later...

the effect that much sugar had on her, not a good thing! ha!