Goodnight Mom

I found this in a Parenting magazine and thought more than a few of us could relate to if you just change a few of the words around...

In the messy green
family room
There was a telemarketer
ringing the telephone
And a crying toddler
because his brother
just popped his
red balloon And a picture of--

The cow jumping over the moon
(which someone colored on
with permanent marker)
And there was a missing
teddy bear, and a girl with
gum in her hair

And one to be scolded
And laundry to be folded
And a very hungry spouse
And something stinky in the house
(that no one else seemed to smell)

And a comb and a brush and a colicky
baby who just won't shush
And a frazzled mommy screaming #*%#@

Goodnight messy room
Goodnight scribbled-on moon
Goodnight cow getting out while she can
Goodnight telemarketers and the
popped balloon
Goodnight long-gone teddy bear
Goodnight cereal bar smeared all
over the dining room chair

Goodnight spitup
Andgoodnight leaky sippy cup
Goodnight much-too-little house and
goodnight grumpy spouse
Goodnight comb and goodnight brush
And goodnight to a certain 4-year-old
who just needs to hush right now I mean it

Goodnight Elmo
Goodnight toys we'll pick up tomorrow,
or the next day
Hello chardonnay and TiVo-
"me" time finally.
__Sarah Jio

Preschool Party

Today was Olivia's Halloween party at preschool. They started off with a costume parade in the morning and a party that afternoon. She wasn't so sure she wanted me there, told me to "go away." Then she said I could stay, gee thanks. My pictures are all out of order, but here is my little Martha Stewart working on her pumpkin craft.

Story time
A group picture this morning, aren't they the cutest?

My little Dorothy

And I couldn't leave out this little pumpkin face, who btw, Olivia now refers to as Poopy Baby.

Welcome Mia Kate!

Congratulations to Tammy and Randy and Big Sis Emma Grace on the arrival of Mia Kate! She is beautiful and I'm so sad we're not there (or they're not here, rather) for us to meet her in person!

More Fall Fun!

I'm sure everyone is starting to think that when I said I loved Halloween, that was a major understatement. We have been busy little bees running back and forth to any Halloween activity I can find, we are all worn out after such a busy weekend!

Sorry to be posting so many pics, but this was a packed weekend! Friday night was the Halloween party that I've already posted on, Saturday night was Titi and Poppy's Halloween Party and Sunday was our first trip to church as a family of four, the Pumpkin Express and our Life Group's Halloween Party. Busy, Busy, Busy!

I am not kidding when I say Ana Blair is an angel of a baby. But it seems like every time I get the camera out, she starts to cry. This was before she had an explosive diaper and guess what Mom of the Year forgot diapers at home! Michael had to run to Spring City to the Piggly Wiggly about 10 minutes before they closed to find whatever diapers they had there!

Olivia and Aunt Titi carving their pumpkin, I thought it was cute how hard they were working!
On Sunday we took a ride on the 3 Rivers Rambler for the Pumpkin Express. Olivia loved it. I'm glad we did it, but I probably won't be making a regular tradition out of it! We rode outside though, which was different. Thank goodness we had good weather! A pathetic attempt at a family picture after we all made it to church for the first time, no one was in the right frame of mind.

Ana Blair resting after church. She woke up long enough to eat during church and promptly spit up the entire bottle all over her perfect white gown and then settled back down to sleep. She never knew she went up front to get her baby Bible.
My feeble attempt to get a cute pic of Olivia in her Halloween dress
The last 3 pictures are in reverse order, don't know why...but they are Olivia bobbing for an apple (not a fan), her with her apple and then decorating it and making a caramel apple. She told me this morning she didn't know why they put the "brown" on the apple. It tastes better without it!

And for some reason, now we are back on the train! Olivia had fun, but let me say she was not, I repeat, NOT in the mood for Mommy to take pictures.

Fun Day!

Thursday we got to meet up with Olivia's friend Lexy for a day at Sprout Studio and lunch, it was so nice. I feel like we never get to see them! This picture of them pretty much sums their relationship up...Olivia bullying Lexy around, Lexy scared out of her mind to move. They really have a good time together though, they have known each other since Lexy was born!

Ana Blair got to go out too, she actually had a good day, even though this picture doesn't show it! She was hungry, again. This child is an eater.

Thanks to Miss Jessica for her cute Halloween headband!

Halloween Party!

Tonight we got to take Olivia to her other friend Lexy's (from her ballet class), Halloween party. She has been so excited about this for weeks. She was so excited to finally get to put her Dorothy dress on! We had so much fun, I'm so glad we got to go!

They had a costume parade for the kids to march through the house showing off their costumes...
Then she got made up into a mummy...
Then...the dancing began...it took her about half a song to warm up, but you can tell she is really shaking her stuff!
More dancing...

This is what Ana Blair did through the whole party
And I know this picture is out of focus, but I love the look on Spiderman's face as he is trying to steer clear of her wild dance moves

Dollywood

Olivia has been begging to go to Dollywood, so Michael moved his appointments around so we could take her today. My mom had been out of town all weekend, so this was the longest that she had gotten to go without seeing Ana Blair and she jumped on the opportunity to come spend the day at our house with her. The weather was perfect and Olivia was in a really good mood all day long. We had such a fun day! And of course you know I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few "pumpkin pics!"

Pumpkin Carving

Michael and I promised Olivia that we would carve pumpkins on Friday night, but little did we know how tired we would be. So we convinced her that out of our 4 pumpkins we got at the patch, we could carve the "Olivia" pumpkin. So, she and I got online looking for a sad face pattern. I don't know why, but that's what she wanted. Well, once she saw this ridiculous ghost thing, she HAD to have that one. Michael and I have never claimed to be expert pumpkin carvers, so this was definitely a challenge!

Crazy girl getting pumped up for pumpkin night
Showing off her pattern
My effort at drawing it out
Olivia cleaning the "guts" out (her favorite part)
The finished product, not the best pic, but it actually turned out pretty okay
Me and my girls

We Heart Cookie

This picture doesn't do anything close to justice to how beautiful this wall hanging really is. When Olivia was a baby, Cookie (Michael's mom) painted a wall hanging for her nursery. We still love it, but once we switched over to her big girl room, it didn't match perfectly, so I brainstormed this idea (with a little help from others I have seen!). She brought this one to me last time she was here and it took my breath away. What you can't tell is that the sweet dresses and outfits she has painted on there are actually based on real things Olivia has owned and worn! And the words on the bottom fit my Olivia if you know her (the child has more clothes than a Saks Fifth Avenue)...May these only add to your beauty! I love it so much, I wish I had a better picture, maybe I will try again!

She is hard at work on something for Ana Blair's room now!

Daddy's Girl

On Tuesday, the theme for Olivia's Show and Tell was "Fall." She chose a football...

She's looking up at Daddy in the first picture, I love the look on her face!

Pumpkin Patch

Everyone knows my holiday obsessions by now, so it will come as no surprise that throughout my whole pregnancy, apart from the health of the baby, my biggest worry was when I was going to fit the pumpkin patch in. Sad, but true. Even Michael commented to me this morning how glad he was I was getting to do this since it had worried me so much. So, earlier in the week I decided this would be the perfect weekend to go, before I become too sleep deprived thanks to my little bundle of joy. We had such a good time getting to be with Olivia, and I think she enjoyed some face time with Mommy and Daddy. And we didn't have to worry about the baby because we left her in Nana's hands before she headed back home. We did miss the Dunavant family this year though. One of the first things Olivia asked me when I told her we were going was whether or not Mr. Randy would be there (sorry Tammy and Emma Grace, but I guess we know who her favorite was!). I love pumpkin patch pictures...I know this is a lot, but trust me, it is a very abbreviated version of all that I took!

Olivia and her pumpkin. It took her about 5 minutes to choose one this year. Last year we spent at least an hour in the patch looking for the perfect "baby pumpkin."
Our 4 pumpkins, Daddy, Mommy, Olivia and Ana Blair

Recent Pics

Olivia and Ana Blair getting ready for our first outing

Tuning in to watch her first UT football game, poor thing
I wish you could see it in this picture, but she has a full-time mohawk. She has a double crown, so it is constantly spiked up in the middle. I may be biased, but I think its super cute!

Comparison

I think the two of them look a lot alike...

Olivia

Ana Blair