A Lot of Random Happenings

Two weeks ago we celebrated Mike and Carolyn's engagement with a big party at their house. It was a lot of work but so worth it. Carolyn and Mike really seemed to have a good time and it was a lot of fun seeing them with all their friends.

Ainsley especially loved putting on her "petty dess mommy!" and twirling over and over again. She really is such a little girl. She loves to dress up and watch me put on makeup and play with dolls.

Carolyn's neighbor has a little girl about Ainsley's age and they really took to one another. Kids are very funny, I guess they are just like adults. Some kids Ainsley gets along with so well and others she just doesn't care to play with. Luckily, McKenna and Ainsley loved to play with one another and pose for the camera.

Since then, I've been busy, busy, busy with the jewelry business. So far, it is going very well. I'm not booking parties as fast as I'd like (Shameless plug - if you want to have a party and get FREE jewelry, contact me), but I've had a good month. Mostly because I have awesome friends and family and they've all generously opened their homes and had home shows with me. Thank you to all of those awesome people.

Last weekend we visited with some of Clif's fraternity brothers and their families. I am a horrible picture taker, so I have no pictures of that. Clif is really your man with the camera and he was visiting with old friends...so no pics. But Ainsley had fun playing with the other kids. Another funny thing about kids...put them in their own playroom with all the toys in the world and they will write on the wall or push the TV button on and off for hours. Put them in some other kid's playroom and you can't drag them away from toy dishes. Which, she has, in her own playroom! So strange.

This weekend is kind of relaxed after a busy few weeks. Friday night we made Halloween rice crispy treats.





The chocolate melted and I don't think I put enough orange in, but they were still yummy.

Yesterday, we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch, but it rained on and off all day so we didn't go. Instead we drove to Fredericksburg to visit with Clif's cousin and his new baby.

They also have a little boy about Ainsley's age and we finally managed to get a couple of pictures of them together.

After getting home we ran up the street to a local church selling pumpkins. We bought a few to carve, even though it was pouring rain - so no pictures from that little adventure.







So this evening, after dinner, we covered the island and carved away. Here are the results...

Cinderella's Slipper





Cinderella's Castle





And a ghost.

Ainsley enjoyed watching for a bit, but did not like the gooey ickiness of the pumpkin guts. She wouldn't touch it voluntarily, so like a good mother, I forced her for the camera.

I can't wait for you all to see Ainsley in her adorable fairy costume! You're going to die from cuteness! But no spoilers, I'll post those next weekend after trick-or-treating.

Baby Belly, Visiting Friends and the State Fair

So I'm not even going to make excuses for my lack of blogging...you know why...

Let's go back a couple of weeks. The last weekend of September Ainsley and I went to visit my good friend Carrie. She just had her second baby. If you've heard me mention Carrie before, you probably remember that her daughter Addie and Ainsley are only 8 days apart in age. So Ainsley talked about visiting Addie for days before hand. I was curious to see how she'd be with a brand new baby. It had been awhile since she was around such a little guy. She did really great. She wanted to hold him all day and she kept petting his little head. She must have like the way his hair felt. She'd kiss him and hug him. It was very cute.

My friend Shanna also brought her son Grayson. Grayson is a couple of months younger than Ainsley and Addie. I have to say the kids played so well together. It's so crazy to see these girls as moms now. The three of us spent a lot of time together in college and even lived together for awhile. It's awesome that we've been able to watch each other grow into motherhood and I love that I get to be around their babies, even if it isn't as often as I'd like.

Of course we never get pictures of the mommies, just the munchkins!

When I was pregnant with Ainsley, Clif took a picture of my belly every week and now we've got about 32 pictures of me getting bigger and bigger. Well, we slacked a bit this time around and didn't get started until about the 13 week mark. But we did start, and no I am not sharing those pictures right now. I just kind of look fat. However, I will share this very funny story. Ainsley of course had to have her turn, so here she is cheesing it up with her belly exposed standing just like mommy.

Too funny. She had us in hysterics. She was so serious about where she stood and how many pictures we took. She's such a little person with a mind all her own.

Finally, last weekend we went to the State Fair. We had never been before and thought that now since we have Ainsley and she's getting bigger we should check it out. We also got free tickets :)

She loved the carousel and the spinning apples.

We also got to see an enormous pig nursing her gazillion babies.

Those little piglets were cute and hungry. Ainsley thought they were funny.

Ainsley was very tired by the end of the day and barely made it through the last ride on the Ferris wheel.

Well that's about it for now. This weekend we head to Raleigh for Carolyn and Mike's engagement party. Should be fun.