Shine Bright

Before Christmas, we took the girls to visit Rhema Church in Broken Arrow to look at Christmas lights.

 

"Christmas Lights" is an understatement. It's more like 'Christmas Light Display Extravaganza'.

 

Both girls actually liked it; Harper loved the animals in the nativity and Stella 'coo'ed' at the lights as we walked around.

 

Of course, when I wanted to take a picture, Harper couldn't be bothered to put her toy phone down. But I promise, she liked it.

 

Stella fought against the baby carrier until I turned her around so she could look. That position was a little awkward for both of us, I think. But totally worth it.

ps...looks that those baby blues!

 

 

Squeezing two adults and two children into the lens of a cell-phone camera takes real talent!

Merry Christmas Lights!

Christmas Cookies

One of Harper's favorite things to do is to help in the kitchen. So of course, decorating Christmas cookies would be right up her alley.

 

Stella would have joined in too, but she was too busy lounging to bother with rolling her sleeves up.

 

 

 

Harper rolled the dough and cut out the shapes {somewhat} all by herself.

 

As with everything she does these days, she didn't seem to think she needed my help.

 

 

 

Ready to bake!

 

See...she wouldn't even let me carry them to the counter. Fortunately, there were no spills.

 

 

 

 

Of course, the fun part was the decorating!

 

 

 

 I'm pretty sure she is my kid.....I invented that cheesy grin!

 

And they tasted as yummy as they look! We devoured them in less than 24 hours.

 

 

Christmas traditions come alive with a kiddo this age. So much fun!

~

Gymnast Harper

Harper Belle  took a few toddler gymnastic classes this fall. She was super cute tumbling and twisting and flipping.

Due to the fact that she is leaps and bounds taller than other kids her age, I can pretty much guarantee that this kiddo won't be a long term gymnast...maybe something more like basketball, volleyball, or tree trimming.

But it was fun for a little while! I mean, look at that face! She has fun doing anything.

two little raccoons

 

Halloween isn't really a big deal for our family; we have a sensitive little one who doesn't need to worry about Halloween-y stuff. We are more into pumpkin patches, deer hunting, OSU football, and pumpkin spice lattes during the Autumn months.

 

But who doesn't love a kid in a costume?!

 

And now we have TWO kids to put in costumes. Even better!

 

Harper loves raccoons this year...... so raccoons they became!

 

This was the extent of Stella's costume, just a hat. Just enough that when she looks back on photos of her first Halloween, she won't feel neglected that she didn't have a costume.

Possible future guilt-trip - SOLVED!

 

This is how Harper posed to show both the tail and the mask at the same time. Funny kiddo!

Last Halloween, Harper the cow had a diaper blow out to shame all other blow-outs. It was bad. Therefore, she had to remove her costume and trick or treat in a diaper at the remaining houses.

 

 

Not to be outdone by last year, Harper fell in mud three times in the first half hour as a raccoon. 

 

She was a muddy little cutie though!

 

 

 

~

Monthday

 

A very happy 3 months to Miss Stella!

 

We went a punkin pickin'

One of our favorite things about Fall is visiting our favorite pumpkin patch. This is our third year to take Harper.....

 

First Visit

 

Second Visit

 

And obviously, it was Stella's first visit. Being just over a month old, Stella chose to stay snuggled up in the stroller this year. But Harper went to town looking for her pumpkin!

 

We expected that she would want to find a big pumpkin this year. We were wrong. She wanted the smallest pumpkins she could find. And as many of them as she could carry.

 

 

She brought all of her finds over to the stroller to show Stella.

 

 

It was pumpkin after pumpkin after pumpkin going into the stroller. {Don't tell her, but we emptied it when she wasn't looking. About 5 times. }

 

 

I always love getting a picture of her with the cross in the background. Luckily she sat down somewhat in front of it. This little kiddo poses for NO ONE!

The way that she walks with her hands behind her back; usually when she is thinking: Melts. My. Heart.

My cheesy grin girl. I am reaping what I sowed with that character trait. I totally made that same face! 

She just wanted to look through those holes at us. She didn't care about the camera.

 

That's what they are for right? Just for peeking?

 

 

 

We love our little local pumpkin patch. And once again, our third year, we took home a handful of tiny pumpkins. Maybe that will just be our tradition, the tiniest pumpkins money can buy!

the fair = food & furry friends

 The fair came to town a while back. We couldn't get there fast enough. I can't explain it, but this year I COULD NOT WAIT for the fair to arrive. It was some sort of weird obsession. Maybe it was the fact that nursing makes me mega-hungry {ALL. THE. TIME} & the fair is stocked with a ton of terrible-for-you-food.

 

Or maybe it was that I just knew how much Harper would love it. And she did!

(No but really, it was the food thing)

 

My folks and my niece Hannah were in on our plan to eat as much food as possible. The {some ridiculous amount} pound sundae was a vital part of that plan.

 

 

Petting Zoo: the greatest idea ever. Our family is so grateful to whomever invented the petting zoo.

 

Every time an animal ate out of Harper's hand she became SO excited.

 

Llama Llama, from her favorite books, was there too!

 

Weird, he also lives at the Zoo AND at Woolaroc. Busy Guy!

Harper & the goat both think Kevin is pretty special.

One day, she will HATE all of her awkward smiles.

But for now, I LOVE them.

 

 

 

It was a FAIRly great day!

 

{it's unFAIR how easy that pun was}

 

;)

 

~

makes sense to her

 

This looks terribly uncomfortable to me, but then again, I am not two. And, as I am learning, 2 year olds have a different mindset than the rest of the world.

 

When you want to play on the Kindle, well by golly, just sit down right there and play on the Kindle!

 

I think what actually happened was, we told her to 'come along now' as we were trying to get out the door. She was bringing Kevin's Kindle with her and her game got really interesting all of the sudden. So, of course mom and dad will just wait while you play it in the hallway.

 

And reflecting back now, I see that it actually does make total sense. Because mom and dad did, in fact, wait for her to play it....or at least long enough to take pictures of her.

 

~

{extra belated} month day

So, seeing as how Stella will be turning 3 months old in another week, I decided to go ahead and post her 2 month picture.

{This would be what we call a 'mom-fail'}

 

She is just trucking right along into her 3rd month!

 

 

 

~

Dad Stuff

 A few days ago, I needed to get dinner ready so Kevin took Harper outside to play. After a couple minutes, I heard the pounding of a hammer. I didn't think much about it; just assumed that Kevin has fixing something. 

About 20 minutes later, Harper comes running in yelling "Mama, come look! It's a T-thing!"

He had build {in 20 minutes} her a teepee out of posts, fire department house, and a tarp (he thought the hose would cover the whole thing, so the tarp was plan B). She was SO excited! 

She said "Mama, you go inside it and it's so so so much fun!"

It's still out there, probably for the rest of the winter. I don't think she can part with it. 

(Even if it is a tarp covered contraption in our yard)

Dad of the Year! 

Homecoming

Kevin & I took the girls to OSU this past week to celebrate homecoming. We wanted to get there early enough for the Spirit Walk, so that Harper could see the team, the band, the cheerleaders & {most importantly} Pistol Pete.

The walk started much earlier than we thought, so we caught the tail end of it. We did see Pete, and that was really all that mattered. 

But just for the record, I want you to know we left our house at 7:30am....with 2 children, one of which must be nursed prior to departure, both parents having showered, on a morning in which Kevin came home from the fire station. This is a miracle!

See Pete?

This is her 'I just saw Pistol Pete' face

I had been telling Harper about homecoming all week, and so after the Spirit Walk, she wanted to see 'dat orange what-uh'.

Dad does 'pistols firing', Harper attempts

Harper does 'thumbs up' instead, dad watches

What the heck, thumbs up it is! 

I like to think that in this picture Harper is imagining her future self here at Oklahoma State: attending classes, making friends,  it becoming her favorite place in the whole world. 

{it's not like we're going to push OSU on her or anything}

Harper, I'm pretty sure we have a photo somewhere of your father wading through that water, after dark, probably illegally. 

Kevin's family joined us in Stillwater for the day. But of course, Harper remained the center of attention. 

No, I didn't stage this picture.

Okay, yes i did.

Or did I?

This little bitty got plenty of attention too. Although she spent most of the day snuggled into her stroller. 

We took a picnic lunch and ate at Theta pond, while Harper watched the ducks. 

It was her naptime by the time we sat down to eat lunch. Therefore, she was loopy, goofy & silly. 

{Gramma didn't help}

See that emergency light? You can push a button on that post and it contacts the campus police department for you. It's for emergencies: you know injuries, stalkers, car accidents, heart attacks. Emergencies.

Yeah, Harper pushed it. 

Family photo time. 

If I'm not mistaken, other than the photos taken by a photographer, this is our first family picture with all four of us since Stella has been born. 

That should NOT have taken me 7 weeks to accomplish. I am ashamed. 

It was a great day! Made both Kevin and I proud to call Oklahoma State our Alma Mater. Almost 7 years later and there is just something about that place. It just sticks with you. 

Go Pokes!

ps: these two are really cute