Fall Favorites

Fall is without a doubt my favorite time of year. Between the weather, the food, and the fun activities that happen around now- what's not to love? We packed as much seasonal fun in this weekend as possible starting Friday night with the Broughton homecoming parade and football game. Then Alli and I had our annual viewing of the Halloween classic "Hocus Pocus". Saturday morning we went to the fair. Collins loved her first go-round on the fair rides...

and gobbled up her corn dog and ice cream.

Later that day- she took on a leaf pile...

Sunday, we went to Brian's work Halloween party at the park where Collins won the costume contest! She was an adorable ballerina- but this is only costume #1. On Wednesday, she will debut Donna's latest Halloween creation!

Think Pink

Collins refuses to acknowledge that any color other than pink exists. She is a bit obsessed, and our new book "Pinkalicious" only further fuels her fire.

Here is the complete pink ensemble Collins put together the other day. The pink tutu is now a permanent accessory!

A Season of Change

I think Collins and I are both feeling the effects of the changes happening in our family. We could not be more excited to add another little lady around here, but change can also bring on all kinds of emotion.

The farther my belly expands, the tighter Collins's grip gets on my hand. She senses the change coming, and has been a lot more clingy than usual lately. I can't say that I mind all the extra hand holding at this point!

I am in the final stages of finishing Collins's big girl room and spent time this week moving a bunch of her clothes over from the nursery to her new room. I have to say it made me a little sad to clean out her nursery closet. I have loved her nursery and am excited for her sister to use it, but it was strange to remove all the traces of Collins from that space!

Brian went to Texas last weekend to visit a friend and go to a football game, so Collins and I had a girls-only weekend. I know we get plenty of girl time on a day-to-day basis, but having a whole weekend to ourselves felt special. I cherished our time together and made sure we did plenty of neat things including Collins's first doughnut and first movie! We saw the Halloween movie "Room on the Broom" at IMAX, and she loved it (although didn't weigh enough to fully push down her bottom seat!).

I start my final trimester this week, and I feel like the countdown can officially begin! We are going to spend the next three months getting Collins used to her new room, cherishing our time with her before our attention is divided, and coming to a decision on a name for our new baby!

Here is the funny reaction her first Krispy Kreme got. :)

 

Pumpkin Love

I am trying really hard to pass on my pumpkin obsession to my daughter. Pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin patches, pumpkin discussions- you name it, I've tried it. I'm not sure she's buying it yet, but she sure looks cute sitting next to them!

New Best Friends

A Lesson in Independence

I got to be the "helping parent" in Collins's classroom for the first time this week. This meant that I spent the whole three hours in her class playing with the kids, providing and serving the snack, and doing some clean-up jobs.

I've always been curious to know more about what she does in school each day, and I found the experience eye-opening. There was the expected free play, circle time, playground time, and snack time. What was surprising to me was how much indepedence they are teaching them at two! For example:

1. They have to wash their own hands upon entering the classroom.

2. On the playground, they have to figure out how to get on the swing by themselves and they only get one push from the teacher. They have to take it from there to make themselves go.

3. When they get back from the playground, they have to dump the sand from their shoes and figure out how to get their (velcro) shoes back on themselves (this is where the monster meltdown came from Collins on Tuesday!).

4. After snack, they have to take their plate and scrape the leftovers into the trash and put it in the dishwashing bin.

We have not been doing any of these things by ourselves at home! I guess I was just assuming she wasn't ready for any of these tasks yet, but obviously she is. Going to school taught me I need to stop babying Collins and encourage her to act like the big girl that she is!

Some pictures from my day at school...

A Birthday Celebration in the Mountains

Baba turned 80-years-old last week! To celebrate her birthday and my Aunt Kristy's birthday, my Mom rented a house in the mountains for a girls only weekend. What a fabulous idea...

This was Collins's first trip to the mountains, and it made quite the impression on her:

"It looks like water!"
"Can we drive a boat on it?"
"Even my Daddy is not strong enough to pick up that rock (a mountain)."
"It looks like water!"

It was really fun experiencing the mountains with her for the first time. Collins was completely okay with the bear and the moose inside our house, completely cool with the deer outside our house, but not okay with Miss Tallulah Bluebell either inside or out. We'll keep working on her doggie love...

 

Collins learned all about Indians thanks to new mocassins, a headress, a tom tom, and a special braided 'do.

 

She had a great time outlet shopping with Taylor and eating pink ice cream.

 

We were excited to hike around Trout Lake until...

 

...Collins refused to walk herself forcing the 80-year-old, the pregnant one, and the woman with the broken toes to do the heavy lifting. Here we are pooping out early waiting for the strong ones to come pick us up!

 

We finished a lovely day with some smores by the fire pit...don't judge the size of our fire- we tried!!!

 

The crisp mornings were a treat...

 

Collins opted out of the hike on the second day and instead played by the creek...

 

 

It was such a neat weekend! The older I get, the more I love visiting the mountains. It's such a beautiful and peaceful place. Couple that with good girl time and lovely Fall weather, and it doesn't get much better than that!