A Fairy Rainy Halloween...

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved Halloween. My mom and Kay Peterson would pile all us kids in the back of the Peterson's old yellow truck with a cab on it, and haul us from one end of Erwin to the other. We always made a stop in the cemetary, just to get out and walk around for about ten minutes, because we thought that was spooky. I'm sure you'd get arrested for doing that these days!

At the end of the night Rachel and I would dump our candy out on the kitchen floor and sort out the things we didn't like (can anyone say tootsie rolls?!) into a basket for mom and dad. There was always a ton left for us! We got so much, mom usually had to throw some away at Easter before she gave us our Easter baskets.

So I've looked forward to enjoying Halloween with Bella. This year she was a fairy. Or, as she says, "A fairy printhess"! The weather didn't cooperate very well this year, it was rainy all evening. And I have to say, carseats and Halloween costumes do not go well together. I had to really loosen the straps on her carseat for her fluffy costume!

We only went to about nine or ten houses, just family and friends. But pretty much everywhere we stopped, they had fixed her a special treat bag. By the time we were finished, she had a ton of candy! I was going to take her to a couple of streets and let her walk door to door with me, but then the rain picked up, and she already had so much candy, we put on the pj's, stopped by McDonalds, and came home!

Here are some pics of our rainy Halloween!

Going to Memmie Renfro's!

Bella the Fairy and Ashlyn the Elephant at Nana's house, our first stop

of the evening!

Bella trying to take my picture with her play

camera before we left our house.

The last hurrah...

Bella has been talking about going to Dollywood ever since our last trip there in the spring, so we've been wanting to take her one more time before the baby comes. Last weekend the weather was crummy, and yesterday I had a doctor's appointment, so this morning we loaded up and headed to Pigeon Forge- with a stop for breakfast at Hardees in Greeneville, that's kind of a tradition!

It was cloudy all day, and as the day went on the temperature seemed to drop! Luckily I had taken Bella a sweatshirt and a warm jacket, and I bought her a little pink hat to wear at the gift shop.

Rachel and Ashlyn met us, and the girls rode all the kiddie rides several times, and of course had cotton candy!

She is pretty fearless, and I have to admit that scares me! Kenneth wanted to take her on the ferris wheel, which made me nervous. And I hate nervous people! I will ride pretty much anything, but ferris wheels get me. I hate being stopped at the very top, and I hate that feeling when you start to go down. I was so afraid she would get on it and get scared and hysterical...so I watched with my heart on edge as she climbed in...and squealed with delight each time their car climbed higher! I watched anxiously when they stopped at the top, hoping she wasn't afraid, hoping she was sitting still, hoping nothing crazy happened! And when the wheel began to turn in earnest, she swung by me with a big smile on her face, waving as hard as she could, and then reaching her arms up as if she could touch the sky.

She's only two. How many times will I watch her jump fearlessly into something new, and hope she isn't hurt, or afraid? How many times did my mom wait anxiously for me to cry, and feel that surge of relief when I came running off the ferris wheel with a big smile on my face?

Being a mommy is the best thing ever. But easy? No!

Making some progress!

Today I went for my 34 week check up. Everything was right on track. I had gained about two pounds, which makes my total around 23 pound, which I can live with. I go back in two weeks for my group B strep test. Not holding my breath on that one, since I was positive with Bella!

I am happy to report we have made progress with Abby's nursery! Kenneth and his dad went and picked it up on Wednesday evening. Last night Kenneth unboxed the dresser and chest of drawers, and this morning he put together the crib (with help from Bella, of course!). So now I can start putting things away!

This afternoon I got started on my Christmas shopping. I normally don't do it this early, but I am hoping to have all it all finished by the second weekend in November. That way if Abby makes her debut early, I won't be stressed out trying to do Christmas shopping with a newborn! Leave it to me and Kenneth to conceive in such a way that we have a baby due at the craziest time of year! I'm also going to put my tree up in November (it's artificial!) and maybe even go ahead and decorate it. I want to be able to enjoy every minute of my first Christmas with my girls and not be trying to decorate or shop or wrap things.

Please note these are my best intentions...we'll see if I actually accomplish it all!

Nursery Furniture and Night-time Chaos!

Yesterday I went to Baby Depot with my mom and mother-in-law to pick out Abby's nursery furniture. When we got Bella's it was pretty easy, her furniture was discontinued and on clearance (yay!) so we just paid for it and went on our merry way. Not so for Abby.
The first sales person I found was getting ready to leave. So I started just looking around and finally found a set I really liked. I had thought about getting white furniture, and this was oak, so I wanted to ask a sales person if it came in white. Easier said than done. When I finally found one, she was on the phone. When she got off, I showed her the furniture I liked and asked if it came in white. It didn't. But I really liked it anyway.
Let me pause a moment to emphasize the fact that this girl seemed to have no real desire to be at work. Her get-up-and-go already got-up-and-went, so to speak. Or as my mom said, "She acted like she had dead lice falling off her." Don't ask.
So I asked her if they had this in stock. Reply. "I'm not sure if we have all the pieces." Awkward silence. Me: "Would you care to check?" (should I really even have to ask???)
During this whole time my mom and mother-in-law are being pretty much no help as they are looking at baby clothes and trying to keep Bella (who started trying to get out of her stroller ten minutes ago) occupied.
We finally determine that all the pieces are in stock, assembled, boxed, and ready to be purchased. And believe it or not, on sale! If you buy the crib, all the other pieces are half price!
So the sales girl wrote up the sales slip and took it up front. Where there were two registers open and like twelve people in line. A very slow-moving line. We finally get to the register, the sales girl (a different one) rang up the slip and happily informed me the total was $1843.22.
Because of course the computer didn't give us the 50% off we were supposed to get. So she tries to fix it, she can't, she calls for help, they can't fix it either...we end up with five sales associates standing around our register trying to get it to ring up right. Eventually they got it, and boy was I glad they did, considering it made a difference of $655! My mom paid for the crib (her and dad's baby gift to us!) and I paid for the chest of drawers, dresser (which will be used as a changing table), and the hutch to go on it.
I ended up with enough money left to get Abby's infant carry seat and have $40 left over. Now we just need a break in this rainy weather so Kenneth can go pick it up!

As for the night-time chaos, well, if anyone has an answer to this dilemma I want to hear it! See, for the longest time when we put Bella to bed we brushed her teeth, said prayers together, give kisses (and "noggin"- her daddy started that and it's really cute!) and turn out the light. And Bella would lay down and go to sleep. Too good to be true? Apparently. For the past several nights, bedtime has turned in to a nightmare. It has taken anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to get her to lay down and go to sleep. She won't stay in bed, or she wants me to lay with her but cries when I get up, or she lays in bed and hollers at us. By the time she finally gives up and goes to sleep, I'm so frustrated that I can't go to sleep. And I don't mind rocking her to sleep, but even that takes a long time because she fights sleep, and with a new baby coming that's not going to be feasible all the time... I'm getting to my wit's end! Hopefully this will be a short-lived phase!

Baby Abby's Shower!

Today my church and family had a shower for me at my mom's house. I know some families / churches don't do showers for second babies, but we do! And I think every baby deserves a celebration, whether it's the first or the fourth! Even though the weather was rainy, we had a great time- there was tons of yummy food, punch, cupcakes, and laughter. Abby got some some really cute clothes, in addition to diapers, bibs, stuffed animals, etc, as well as quite a bit of money contributed to our "baby fund" , which will go toward nursery furniture!

Here are some pictures of Abby's special day!


My mother in law got Abby this adorable sleeper with cupcakes all over it!

My Memmie Miller!

So sweet! Can't wait to see her in this!

Me, Mom, and Rachel. For Bella's shower, I had a Bible verse on

her cake. Since I wanted cupcakes for Abby's shower, I printed

this verse and put it in the frame that's sitting in front of us:

"Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above,

and is sent down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no

variableness, neither shadow of turning." ~ James 1:17

I wanted cupcakes instead of a cake for Abby's shower.

My mom made these and they were amazing!

Apple Fest 2009

This year we got to enjoy the Apple Festival with some of Bella's cousins, Lexie and Aly, who were visiting from out of town. They had a ball getting their faces painted, jumping in the inflatables, and riding the train. It's kind of nice to see the Apple Fest through fresh eyes, especially if you've been pretty much every year of your life, like I have! I have to admit, these days my favorite part is the food! Kenneth and I love the honey roasted pecans and crazy potatoes (with cheese of course!) Bella was happy with a slushy.

My Memmie Renfro lives about three blocks from Main Street, so we always park at her house. It's nice because we don't have to pay, and you know there's a clean bathroom or a free drink there if you need it! This year we began a new tradition. On Friday, we all got together at 4:00 and had a "soup kitchen". Memmie made potato soup and beef stew, my uncle Jeff made a pot of chili and some corn bread, and my sister made some yummy Mexican corn bread. Add mom's homemade apple rings for dessert and it was one of the best meals ever! We all ate till we were about to pop, then headed downtown to shop it off!

Pink Persuasion

After some deliberation, I finally chose a shade of pink for Abby's nursery. It was harder than I thought it would be. I mean, pink is pink, right? Well, it turns out there are 75,000 shades of pink at Lowes. Thank goodness for sample cans. I brought home a sample can of one color that I loved on the card...but after painting a square of it on the wall, Kenneth and I both agreed we did not like it at all! It was very loud!
So I went back to square one and started again. This time I settled on a shade called "Pink Persuasion". I know this is weird, but even if I like a color of paint, I have to like the name too. I have actually not used certain colors because they have horrible names.
My wonderful parents came down one afternoon before I got off work and started painting. Mom did the trimming and dad manned the roller, and before you knew it, they had the first coat done!

I can't wait to see it all finished, with the curtains hung and her furniture in place...which reminds me, I've really got to go get her some furniture!!!