Saturday, October 1, 2016

- What's that I hear?... -

...Hey-ooooo, did someone say there was an 18-month-old in the house?!

Yes!

18 months!!!

Even pre-child, I always considered myself a "baby person." And while I would naturally still love my kid[s] past the 12-month-mark, I knew the first twelve months of life would definitely be the sweet spot. 

Then Harper turned 13 months...

14...

15...

...etc etc etc...

...and the sweet spot just keeps getting sweeter. 
I love her playfulness...
...and her independence.
I love her seriousness...
...and her silliness! 

I love her wonder...
...her innocence...
...her pretend play.
Let's be honest: I love every little thing about her!!! 

Happy half birthday, pretty pretty princess! You are so soooo loved!!! :-* :-* 




- {Bucket List} - Have a Bonfire -

I don't even care one tiny bit that it's Labor Day weekend and fall doesn't "officially" begin for another 2.5 weeks; we're full speed ahead into autumn around here and checkin' things off our family bucket list like it ain't nobody's business! 

Next thing up: have a bonfire. 

...Okkkk, so we didn't technically have [read: host and burn and enjoy] this bonfire on our 10x20 city-slicker subdivision plot...
...but we hit up "Uncle" Jon's BBQ bash out in the middle of the corn fields and he doesn't waste time messing around with piddly little one-small-flamed fires.  Daddy and Harper pulled up a front row seat to the warmth and glow!

2 checks off the list... 14 to go! 

#happyfallyall #fallbucketlist2016 #:)



- {Bucket List} - Pick Apples at Eckert's -

Cue loud, fast, exciting music for a not-so-exciting annoucement:

Fall bucket list 2016 commences at Eckert's!  

The last time we were here was when Harper was ............well, still just a sperm and an egg. :| But even back then as frolicky and carefree newlyweds, we both noticed all the little kids picking apples and pumpkins and couldn't wait to create a little minion of our own some day and take him/her to the orchard! 

And now, three years later...
Boo was cutting her bottom molars that weekend and was a glutton for paci-sucking and extra snuggling! Of course I easily obliged to both... ;) :)

#happyfallyall #bucketlist2016 #:)



Sunday, September 4, 2016

- Happy Fall, Y'all! -

It's fo' rizzle:  fall is here in full swanggg! I thought maybe I just had a wild hair up my @$$ yesterday and would wake up today ready to enjoy warm sunshiney summer again, but nope!  Up at the crack of dawn plucking the half-dead petunias out of the landscaping [are mums on sale yet?], scouring the basement for fall decorations, and passive-aggressively setting the ole' scarecrow in the garage for dear husband to brush the spiderwebs off of and stake down in 'da dirt.  What's that I hear? The high today is only 80 degrees with 45% humidity??! That's what I'm talkin' about.

To put some ice cream on top of the warm apple crisp: Brian and Harper went to Schnucks this morning to get some groceries for a couple Labor Day BBQs we're going to and came home with a 6-pack of Schlafly Pumpkin Ale and oh boy! That just sealed the deal. 

Goodbye, summer. HELLO, FALL!

This is sooo me right now: 



...Now if only we could drop that 80 degree + 45% humidity to like 60 + 0...

But while I'm waiting for ^^ all 'dat to go down, I went ahead and made a 2016 fall family bucket list: 

...and you better believe we'll be checking these off regularly and proudly in the next few months to come! Stayyyy tuned!

#fallbucketlist2016  #happyfallyall  #:):):)



Saturday, September 3, 2016

- Goodbye, sweet summa! -

Haaaaallo from the other side!

It's September!

My faveee!

Call me the whole total complete package of THE MOST #basicb*tch EVER and I won't even contest. One small-ish breeze of cool-ish air and here I am this morning just donning some animal print leggings and looking up the hours for "pick your own" at the apple orchard and escaping off to Panera for a little delicacy of the PSL variety.  ...Miiiiiinus the PSL part, because...soooo very sadly...this franchise isn't as on point as Starbucks with the release of their seasonal dranksss BUT! I can literally FEEL fall in the air and I'm pretty stoked about it. And rest assured, I'm all up on that bandwagon of documenting the first PSL of the season [with hashtag and all, just like last year and the year before 'dat too] so! More to come.  Prob in December.

I see that my last post [in July! Cringe...] started off with gloating 'bout the toilet being an undiscovered territory for my tiny toddler, but! I'll eat my words back up in one big bite because this morning I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and found the Bear with lid lifted and an erect pointer finger swirling the water.  Sigh, giggle, snort. And with that, I demanded a couple-hour escape to my guilty pleasure of a coffee joint. [...I feel like it's well justified considering the colossal amount of weekend hours Brian has racked up on the golf course, but let's just drop that pointless argument with the simple fact that I will die then be dumped in my grave with a cold heart that has always despised the game of golf. Humph.]

Anywho, the one-plus-month blogging hiatus is finally coming to and end! We've been living it up to the maxey-max this summer and have a few thousand pictures to prove it! ;)  And while this will probably definitely be a post that only my mom and grandma can endure, I'mma do it up anyway.

So!

Welcome to a not-short + not-that-interesting novel of Harper's newly learned tricks + our summer funs and faves: toddler style!

[trick] -- Right as I was about to permanently cut the straps out of that highchair...
[fun] -- We be lovin' Saturday night dinners at the Mexican restaurant after Mass!
[fave] -- Future botanist?  She never misses an opportunity to step aside and marvel over a flower... :)
[trick] -- Do I smell a milkshake in the house??? Gimme gimme gimmeeee, Daddy!!!
[fun] -- We discovered Airplane Park this summer and it is sooo much fun! Harper LOVES to watch "big kids" play and has gotten progressively braver with climbing through the park toys.  Sometimes our friend Grayson comes to play with us!
[fave] -- Reading books! And books and books and moreeee books. Plus rides in the Cozy Coupe and naps with Mommy.
[trick] -- Dumping bags. Making messes. Being a LITERAL wrecking ball. Allllll day, err' day!
[fun] -- Helping Daddy with all sorts of home improvement projects... <3 Is this the cutest tape measuring assistant you've eva eva seen? :)
[fave] -- Wearing shoes [she permits them to be removed for a 15 minute bath but must be put back on again immediately after getting out and drying off]. And also these bunnies!
[trick] -- Dude, you're way too big for that Bumbo... And way too small to be standing up in your highchair! :/  #whyyoubesocray?
[fun] -- Our suuuuper fun neighbors moved away this summer! :( Harper has been so sad! She goes outside every day and points at their house just waiting for them to come out the door and play like the good ole' days.  A few weeks ago they came to visit and all was well in the world again! ;) Miss you guys so much!!! Another visit is in store ASAP!
[fave] -- Little Miss loves to eat Cheerios like a big girl! And draw on the chalkboard Daddy made.
[trick] -- Snapchat!
[fun] -- Reunited with my cousin Logan and it feels so good! ;)
[fave] -- Splash Pad!!! I've posted about this like three times already so I won't beat the dead horse even dead-er.  We recently met our friends here for a play date and picnic, though. Happy 1st birthday, Jacob!
[trick] -- I love to help Mommy with the dishes! Mobility be mine! This big girl life is so awesome. :)
[fun] -- Lunch at the newly-resurrected Pizza Man! Mmmm.
[fave] -- Ok, this. I don't know what it foreshadows about Harper's future, but she is SUCH a little caregiver!!! Several times a day she readjusts her large collection of stuffed animals and Beanie Babies and covers them up with blankets [AKA burp cloths, washcloths, dish towels] and pats them on the back and puts them "night night." I think she's going to be either a) a mom of like 12 kids [my ex-dream until I abruptly realized how much work a solo child is] and/or b) a nurse or c) a preschool teacher. My mom, on the other hand, has recurrently noted that she always puts the animals face down on the floor and the blankets over their heads, so SHE predicts Harper to be a morgue technician. Hmmmmm......???
[trick] -- Wearing Mommy and Daddy's shoes allll over 'da place.
[fun] -- A visit from our Nebraska cousins! And baking with Momma. :)
[fave] -- This water table! 
[trick] -- Sharing lunch with her baby...
[fun] -- Bath time! So many toys, but nothing trumps the water books.
[fave] -- Napping in Grandma and Grandp's GIANT bed... #princessturnedqueen
[trick] -- Grandma Ann taught Harper how to use a straw which is just the coolest. thing. ever. and now she can indulge in her very own mini-cup of milkshake! 

Okkkkkkk, I've only made a little dent in our LARGE iPhoto file of unpublished pictures, but I'd honestly be completely shocked if anyone actually made it to this point and is still reading so! I should probably save my good-hearted energy for the next post and sign this one off here.

Besides, I'm starting to miss my little toilet-fishing friend.

That's all for now! 

Chat wit'cha soon!

Bye now. :-* :-* 




- Grant's Farm -

Sometimes we wake up with an overwhelming itch to escape our shoebox house. 

Today was one of those days. 

So we packed up the car and hit the road and drove 'til we ran out of gas.......which ironically dropped us at the parking lot of Grant's Farm! ;) :) 

It was our first time there, and it was awesome!! It is a lot smaller than the zoo, but [in our opinions] actually quite a bit more fun --- for Harper's age at least. You ride a train to get inside the park and there are more hands-on things to do for wee ones and alsoooo you get two free beers to drink with lunch [which is definitely a draw for all the boozy parents in the crowd -- like Brian and me, of course].  Win win win. 
[She really does enjoy life, contrary to her poor little maternally-inherited resting "B face."]
 
^^ I turned my head for 3 seconds [I know I exaggerate occasionally but this literally was only 3 seconds] just to turn back around and find my child chugging from the goat's milk bottle. WHAT THE #*$^! E.coli and rabies and Coxiella burnetii be ours. Oh my gawdddd.
And if ^^ wasn't enough, 15 minutes later Brian performed a swift throat sweep to evacuate a food pellet that Harper very non-discretely tried to ingest.  But after learning the oat [??] pellets weren't human food, she did quickly warm up to feeding the goats. :)
...Still not sure about that giant hump-back though... 


Oh, happy day! Fun all around! We can't wait to go back to Grant's Farm!