Leeland is ONE!!!

Saturday we headed to Russellville for Leeland's one-year bash. I knew the party would be insanely cute just based on the invitations and the fact that Holly is a creative genius. I wasn't disappointed! The party had a Mickey Mouse theme since Leeland loves Mickey and they get to go to Disney sometime soon with Make-a-Wish!! The weather was perfect for an outdoor party. The decor was fabulous. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of everything, but Ingrid was far too interested in running all around for me to take many pics. She had so much fun at the party. Her shyness only lasted a few minutes and she was ready to play and mingle!

Ingrid thought the decorations were awesome too.

Derek and the guys. (Check out Leeland's adorable outfit. Mickey shorts, suspenders, and bowtie!)

They had toys set up in the yard for all the kids to play with. Ingrid got to hang with Eden for a bit.

Lunch was not her top priority. Way too much to do.

Leeland was all about his cake though!


We had a great time. Loved the party and love that family.

County Fair

I love going to the fair. It brings back so many memories for me. My most fond memories are from late elementary and junior high. I would hope and hope the weather would be cool enough for jeans, boots, and a button-up shirt. The fair outfit would be planned out in advance of course. Mom would always take my friends and me to the fair on Thursday night for arm band night. We would buy an arm band and ride those scary rickety rides til we could ride no more. We would inevitably see some of our "cute" guy friends and ride some rides with them also. Mom and Dad would follow us at a distance to make sure no scary people snatched us up. Then my friends would get to spend the night ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! and it was the best thing of my life. We would stay up late and eat cherry rolls before school the next morning. We would talk about the fair all day at school on Friday. I don't think I have been to the fair since, so I was thrilled to take Ingrid Friday night. I still got so excited seeing all the rides and smelling the fair food as we walked up. Ingrid was pretty excited too.

We knew Ingrid would want to see the animals, so we headed to the barns with the Montes.

Ingrid loved the cows and roosters. You can see her little lips saying "rooster."

After looking at all the animals and walking around in the hay, we headed out to the excitement of the fair at night (or almost night).


We planned on letting Ingrid ride the carousel because we knew that's about the only thing she could ride. But, she was very interested in the train and elephant rides. Sophia loved the train!

Due to Ingrid downing a big cup of juice on the way to the fair, she had a huge peepee accident. All out her diaper and her pants were soaked! Luckily her daddy was holding her!

We skipped the carousel and just walked around a bit looking at all the lights and talking to some people we knew. It was time to eat anyway, so we called it a night and headed to the house.

Date!

Last Wednesday, Derek and I had a date to Branson. Just the two of us. It was such a nice middle-of-the-week treat. Thanks to mom and dad for watching Ingrid that evening. We went to the fabric store to pick up another yard of the crib sheet fabric so I could make a changing pad cover. We looked around for a long while and picked out dream fabric to reupholster our couch and love seat. I'm so glad Derek and I love so many of the same things. We picked up some Halloween fabric for Ingrid too--black cats for a skirt! I found a coordinating fabric that looked more "fall" than "Halloween" so I thought I would try my hand at a reversible skirt. I made it tonight and it turned out great!
cats=

fall flowers=



She will love wearing those cats.

We ran by Tanger to get an ink tag off a sweatshirt Derek had purchased at Gap and decided to pop in Bass for a quick peek. We had heard they were having a sale. It was buy 1 get 2 free!!! Derek and I got new winter boots. Can't wait to wear them. The best part of the night was definitely the food!!!! We went to Shorty Smalls on the Landing and got to sit right by the lake. It was such a nice night and nobody was there. It was like a private dinner.


Derek ordered ribs and I had the new pan-fried trout. It was soooo delish!


We rounded off the night with a quick trip to Michael's to pick up some supplies for more projects! I live for projects. :)

Lemon Drop Princess

About a month ago, Derek took some pics of Elise, Amelia, and Ingrid. These were considered her official "one-year" shots and I love how they turned out. She got to wear Amelia's vintage lemon drop dress that I am just crazy about! I hope it works out so that Liv can wear it too at some point. I just love the eyelet trim and sunny color. A perfect dress to round out the summer.

Soaking up the last of Summer

With three official days left of summer, I am welcoming the fall season with open arms. I love everything that fall brings. It's my favorite time of year. But my little girl, who LOVES to be outside, is soaking up every last bit of summer she can. With a little four wheeling at Gammy and Gampy's!


Ingrid loves spending time at Mom and Dad's. She gets so excited when I pull into the driveway every morning to drop her off. She starts squealing, "Gammy, Gammy! Dog! Ball! Horses!" She loves everything about her day. It makes me so happy.

Busy Bee

This weekend was Project-Get-Stuff-Done. And I feel like it was successful! I had a specific plan and stuck to it. I was to work as much as possible every second Ingrid was asleep. Naps and nighttime. And I have a lot to show for it. Yippee! I sewed two valances, two bed skirts, and two crib sheets. All out of the new fabric I got with Mom last weekend. It was so fun to dust off the sewing machine and make some things for the babies room. Derek put together Liv's crib and rearranged the nursery so that it can accommodate two girls. He hung my valances and I love how they turned out! Who knew that I would suddenly be obsessed with valances?? Next, I want to make valance boxes for the bedroom. But--first--we must continue with the girls' room. I don't want to change too much in the room, mostly due to time, money, and energy. Plus--I still love it. So, the main changes will be the addition of furniture, new layout, and all new fabric. I can't wait to share pictures.

In other news, guess who went to the church nursery for the first time last Sunday?

Ingrid has finally gotten to the point where she can no longer stay through a whole church service without being a distraction to those around her. I really didn't want to take her back to the nursery because I knew she would cry and cry. So Derek took her back after the music. And he picked her up early. So she was only there for about 30 minutes total, but that was hard enough. This was the first time a non-family member had kept her for any amount of time. And she did cry and cry. But not the whole entire time. She would have if someone hadn't held her though. New place, new people--not her thing. She went to the nursery again today but Mom and Dad were working this Sunday, so she was fine. She even played with the other kids a little bit. Slowly, but surely I guess. I'm proud of her regardless.

I have so much more to blog about, but it's 11:54 and I'm worn out from the busy weekend! Can't wait to show pics from Ingrid's first storytime at the library!

"I hate good-byes..."

Who caught the Dumb and Dumber reference in the title??? Hopefully everyone. Love it. But I really don't love good-byes. Ryan is leaving us in the morning. He's heading back to Wisconsin and I'm very happy he'll be close by his family with a promotion on top of that. But I'm still sad he's leaving his Arkansas friends behind. He's been staying with us since last Thursday and we've had a great time together on his last few days. We threw a "going away" party for he and Lauren a few weeks back--before Lauren had to go back to school. It was blazing hot the evening we decided to have the party, of course. The guys are having a "guys' night" for him tonight and the weather is down-right chilly! Go figure. We grilled out hot dogs and brats.

The kids had fun running around the yard.

Really running.

Ingrid kept trying to talk Ryan into going to the barn to see the cat with her.


The guys played a little table tennis in the man cave.

And I forced everyone to take lots of pictures!




Ingrid and I love pictures.

The guys.

The girls.

Cutest couple ever.

We'll miss you!