First Fair Trip

Ok, so I have been a resident of Columbia County for, what, 22 years or so? and I have never been to the Columbia County Fair! (gasp)  So this evening, we packed up Kate and headed across Columbia Road to go see what all the fuss was about.  It really was a lot of fun!

Kelly, Billy, and Will came out too, as well as Paul, Cy and Ansley, and also the McMurray's!  So fun to see the kids get excited and see their little eyes light up.  Kate road the Carousel with Daddy and Billy, Kelly, and Will.  Kate and Will weren't too sure about it...and I don't think the adults were either!  Joe said that thing went a little faster than he thought it would, especially since they were riding on the inside circle. Think they got a little dizzy.  Next Joe and Kate rode the big slide together.  I think she liked it, although there were a few tears at the top of the slide when the man in charge took hold of Kate while Joe sat down on the burlap sack.  She did not like that.  But she had recovered by the time they reached the bottom.  Joe said he think they caught a little air coming over those humps in the slide.  Mama was a little nervous watching :)

After the slide Ansley wanted Kate to go ride "Nemo" with her.  This is a cute little ride of a bunch of little Nemo fishies that the kids sit in and are strapped in.  So she actually got to ride this one on her own!  I wasn't too sure about this either, at first, but the lady in charge of the ride tried to assure us they were big enough and would be fine!  I think Kate could have taken it or left it...she didn't seem to love it nor hate it.  Will, on the other hand, wasn't too fond of it, but was a big boy (had a big day today...first haircut!) and hung in there until it was over.  We had some dinner (fair food!!!!), walked around a little more, and headed home!  All that fun, and I leave my camera IN THE CAR.  :(  Luckily Kelly had hers.

Joe did manage to get this image with his phone of Kate on the Nemo ride

  

We were in Perry this past weekend so Joe and Terry could get some hunting in and Kate and I could help Grammy around the house some while she recovers from her knee surgery. 

It was a coooooold weekend!

We went on a few golf cart rides.

Kate liked driving!

You guys hopping in or what?!

Watching the water

The holidays will be here very soon!  Can't wait to see her little face light up when she sees the tree this year!  I also can't wait to teach her about why we celebrate Christmas.  

Pretty Casey, & Brushing Teefies

Poor Casey.  I recently got a new lens for our camera and have been trying to figure out how to use it.  Casey has been my subject.  She has been such a good, patient model, and if I do say so myself, is one good-lookin' dog.  Casey just had a birthday, too!  Like our marriage, she is 5 years old now.  She has been with us every step of the way.  Love her.

Pretty Casey

Sweet Puppy

On another note, one of Kate's new loves in her bedtime routine is brushing her teeth.  Of course this could change any day, but for the time being she really loves brushing!  Aunt Dr. Kelly will be so proud!

Brush-a, brush-a, brush-a!

Brushing is F-U-N!

No tricks but lots of treats :)

What a fun Halloween we had!  Having children definitely brings a whole new light to these holidays that just wasn't there before.  It is so much fun...like getting to be a kid all over again!  We really had a fun, busy day yesterday for Halloween.  Since it fell on Sunday, we went to church in the morning, then went and had lunch over at Grandmama's house, then home to get ready for the big neighborhood Halloween party for the kids.  We headed over to Will's house first to get a few shots of the cutest little monkey and ladybug I've ever seen!  Forgive me...I took a ridiculous amount of pics.

I realize this doesn't look exactly like a Halloween shot, but I would be completely remiss if I did not include this photo of Kate before she put on her costume trying out Daddy's duck call.  She was fascinated by this thing...and made Daddy proud in the process.

Happy Lil' Ladybug & Coordinating Treat Sack :)

Anything good in there, Monkey?

Sweet ladybug :)

Cute and HAPPY monkey!! :)

Yeah, Halloween's cool...

Climbing the steps with a little help from Great-Grandmommy and Great-Grandaddy

Costumes, check.  

Treat sacks, check. 

Sippies, check.  

Let's get this show on the road!  Trick or treat!

Laughing with Nana and Great-Grandaddy

Kate was fascinated by the cute little chicken.  

Hiney shot...lovin' the monkey's backside.

Cy, Ansley, Joe, and Kate:  neighborhood buddies!

More neighborhood friends!  Hugh, Emily, Kate, and Joe

Daddy's lil' Ladybug

Papa came by late to see Will and Kate in their costumes.  Grandpa was admitted into the hospital this weekend and hasn't been feeling very well, so Dad's been spending a lot of time down at the hospital with him.  Praying for renewed strength and health for him soon.   Glad Papa got to swing by for a little bit though!

Monkey and Ladybug with Nana and Papa

That was a fun night, wasn't it Monkey?!

Quite a change from Halloween last year!  What a difference a year makes, huh?  Can't believe how much they've grown. 

Last year's Halloween costume:  Sleepy little bunny, just 4 weeks old.  So sweet.

Happy Halloween!

Piggy Tails!!!!!!

Oh what an awesome surprise I got coming home form work today and walking into Kelly's to pick up Kate.  Kathryn had managed to get her hair into pig tails!!!  Yay!!!!  I've been waiting for this day since I found out we were having a little girl...so, world, meet Kate's piggy tails!

Oh let the fun begin :)

Trouble

I'd like to begin this post mentioning Kate's 1-year check up appointment.  It's been a few weeks ago now since I've taken her, but I don't recall commenting on it.  Dr. Massey said she looks great and all seems to be well.  Joe was unable to make it to this appointment, for which he owes me BIG, considering she had FOUR shots.  She was not happy with me by the time we left the doctor's office.  Needles have never bothered me.  I can sit and watch as it goes right into my arm and not bat an eye.  But I sure hate having to watch her get one.  And we have to go back in 2 weeks for a flu shot booster.  Ugh.  She weighed 24 lbs. and was a whopping 31" long...97th percentile for length!!!  From where she gets off being tall is beyond me!
We've had an interesting past few days with Kate.  Her curiosity is at an all-time high and she is into EVERYTHING.  The term "baby-proofing" has taken on a whole new meaning in our household.  Just this past Wednesday we were over at Will's house and playing in his room, where I was bragging on Kate to my sister about how she hasn't chewed on the crib like Will has, and how we hadn't had to go buy those gummy crib rail covers.  Well, what does she do on Thursday, the VERY NEXT DAY?!  Kathryn calls me at work and tells me that she has been gnawing on her crib all day.  I got home from work and walked into her room with her to check out the crib and yep, she got it pretty good.  She did more damage to her crib in one day than Will did to his over a few weeks of gnawing on it.  The dark finish from the crib was all over the place, including on her face.  It looked like a woodchuck had gotten a hold to that poor crib.  I just looked at it with her and asked her, "What did you do?  That wasn't a very good girl, was it?" while she looked up at me and just smiled and laughed while pointing at the crib.  Hmmm.....not good. Like I said, TROUBLE.  I called Joe and had him run by Babies-R-Us on the way home to get the gummy covers to put over the rails.  I haven't noticed her trying to chew on the rails again.

Then, the very next day, Kate discovered the stairs at my sister's house.  She has never expressed even the least bit of interest in our stairs, nor in Kelly's, so this one took us all by surprise.  But a-climbin' she went and thankfully Kathryn got her in time before she was able to take any tumbles.  Today we were over at Will's house and I told Kate, "Show Mommy how you climbed those stairs."  And off she went, right on up!  Oh my.  My baby gate has been in the garage the past few weeks...guess it's time to break it on out.  

She's also getting into the whole kitchen cabinet and drawer thing.  I figured the little cabinet door locks would be enough, but we have a good number of drawers in our kitchen as well and she seems to be more into those.  So, it's back to Babies-R-Us to find the locks for the drawers.  

We've had a great weekend so far, but missing Joe/Daddy.  He left yesterday to go be with Beverly as she recuperates from her knee surgery.  He'll be home this evening.  This morning we went to the playground with Will.  I figured since she loved climbing those stairs so much maybe she would also love climbing on the jungle gym at the playground.  Hmmm....not so much just yet.  This is SUCH a fun age...they are so funny to watch.  We laugh a lot!  But it's also a very busy age...we have to be right there for every step because you never know what they're going to get in to next.  

Steed's Dairy Farm

We took a little visit out to Steed's Dairy Farm here in town this afternoon.  Neat place!  Probably geared a little more toward older kids than Kate's age, but that's alright!  We still enjoyed it...Kate especially loved the petting zoo.

Strolling in...

It's Fall-Time!

Checking out the baby pumpkin with Daddy

Looking at the baby cows...cute!

The goats

Checking out the donkeys

Kate loved the donkeys

...and the piggies...

Future animal lover?

We tried out the swings, but weren't too sure about it.

...so we went to play in the sand instead.

Playing in the box filled with corn kernels.

This was a lot of fun until she decided she'd like a few in her mouth.  Corn came spilling out of her diaper when we got her home and changed her!

Daddy decided he'd like to try to take her down the slide...

...but when they got to the top they told him she was too little to ride the slide:(

Oh well...

Maybe next year!

Visit to the Park

Yesterday evening Joe and I took Kate and Casey to the park for a bit to kill some time before dinner.  It was such a beautiful evening and made sense to be outdoors.  This is a beautiful area over behind the Columbia County Courthouse and the Library.  There is a walking track and a few playground sets as well as an outdoor amphitheater.  And TONS of children and dogs.  Fun place to go play!  They seemed to enjoy it, although the other dogs kept Casey pretty tense the whole time.  So afterward we took her across the street to her favorite 'play place'..."The Field" as Joe has called it the past 5 years, and just let her run wild for a few minutes.  

The girls checking out the scenery

Just a-swangin'

Peeking through the bars...funny face

Kate and Daddy on the see-saw

Sliding!

Kate and Mommy on the see-saw

This is F-U-N!

All that fun, AND....I come home to a broken dryer.  Not good.  Saturdays are typically good laundry days for me...and I had big plans for today.  Ugh.  Hopefully Joe will be able to fix it shortly.