Horse Festival and Pumpkin Patch...again.

This weekend was Georgetown's Horse Festival. This festival is big doings for this town, the biggest community event of the year. It's really a pretty cheesy small town festival, but I love it!! I think a little of it is nostalgia. We used to march in the Colt and Filly Revue parade dressed as cowgirls, and I even ran the one mile race once, desperate to catch up with my sisters who I thought were ahead of me, but were, in reality not even running the race! I try not to miss the parade every year. Last year, Maura was really little and it poured down rain, so we abstained. This year, though, I was so excited to take Maura to the parade. I just knew that she would love it. How can you beat tons of people to watch, candy flying, kids, dogs and horses?? I will have to say that she didn't end up being as excited as I expected. Unfortunately, small town parades sometimes have difficulty with timing. So, you might have one or two floats and then have to wait for something else to appear. So, it was REALLY EXCITING, really boring, and REALLY EXCITING all over again. All of my sisters, my brother-in-law Micah, and Brent met us to watch the parade.

This is the first year that there's been an honest to goodness float. Generally, the floats mostly consist of farm wagons covered in crepe paper and pulled behind pickups. This year, though, a bank got really fancy and sponsored this Pegasus float. I think they forgot to consider the power lines, though, and that was part of the reason for all the gaps in the parade. They had to partially deflate the thing every time they got to a power line!

Maura and Daddy taking in all the sights. We love going for the food, which is of course unhealthy and delicious. It's your standard fair food and there's always some can't miss events like kettle corn and funnel cakes. I think we spend more time shopping for food than we do crafts!

Maura parade watching. Actually, she's probably trying to keep an eye on her crazy momma who kept darting into the street to pick up candy for the rest of the group. I think I was probably the only adult doing such things. Kind of embarrassing, huh?

Maura drinking beer. If you didn't know us better, you might swear that we were allowing our daughter to finish off the dregs of a beer bottle. It's actually root beer, but Maura LOVED this bottle. As you might expect, we got a lot of funny looks! Maura got to stay up super late(for her) during the festival. She didn't get to bed til 9:30!! We were living it up!!


Saturday, we headed to the pumpkin patch. Some of you might remember that we did this same thing just a few weeks ago. We hadn't had a chance to go with Daddy yet, and it was Armed Forces Day. So, on Saturday we headed out to the pumpkin patch despite the fact that it was 90 degrees. I searched through Maura's hand me downs for a fall shirt and managed to find a sleeveless pumpkin shirt. What kind of crazy manufacturer makes a sleeveless fall shirt? Anyway, it worked for us!


Maura LOVED the chickens. She chased this poor bird down for about five minutes until I finally redirected her attention to some of the other animals. She kept going "Baak, Baak, Baak!"

Maura loved petting the sheep too. She made sheep sounds, petted noses, and reveled in the whole experience.

Here, Maura is feeding the sheep. I think it's the farm's way of gouging that last quarter at the bottom of your pocket.

Here's Maura crying after the sheep bit her. It was a mere flesh wound, but we didn't do any more sheep feeding that day.

We went to the pumpkin patch with our next door neighbors John, Shauna, Emily and Sidney. I don't know if they quite understood what avid pumpkin patch goers we are before they came with us! Here, we were watching the baby ducks. They have them swimming around in a big tank with a ramp in the middle. The ducks walk up the ramp to get a mouthful of food and incidentally slide down the other side. Maura about split a side watching them. She cackled for a long time over them.


Pumpkin Patch portrait. You can see Maura avoiding the camera. I can't decide if this is stubbornness or just her being fed up with the whole picture taking thing. She is a well photographed child, who does her best to never look at the camera!

Sydney with her pumpkin. She was pretty fed up with the whole pumpkin patch thing!

Maura and Daddy with her pumpkin. We had a hard time finding one that wasn't fifty pounds and wouldn't cost a million dollars.

Emily with her pumpkin. She had a hard time finding one, since she had told her mom and dad that she wanted a black one. Since there were no black ones to be had, she settled for this one, which she promptly traded in for a mini one once we got back to the shop.

Enjoying the hayride. It might have been 90 degrees and we might have sweated through the whole thing, but we enjoyed ourselves yet again.

School Days

Since Brent started school and football in August, Maura and I have tried to get up to the school at least once a week to have lunch with him. Right now, his schedule is really crazy. He usually gets to school by 6:30 and doesn't get home until around 7:00. So, we try to go up on game days when he doesn't come home until midnight. It's the only time Brent gets to spend with Maura on game days.

Maura LOVES the school. It's exciting to see all the big kids and all the teachers talk to her and tell her how cute she is. Add to that all the exciting things there are to touch and play with and you have a veritable toddler playground. We try to keep her contained in Brent's room when we go up, but she's learned how to open the door and occasionally will attempt to make a run for it. There's just too much to look at to stay cooped up in a room!

As soon as she gets into Daddy's room, Maura pilfers the whiteboard tray for whatever cleaner or markers might remain there. Here, you can see how excited she is to see Daddy. Whiteboard cleaner is much more interesting!

This was from this past Thursday. Daddy and Maura were cheering on the football team in their second home game. Maura is a big Titans fan, and we have a whole Titans outfit. She cheers for the team, even when they aren't doing so well. Anytime she hears people yelling, she says, "YAY!"

Maura rearranges all of Daddy's books each time we visit. It's really funny--she's not really messing them up, just relocating them. She does this a lot. We expect her to be a professional organizer one of these days. Here she's learning DARE--we start them early in Kentucky!

Maura at the game. You can see how excited she is about actually watching. She was really more into climbing up and down the bleachers, which were wet and muddy, by the way. She did yell "Yay, football and touchdown" for the team, though. She also kept touching the people in front of us, then getting really embarrassed when they looked at her. She managed to fall off the bleacher only once. I counted that a success, considering how squirmy she is.

This was from one of our first trips to the school this year. Maura discovered the lockers and thought it was hilarious to play peek-a-boo in them. I got a little concerned when she actually managed to shut one. Thankfully, it didn't lock, or we would have had a full scale panic session.

PEEK-A-BOO!

Dancing in the locker. Someday, it won't be so enjoyable to be shoved in a locker, but right now it's big fun!

1.)As a side note, my child has gotten awfully sassy over the weekend. When I got back from the Ladies Retreat, I noticed that she no longer says just, "NO!" She says, "NO WAY!" I have no idea where this came from, but it comes off as very sassy. I'll say, "Maura, time for lunch, let's get in your high chair," and she responds with, "NO WAY!" I still can't decide if this is better ignored or corrected!

2.)Also, I may have been displaced by Brent as Maura's favorite person. He spent a lot of time with her this weekend between the Ladies Retreat and me working on Sunday. Suddenly, all the smiles, hugs and shared objects are for him while he's around. As soon as she woke up this morning, too, she started looking around for and asking for Daddy. I guess I know how he's been feeling for 18 months now.

Best Friends Forever

Yesterday, Maura and I went to the pumpkin patch with our friends Angie, Chris and Maura's little friend Sarah. We had rough plans to do this all week, and when we got there, we congratulated ourselves that we had thought to come during the week when it was less crowded. I don't think any of us stopped to consider that the reason it was less crowded was because it was about a million degrees. It's still close to 90 degrees here in the afternoon with Kentucky's famous humidity. It made for a sweltering day at the pumpkin patch.


The girls didn't seem to be too bothered by the heat, though. We took a hayride out to the patch and they both enjoyed pointing out the "punkins." We got out to look for our own pumpkins and the girls started out at a run until they realized it was hard going and preferred to be carried.

Here's Maura finding her pumpkin. It's the one by her feet. She was patting this pumpkin just milliseconds before I took this shot, but I wasn't quick enough on the draw. She managed to stand up and turn around in the time it took me to push the shutter button! She's a quick one!

This farm was really fun.(And pretty expensive!) You paid a flat rate to go to the back part of the farm which had all the pumpkin patches, play areas and petting zoos. The girls had a great time playing on the wooden horses, trains and cars. Can you see Maura's red face here? Told you it was a million degrees.

The girls look like they're holding on for dear life! They could actually crawl through the front of the train and they thought that was really cool. Both girls loved the chickens, rabbits and goats. They also had baby ducks and chicks there, but you couldn't pet them. It was a really fun place to visit, and we'll probably go back before the end of pumpkin season, but I think we'll wait for more seasonable weather.

On the previous day, Thursday, Maura's other good friend came over to "swim." We figure that there's probably not too many swimming days left this year, so we decided to invite Dawn and Lily to come swim with us. This was the first time she'd had a Popsicle, and she loved it! The girls had a great time splashing, sliding and pouring water.

We got out the Elmo sprinkler too, but this was about as exciting as it got. They both just stood there and stared at it, then left it to go back to the pool.

We've really enjoyed having friends to play with and try to get together with them frequently. We adults aren't really sure if we do it more for our children or for our own need for socialization, but whatever the reason, we always have lots of fun!

Happy Birthday Brent!

Happy Birthday Brent!! My sweetie turned 32 years old today. Wow, I can hardly believe I'm married to such an old guy! Brent was 22 when we started dating, and I still think we feel about that old inside. I think that's the sad thing about getting older. You never feel any different on the inside, but suddenly you look in the mirror one day and wonder, "Who's that old person!" Anyway, Brent has gotten to celebrate his birthday this year the way I prefer to celebrate mine--in the extended version! We went on Friday night to Elizabethtown to meet up with Brent's parents for dinner and presents. He chose a rib joint that we used to love, but it must be under new management and not so good anymore. We enjoyed seeing Chuck and Sherran, and Maura loved playing with her Nan and Poppa.


Nan and Poppa brought her a puzzle, which she loves. She's really gotten in to puzzles lately, and we're amazed by how well she's matching things. She had a great visit with her grandparents, and even got to stay out till 10:30 at night--that's even late for us!



Today, Wednesday the 19th, is Brent's actual birthday. He worked for the Army today, which was nice because that meant he got to come home for lunch and get home from work at a reasonable time. He was home at 4:30, which is a real treat for us, because we're not used to seeing him before 7:00. Maura loves playing with him. Here she's playing Dunk the Dolly. I don't know where she came up with this game, but that dolly gets dunked several hundred times a day. Only that dolly too. She must look particularly athletic!



I made Brent some guacamole when he got home and here's my guacamole girl! Notice the green mustache. She's not too picky--yet.



Maura helped Daddy open his presents. Of course he couldn't possibly do this on his own, so she offered LOTS of assistance. Once the present was opened, however, she was no longer interested and left.

Brent with his LMM. That stands for Little Metal Man. Brent has collected toy soldiers ever since he was a really little boy. As he's gotten older, they've become more sophisticated and therefore way more expensive. He usually gets one for his birthday and one for his Christmas present every year. He now has a great collection of Civil War era soldiers and we have a full scale war set up in our display case!

Bedtime for Maura. Brent puts Maura to bed every weeknight because he wants the extra time to spend with him. Bedtime is so much fun, because she's so into her books right now. She picks out the one she wants and won't listen to one she didn't pick out. Brent really enjoys the snuggle time because she doesn't really snuggle any other time. "Nite-Nite Maura."

Happy "Half" Birthday, Little One!

Tuesday, Sept 11 was a big day for Maura. She turned 18 months old! I can hardly believe my baby girl is already 18 months. She's turned into such a big girl overnight. She's extreemely independent and self sufficient. I can already imagine her saying, "I can do it myself," as soon as she is able. She's saying about 70 words.(Brent and I sat down and counted!) What's so funny is that she's learning a lot of adjectives rather than nouns. For example, she uses hot, cold, and warm a lot, rather than saying what's actually in the glass. She says, "heavy and hungry" too! What a descriptive girl--maybe she'll be a writer someday.

We decided to really celebrate this half birthday. I got her up in the morning singing,"Happy Half Birthday." I'm sure she had no idea what if the world her crazy mother was talking about, but she loved it just the same. She's getting really big these days--I think about 34 inches tall and about 25 1/2 pounds. A little different than she was 18 months ago!

I made her a half birthday cake all in pink, and she loved seeing it in the morning. She yelled, "Cake, Cake!" and I had a difficult time explaining that we would be eating it later. Look, pink, her signature color.

We had play group in the morning, and took some cupcakes with us to share with the crew. They all loved the pink icing. Notice Maura's new facial hair. She eventually managed to eat the whole thing.

This is Maura playing with her friend Lily. Maura is snatching the toy away from Lily, who shares much more graciously than my child. Look, she's actually smiling as Maura takes away her toy! These girls have been playing together since they've been about 8 months old.

Emily decided to entertain us all with a "live" puppet show. As the oldest girl in the playgroup, she shows the other girls the ropes. She'll be three soon.

Lily and Sarah. Lily is 19 months and Sarah is 21 months. Sarah and Maura have been "playmates" since Maura was about 4 months old! Really, we can't figure out if playgroup is more for the children or for the adults.

The four amigos in a rare moment of peace. Any minute now, one is going to step onto another's turf and tears will flow!

In the afternoon, Mom went with me to get Maura's 18 month pictures taken. Despite the unwilling subject, they managed to get tons of great shots and I had such a hard time deciding. I loved so many and could have spent a fortune, but I just kept reminding myself that I probably would want to get her pictures taken again when she turned two in just six months!

After the photos, we went to Boyd Orchard, one of our favorite places to eat, but alas, they were not serving dinner. We did indulge in an apple dumpling, however. Maura loved the pumpkins and I think she managed to touch most of them during the time we were there.

When we got home, we finally got to eat that "CAKE!!!" with daddy. What a big day for a little girl!

A Good Routine

Brent has been back to school now for about a month and Maura and I have gotten ourselves into a routine that we really love. During the summer, we just kind of hung out with Daddy all day and sometimes we never really accomplished anything. Once the school year started, though, we really needed to get into the groove. Here's what our days look like:

Maura usually wakes up around 7:30 in the morning and comes to bed with Mommy, where we drink milk and sing lots of songs. All of this lasts about 15 minutes until she yells, "Get Down!" That's the end of that! I take her into her room to change her and ask what she wants to wear today. She immediately runs to her closet and chooses her big pink puffy winter coat. After she prances around in that for a few minutes I can generally talk her into something more appropriate!

After we finally get downstairs, I make Maura an omlet for breakfast. She LOVES to stir the eggs for me, and generally wants me to pick her up so she can see the eggs cooking. She loves her omlet and generally gobbles it up before I'm able to sit down to my own breakfast! After breakfast, we usually go for a long walk around the neighborhood because it's still cool.(Usually!) Maura loves to look for bunnies and dogs and we usually see them too. I generally look SOOO beautiful while we do this that I'm really a little embarrassed to be seen in public. But, alas, it is sometimes my only exercise for the day.

When we get back to the house, Maura loves to ride her bike on the driveway where it's about a million degrees. She yells, "BIKE," until I give in and just sit in a puddle of sweat and watch her! Generally I try to encourage back yard play, where the yard is still in shadow. She loves the sandbox, but usually dumps most of her sand over the side. She's enjoying her slide a lot and says, "Weeee!" as she goes down.

She has a playhouse too, which she likes, but usually only if I'm inside it as well. I wish I had a picture of how big it actually is. I'd be embarassed if anyone actually saw me inside of it with my legs up to my chin!

We usually make it inside in time for lunch at about 11:30 and then nap at 12:00. Then it's MOMMY TIME!! I love it! I usually can get some computer time, a workout, shower and lunch into that 1 1/2 hour time period. Don't ask me about how my house looks, though, because I had to trade houswork for work out! My body looks better, but my house sure dosen't!

In the afternoon, we usually either head to my Mom and Dad's house to swim or fill up the little pool in the backyard. We really make an event of it and put the slide into the pool and I pull up a chair and a umbrella and cool my heels in the pool as well. Here, Maura is eating a "Pop." The pool is about the only place I'll let her have one because she makes such a mess!

Sometimes our neighbor Emily comes to swim too. She usually brings her mommy, Shauna, and her baby sister Sydney with her. Maura and Emily usually spend more time fighting over toys than actually playing, but I figure it's a good metaphor for life for her. In other words, "Sometimes people are going to steal your things, but you still have to be nice to them and not hit them over the head!"

Brent has been getting home at about 6:45 lately from football practice and we have dinner and she's in bed by 8:00. Then it's MOMMY AND DADDY TIME. A note to all you expectant parents and married without kids--Try to make your kids go to bed early--It's so awesome not to have a youngin up in the evening!!

Anyway, I hope I haven't bored all my blog readers. If you regualarly read this blog, please make a comment below. I'd really like to know if anyone is actually reading this!!

The Wedding

We travelled this weekend to Tennessee for a much awaited event. My brother-in-law Matt married his fiance Brenda. For those of you reeling from the shock, not having realized that he was even engaged, they got engaged back in May and set the wedding date for September 1. The wedding was held at a historic home just down the street from my in-laws house, and the wedding was actually in my in-law's back yard. It was really a beautiful event. My mother and father-in-law worked and worked to make everything beautiful and perfect. The historic home, Cragfont, is the perfect place for a garden wedding and the weather couldn't have been better. I've encluded lots of pictures in this particular post, because as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The happy couple celebrating their marriage. The ceremony only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was about perfect for someone who was holding a wiggling child on their lap, trying to keep said child VERY quiet. It took candy to make it happen. Lots, and lots of candy.

Maura was the flower girl for the wedding. We weren't really sure how it would work. She's really young to be a flower girl and you can't just tell her to walk down the aisle and throw out petals. As you can see, it's a VERY long aisle. At first, she got distracted by the flowers and butterflies on either side of the aisle. Once she got past that obstacle, she actually threw out some petals, which was great, until she realized that she needed to pick them all back up! Brent had to go help her, or else we'd still be there! Then, she started walking and noticed the photographer. She stopped to pose a few times and to look into the camera. You can tell that she NEVER gets her picture taken! After that, she started trotting up the aisle and decided to take a detour through the grass beside aisle. She finally made it to the front and I grabbed her. She realized when we sat down that someone had scattered additional petals on the aisle. She shouted Uh-oh several times before I shoved a pacifier into her mouth and was able to fish some Smarties from out of my bag!

Here's the cutest Flower girl ever coming down the aisle.

Could she be a Strasburg model, or what? This picture is in the gazebo just before the start of the ceremony. She loved it in there, and I was afraid she might make a break for it during the ceremony.

The reception followed the ceremony. It was around the pool and looked beautiful with lots of bright colors. On of Matt's friends did a fly over in his plane and threw rose petals out of the window of the plane. They actually landed over the reception site. It was really cool. I got it all on video, but unfortunately don't have a picture of it.

They even lit off fireworks just after the end of dinner. Matt's pilot friends took care of lighting off some huge fireworks and had a ball doing it. We were all concerned that the ground would catch fire, since it's been so dry. Not to worry, that was fine. What wasn't so good was the fact that they loaded all the spent fireworks back into the mobilzed cart that they used to bring them out in. Unfortunately, one of the fireworks reignited, causing some of the others to catch on fire. The guys were able to stop it just before it reached a cannister of disel fuel. We could have burned the whole house down. This is my mother-in-law just as she's hearing of the fire.

This is the whole Allen crew, minus the members who are out fighting the fire, unbenounced to us!

Maura with her Uncle Matt on Sunday after the wedding. We went to a local golf course for a really nice brunch. Maura thinks her uncle is SO funny. He flies her in the air and makes her laugh.

Maura and her Poppa. She LOVES playing with Poppa. This was taken at the Rehearsal dinner. Notice the cowboy boots. Are they not adorable??

Maura and Nan. She loves playing dolls with her Nan. They had a great time together this weekend.

Well, alls well that ends well. We're glad that the wedding went well and equally glad that the event is over! Weddings are a lot of work! Matt says he knows that he's married for life because he's never going through another wedding!! We're happy for them and wish them a wonderful life together. Congratulations Matt and Brenda!!