Will-o'-the-Wisp in the Wetland Preserve

Tonight we took Allie-Ann to the Will-o'-the-Wisp in the Wetland Preserve where she got to enjoy a hay ride to the preserve, decorate her own cookie, see an owl, color a frog, have a ghost painted on her cheek, get tons of candy, play games, eat smores and listen to nature's night sounds. It was a lot of fun and Allie-Ann looked adorable in her costume and wore it with pride as she toddled along the wetland trail. We usually take Allie-Ann to Boo at the Zoo but found out about this event and opted to go do something new. It was wonderful because apparently not too many people knew about the event so it wasn't very crowded. Here are some pictures to share of our night at the Will-o'-the-Wisp.

Getting Allie-Ann ready!

This is me laughing at Kyle because I asked him to take some good pictures of Allie-Ann and all he did was take pictures of me doing odd things.

On the choo, choo for our hay ride!


Eating her cookie that she decorated.
Allie-Ann's first face painting job! I'm sure many more to come...



Sitting on a John Deer Tractor, one of her favorite activities of the night.
Riding back on the choo, choo to our car to go home...what a night!
This is a picture of Allie-Ann that I took the other day painting the pumpkins for our front porch.

Shoe Makeover!

So if you remember Kyle putting the letters L and R on Allie-Ann's crocs with a permanent marker, today I decided to not let them go to waste and made minor adjustments to them. What do you think? Was it better before with the L and R on the front or can she still wear these crocs in style. Either way, I won't have to explain the L and R on her shoes when I'm in the grocery store.

Allie-Ann's New Cousins, Ella Marie and Marion Kate!

Babies, babies and more babies this weekend! Allie-Ann has two new cousins, one on my side of the family and one on my husbands. They were both born around the same time and I'm sure Allie-Ann and her new cousins are going to have a great childhood with each other. It's been a busy weekend with traveling and I only hope that next weekend we will have a weekend of doing nothing. Here are some pictures of the new cousins.


Meet Marion Kate!!
Taking a picture with the proud daddy!!
We took Allie-Ann on a picnic today, such a beautiful day to eat outdoors.
Meet Ella Marie!!
Me, holding Ella Marie, she is such a wonderful baby, I held her for about two hours straight and can I say.....I JUST LOVED IT!!!!!
Our Allie-Ann being silly as usual, she uses this bathing suit to run into things around the house. Thanks Grammy for the suit, maybe she will be a football player with how she loves hitting things wearing this suit.

Pictureless Wednesday; "What's That!!!"

This is pictureless Wednesday, (is pictureless even a word??) but I'm mocking the Wordless Wednesday blogging theme because there is no way I can post without typing something. Anyway, so Allie-Ann is on this "What's that?" kick that when she says it now I just immediately say "I DON'T KNOW, ASK YOUR DADDY!" (giggle,giggle). Just kidding, but seriously, how many things does she need to know about. She will even point to things I KNOW she knows and will say, "What's that, Mommy?" I guess it's all in the process of growing and learning. Can I also say that she is not wanting to take naps anymore....I need her to take naps.....I, so desperately need her to take naps....but it's just not happening, so we have a quiet time where she is still in her crib with lights turned off but it's quiet time instead of nap time. On most days she will just play and talk to her "friends" as I like to call them but to the normal person it's her stuffed toys. She doesn't complain and has never cried about being in her crib during quiet time and sometimes on a blue moon, she will actually fall asleep. The only good thing I can say is that she is in bed earlier when she doesn't have a nap.

On another note, this couponing thing is not working. I had a publix coupon for Juicy Juice and have been saving it for just the right moment when publix would have the product on sale b/c I had another coupon to stack with it. Well, when I was looking through the ad today I saw where the Juicy Juice was finally on sale, I said...whoo hoo and ran to get my coupon, only to find out that it expired on Oct. 17th (HOW CONVENIENT PUBLIX!!!) It was three days after the publix coupon had expired that they had it on sale. AHHHHHH! They get you every time, I've come to realization that nothing in life is cheap that is good for you. Why is that? I wish they had coupons for fresh fruit and veggies but they don't, I wish they had coupons for lean ground beef but they don't. Oh well, I will still cut out coupons and be a sucker to this game.

Weekend Beach Trip

This weekend we took a beach trip to Kiawah because Kyle had a few days off. It was a lot of fun other than Allie-Ann being under the weather. Please don't think bad of me when you see the following pictures of Allie-Ann in the water because, honestly, there is no stopping this child from getting in the water and really it was very warm. Being out in the sunshine helped her feel better and last night she slept the entire night. But it was pretty rough the first night. It hurts to see your little one not feeling well, especially since it's been awhile since she's been sick. When she is not feeling well she lets me hold her for longer than a second. I did not enjoy her feeling so badly, but I sure did enjoy getting to hold and cuddle with her. Usually she is just all over the place and wiggles right out of my arms. From the pictures it's hard to tell that she was under the weather because she is such a trooper and play will not be disrupted. Anyhow, the weather was wonderful and I only wished we could have stayed even longer!!


It's amazing how at one time she couldn't even do this tunnel but now is handling it like a champ!
Our Rusty enjoying some beach time.






This is my favorite shot, running to her daddy!!

Can you spot Allie-Ann?

Mommy, I promise you it isn't that cold!!
Her new play toy, the cooler!

WHO DOES THIS????

MY HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!!! I promise you, I could write a book on him. Yes, that is an L and an R on Allie-ann's green crocs. I found her shoes the other day with PERMANENT marker letters written on them and I thought I would die! I didn't know if I wanted to just smack him or feel sorry for him. When I asked what he was thinking, he just said, "I'm teaching her left and right and I thought the letters would help." I thought and thought and finally said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS???!!!" Who does this????? Please, are there other husbands that do this? I tried to explain to him that she still wouldn't understand the concept of left and right EVEN with the letters written on her shoes (laughing at this point). But, the fight was over because the deed was done. Oh well, no consigning these shoes. And, of course these are Allie-Ann and mommy's favorite shoes because we (moms) know that crocs are a lifesaver for putting shoes on quickly in a hurry. So the reward for Kyle's mishap is a new pair of crocs. I love my hubs, but seriously, I could write a book on him.

Cheap but Adorable Halloween Costume for a little girl..

I made Allie-Ann's Halloween costume on a budget!! She is going to be a "Witcherina" this year, so I made her tutu and added decorations to her witches hat and.....walla, I'm done!! So here's the deal, I went to Target and bought a cheap, $1 witch hat for kids, I then went to Michaels and bought some Halloween ribbon that was half off. I had to wait to get this deal. One of my favorite fabric stores had tulle that was also half off and luckily they had black and orange!! I bought white elastic for her tutu. The tutu was real easy, I just measured her waist using the elastic, cut about an inch off the elastic from her waist measurement and used my sewing machine to sew the ends. Then you cut off about a 10 inches of tulle from each of the black and orange (approx. 25 pieces from each) and tie it around the elastic. Add a bow if you like and you are done! Real easy, and about five minutes to make. For the hat, I just added ribbon to give it some extra bling. She is going to wear her black tights, shoes and leotard and add the tutu and witches hat and you have your very own, "Witcherina!"

Pumpkin Hunting We Will Go!

Oh, a pumpkin hunting we will go! We took Allie-Ann to a pumpkin theme park today. I mean they had pumpkins, a play ground, hayrides, corn mazes, and a petting zoo. Of course I would love to be able to find an "authentic" pumpkin patch, you know the ones where you have to actually cut the pumpkin from the vine. I've looked at sites where they have these pumpkin patches but many of them are closed this year due to the unfavorable weather. So we opted for the theme park place for pumpkins. I feel bad, but I did not buy pumpkins at this place. I always go to my secret place that gives such great deals on HUGE pumpkins, I mean I can walk away with five HUGE pumpkins for under $20. Yeah, that's right! So I couldn't buy ONE pumpkin here for $20 when I can buy many more at my secret spot. We did buy a couple of "Baby" pumpkins as Alllie-Ann likes to call them. She had a great time trying to pick up the pumpkins herself. She kept saying, "No mommy, I do it!" Of course she just fell over when trying to pick them up, but she kept trying. Allie-Ann does not like to take pictures and it eerks me when I see these nice babies sitting on the pumpkins smiling for their mommy. How do they do it!?! I can't get Allie-Ann to even look at me when I try to take her picture. So these are the best I could do.