Little of This, Little of That

I was going through my pictures this month and noticed that I missed a few that I wanted to blog about, so this post is going to be a mish-mash of some of the things we've had happening over the last few weeks.

I know I already shared the pics I took on our date with the Quads to the pumpkin patch, but Auntie Jenn took some pictures too, and they were just too cute not to share! 

 

The gang, just missing the Daddies!

Cutest pumpkin in the patch!

Oh and just a quick flashback, this was Carys last year on her very first trip to the pumpkin patch.

Our sweet, tiny, little bug!

So happy to be a family of three!

Back to present day, we've had a couple of playdates with Carys's friend Nick and these two have a lot of fun together. Actually getting a good picture of the two of them together though - is not fun.

They either refuse to look at the camera,

or when Nick decides to look, Carys attacks his ear, 

and then Nick says, "I'm outta here."

They really do keep Tonya and I laughing though, and lunchtime is no exception.  One time Nick decided he was going to entertain us by making silly faces and noises.  

 We were cracking up laughing, but apparently Carys was not impressed.  She just kept looking at him like he was crazy,

so he tried a different face.

Nope, still nuts. 

We had Tonya and Nick over again today for another playdate, and this time Carys was the entertainment at lunchtime.  Although her form of entertainment was fussing up a storm, and this time it was Nick's turn to look at her like she was crazy!  I wasn't too impressed with her behavior either, so needless to say I didn't get any pics of that - ha!

So, while we are talking about fussing and mealtimes, Carys has been getting more and more independent, and sometimes she prefers to only feed herself.  This has been quite the challenge for both of us.  I'm trying to relax because I know she should practice, but Oh-My-Word, is this girl a mess!  Besides the usual smashing of food, throwing it on the floor and using it to 'condition' her hair, one of her favorite things to do is grab the spoon and flail it around until all the food flies off.  This by far is the biggest mess, because the girl has an arm on her and food winds up halfway down the hall.  I have learned though, that whatever you do - under no circumstances should you try to grab the spoon at this point.  Apparently, this triggers battle mode and always involves screaming, more intense flailing, and only makes you target #1 for the flying food.  It's best at this point to just walk away and get outside the fly zone!

All kidding aside though, she is getting better all the time with her spoon.  She can put it in her mouth no problem, but we still help her scoop the food.  She also likes to 'help' too by taking her finger food from the tray and placing it on the spoon before it goes in her mouth.  Sometimes this means she eats peas on top of yogurt, or beans on top of applesauce, but hey - whatever works!  

Scott was on-call a couple of weekends ago, so we needed to stay close to home.  The weather was beautiful though, so we decided to get out and take a walk from Lighthouse beach over to Lakeside park.  Of course, Carys had to check out the swings at the park.  She loves swinging! 

I love this picture - these two are best friends!

Love this one too!  

It was really windy that day, so the lake had some pretty whitecaps.

Well, that's about it for now.  I still need to share the pics from our trip to the farm with Daddy, and Carys has had a couple of "firsts" this month that I'll be sharing soon.  We are really excited for the weekend.  Grandpa T & Grandma A are coming down to visit and Carys is going to be a beautiful, little bug for Halloween.  We've given her costume a trial run already and she looks adorable!  

The Best Days of My Life

...began four years ago today, when I said "I do" to my absolutely amazing husband. 

 Happy anniversary Scott!  I'm so blessed to be able to share my life with you and Carys, and so thankful to have you as a partner.   

The weekend of our wedding was so much fun and I have so many great memories.  We had family and friends arriving from out of town and it was so special to know that everyone was there to help us celebrate.  We received one of our favorite presents early.  Scott's brother, David, got us this tandem bike and it was so cool!

Our rehearsal dinner was so relaxing and fun.  All of our friends and immediate family were there, and we just enjoyed visiting, telling stories and laughing.  My mom and Scott's dad both gave toasts that made us laugh and cry - it was the perfect start!

After getting ready at home that morning, we made our way to the church.  I was so excited!

Our ceremony was beautiful, and everything I had hoped for - I really felt the vows that we made to each other that day in the presence of God, friends and family.  It wasn't just about getting a piece of paper to 'make it official'.   I really believe that our commitment to each other became a strong, spiritual bond.  I know it sounds cheesy, but it's hard to describe other than to say that even though I knew Scott meant it when he asked me to marry him, that day I felt our commitment to each other so strongly, and it really was amazing.

Overall our wedding weekend was awesome!  Even though there were some hiccups, like the florist calling the day before and saying all my flowers were dead, or the reception hall seating 8 chairs at every table when I requested and planned for 10, at the end of the day I knew I would be married to my best friend and all of the people that we loved most would be there to help us celebrate, so none of those silly details mattered.  

Happy Anniversary Scott - the last 4 years have been amazing and I look forward to celebrating our life together for many, many years to come!

 

Chillin with my homies...

This week was fun, Carys and I didn't have anything scheduled at the beginning of the week, so other than running errands, we just had fun at home.  I decided to let Carys paint one afternoon and she loved it!

Other than tasting it, she wasn't interested in doing much else with the brush,

so I let her dive right in and finger paint.

She was a little more interested in playing with the plate of paint than actually painting the turtle, but she was having fun, so that's all that really matters!

And who needs toys when you have a nice big box to play with!  She spent a lot of time pushing this around the house, filling it with toys, and then climbing in and emptying it out!

We had our playgroup on Wednesday and swim lessons again on Thursday.  Carys really loves both, so it's been a lot of fun, and it's really nice to spend time making new friends.  I'm so glad she finally likes her swim lesson.  She still freaks if I try to put the water wings on her, so as long as we steer clear of those - she's happy!

On Friday we met our friends, Aunt Jen and the quads, at Blake's Orchard for some fun on the farm.  The kids loved checking out the animals. 

The quads all call the bug, Baby Carys, and they are all so sweet with her.  Alyssa and Addison were giving her hugs and she loved it.  She would walk up to them and lean in - then they'd wrap their arms around her.   

After checking out the animals, we went on a hayride.  Carys got a little antsy the last couple of minutes, but other than that she loved playing with the hay and pointing out all the pumpkins we passed.

We already picked out pumpkins last weekend with Daddy (I'm a little behind in my posts), but Carys still had fun checking out some more on the farm.  She was trying to pick these big ones up, obviously they were a little too heavy for her, but she was still trying her hardest - grunting and all!

We had so much fun at the farm.  We love hanging out with the quads!

This weekend was really chill.  Scott was on-call last weekend and had had two weeks of working some pretty crazy hours, so we were very happy to have him home.  Yesterday, while Carys and dad played, I ran some errands and hit a mom-to-mom sale.  I scored a nice coat for Carys and some cute play outfits, so I was really happy.  Then today, the weather was beautiful, so we went for a nice, long walk downtown.  

Checking out the Coast Guard cutter Hollyhock.  

Carys loves going up and down the slide, but she also loves making a big dirt pile at the end too!  I try not to freak about her getting dirty, but it's really hard!

She was ready to jump right in to the water, but Dad was keeping a super, tight hold on her!

We came home and did some yard work, had dinner and then chased Carys around the house before bed.  She finally figured out that she should run away when we chase her.  Before she would just get so excited, she'd turn around and give us a hug when we tried to catch her.  Now that she gets the concept though, there's no stopping her!

Hope everyone had a great week! 

BUSTED!

Our little bug is so curious, and it seems like every time I turn around I have a new mess to clean up! 

My purse in the process of being emptied

 

Need a wipe mommy?

It looks like Cookie needed a little more stuffing!

The other day I was walking into the living room from the kitchen and Carys actually ran away from me.  I looked around the corner and saw why, she had gotten into the bathroom garbage and left a trail into the hallway.  She knew she was busted!  I didn't get a picture of that one though.  She cracks me up!