Food and Funerals

All of these pics are from August 13th - 16th.

It is RARE that I say I'd like some Cracker Barrel for dinner, so when I do Brent jumps all over the chance. They don't necessarily have bad food, it's just so heavy and generally unhealthy. It pretty much reminds me of how we had put on weight several years ago!! So when I was craving some Cracker Barrel, Brent got us there stat. Lilli certainly enjoyed her mac n cheese.
She also had fun with the table game. While she didn't understand the rules of how you should jump, she had fun and naturally won every time.And of course she loved all the toys out in the lobby. Particularly the dolls and snakes. The only downside to our visit was that they no longer sell Colts Bolts there!! What in the world???That week my grandmother died at the age of 103, very close to 104. We made the trip to West Tennessee and stayed with my parents. Lilli wasn't too happy that Kacey and Cody didn't come with Uncle Bruce, but she made friends with a couple of other little kids at the funeral home and had a good time reading books with Grandma while we visited with lots of cousins we hadn't seen in ages.
The next day she even got to see her "other" grandma and grandpa at the funeral and sit with them during the service.On the way home from the funeral. The car is completely packed when Pippin comes with us - his crate takes up a massive part of the third row/"trunk" area. Where in the world is a baby going to ride???? Guess old Pippin is going to get booted to riding in the floorboard. However, he is generally quieter and better behaved than Lilli so it's possible she may get booted to the roof.Back home and playing with the princesses.That evening was really the first time Lilli saw me getting sick in this pregnancy. Brent had run out to pick us up some dinner and only she and I were home when I started feeling bad. She was sweet and brought me a towel and stuffed animal. And then repeatedly stuck her face down in the toilet with me to have an eyewitness view of the action, while telling me about her various friends who have gotten sick at school over the years and "what color" they got sick. That really helped (not). I've now gone 8 days without getting sick, a new record, but still get pretty nauseated at times. Ugh. After 19+ weeks in, that's really not fun.Happy Labor Day weekend!!! Rest, rest and rest is the plan.

Parties, Picnics, and Mice

I've been a bit off the internet blogging grid this week because of this mouse in our house....

Source: alphamom.com via Rachel on Pinterest

While more expensive than the normal mice that get in each winter, it is certainly just as time consuming! When trying to figure out what we wanted to do for our "family-moon" before the baby comes next year, we ultimately decided Disney would really be the place for Lilli to unwind and spend some extra time with us before having to start sharing us with someone else. She is so in love with all things princess, and every day she asks to go to Cinderella's castle. We have not told her we're going, and don't plan to until the morning we wake up to fly out. Somehow I plan to even pack her stuff in secret. We're working with a travel agent to get it all booked, and we don't plan on hitting all the parks. At her age she'll still need some nap/rest time, so we're just going to focus (probably) on Magic Kingdom and the Animal one. We're spending 4 night in the Disney parks and then a few nights at the beach. For this trip that should be plenty of Disney!! And the "best" part is we'll be there for my birthday. Isn't that every 35-year old's dream???

Back on the weekend of the Tomato Festival we also had a Sunday School class cookout that evening. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle around our neighborhood from the festivities. It was a somewhat cool (for August) day, but they had a water slide and inflatable pool set up that all the kids loved. Later in the evening they'd run out with teeth chattering, but that never seems to stop kids! Lilli, Kylee and Charlotte playing in the pool....
We had a fun little Mexican "fiesta" theme and after eating about five bites the kids were all back in the yard running around. Lilli had fun being the "ball girl" with several of the kids playing a little softball.
The bigger girls were so sweet to push the smaller girls around on the swing-set and "mother hen" them a little. At one point we looked up and Lilli was on the bars (the far left piece of equipment) just flying through the air. That was the point I decided she needs to be in some gymnastics classes!! She had a blast playing with the girls and threw a MAJOR fit at the end of the night when it was time to go. This is Lilli and Audrey in the swings with Emilee and Addison pushing them.
Even though that was an absolutely crazy weekend between the baseball game, Tomato Festival and cookout, we were able to squeeze in a little family time for just the three of us and have a picnic at Centennial Park on Sunday. We're trying to do as much of these "little" things as we can while we only have limited time left for just the three of us.It was such a pretty weekend that the ducks had already been well fed. We've figured out that the geese over here by our house don't get nearly as much food and Shelby is a much better place for feeding them than Centennial. It is hard to beat the views and beauty of Centennial park though!
We still threw all our bread out to the ducks, even though they weren't a bit interested.We are looking forward to this nice, long weekend!! Lilli was pretty sick last week with allergies, Brent's allergies are messing with him this week and I've also had some sinus problems as well. With rain from Hurricane Isaac moving in hopefully we'll get a chance to get some extra rest in and hopefully all have more energy next week!

Tomato Festival 2012

This year's Tomato Festival landed back on August 11th. It's hard to believe this was already Lilli's 4th Tomato Festival. (2009, 2010, 2011). We woke up a little after 7 and walked down the street to catch the 5K that comes to the corner of our block. It started at 7:30 and by the time we walked down we only had to wait a minute or two for the runners to start. As is the case for all road races, a police car was ahead of the first runner ensuring course safety - ever since then every time Lilli sees a police car she asks when the runners will be coming. For some reason she's just not quite certain what else police do. Afterwards we headed home and ate some breakfast, then changed into clothes and met our friends (aka "Serif and Serif's mom and dad") on the walk over to take in the Festival. We hit the Kids Zone first since it's only open in the morning and it was already an absolute mad house. Every year the festival continues to grow and this year 30,000 people were predicted to attend. I can definitely say in the 6 years we've lived here it's grown leaps and bounds. I do miss the less crowded days!!

Lilli made a tomato bead necklace in the Kids Area....
and then watched Serif make a little rice filled noise maker.Next stop was the Las Palates Popsicle stand in front of Bongo Java. They never, ever have enough so I've learned to have one as a pre-lunch appetizer. I've also learned Lilli needs her own.This was Serif's first LP Popsicle. Note how calm and still they both are when chowing down!! They truly are the best popsicles in town.All the usual oddities of the festival were in full force and costumes were everywhere. I really forgot about having anything special for Lilli until the last minute. This year she just sported a black T-shirt and a red Gap tutu-style skirt I recently got at a consignment sale. It looked cute and tomato-y enough for the day.
Always plenty of interesting sights to see....
We ended up splitting up from Serif's family somewhere along the way in the crowds and two kids wanting to do separate things. Eventually Lilli chose to ride in the stroller a bit (she's not crazy about crowds which is fine by me!) and as we were walking around looking for a food truck line that wasn't at least an hour wait she eventually passed out. The only truck without a crazy line was really the main one I wanted to try - they had some seriously awesome spicy cheese grits with locally raised sausage and it was SO good. I would definitely try the Riff's food truck again. She slept the whole time I waited in line and while Brent and I ate so we had a nice little lunch!She woke up as we were leaving and I shared some pink lemonade with her as we walked back through the thick crowds home. This is the first year people have parked as far down as our house! We're exactly a half a mile from the celebration, not a bad walk for us and not worth trying to drive closer,but it was crazy to see people literally parked as far as our block.
Tradition holds that every year we let Lilli pick out a new piece of artwork from a booth of Brent's choosing. He tries very hard to influence her towards HIS tastes but the choice is always hers. She ended up choosing this piece this year (just the print, Brent already framed and matted it). She wanted this one because that's her and "my baby" (riding a wolf together). She also wants to hang it in the baby's room, which it does match the colors, but this is her piece. Our hope is one day when she leaves home she has lots of unique pieces of art to decorate her own place, and maybe one day one of these unknown artists will be famous!And that was Tomato Festival 2012! We had a great day with friends, Lilli enjoyed sharing some of it with Serif, and like always we ran into tons of other neighborhood, church and daycare friends while we were there. On the way over to the playground tonight Lilli was still naming off all the friends she saw there at the Festival.

Guess next year we'll have to coordinate two outfits and buy even more artwork!

Pippin's Birthday & Sounds Game

Pippin's birthday was back on August 9th. This was his "golden" year when he turned 9 on the 9th. After his entire cancer scare back in May of last year we're always glad to have another year with him. In honor of his special day, Lilli wore one of her MANY Pippin shirts to school. "Thumbs up for Pippin".

I made the same cake I make for him every year again. He loves it and it's super easy. Basically some flour, honey, carrots and peanut butter. No sugar so it's safe for doggies. I "ice" it with peanut butter and put some shredded cheese on it so he's sure to get all of his favorite things. Of course little sis handles blowing out the candle.While last year she was all about trying to eat some too (so cute!!!), this year she just really wanted to munch on some straight peanut butter for herself. Of course he LOVED it! We don't let him eat the whole thing, but I know he's glad for getting a solid ten or so minutes to chow down as much as he can.The following evening we went to the Nashville Sounds baseball game as part of family night with our church (and Faith night at the Sounds). We haven't been to a game since Lilli was little bitty, primarily because we just don't care about baseball. But, it is fun to go with a big group and our tickets were only $10/each which included a hot dog and drink, so you can't beat that for a Friday night activity. And our seats were literally this close. That's crazy.
We were next to Lilli's little buddy Hank, and they had a good time talking about the game and messing around together. A lot of her older friends were right behind us so she had fun. I'm not entirely sure she watched any of the game, but eating a hot dog can keep her entertained for a long time, as can yelling that the players who have slid in the dirt have "pooped their pants".
We posted a picture of us there on Facebook, and our friend Jennifer, who was Lilli's first babysitter, posted back that she was there too! She was able to find us and bring Jackson down. We got an updated group pic and Brent made a little collage of Lilli and Jackson the first time they met and then now. We've actually run into them at other festivals and things over the years but I don't think we've ever gotten a new picture of them together. They were thrilled. Much easier to photograph at four months than nearly four years.We bribed Lilli with cotton candy for having her picture made, so we tracked the guy down and she got her favorite event treat. Hank had never had cotton candy before so the two of them hunkered down and got a nice sugar buzz going!We had a great time at the game and ending up staying through about three quarters of it before we left. It didn't start until 7 and we knew Lilli would be super bored before it ended and we preferred getting out of there before the mass exit of traffic afterwards.

This 'n That

A bunch of random pics from August 4th - 8th.....

We found a snail outside one evening when we were playing on the deck.

That poor, poor snail. He got way more love than he probably ever wanted. We did tell her she couldn't keep him, so he eventually got sanctuary when it was declared bedtime and time to go inside.One of the last Water Plays of the summer (at school). She wanted to wear a two piece and "show her belly" to be like her favorite princess, The Little Mermaid Ariel. Heaven help us.
Hopping on her bouncy ball into school one morning on Show n Share day. That ball is probably the most used/beloved present she's ever been given. It's been so loved the plastic is wearing thin and you have to air it up every day!
Sometime being a girl is not fun at all. One day she'll enjoy all the pampering.
I had grabbed some of the (clean) bandanas Brent uses when working in the yard for a game for my Wednesday night kids class and Lilli saw them in my bag and wanted to play too. Two thumbs up for the gangsta life!So glad tomorrow is Friday!!

Let's Go to the Mall!

The first weekend of August was tax-free weekend here in Tennessee. Considering our sales tax is a whopping 9.25% in our county, we definitely take advantage of the tax savings where we can. Not everything is tax free, but all clothes, school supplies and diapers are (as well as computers.)
That Friday evening we headed out to the mall to do some clothes shopping. No surprise which table Lilli picked.Of course we had to go to her happiest place on Earth store. She could probably stay in there for hours and touch every last thing if we let her.We let her get a little Ariel playset so she'd have something to do while I was trying on clothes. In the Disney store she looked at me and said "Mom, I can't have enough Ariels". I don't even have a clue how many Little Mermaid dolls she has, and every time she asks for a new one I always tell her she has more than enough Ariels.She eventually ended up in the dressing room with me. I think she thought it was just so much fun to be in our own little enclosed room. Of course she also thought it was fun to stick her hand, face, arm, toys, etc under the curtain as well. It's amazing I didn't end up flashing the whole store/mall. And one of the fun things about her being older during this pregnancy is all the great questions she asks, specifically about maternity pants and why they're just so big and stretchy. Things like "Are those built in panties?" (she's into things like swimwear where you don't have to wear underwear and for some reason the stretchy part reminds her of underwear) and also "Is that to keep your baby warm?", which I thought was pretty clever, so I told her it was. Then she wanted to know why my baby was cold. You just can't win. She was also quite willing to give me her opinion on which clothes she did and didn't like.Brent amused himself in the way he best knows how - taking random pictures of himself in the waiting area at Motherhood Maternity, where they've managed to position the mannequin in a very bizarre spot relative to the chair.

Around Town

With the slightly cooler temps we've had lately we've been spending a lot more time at "our" playground next door and just enjoying being outside. One Monday night at the beginning of August Serif's parents texted us and we met over at the playground so the kids could play.
She really needs to be in gymnastics. I've picked out a place near us and just need to set up an appointment to check it out. She would LOVE it. She's really not interested in dance/ballet, which is fine with me, but this girl loves to tumble, swing, jump and pose.Somehow this is the only picture we got of Lilli and Serif. When I said we got the kids together to play, I really meant the Dads. Brent and Jeff wanted to shoot some hoops, so us ladies had a nice chat on the bench while "all" the kids played.
Later that week was the big Chic-fil-a Customer Appreciation Day, where people went out to support them and their (correct) stance on what marriage should be. And their right to even have a stance. Since it was on a Wednesday we knew we'd only have time to go at lunch, so Brent went in Smyrna near his office. It was so crowded he had to park across the street.I went to the one in downtown Nashville, at the bottom of the AT&T (aka Batman) building. The line was so long when I walked in I wasn't even sure where the Chic-fil-a was.That night Sleeping Beauty made an appearance at church.She tried to find her Prince but I don't think she quite understands how these fairy tales are supposed to work out.Happy Sunday!