ahhh, it feels good to be home

Back in the ATL! Traveling with a little one can be brutal. I don't know what was worse today on the flight home.... how Reese screamed for the first half hour while we received nasty looks from everyone or how she kicked our drinks (full can of Coke Zero and water) off our tray! AWESOME! It's good to be back home.

Home Sweet Home

We are heading home today, back to Delaware for Thanksgiving. We are flying this afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing my family.... mom, sister, brother-in-law, niece, grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins, new baby... it's going to be great! There is also a grade school reunion I'll be attending Wednesday night. It will be a blast!

something to stick to

TapeSwell makes a great product that will certainly come in handy this Christmas Season. They make packing tape pretty! Get out of the packing-tape doldrums and send something with pizazz! OR buy a roll and receive 120 mailing labels for your boxes and envelopes. Place them individually on card stock and create tags. Place the labels on your handmade jelly or tins of cookies for the holidays. So much you can do.... They have tons of cute designs too!

saturday

Reese took a ride with neighbor, Savannah today. It was one of Savannah's first birthday gifts... thanks for sharing! Yes, Reese enjoyed it. She never looks like she does enjoy things. It's like when we put her on the swings at the park. She looks exactly like the above picture until we try to take her out. Then she screams like we beat her! I don't get it. Well, she did just wake up from her nap. Yep, that's an excuse and I'm going to continue to use so people don't get offended because she's so serious.

See... she smiles! It must be the playdough bracelets I made her. Oh so chic!

"Hey, can I hit you back?"

She's already a master at the iphone. She swipes through pictures, plays games, launches the Internet and talks like a pro. At least she doesn't know my itunes password! (yet) Here are some of Reese's favorite apps:
Peekaboo Barn & Peekaboo Wild (She learned the word Duck from this app!)
Itsy Bitsy, Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald (all by Duck Duck Moose)
Shapes by Toddler Teasers
Doodle Buddy

What are your child's favorite Apps?

playin' in the dirt...

A few of Reese's favorite things to do at the park is to watch the older kids play sports. Any type of "Doll" (ball) and she flips out! The other thing Reese loves to do is play in the dirt, and I'm so glad she does. We plopped down and played for a looooong time. It was great!

paper crush

Browsing around, I found these handsome Turkey Day invitations.... I'm in love. I want to host Thanksgiving just so I can mail these out. I came across this blog who posted about these die cut masterpieces. Here is the flicker page to see more. Chelle Paperie is the genius behind them.

Then, I found this gorgeous wedding invite on one of my regular reads, Elise who is a graphic designer and has an etsy site, enjoy design in case you want some great designs for yourself. She is getting married soon and designed her own invitation. Her save the date is beautiful too. I love the colors and the whimsical flowers and snappy stripes! mmmmmmmm!

This ends up being my shout out to Charm City, Bal-more, The Old Line State of Maryland! They are both from that area...

have a crafty weekend...

If you would like to get a jump start on cute Christmas gifts, if you love homemade crafts and if you live in the Atlanta area, this is for you! Local artists will have paintings, clutches, stationery, jewelry, candles, and much more on sale! Stop by The Garden Hills Rec Center this Saturday. Click here to see some of the artists. I'll see you there!

i heart christmas cards....

I know what you're saying....it's not even Thanksgiving yet and you are thinking of Christmas?! Well, one thing you must think of is your Christmas card a bit before Thanksgiving so you can pick the perfect card for you and your family, have it ordered and returned in enough time for your favorite people to receive it during Christmas time. I love to receive Christmas cards, especially, photo cards. I still have them up on our fridge from last Christmas. Then I save the cards even after that! I love looking back on our friends and their families.

So, here are just a few to get you in the holiday spirit, get you thinking of that perfect card that represents your family. Here are my some of my favorites....

Fin Roe (photo credit for top part) great patterns, and you get to customize colors too!

Seltzer Goods - great site for boxed cards, they are pretty clever and funny!

Minted - this is who I used for our cards last year. love em!

Night Owl Paper Goods - too cute! check out thier wooden cards.

Made By Girl - her colors just pop!

9 Spot Monk - fine letterpress, check out thier Holiday Recession Line, cute.

Thanksgiving Garland

Tangled & True posted about this great Thanksgiving garland and I thought, hey, that's something I can actually do! This seems easy enough and it looks great. So be sure to check out the site to find out how to....

zoo atlanta

My mom is in town so we all took Reese to Zoo Atlanta. It is beautiful in Atlanta this weekend and it was wonderful to spend it outside today. We got there early... the best time to go, by the way with kids... and we zoomed around pretty easily with the rest of the parents holding their kids while pushing their strollers. Reese seemed to be fascinated more with the other kids than with the animals. As you can see from the pictures below, she was particularly happy to be visiting Zoo Atlanta's bamboo exhibit!

Have a great weekend!

Off to Brevard, NC

We are off to Brevard, NC this weekend to visit with Hubby's family. It should be a wonderful time! Have a great weekend.....
photo credit

Eat Dirt...

That's what Reese has taken a liking to this week. Dirt! I read somewhere that kids crave it and they need the iron or something crazy like that.... yeah, whatever! Apparently, yesterday's dirt-eating meal was pretty messy. Daddy and Reese had to immediately take a shower to get all the dirt off. (That's my girl!)

Reason #81 Why I Love Fall

Walks with Daddy on beautiful days and walking through fallen leaves.....

Happy Halloween

Yep, you guessed it... Reese's Pieces! C'mon, I had to! Next year, she will be able to come up with her own ideas and mom won't have any say. Yes, I'm taking advantage of the lack of her language skills here. But she can still communicate that she is not happy with the hat, what do you think? Nice look! The second picture says, "You better not be putting that silly hat on me!" Although she did not like the hat, she was quite pleased with her onesie. She really did like the Reese's Pieces on her and didn't even try to pick them off! She strutted around the house today so proud of what she was wearing! It was pretty funny.

Hope you all have a fun Halloween!

Reason #54 Why I Love Fall

I just took this picture today at school. c'mon, you can't beat that blue sky!

Reese's costume is coming together...

I was hot-gluing last night.... it's coming together.... Halloween is a few days away... yea!

Somethin' is a Brewin'

It's Reese's Halloween costume....Went to Michael's tonight and walked out with a little of this, a pinch of that and brewed up a PIECE of her outfit. More to come....

proud moment

This book has been in Reese's reading rotation lately. She points to Hairy Dawg and gives him high 5's. And this morning.... she actually said, "Georgia!" I couldn't believe it! It sounded like, "Ja-Ja" But she says, "Ja-Ja Dawg" I'm so proud!

It's a cute book!

Football, FOOTball, FOOTBALL!

One of Reese's favorite things is to watch the pee wee football games at the park. She loves the cheering and the helmets. She definitely gets this from Hubby. He loves football!

Reese is starting to use her own spoon too. It's still a bit messy and I'm exercising my patience every time she goes for her mouth.

etsy love hoot hoot

I'm a sucker for owls lately... and it's not even because it's close to Halloween. I just like them for some reason. So that's why I am swooning over this cute invite over at Busy Nothings. I love the graphics on each invite. A friend of mine also purchased her daughter's christening invitation and they were adorable! Check them out!

welcome home mommy

The best part of my day is coming home to Reese's smile. Today Hubby and Reese were outside to greet me. It was so great to her running towards me. It's the best!

rainy day off

On my day off yesterday, hubby and I had a wonderful day with Reese. It was the perfect day to bring her to Imagine It Children's Museum . I love that place! And Reese did to. They added more things since I was there last with my sister and niece. Reese loved the fishing hole, the balls, dressing up, the slides, the performances, and just watching all the big kids. We had a blast with her. I highly recommend this place.

A day at the park...

This afternoon, Reese and I went to Chastain Park. I did my usual walk/run around the 3 mile route. I didn't need to rush home for anything, so we hung out for a while.

I love this park, it really has it all! If you have never been, it has a walking route around a golf course. You pass tennis courts, a pool, a school, and an equestrian center. Not to mention all the ball fields and playground it has for the kids. Oh yea, it has an amphitheater too that has great concerts! It's pretty amazing and I love that I work and live so close to this park.

I wanted Reese to see the horses and she loved them. She immediately started calling them dogs. No, honey, they are horses. She was mesmerized. One of the little girls riding waved to Reese and she then started waving to all the horses trotting by. As you can see, she's a fan, giving us the thumbs up.

Then we headed to the ball fields. Baseball and football are happening simultaneously right now and she was loving the cheering at the t-ball game. Reese started clapping when ever the fans would cheer. She also loved just running around. There is something freeing about an open field. I love it, and apparently she does too! There she goes....

I loved walking around with her. She was so into the action of the other kids playing sports. I can't wait for her to be that age!

Halloween Dead-Corations!

Thanks to Whisker Graphics, you can download these for FREE! WOW! So much to do with these cute owls....

Then you can go over to Paper Source and get some great decorating ideas and make some yourself. I love the cat!

Think Pink on Etsy

A few etsy finds in honor of Breast Cancer month. Let's think pink...get a mammogram, remind your mom, sister and friend to get one...hug them while your at it...

and check out these etsy finds...

1. Survivor necklace by ConFused

2. Diva card by Pie Safe Paper Gifts

3. Thinking of You card by formyboysjc

4. Hand knit beret by Hearts Run Free

Etsy Finds

Are you getting ready? Do you have your Halloween costume picked out? Candy purchased? Ghosts hung? What are you waiting for? Only 3o more days!

Here are some Etsy finds that I thought would be cute for your party...

1. Candy Corn Cotton Pennants by Pamwares.

2. Personalized Stickers for your candy bags, packages or cards by Little Beane Boutique.

3. Sport a Sweet tee by Bella Marie Designs.

4. Decorate with festive poms by Under the Oak.

I don't wanna...

Go to be that is...

After bath, little Missy noticed me taking out her mock Uggs and she wanted them on instantly! So, she had to run around with them for a while, check out daddy downstairs with fellow band mates, and ask for more milk. After that, she went to bed pretty easily. I'm thankful for that!

I'm a little behind on the Gratitude Challenge, I am writing thank you notes to a few people and thanking them for being an inspiration, a great teacher and a good friend.

Hey, and thank YOU for visiting me on my blog! Have a great day!

I totally want these...

Seriously!

But they don't make them... when they do... I'm on it!

yea no rain...

So we were able to go outside today and enjoy this beautiful day! After going to church, I ran with my friend Sarah. I'm using the term "run" very loosely... we ran most of the time, and walked the rest. Then Hubby, Reese and I headed out to the Sandy Springs Festival. Reese loved to people-watch, run all over and didn't quite know what to do with at the petting zoo.

As you can see, she took a spill and got her first skinned knee. There is a little blood, so it's legit. It didn't even phase her. All she wants to do is go up and down steps and that's where it happened. She was just so excited to be going up and down steps, that she kept pushing on up to the next step.

What IS bothering her are her molars! The dang molars! They really are giving her trouble. I guess it's the typical runny-nose, crankiness, but then she has a fever and just does not feel well. yuk! I hope this phase passes quickly!

Update on the Gratitude Challenge... this is now day 7 and I'm supposed to take a picture of something I'm thankful for... well as you guessed... I've just posted it... Hubby and I have a happy child and I'm so grateful for her. Day 6 was to call a friend whom I have not spoken to in a while and tell them that I appreciate her. :)