Emma Layne {thirty-nine weeks}

Thirty-nine weeks ago we headed to the hospital to meet our sweet Baby Sunshine.

Emma Layne turned thirty-nine weeks old today. Her ten month update will be coming next week.

And, no that is not a baby belly. I have no abs and we took the picture after our thanksgiving dinner.

Flutter-bys

One of our favorite things to do in the spring is visit the butterflies at Krohn Conservatory. We visited with my parents and brother {when they visited in April}. Today I am sharing a few more pictures from two other times (from way back in April) that we visited. We made a few other trips, but a certain toddler was quite frustrated when the butterflies had other plans than landing on her. Sophia had to practice a lot of patience to get the butterflies to visit with her.

that tongue!

And a throw back to {last year} when we visited with Nanny and Pap Pap.

First Draft

The NFL Draft is one of Dave's favorite 'holidays'. This year we planned on going to the zoo to enjoy a picnic dinner and some music before the draft. Unfortunately, rained changed our plans and we had a picnic dinner in the living room and watched the pre-draft coverage.

The girls and I were asleep before the Eagles made their first pick. Shame the regular season for the Eagles is not that exciting this year. At least Dave has fantasy football.

A look back at {Sophia's first draft}. I still can't get over how tiny Sophia was.

The NFL Draft was held on April 30th this year.

Five on Friday

Thrilled to be linking up with April for a long overdue Five on Friday.

one

November 9th was National Redhead Day. Having a fiery little redhead makes me notice gingers everywhere we go. I read {these facts} in a few locations, but here are a few that I found interesting.

- Only 2% of the worldwide population has red hair.

- Redheads usually need more anesthesia for dental and medical procedures.

- Redheads probably won't go grey since the pigment fades over time. Most likely they will go blonde or white.

two

In an effort to save some money and be kinder to the environment, we started cloth diapering this week. So far so good. I just built enough of a stash for us do a hybrid system of cloth during the day and disposables at night. Hopefully I can keep up with getting them washed in time to reuse them again.

three

Speaking of laundry, my washer has a time delay feature that I adore. I load it with laundry and detergent in the evening, set the delay to the early morning hours, and have a freshly washed load of clothes when I wake up. I have been in the habit of starting a load in the morning, but I frequently forget to put in the dryer. Problem solved. I have tried to have a laundry day, but it doesn't work for us. Now I just need to keep up with getting everything folded and put away.

via

four

I have an ongoing to-do list that rarely gets completed, but I have been scheduling time for myself to sew while our oldest is at preschool and our youngest is napping. Current project: toddler infinity and cowl scarves. Next up: new dance bag and matching pajamas for the girls.

five

Emma is putting everything in her mouth and *maybe* teeth will make an appearance soon. Thanks to my local babywearing group I discovered nummy beads. We love the necklace, but the kind that can attach to our lillebaby carrier are my favorite. Emma loved our stars teether until we lost it in the airport. She will be getting a new carrier teether in her stocking, but I am torn if I should replace the stars or get the new heart one that has the moveable ring.

star     //     necklace     //     heart

six

Since I am feeling like a rule breaker today I just had to share some pictures of my blurry little turkey in honor of Thanksgiving. 

Wordless Wednesday: The Morning After

Kitty Love

Sophia had such a blast in the Kids Corner at Books By The Banks this year. It was our third year visiting and our favorite experience so far, mainly because Sophia was able to participate in everything. She loved dancing and singing, playing instruments, crafting, and getting balloon animal creations. Our first stop was face painting, where Sophia was transformed into a kitty.

 Love her reaction when she sees her face for the first time!

We were looking forward to seeing the Pete the Cat mascot (who was missing this year, boo!) and getting some of our books signed by the authors, but lines were long and a certain little kitty was tired from all of the fun.

We headed home to enjoy some quiet time, and 'Princess Kitty Rosie' wanted her picture taken with her babies. Three sure is fun.

Books By The Banks {2014} {2013}

We visited BBTB on October 17th.

Sunflower Festival

Last month I was so excited to head to the Sunflower Festival at Gorman Farm, but things did not go as I had planned. Sophia didn't want to wear the outfit I wanted her to wear. I was hoping for pictures with the girls, but rain left the ground muddy (although the weather was beautiful the day we visited). It was crowded and part of the lure of the sunflower festival is picking your own sunflowers, so the majority of the 'photo worthy' sunflowers had already been snatched up. 

However, if you eliminate my expectations of what our visit would be like, we enjoyed ourselves. The children's garden had lots of opportunities for Sophia to explore. The farm animals were out and Sophia enjoyed getting up close and personal with them. Sophia took a mini pony ride. Pumpkin chucking was also a highlight.

Next year I will be visiting the farm the week before the festival to get some pictures with the sunflowers...and again during the festival to enjoy all of the other activities offered.

Visit to Gorman Farm October 4