Pre-Halloween Fun

Our Halloween celebration has spanned several days and its not even Halloween yet! This past Sunday Nana, Katie and I headed to Howl-O-Ween at Stony Point. It was a pre-Halloween festival where people brought their dogs and their kids all dressed up in costume. We don't have a dog, but Katie LOVES them so I thought she would enjoy the event. Plus this was a perfect chance for a trial-run in her costume. I'm sure you will all be surprised to know that Katie is a LadyBug this Halloween! :-)

Katie spent 1/2 of the time picking flowers, the other half chasing people's dogs. She did stop at one point for a break and some Nana time.

On Wednesday of this week a package arrived in the mail from Katie's Great Aunt Mary Lynn. I let Katie open the package herself....as you can see she was pretty excited. Thank you Aunt Mary Lynn for all the SPOOKY gifts/treats!

We are headed out shortly to meet Aunt Katherine and Cousin Claire at our church for trunk-or-treating.....more Halloween posts will following in a day or so.

Some babies got it, Some babies don't

Hair is the "it" I'm referring to. Katie is FINALLY starting to grow some hair. Which is good because I was starting to think she might be completely bald until age 10. I wouldn't mind the slow hair growth as much if she was a boy. But with a little girl, I feel we are missing out on an entire group of hair accessories because she has no hair to put hair accessories in.

My mom finds this topic hilarious. I was a tomboy who hated dresses, hairbows, and virtually anything girlie. The mere fact that I want to "accessorize" anything is amusing to her. What can I say, having a little girl has changed lots of things for me. Bring on the hair, hair bows, pony tails and pig tails! :-)

Mischief

Each day we see Katie's personality develop more and more. She is an extremely curious child. To the point that we cannot let her out of sight for more than about 10 seconds without a MAJOR mess resulting. I know how destructive she can be, and yet I still try to do housework while she is awake. Some of her favorite pastimes....

1. Take the container of baby wipes and pull every single solitary wipe out - one by one - so that there is an entire pile surrounding her.

2. Take dirty clothes out of the laundry basket and pile them up around her. Sometimes she carries them around and plays peek-a-boo with them, sometimes she wears them like a scarf around her neck.

3. Unrolling rolls of toilet paper. No roll of toilet paper is safe in our home - so much so that the TP rolls aren't actually on the toilet paper bar any longer. Every single one has been moved out of Katie's reach. When we went to Woolwine last week....here's what happened at Nana and Papa's house.

4. Standing in the refrigerator. Sometimes she pulls out the Barbeque sauce, and various other condiments in the door. Other times she stands in the frig, chews on the Barbeque sauce bottle, and watches TV.

Weekend in Woolwine

This past weekend Katie, Matt and I traveled back to Woolwine for the VT/Wake Forest football game and to visit with family. I was really excited because I got to see my freshman year roomie who traveled up from Florida with her husband Jay. I had not seen Shelley in 7 years - since her and Jay's wedding. We obviously had some catching up to do....

It was a beautiful fall weekend at home. Everytime I go back I realize just how much I miss the mountains....we don't have this kind of view from our front porch in Richmond.

Katie and my dad are two peas in a pod. No one can make her laugh like my dad can. Anyways, we were playing in the front yard when Dad decided to pick a few flowers and give them to Katie. Katie smiled, giggled, then turned around and gave the flowers to the dog, Mattie. HA!

Below are several pictures from the weekend.

Pumpkin Patch Deja Vu

Yesterday was Year 2 of Grandma's Pumpkin Patch! Matt, Katie and I headed over to Rob, Kat and Claire's house first to hang out/catch-up, then we all headed to the Pumpkin Patch.

As we were walking in we crossed a gravel road. Katie - of course - had to stop, inspect the rocks, and pick up one to carry around in each hand. Let's just say she became a little attached to her rocks. You'll see them in 90% of the pictures. See how excited she was to show them off?

Notice what is in her left hand?

Look - no rocks in her hands. But don't worry....its right in front of her.....and she didn't leave it behind.

Ah yes, checking out the flowers and I've still got my rock.

Claire was so cute in her Halloween outfit and bow. Here she is picking out her mini-me pumpkin!

After chasing the 2 kids around....in different directions, mind you....we finally decided to try and get a picture of the cousins together. You can see how successful that was.....

Such a fun day! I hope we keep this Barnes Family Halloween tradition. :-)

Swing

Each night after Katie eats I take her on a wagon ride to either the park or the elementary school down the street She loves the wagon rides. She sits on her perch, waving and smiling at all our neighbors. It makes me laugh how proud of herself she is....like a beauty queen riding her float in the Christmas parade - ha!

Tonight we headed to the elementary school to play on the swings, slides, and other playground equipment. I'm a little worried about how we will continue the wagon rides and outdoor playtime once the weather turns cold. Last week when it rained for several consecutive days Katie would constantly go to the door and beg to go outside. I guess we will just cross that bridge when we come to it.

Fall is here!

Fall is without a doubt my favorite time of the year. I love the crisp cool air, the changing color of the leaves, VT football games, October festivals, jeans and sweaters weather....all of it! This weekend while Matt was at the UVA football game Nana, Papa, Katie and I all headed to Chesterfield Berry Farm for their Fall Festival.

Katie had a blast. The hay ride was by far her favorite. She got to see a real John Deere tractor, or "dracter" as she called it. The ride took us from the main Fall Festival location out to the pumpkin patch where we went in search of our perfect pumpkin.

Papa had to show Katie the ropes of a real John Deere. Just a small change from her miniature pink version.

Look Nana, its a real sheep!

In case you are wondering why Papa isn't in Blacksburg on this particular Saturday, the Hokies were out of town playing in North Carolina. Don't worry though, we were sure to get back home before 3:30 so Papa could watch the game on TV - ha! He loves his granddaughter, but he also loves his Hokies football.

I unintentionally dressed Katie like a mini-me on Saturday. Total accident, but I thought this picture was kind of cute.

When we got back to the house I got Katie changed into her VT football game outfit. (Oh the things I get away with when her Daddy is NOT at home!) She must have been the good luck charm my Hokies needed because they pulled out a come-from-behind victory on the road at NC State. GO HOKIES!!!

Katie spent most of the afternoon trying to pick up our pumpkin. Pretty funny actually, since the pumpkin weighs about as much as she does!

Next weekend is the October Festival in my home town, which I will unfortunately miss. For everyone back in Woolwine, save a little applebutter for me!