How I Managed to Fight the Rainy Day Blues

1. Lunch at Chick-fil-a complete with romping time in the play area and a milkshake shared with Daddy. Check.

2. Special adventure with Mommy and tah to see Curious George Live. Check.

3. Skipping nap as unnecessary waste of daylight hours. Check.

4. Sweet rain boots. Check

5. Capture and successful commandeering of mom's new umbrella. Check

6. Making Mommy's heart work overtime due to the mixture of pride, love, and fierce protectiveness at the sight of my independence and grown up behavior. Check.

It's Fall . . . Right?

My thermometer may give no indication of it being fall, but my kitchen says otherwise. Last weekend we made our first batch of chili for the season, and tonight we are ushering in this marvelous time of year with our favorite homemade pumpkin pie. Mmmmmmm. My tummy is glad that fall is here even if my pants aren't. :)

Things You Never Thought You'd Say

From the Sloan Files of Things We Never Thought We'd Say:

"Don't rub it in sweetie. It's not lotion . . . It's tomato sauce."

Happy Birthday . . . er, Happy 11 Months Juliet!

This month marks my last month of celebrating Juliet's monthly milestones rather than her yearly ones. She turned 11 months old last week. So, naturally, we had her 1st birthday party last Saturday. What?? The girl is advanced; that's all I can say.

Actually, we had her baby dedication at our church this Saturday, so we just decided to have one big bash. It was an extremely special day. My maternal grandmother flew in from California for the occasion, and it was her first time to meet Juliet, which was so wonderful. We had great representation of family from both sides, and it meant the world to us everyone who was able for the tea party and then the service afterwards.

Getting the stage set

The tea party spread

Birthday cake, petit fours, blueberry scones, and the awesome flowers my grandmother arranged

The birthday girl makes her grand entrance

My favorite pic from the photo session with Nana

Outfit change 1: down to diaper for the cake! She just dug her face right in and stuck with it for at least 15 straight seconds. It was awesome!

Sharing her goods with Daddy

Opening presents is so fun!

Robby scored a couple of presents himself :)

We have now made it to the dedication service. Our pastor is praying for the family. As you can see, both children were really attuned to the prayer.

The whole family! What a blessing to have such wonderful support as we raise our children.

Hamming it up for Nana's camera!

You Know It's Time to Call it a Night When

the following two things occur simultaneously:

1. You spend over 20 minutes looking for the lid to the Greek yogurt, which involves multiple rummages through the trashes and scouring both the garage and fridge before realizing that the peel-off foil you trashed was the only the lid that came with the yogurt after all.

2. You realize that the strange sound you have been listening to throughout the entire hunt for the nonexistent lid is your cat who has locked himself in your childproofed kitchen cupboard for who knows how long.

Yup, folks, bedtime it is for this tired lady.