Vacation Love

We got back late Saturday night from a week-long vacation. I started the trip by going to my parents' for a family reunion and service for my Papa. It was wonderful to see so many of my family members, many of whom I haven't seen in years. I loved that Miss got to be surrounded by such a loving bunch of people. Then she and I went to meet my hubby at the "Farm," which is his family's vacation property on a lake in Missouri. Here are some of my favorite things from the trip:

1. My parents have this small antique rocking chair that Miss enjoyed sitting and rocking in, which was adorable. I learned that the chair was actually my Dad's when he was little, which makes it just that much more special.

2. I got to spend some time with my Grandma B and go through some amazing photo albums she has put together with lots of old photos. My favorites were the ones of she and my Papa when they were "courting" and in the early days of their marriage. I love that I always learn new things about my family and my heritage whenever I see her.

3. Bloomers. I loved Miss in these from Three Yellow Starfish. In my opinion, bloomers beat shorts any day (on a baby/toddler anyway).

4. The slide. It was pure joy watching Miss on the slide with her Daddy.

5. Watermelon. Not my favorite fruit to eat, and I don't think I even had any to eat during the trip, but I sure did love watching Miss try so hard to pick this one up.

6. Fishing. Here is Miss watching her cousins fish in the pond at the Farm. Her cousin caught a fish, and in the first photo she's making her fish face, which consists of her opening and closing her slightly-puckered mouth. She wasn't afraid to touch the fish or the worms they were using for bait. My hubby was pointing out all the important elements of hooking a fish to her while they watched the bigger kids. She ate it up. I can't wait until she's big enough to fish herself.

7. My hubby's new no-hair do. Yowza! Love it.

8. Raspberries. They were delicious, but even better than eating them myself was watching Miss pick them right from the bush and put them in her mouth. The berry face afterwards was priceless.

We had a great trip, and there were many things to love about it. Another wonderful part of any trip is coming home. We got to spend yesterday (Father's Day) together at home and it was a great day. A belated Happy Father's Day to all the fabulous fathers in my life (you know who you are).

A Bonnet

Miss is not a fan of wearing a hat. She hated having a hat on when she was a newborn. Then she seemed to get over her hat issue for a while and did fine wearing a sun hat last summer. But when I tried to put one on her during our trip to Hawaii in February, she was back to total refusal. I put the hat on, and she promptly pulled it off. I tried tying the hat under her chin. No go. Then I thought maybe the old sun hat was just too small so I got her one a little bigger. It didn't matter, she still wouldn't keep it on.

More recently I saw the most adorable bonnet from an Etsy shop called Bella Sol Bebe Boutique on this blog that I love to follow. So I checked out the shop, and I just had to have one for Miss. What is more precious than a baby girl in a bonnet?? There is just something so quaint and nostalgic about a bonnet. I can remember wearing one when I was little, and I was so excited when I got the bonnet I ordered for Miss. I always thought she looked cuter than should be allowed in her old floppy sun hat, and of course she did. . .

But when I put this bonnet on her, I just wanted to melt over how completely perfect it was. . .



And an added bonus to the complete adorableness of this bonnet is the fact that Miss will actually keep it on for the entire time she's outside, so her perfect little head can be protected.

(I think this one is my favorite)

And I absolutely love the sweaty little head of wispy hair that emerges from under the hat when we come in to cool off for a bit. Heaven.

Today

The Perfect Summer Day

Today started with me making pancakes for breakfast, served with fresh berries. My hubby went outside after breakfast and cut some of the most gorgeous peony blossoms I have ever seen from the bushes in our yard. They are absolutely beautiful sitting on my kitchen table, and they smell like heaven. Then we went to the local farmer's market and bought some delicious-smelling cilantro and dill, green onions, green garlic, lime basil to plant with my other herbs (I had never heard of this before!), and some locally made apple syrup and sorghum syrup. Yum!

After Miss took a nap and had lunch, we went to the pool for the afternoon while my hubby went golfing. No puking this time, fortunately! Miss and I had a wonderful time playing in the water. She is getting a little bit more confident and enjoyed splashing and bending her knees to dunk her booty in the water. By late afternoon it started to get cool and cloudy, so we got dry just as my hubby was finishing his round of golf and we had a snack of ice cream before it started to sprinkle and we went home. Miss took another short nap and then I made dinner of venison tenderloin, butternut squash, and asparagus. I gave Miss a bath, put her down to bed, and experimented with our new macro camera lens while waiting for some people to come purchase some furniture I posted on Craigslist yesterday. Check out a couple of the pics below.

The furniture sold and I started making a new pair of pants for Miss. I really fell in love with these pants, but couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a pair of pants for a toddler, so I found a pattern and some cute fabric and just have to manage to add the ruffles at the bottom (the pattern doesn't include these). Anyway, I got the pants cut and put together. Tomorrow I just have to try them on Miss to adjust the elastic and length before putting the elastic in the waistband and adding the ruffles to the bottom. I'm so excited to see these on her!

The way they're laying in the photo makes the leg length look uneven, but it's not!!

I found myself just enjoying so much about today. It really did just have the feeling of the perfect summer day.

Funny Miss

My girl makes me laugh every day. She does so many funny little things that I just love to watch. Who new having a toddler was such great entertainment? Here are just a few of her new things that crack me up.

She loves to play in my closet with my clothes and shoes. She just sits in the middle of a big pile of stuff she has pulled off the shelves and has a blast. She has a natural affinity for jewelry and loves to put on my necklaces and carry my purses. She has made such a mess of my closet, and I love it.

Miss loves to get into my drawer of hair stuff while I'm getting ready in the bathroom. She pulls out brushes and bobby pins, clips, and scrunchies (I swear I only wear these when I'm working out or washing my face :) And speaking of jewelry, she always puts on my hair rubber bands like a bunch of bangle bracelets. I never showed her to do this. And I don't wear bracelets. My girl just knew what to do. She also loved the mass of clips and other things I put in my hair for this photo:

Miss found this pashmina in my closet and loves to play with it. She brings it to me so I'll put it around her head like a little babushka and then gives me this huge smile. Then she throws it around and twirls it and poses in front of the mirror with it.

She loves the full-length mirror behind the door to our bedroom. She makes funny faces, strikes cute poses, and shakes her booty in front of it so adorably I could just watch all day.

This is just a tiny glimpse of into all the things that my gorgeous funny girl does. I am such a lucky Momma.