It Was A Good Crop This Year

Sunday night Juliet attended her first Fall Festival at church! She was a precious little flower, 'little blossom' to be exact! Justin was the farmer and quite proud of the little blossom from his garden :) Juliet made it through the night with no candy! She didn't even get a taste of the frosting on our cupcake. She did get to go on the big, blow up slide and she got her first balloon. It was a big hit! Once we got home she figured out if she bounced her arm, the balloon would bounce too! She loved it! We won't be going trick-or-treating this year, but maybe she'll be ready in 2010. We had a little photo shoot before we left at Leigh's house with Deda and Granddaddy. Since it's been up in the 80's, our pumpkins are rotting-yuck.

Power Tool Pumpkin Carving

With our pumpkin from Burt's ready to be carved, we set up shop in the front yard for Juliet's first pumpkin carving experience. It looked promising, but Juliet was asleep. We parked her out front and took pictures so she would remember. I began stabbing the pumpkin and realized this booger was thick. Justin very casually mentioned he had some power tools. Well I took him up on the offer. He had that pumpkin popped open in no time! Most excellent. I began digging out the seeds when little one decided she wanted to participate after all...after she ate. So Justin takes over and I go in to wash. Juliet and I set up in the lawn chair in the front yard and a few minutes later, she is a new little lady. Justin nor I had any sketches or even ideas for the jack-o-lantern. Justin said he would pre-drill the eye holes and with that, the pumpkin evolved. The easiest pumpkin we've ever carved (especially for me since I watched)! It turned out super!!

A mini photo shoot evolved too...not once could I get her and the camera to cooperate in a shot with her looking at me.

Fall Fling

We spent a long weekend with Deda and Granddaddy weekend before last. Since my family moved to North Georgia in the 90's, we have a tradition of going apple "picking" in Ellijay, the apple capitol of Georgia. I don't think I've missed a year. It never gets old! Selecting your apples, eating fried apple pies, apple fritters, apple donuts and sipping apple cider is just the beginning. Fall leaves, mountain scenery and cool weather to go along with the apples makes it a perfect celebration. (Although this year the leaves were just beginning to change and it wasn't cool.) The apple tour ends with a visit to Burt's Pumpkin Patch. A truly yuppy joint, but who cares!! I love it! Last year it was fun to think about having a little one with us. Juliet wasn't too sure about the large orange things and didn't want her picture made with them alone. Maybe next year will be more fun for her. She did enjoy strolling around in the pumpkins though.

We also celebrated Deda's birthday while we were there...Birthday Diaster Weekend 2009. (inside joke)

My Granny, Juliet's Gigi, recently moved to North Georgia, so we were able to go visit her while we were there too! Gigi hadn't seen Juliet since she was born! What a change!! She was also able to visit with her great aunt and uncle and cousin. Gigi, Aunt Ann and Neal were able to make a trip over to Calhoun for church on Sunday, so we got to visit more!

Juliet was soooo tired. She did not want to take a picture. Neal couldn't get enough of her ear lobes, just like Leigh! We were so glad we were able to spend time with the fam!!

Juliet::the past few days

Here are a few pictures of Juliet (who else?) over the past week. She is such fun!!

Playing with Daddy's helmet.

She fell asleep holding on!

Juliet wore a vintage light pink sweater and bonnet to church Sunday. She looked like a doll! Leigh and I both wore the sweater and bonnet! At first she was mad that we made her wear it!

A Few Videos

A few fun videos of Juliet.

Climbing the stairs at Deda and Granddaddy's. She had no problem figuring it out. Glad we don't have any at our house! She liked walking up the steps even better. Holding her fingers, she would pick her foot up high and step up. If only she had balance!



Justin and Juliet having some homemade fun! By the end she was giggling like crazy. He stopped and took her out and she cried. He put her back in and she stopped crying immediately. I guess that means she likes it!

Little Camper

Much to Justin's joy (and mine), Juliet is a good camper! This weekend we went to Lake Lurleen State Park for our first camping trip as a family (Lucy included). I was a little anxious since Juliet had been teething all week, which resulted in multiple dirty diapers daily and crankiness. But she took a break from teething just in time! We chose Lake Lurleen because it is half way between CeCe and Pops and us. They met us there on Saturday to visit with Juliet.

Our friends Amy and Florence (6 weeks) went with us. Amy's hubby was out on business and wanted to get out in this beautiful weather, so we invited them to come along. Florence is also a great camper! Really, going camping with a baby, especially when baby is breastfed and a non-walker, is not bad at all! Amy provided a super dinner, girl scout style. We had ground beef patties and veggies wrapped in foil packets, laid in the red hot coals. The packets had onions, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, potatoes, winter squash, and tomatoes! With a little olive oil and the juices from the meat, it was perfect. They turned out wonderful! This meal is a keeper for camping trips!

Juliet loved watching the fire and even feel asleep easily, watching the flames dance. She slept very well. I had her in warm footie pajamas (with socks underneath), a fuzzy jacket and matching hat. She did pretty good about keeping the hat on. It did get chilly early, early in the morning, but she did just fine sleeping on Justin's chest, underneath a sub-zero sleeping bag. Juliet woke at her usual time between 6 and 6:30, ready to play, after eating of course. Justin got the fire started again and began to prepare breakfast. Florence had a nice night only to be awakened at 7:30 by the ROTC's air horn! It was orienteering day. The menu for breakfast was bacon, eggs and toast in the skillet, nothing better!! Espresso too.

CeCe and Pops arrived at 9:00. They played and played. Juliet got her first noisy toy. (We are now wondering if CeCe and Pops love us or not - just kidding). CeCe prepared a super lunch and by 4:00 it was check out time. Juliet was asleep before we even left the park!

We had a great time camping with Amy and Florence. Hopefully we can all go camping again before it gets too cold. My dad, Granddaddy, was super excited that Juliet was a good camper. I'm sure he is already planning a trip for the future! I hope she continues to like to camp. Justin and I both have great childhood memories of camping and fishing.

Showing off my teeth!

First Food!

I'll write more in Juliet's 9 month update, but the doc wanted us to start solid foods. So, Juliet's first food is banana! She likes it too. Here is video of the deed!