Fall Festivities!

So far, Fall has been fun, a little crazy at moments, but we've been able to share some good family moments amongst the chaos that is always this time of year!

Hubs and I have actually been able to enjoy a couple Fall date nights- still not quite sure how that all happened, but I do feel a little spoiled with the handful of times we've been able to get out since Evelyn's arrival!  We were able to go to a movie together for the first time in 4 years, and also helped welcome our great friends' new restaurant- State Fare- to NW Arkansas!!

{had to pose for the Kissing Booth in their restaurant}

Back on the home front, the oldest sister has been keepin' us busy!  Harper's enjoyed soccer, play dates, and reading!  

A cruise around the block with your bestie... well of course.  I do think this may be the first of many pictures I snap of these two cruisin' around together- Lord help me when she's actually driving;)!!

Harper and Berkley reading their 'Sight-Word Books'.

 School Fun!

A picture of her on her FIRST school bus ride!  First field trip: Nursing Home to read to elderly friends;)!

She made it through another dental appointment- so brave!  I have to say, I think watching Frozen throughout the whole appointment helps... no joke, she was trying to sing the songs while her teeth were being cleaned- of course!

 

Couple Nana shout-outs: she seems to be following in her Nana's footsteps with her dislike of lima-beans.  I thought I could hide them amongst the other steamed vegetables and totally thought it worked- until I was cleaning up the kitchen and found them organized so nicely behind the napkin holder- ha!!  Speaking of Nana, she put together this beauty for my own little Princess Anna this Halloween.  I still cannot believe it's been 2 years since Frozen premiered and she still wants to be one of the movie's characters, but this dress is a beauty- can't WAIT for my little ones: Princess Anna, Queen Elsa, and Olaf to Trick-or-Treat this year!

{Thank you, Mom for the gorgeous costumes for the girls... you have a gift- and your grand kids are lucky ducks;)}

I think I was equally as excited as Harper when we got 'Booed' this year.  Such good memories of participating in the ding-dong-ditch style treats between neighborhood friends- I couldn't wait to do it with her!  We had fun with the Halloween treats and building our 'Boo Bags'!

Ms. Maggie is growing up right before our very eyes!  Pete and I keep saying- my goodness, she certainly is TWO!  She is becoming more and more independent, army crawling EVERYWHERE, starting to feed herself, and has developed her own opinions about everything.  She has been a feisty one from day one, but she has reached a whole new level this past month: she wants nothing to do with being contained, being told what to do, or really doing much that isn't her idea- ha!  Deep down, the mommy of this little tiger jumps for joy every time I notice her making a decision for herself, but the not so patient side of me who is wearing most of Maggie's lunch or has just been smacked for the 5th time because Maggie has an opinion about things is really startin' to sweat and may or may not be researching appropriate discipline for little miss- ha!  She amazes me every day and I swear she will be teaching me a thing or two for decades.  Little one: your roar may be extra loud these days, but I could not be more proud of you little sister, opinions and all;)!

{the barricade put up to try and keep her out of the lava rocks in our fireplace.  Barricade up for 5 minutes before barricade was silently pushed over to again play in the fantastic lava rocks within.  Maggie: 1 Barricade: 0- ha!!!}

 

Littlest sister is 7 months old!!!  My goodness I cannot even believe it.  We have a mover and shaker, eater, squealer, giggly, busy little girl on our hands!  She is sitting pretty well now, rolling and scooting all over, and even pushed herself up into a crawling position last night- what the what?!?!  She LOVES fruit, and anything savory- bring on the home- cookin', but still does NOT like green beans {oddly enough Harper's most favorite food at Evelyn's age}.  She is slowly coming out of the 'frustrated stage' as I call it... I think being able to move around and eat different stuff makes for a MUCH happier Evelyn... which makes for a MUCH happier Mommy;)!!  The one thing that I'm lovin' right now: how she opens her mouth super wide and just stares and slightly fusses whenever she is hungry.  She keeps her mouth open until you feed her- haha!  Oh and she does give pretty sweet {and somewhat slimy} kisses!

With Halloween upon us, I am looking forward to our first year of trick-or-treating as a family of 5!!  We wish you all a happy and safe Halloween with your munchkins!

Sunshine, Smiles, and Happy...

This year we decided to venture outside of our Arkansas zip code and take our very first 'Family of 5 Vacation'.  After much thought on what would be the best, we decided to visit Pete's childhood vacation place of choice- Perdido Key, Florida.  He had such fond memories of beach times there with his family, I was nervous that traveling with a 4 year old, 2 year old, and 7 month old may not make it feasible to live up to those fantastic childhood memories, but we held our breath, packed up enough stuff that could carry some families through a month- ha- and hit the road!

Little Miss did great for the first few hours, but car sickness showed its ugly face again, and took her down quickly.... and all through the night.  Poor baby... nothing like starting Family Vaca 2015 with puke.... :(.

 But as soon as she made it to this beautiful slice of earth, a calm came over her... and yep, I don't blame her;).

Pete and I couldn't help but take a moment to breath it all in- our home-away-from-home for the week, The Indigo.

Our view as we woke up every morning... it just didn't ever get old ;).

The icing on the cake: Pete's parents, his brother and his girlfriend along with their kids were vacationing a few condos down.  AWESOME!  Harper could not WAIT to throw her bathing suit on, head to the beach, and give her cousins the biggest hug.  Seeing them altogether on the beach made the two days of travel and lots of puke worth it- Harper was in Heaven... and I think we were too!

 The smiling beach babe!  I bought water shoes anticipating Harper would not be a fan of the sand and the ocean, but this kid was on Florida soil for 5 minutes and already pleading for the beach.  Wore those water shoes for 2 minutes max, and was heading for the ocean.... where she remained for the better half of the week.

 Every morning, we spent on the beach... attempting sand castles (we decided we have a fault in the architecture department;)), but my mom would be proud... I taught Harper to make 'trees' from the sand... we may or may not have made a small forest after giving up on the castle building.

Harper wins a few awards that week: most time in the ocean, sandiest, most at home in Florida, and most social- girl made more friends poolside than any of us;).

She even snapped this picture of Mommy & Daddy- not too shabby, sweetheart;)!

 Of course big sister had to help littlest sister be brave for her first dip in the ocean!

Evelyn loved it!  She loved digging her toes in the sand, napping on the beach, and playing with sand toys.

She even managed to tolerate her beach hat!

Evelyn's Awards: most naps, least amount of sun-protecting that baby soft skin, and best eater (she started eating solid foods this week- pumpkin muffins to be exact;))

 

And then there was Ms. Maggie!  She was SOOOO relaxed on the beach, but not such a fun of HER first dip in the ocean... I don't blame ya, girl- salty, cold ocean water, full of critters...I'd much rather lounge on the beach and enjoy the view as well!

This is where she preferred: moving herself all around the cool tile floor of the condo, surrounded by all her family at all times!

Her awards: most exercise (she scooted the whole condo tongs of times a day), biggest trooper after being so sick, and easiest going with our crazy vacation schedule!

Pete's BEST memory of his childhood vacations at Perdido Key: the Naval Air Museum.  So, of course that was #1 on his list and Harper was PSYCHED... kid is obsessed with any and all forms of air transportation!

So, on day 2 we packed up and headed for the museum.  Slight vacation foul: I left my wallet at home. Like the whole thing.  In Arkansas home.  Grrr.  Too bad the museum is located on a naval air base monitored by security where ID is required.  Boo.  So, after dropping the babies and I back off at the condo, Pete and Harper joined Pete's brother, Andy, his girlfriend, Britney, and their kiddos, Laila and Khaylix.  I was so sad to not be a part, but these awesome pictures made it seem that they had a blast!!

 

Laila and Harper were so sweet together...

 While their daddies were acting like goofballs.... "Goose, we're going down!!"

 The girls: Khaylix, Harper, and Laila

Pete's dad, Tom, has fantastic memories as well of traveling to Perdido Key with not only Pete's mom, Darla, and their boys, but also his parents.  So fun to hear the stories... especially of going to Joe Patti's HUGE seafood market.  You didn't even need to buy anything while you were in there, the place was an experience in itself!  Oodles of fish, all shapes and sizes- some with heads and some without- and yep, some losing their heads right as we were watching... ha- Harper's eyes were big as saucers, but she had a ball...

 

First and Last of the family pictures...oops!

 We greatly enjoyed the time together away from our normal routine and craziness.  We enjoyed cuddling our babies a little more, hours of conversation, great food (that most of the time I didn't have to prepare:), and watching our girls interact together....

Pete and I even got to sneak down to the beach together without the kiddos (thank you, Darla:)) to swim our way out to the sand bar.  Totally worth it, but Pete stepping on a man-a-ray on the way back in was about enough for me- again, I enjoy the ocean from a distance ;).

We were able to all get out to dinner together at Hub Staceys- so yummy!!!  Girls loved that they had their own table like big girls;)!

And we enjoyed that THEY enjoyed having their own table- ha- we were actually able to sit comfortably with the little ones and carry on a conversation;)!

The restaurant has a 'thing' of signing a dollar bill and stapling it to one of the overhead beams... well, of course we had to add to leave some Lee love to Hub Staceys:).

All in all we had a nice trip.  Always some hiccups, but spending 7 days with family was worth it all!!!  

The 'big kids' enjoyed catching up!

The 'little kids' enjoyed the cousin and family time.

 

And I even was able to get away (well with Ms. Evelyn of course) to the outlet mall with my mother-in-law.  Have we started a nice little tradition, Darla:)?!

But of course, all good things must come to an end... we posed for the family picture- will we ever be able to get 11 people happy and smiling for the camera?!?!  Ya, prolly not- ha!

...and watched one last sunrise... before packing up the trailer (not sure Daddy was happy to be leaving;)), and heading back to reality.

I'm grateful for all the memories, all the happy, all the time, and all the sunshine we were able to take in last week.  I know we all needed a 'pause' to recharge and get back to basics.  What a blessing to have that... miss you ALL, Indiana Lee Family, and hope to see you all again on the beach soon;)... a girl can dream, right?!?!