Blogging hiatus and LOTS of firsts...

WOW!! WHERE HAVE I BEEN FOR ALMOST A MONTH???? I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged...I feel terrible. People have been texting, emailing, and coming up to me asking why I haven't been blogging. Well friends, let me just tell you, I have been one B-U-S-Y little girl since I last posted! For starters, we didn't have the internet for over a week because our router went out, then we were out of town for 4 days, then one week was completely consumed w/ dinners and meetings every.single.night.....then, I planned a surprise party for my mama's 50th birthday, had student-led conferences until 9pm one night, and had to be back at work at 8am for inservice the next day....oh yeah, and Fall Break fell in to all of that too! WHEW! It's definitely been a complete whirlwind around here the last few weeks.....but it's been fun! So, sorry for the lack of blogging...but as you can see....I've been completely consumed!

First off, I want to start by sharing something special that happened at our house on Wednesday, October 7th.....it actually happened in the morning and I wasn't able to document it the first time it happened, but I caught her later that week! I left Harper playing in the floor like this...And when I returned, I found this....YES, SHE IS ROLLING OVER! And over, and over, and over!!! She's a rolling machine now! And, on Saturday, she even rolled on over to return to her back! WOW! When did she get old enough to do all this stuff? lol And now, she's sleeping on her stomach! AHHH....I know....step back moms....it's okay! I panicked too at first, but I just wake up every hour or two and feel of her to make sure she's breathing! As a matter of fact, now she lays on her belly with her hands underneath her, and puts her little booty up in the air! SO presh! :)

While we were on our mini-vacation, I laid her down the correct way at night, and when I woke up the next morning, this is how I found her....

.....hahaha...she definitely can get herself into some positions now. Sometimes she even wakes herself up because she roots herself to the top of her pack and play and hits her head! lol She cracks me up!

Also, during our Fall Break, we went on our first little family vacation to Gatlinburg w/ our great friends Tommy, Erin, and Annabella and we had a blast!!!  Harper is such a good traveler and I think she even had a great time!  Her and Annabella get along so well and Annabella is so good w/ her!  She is such a little mother hen and it's the cutest thing you've ever seen!  She'll say, "Kara, Harper is spitting out milk!" or "Kara, Harper has a poopy diaper! LOL  It's so sweet!  

During our trip, we did a lot of fun things and had MANY eventful moments....many to say the least.  For starters, after we got in our cabin on Sunday night, we decided to go eat in Gatlinburg and walk the streets for a while.  So, Brandon and I found a good little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant up there during our last trip, so we decided to take them there.  It was so yummy too!  Then we just loaded the girls up in their strollers and headed out.  We walked in and out of many little shops and just had a great time!  Want to hear something crazy....while we were in one little baby shop, I met a little boy named Knox!!!  How weird is that?  I've never known of another baby w/ that name until I chose it several years ago, then Angelina Jolie named her son that!  Oh well....he was a doll baby!  And, I can't wait to see what our little Knox will look like one day!  So anyway...back to our story, after a little shopping, we decided it was time to head back to the cabin.  So as we got back to our car, parked right in the middle of downtown Gatlinburg by the way, the boys were loading up, and  Erin and I were packing up the strollers and she started  saying, "Get in the car!"  I was like well what is it? LOL  I looked up toward the street and saw nothing.....then she was like, "There's a bear!!!"  And, boy was there ever.....right there in the middle of the parking lot walking right toward us!  I believe that's the quickest I have ever folded up that big stroller and thrown it in a vehicle.  Then, her and B decided to stand outside and see who could get better pics of it....here's a sample of what we saw! (Sorry for the quality but it's a cell pic!)This was no small bear!  It was just hungry and went right up to the dumpsters behind the restaurant to look for food....but oh goodness....it was so scary!  We can all laugh about it now, but at the time it was NOT funny! lol

So, after all that excitement, we had a fun-filled, packed day on Monday.  We got up and ate breakfast and then headed to Dollywood and it was the first time for both of the girls to go!  Annabella loved everything and Harper got to ride the carousel for the first time...We had so much fun and saw some wonderful shows!  It kinda drizzled all day, so we looked a little rough before we left, but we still had to stop for a group photo for the memory books...Then after leaving Dollywood, we had tickets, thanks to my in-laws and their buddies, to the Dixie Stampede that night!  We've been once before and I didn't love it, but I truly enjoyed it this time.  However, I did take my own spoon so that I didn't have to eat w/ my hands and I think that helped the situation a lot! ha:)  The girls had a ball!!!!  Annabella and Harper could not take their eyes off of everything going on...it was so cute!

Before the show started, we went out front and, of course, had to have a little photo session...and I'm so glad we did!  I think they turned out so cute!  I love this group photo of us all........and a little family photo........one of the little one (sitting up like a big girl).......and one of the girls sitting on one of the displays....There is such a funny story behind this picture....Annabella was NOT so sure about the whole straw horse or fake cowboy and she just screamed at the top of her lungs....I was afraid she was about to throw Harper off and jump off herself!  I was there trying to convince her it was okay...but this was the best we could do....oh well!  It's still super cute and still a great memory!

Overall, we had a great time and we spent the next whole day shopping, shopping, shopping...which equals fun, fun, fun for Erin and I!  Whoo hoo....we had a ball and did lots of Christmas shopping!

So, sorry for the long delay...I promise to never go that long again without blogging!  Thanks for sticking around to see what we've been up to!

And, I'll leave you with an adorable picture that I hope brightens your day as much as it can brighten mine! :)More to come.....

xoxo, Kara C: