a day with my Evie bear

S0 this morning my little Evie bear decided to wake up at 5:45 am-although she did talk to her stuffed bear and glow-worm for about 30 minutes and then she got irritated and wanted her mama and her milk, so alas, I got up and snuggled my girl and we looked at books while she drank milk from her sippy-cup. After we got ready for the day daddy took us girls out for breakfast at IHOP-one of our favorite places. And Evie actually ate more food then what she threw/dropped on the ground-amazing! Once we were done with breakfast daddy had to leave to go help "papa" chop some trees down ('cuz that's what country folks do :-) So my little lady and I went to another favorite place-Target! We picked up a few household items along with some cute fall clothes for my girl. Next stop was the park. I packed up a picnic lunch, a blanket (actually a beach towel) some hand sanitizer (essential when playing at the park with a toddler) after loading our items and Evie into the stroller-we were off! We walked (or rather I walked) to St. Ferdinand Park and Evie fell fast asleep in the stroller-another amazing thing since I think the last time she fell asleep in the stroller was when she was like 6 months old-but I guess when you wake up at 5:45 am you are ready for a snooze by 10:30 am!

We got the park and Evie became wide awake when she saw the playground-she climbed up and down, slid down the slide, climbed up the slide and then when all that got old she played in the sand from the near by sand volleyball court.

All that playing made mommy and Evie hungry so we stopped to eat our picnic lunch of cheese, crackers, ham, turkey, grapes, blueberries, milk (her) and of course a dr. pepper (me) And a third amazing feat happened-she actually sat on the blanket and ate for a solid 5 minutes before getting up to run around! So, we took our leftover crackers and fed the ducks in the pond and Evie declared "duck duck duck" like a million times but at least they really were ducks (sometimes she calls any small animal a duck.)

After the duck pond mommy was getting worn out from trying to keep Evie from jumping into the pond with the ducks so we decided (err I decided) that it was time to head home. And let me tell you walking to the park while pushing a 23 lb toddler and 10 lbs of our crap (while wearing jeans and flip flops) sounded like a great idea at 10:30 am but by 12:30 pm my feet ached, and I had sweat pouring down my face-I was a hot mess! Upon arriving home I announced it was nap time-Evie disagreed and proceeded to babble and whine and talk to her stuffed bear and glow worm and refuse to sleep-but I was not about to give up and she finally gave in and went to sleep and so did I and let me tell you, we both felt 100 times better after our nap, when she woke up we snuggled on the couch and watched cartoons until we were both fully awake. I love those few times she actually will hold still long enough to snuggle with me. After snack, and playing with some little people for a while we went to Old Time Pottery and purchased some new fall decor-including a scarecrow for Evie. I have had 2 scarecrows-a man and a women sitting on the porch for fall for several years and last year got away from me and I never bought one to represent our little girl. So now our scarecrow family is complete.

After stopping by aunt Jessi's house for a quick visit we went home for dinner, bath, and some more snuggle time and book reading. Once Evie went to dreamland I got out my fall decor and decorated the porch and living room. Every year I say that I don't have time to decorate for fall and I am not going to do it but I always end up decorating for fall because I love this season so much and it does not feel like fall unless I have my fall colors and pumpkins out! So now I sit here taking in the scent of pumpkin spice candles and reflecting on my day with my sweet girl. I love her soo much and I love days when we get to spend time with each other-just her and I, and I hope that she enjoys them just as much as I do.