New Skills

Baby loves to stick out her tongue

And suck her thumb

And mock me while I fold laundry

Kids these days.

Fall Festival

Kitty's school does an annual fundraiser called Fall Festival.  They turn the school lawn into a carnival and auction off items.  It's a fun evening for all.  This year's theme was Dr. Seuss.  Kitty was going as Thing 1 and was excited to color her hair blue.  This vexed her father immensely.  Mykey and I wore Grinch shirts.  Seems accurate.

Kitty had a great time running around to all of the games and eating loads of sugar.  I had a great time sitting on the lawn in the shade.

I also had the pleasure of purchasing the caricature Kitty had drawn of herself.

I love everything about it.

I was slightly sad that this is Kitty's final Fall Festival before she heads off to middle school next year.  She needs to stop growing.

Stop it!  

Labor Day

Before we moved from Oregon, we went camping every Labor Day weekend with our dear friends.  This year, our dear friends flew all the way to TN to camp with us.

But we didn't actually camp.  That would be silly.  I have a baby.  They were going to stay at our house, but since we're still in construction mode, I put them up in a hotel instead.  It's a far better way to camp.

The weekend rushed by but it was incredibly good for my soul to have them here.  I'm grateful for dear friends who will travel so far to see us.

Kitty was especially grateful to be reunited with her bestie.  They talked non-stop and reminisced about the good-ol'-days in Oregon.  It was sweet.

We filled our few days with swimming

Hiking

And a trip to Smoky Mountain National park where the crowds were appalling.  We tried to meet up with our other Oregon friends who also moved to TN, but we lost cell phone reception and couldn't find them.  It was a bummer.  But we did spy a little black bear cub!  We also stopped at Buc-ee's on the way home so they could experience it.  Talk about appalling crowds! (But my Buc-ee's burrito was oddly divine.)

The rest of our time was spent visiting and laughing.  It was wonderful in every way.

Happy Labor Day!