Nursery School Pictures

(after Instagram)

I stressed out over making sure that Scarlett had the perfect outfit for her first ever school pictures; probably a little too much, but I think it worked out!  She looks sweet and innocent, while also put together and preppy.

Good thing I listened to everyone and decided not to go with the purple background/white shirt route!

An entire month of blogging in one post.

Well, September has been an eventful and fun-filled month, so far!  First of all, Louisa Violet Francis turned THREE on the 10th!!!  (Ahhmmm...since her mother hasn't blogged about it yet, I feel like I'm safe...!)  Here is Lulu's special day in pictures:

Laughing??  And no fights?!  Scarjo must know it's her birthday!!!

Lulu S-L-O-W-L-Y dragged that kitty away...she is a smooth one!

Poppy loving the birthday shopping!

Captive audience...just waiting to get their hands on her goods!

Lulu loves her some chocolate!!!

Oh, Alyssa!

Lulu, the Ladybug Girl!

And then, the 13th marked ONE YEAR since Scarlett stopped nursing.  Just one.  How crazy is that?!  At the time, it wasn't a bizarre thing for me to nurse her to sleep, but now she's such a big girl, that I can't believe how much she has changed in such a short amount of time!

Poppy had her first visit to the Apple Farm!!!  Parties!  It was a quick visit and perfect because it was a Wednesday at noon -- no one was there!  Tyler, Mary, Brian, and Lulu met Scarjo, Poppy, and me there after our MOPS play date...very spur-of-the-moment!

Another eventful change that's going on in our family...we're following my crazy mother's lead and going vegan.  She watched Forks Over Knives and that was it for her!  Then she read Skinny Bitch and that was the end for the rest of us; she converted us all to at least vegetarianism.  One by one.  Molly was the first to convert and the easiest because Mum buys all her groceries and makes most meals.  Mary and I have been open to the idea, but harder to turn because we (okay, mostly me!) just struggle at cooking in general.  Now we have to find substitutes??  Too much.  But it's happening and I'm excited to make my babies into healthy eaters!  Goodbye, Splenda (no, thank you, luekemia!), half & half (sads forever.), and buffalo chicken (hardest. thing. ever.) and hello, tofu, "princess" (forbidden black) rice, and soy milk in my coffee!  So far, so good!

Also, I went to the Ulta Benefit Brow Bar and had my eyebrows done!!!  After Poppy was born, my eyebrows fell out.  For reals.  Sooo, off to Ulta I went, after very badly trying to fill them in myself for the last 11 months.  The wax girl there was a miracle worker!!!  Totally worth the $12/per eyebrow (what!!!) wax job.  Totally.  Here is the evidence:

Clearly, I'm psyched!  

And now that September is quickly coming to a close...I need to order Scarlett's Halloween costume SOON!!!  I have had it planned for a few months, but keep forgetting to actually buy the costume.  Struggle.  Here she is last year...two days before Poppy was born!  I am not sure if I can come close to this cuteness, but I'm certainly going to try!

Bein' Festive!

Every year, I always plan on doing all things festive for the appropriate season, and I usually succeed (Minus Maple Sunday; I can never remember when it is), but this year I am a hundred years pregnant.  That changes things bit!  I want to take Scarlett to the apple farm, corn mazes, and pumpkin lands, but I just don't have the energy, so the most festive thing I had done until today was make sure her halloween costume was here and ready, just in case I have an itty bitty baby to also take care of.

I realized that I was going to have to step up my game when Scarlett shrieked with excitement over the neighbors halloween lights an decorations.  (over-achievers.)  She's getting to the age where traditions mean something to her and I wanted to make sure that we had some festive stuff going on.

Honestly, I had planned to step up to the plate during the Christmas season and have Tyler decorate the house!

Mary and I had made a million plans to go to the apple farm all Fall, but it had yet to happen.

The only reason we even had pumpkins that were maybe going to be carved was because Auntie Mary took Scarlett and Lulu out to the local grocery store to pick them out!  Mom fail.  I missed the first pumpkins that Scarlett ever picked out!

Clearly, I have been slacking this season in the fun, festive department, so when Mary suggested we go to the apple farm, I jumped on board!

It was a quick 15 minute drive to get there, but once we arrived, we soon realized we'd missed prime apple-picking season; the place was dead.  Still, we excitedly picked out an empty bag and headed out to the field.  That was their favorite part; Lulu and Scarlett were obsessed with picking out any apple to stick in their bags!  It was so fun to watch!  (Though, I'm not even gonna lie, when we got home and looked through our apples, we realized that most of them were gross and bruised, but it was the experience that mattered!)

Ready for some apple picking!

Now as far as those pumpkins went, Mary kept trying to convince me to carve them, but never seemed to work out.  Carving was either going to be too messy and I was going to have company over or we'd find something else to do with the girls.

Turns out, today was the day!  Apple picking and carving pumpkins back to back -- hello, festivity!  I am taking no credit for the Fall fun because Mary carved Lulu and Scarlett's big pumpkins and Tyler came home early and carved "Smith" into the baby pumpkin that Scarlett had picked.  I was just the photographer of all the Fall Festivities!

Carving pumpkins outside because the weather was THAT nice!

After the pumpkins were carved, the girls had a dance session on the front lawn!  Lucky neighbors!  

Lulu's ballet dancing!

Now I'm getting ready for my doctor appointment this morning -- happy 40 weeks to me tomorrow!  I wonder if baby 2 will make her appearance before halloween or if she'll be a November baby...?!

Rockin' Out at Life!

You know those days where you just are awesome at everything?  Like 'your laundry is going, your dishes are put away, and your little one has a warm breakfast in her belly' kind of awesome!  That's my day today and I'm loving it!  It isn't always like this, though...

Scarlett will be three in January, so that might be why she's decided not to nap recently, but it seems to have been affecting me more than her.  I have a routine in my head and mentally check out around noon when she's (supposed to be) asleep and I get my break.  When she stays awake, it throws my schedule off and I get frustrated with myself and can't seem to catch up with my day.  The little things bother me and I just shut down mentally and float through the rest of the day trying to get to bedtime while being productive.  Then I know I can relax; guilt-free.

Well, today I made two mental schedules -- one including nap time and one without a nap.   SHOCKER.  She's not napping...but I'm not freaking out!!!  Yay for getting ahead of the game after a week of hoping for naps and being disappointed!  Schedule #2 is working out for me!

Here's what I did...I decided that I must have a break during the day where I can guilt-free relax for a minute.  My break would have been during her 45-60 minute naps; and it was heaven, but that's over now, so my plan for a nap-less day included a break during her old nap time.  And so now I don't feel like I'm just going, going, going; it's pretty much awesome!

I still jumped on my computer and Scarlett entertained herself!  I also feel like a good mom because independent play is super-important.  She needs to be able to entertain herself -- especially with baby 2 coming in a few weeks!

I do know that there will be off days with this new schedule, but that's why there's always Sesame Street!  ;)

It's so funny how some days you can handle everything, and do it well, and then there are days when the same obstacles seem like the end of the world.   Today is a rockin' out at life kind of day!

I'm taking a note from Kelle Hampton's blog and enjoying the small things!  Here are the happy things going on around here:

Instagram!  I. am. addicted.

Come follow me!  megkb76

Everything Fall!  Especially yummy home fragrances...this is what my house smells like these days!

I love BBW!

The funny things she does that make me laugh!

Fruitcake!

Doing new things to make bath time more fun!  (shown in the form of Instagram photos)

Who doesn't love glow sticks?!

Blue and red ice cubes make for a very purple-y bath!

The changing leaves and when Scarlett squeals, "look out my window at the beautiful trees!"

Fall in Maine!  Thank you, google!

PUMPKINS!  Mary got me hooked last year...

Birthday parties everyday and silly expressions.  (This picture was not taken the same day as the video...we are big on birthday parties!)

Funny and right-on ecards! 

yup.