Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone today! I am so excited that they say the rain is going to move out before trick-or-treating time tonight! Harper will get to experience her first Halloween- well, her first one where she really can participate :) We're going to take her to a few family member's houses and around our neighborhood in her wagon.

I remember when I was a kid and my mom and aunt would take me, my sister and all my cousins around to all of our family and friend's houses. We lived out in the "country," so we couldn't walk around trick or treating. We all piled up in the car and drove around all night collecting candy and visiting. It was such a fun night that I looked forward to every year.

Be safe and have a great Halloween!

A Fun Weekend

Happy Monday! We had a really fun and busy weekend. I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures, but I did get quite a few from the past couple of days to share :)

I decided that Harper probably "needed" one of the Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chairs. They are so cute, and she loves it!

On Saturday, we went to lunch with Clint's mom's side of the family at Panera Bread. Clint's cousin had a little girl about 2 months before Harper was born, so they are very close in age. It was fun to watch them interact and play together. Harper is eyeing Avery's cracker in this picture. She's about to go in for the kill! Luckily, she got a cracker of her own :)

On Saturday evening, we went to our Church for Trunk or Treat. Harper is still a little young to really trick or treat or play the games, but she still had fun just running around and watching all the kids. She is a ladybug for Halloween this year!

Really, all she wanted to do was pick through all the candy baskets. Too bad she can't eat any of it, but her Mom and Dad can! Haha

Yesterday morning, we actually had a few minutes before we had to leave for Church to take some pictures. Isn't this outfit adorable? I love it!

It's like an act of Congress to get a good picture these days because she is always moving!

I hope everyone has a great week! We are hoping for no rain on Thursday night, so we can go trick or treating for the first time :)

Five on Friday- Fashion Finds

I have been doing a little online browsing lately to find some items to add to my Christmas list :) Here are a few of my favorites!

1. I think these two jackets are so cute and look so comfy. They are a little on the expensive side for what I usually spend, but I could dress them up or down to wear during the week or on the weekends.

2. I like to try and find different types of pants to wear to work because the same old black and brown dress pants get old. I haven't tried these yet, but I keep hearing and reading great reviews on the Gap cord pants. They have them in all different colors, so I might give them a try.

3. I like to wear dresses, tights and boots to work a lot in the winter. They are just so much more comfortable to me than pants. I love this Herringbone dress from Gap.

4. I think this cardigan is so cute and could be dressed up or down as well. I'm not sure how it would look on me since it's fairly long and I'm short, but I still like it :) I guess for those of us who are short, this could be paired with some leggings for a comfy, weekend outfit!

5. So, I haven't decided if I'm into this or not, but it seems the Oxford style shoes are coming back in style. I guess I would have to try them on to decide if I liked them or not depending on how they looked on my feet, but I think these are awful cute if I were to get some!

We have some plans this weekend that include lunch with family and Trunk or Treat at Church on Saturday evening! Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures to post on Monday :)

Recipe- Pot Roast

Right after I had Harper, one of Clint's co-workers brought dinner for us. It was so delicious, and I have been making it often ever since. It's so easy and great for a hearty meal. I like to serve it with mashed potatoes and rolls. Hope you enjoy!

Beef or Pork Roast- whatever size you want depending on how many you are feeding

1 packet Ranch dressing powder mix

1 packet Au Jus powder mix

1/2 jar Pepperoncini peppers

In your crock pot, put roast, powder mixes and 1/2 jar of peppers and juice. Cook on low for about 10 hours. If you aren't going to be home to keep an eye on it, add a little water to make sure it doesn't dry out. That's it- so easy and delicious! 

Scrapbook Letters

When Harper was born, I decided that I would write her a letter every month documenting what she was doing, how much she was eating, how she was growing, etc. I stuck to it and have one for every single month through her first birthday. As I said, I wanted to document everything so I wouldn't forget, but I also wanted her to have something as a memento of her first year. Although I'm not going to do it every month now, I do want to do updates every 2-3 months about what's going on with her.

Harper turned 14 months old yesterday, and it's hard to believe it has been over a year since she was born. You've all heard this, whether you have kids or not, but everyone says that times flies by so you need to enjoy and savor every single moment. Well, they are right. Time does fly, and I know that in the blink of an eye we'll be buying Harper her first car. Although life is busy, I still try to savor the moments I have with her every single day.

Over the past two months, Harper has mastered walking and is almost running! She has also turned very curious and tries to get in all the cabinets that don't have locks on them. She loves to pull all of the towels out and throw them on the laundry room floor. She also loves pulling all of the baking pans out and dragging them around the house too!

This girl absolutely LOVES being outside. I think she could spend all day out there just walking around and exploring. She goes on wagon rides, swings, picks weeds/flowers and just walks around. She will head toward the door and look behind her making sure you are following. If you aren't following, she walks up and tries to make you understand that she wants you to. Then, she goes to the door and just stands there, obviously wanting to go out. I'm so glad that the weather has gotten nicer, so that we can spend more time outside. It's going to get pretty cold though soon, so we'll have one cranky girl when she can't go out as often!

When we started feeding her table food around 9 months, she would eat almost anything. The past month or two though, she has gotten pretty picky. This girl's diet consists of dairy, carbs and fruit. We can rarely get her to eat meat these days and can't get many vegetables down her either. Her favorites are grilled cheese, cheese sticks, applesauce, bananas, cantaloupe, waffles and Gerber puffs. We always try to get her to eat whatever we are having- sometimes she eats it, sometimes she doesn't. She loves milk, water and juice (which is mainly water with a little juice for flavor). She has 7 teeth now, and we're expecting more to start popping up over the next few months.

She is wearing between 9-18 month clothing, depending on the brand. She has TONS of clothes, and I'm so glad she has stayed pretty true to size for her age because she had lots of clothes bought for her before she was even born to wear this past summer and this fall/winter.

Harper is still sleeping about 11 hours straight each night- she's always been a great sleeper ever since she was about 3 months old. She goes to sleep around 8:00 pm and wakes up between 7:00-8:00 am.

Her favorite toys are her books. She has really gotten to where she will sit down and let you read several to her these past two months. You can tell she's really concentrating, studying and listening as you read. I LOVE that she loves books; she takes after her Mommy in that regard :) You can tell she has also really started learning and listening. She can tell you sounds that different animals make and can point out/pick up those animals when you ask her to. We do birds (caw-caw), ducks (quack-quack), frogs (ribbet-ribbet) and babies (wah-wah) (those are some of her bath toys that we play with every night). She can also say Da-Da and Daddy, wave and say Bye-Bye and she says Ma-Ma every once in a while. She says "girl" in her own little way and "Aurora" in her own little way (from Sleeping Beauty).

Dear Harper, you have SO many people that love you so very much. You are one lucky girl! We are so lucky that you are good and pleasant. I'm so blessed and grateful to call you mine, and I can't wait to see what's in store for us over the the next couple of months as you learn and grow!

Five on Friday

1. I am so happy that it's Friday this week- even more so than usual! I have been so busy at work the past few days with some important quarterly meetings that I usually have to travel to out of state. Our company decided to hold them in Little Rock in October from now on, and I'm so glad that is two less times I have to travel during the year. I'm really tired today though, and I'm just ready for a nice, relaxing weekend with no real agenda :)

2. I don't really drink coffee. If I do it's the "froo froo" kind from Starbucks with lots of sugar, cream and syrup. This time of year though, I wish that I was an avid coffee drinker. The idea of it sounds so nice to have your nice, hot cup of coffee and go out and sit on the back porch in the mornings. Haha, like I said, I like the idea better than actually doing it.

3. I am SO over everyone talking about Miley Cyrus. Yes I realize I'm giving in by typing this right now, but she got what she wanted- a ton of attention- and now let's move on. I still remember her from Hannah Montana, and she should have stuck with that image.

4. I saw this bedding on Pinterest the other day, and I LOVE it. I can just see adding a little color with lots of throw pillows- I think it's gorgeous. Unfortunately, the link is not valid. Ugh, I hate when that happens on Pinterest.

5. We are supposed to embark on our freezer meals project this weekend. I'm not sure if it's actually going to happen though because some family are in from out of town staying at Clint's aunt's house. But, if we do end up following through, I'll let you know how it goes! Even if we don't do it this weekend, I am going to at least do it myself within the next couple of weeks. 

Rainy Wednesday

Happy hump day! It's been rainy and gloomy today around these parts, so I started thinking about my favorite rainy day activities. I would say my absolute favorite is staying at home in my pajamas with my family eating yummy food and watching movies! Unfortunately, that's not going to keep a 14 month old occupied all day. I found some cute ideas for rainy day activities for kids.

If you have a water table, you could put rice in it for your kids to play with inside! Rice would be similar to letting them play in sand, but much easier to clean up!

You could also get your little one to help you bake some yummy cookies! That might get a little messy, but that's OK. I probably wouldn't try this with Harper yet, but we will make plenty of goodies as she gets older! You have plenty of time on a rainy day to clean up :)

I remember when I was younger, and we used to make indoor forts. I LOVED doing this and think it's a great rainy day activity! The fort would be a great place to read books and take naps :)

Comfort Food Recipe- Chicken Pot Pie

Last night, Clint's aunt was trying out a new recipe for us to possibly use for our freezer meal project. She found a chicken pot pie recipe from Taste of Home. It was absolutely delicious, so I wanted to share with everyone. It's make A LOT, so you can feed a big crowd or freeze some for later. Enjoy!

2 cups diced and peeled potatoes

1 3/4 cups sliced carrots

1 cup butter, cubed

2/3 cup chopped onion

1 cup all purpose flour

1 3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried thyme

3/4 tsp. pepper

3 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups milk

4 cups cooked and cubed chicken

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

2 packages refrigerated pie pastry

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook covered for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender; drain.

2. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until tender. Stir in flour and seasonings until blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in chicken, peas, corn and potato mixture; remove from heat.

3. Unroll a pastry sheet into each of two 9 inch pie plates; trim even with rims. Add chicken mixture. Unroll remaining pastry; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut slits in top.

4. Bake 35-40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. 

This recipe makes 2 large pot pies (8 servings each).

Freezer Option: Cover and freeze unbaked pies. To use, remove from freezer 30 minutes before baking (do not thaw). Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pies on baking sheets; cover edges loosely with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce oven setting to 350 degrees; bake 70-80 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown.

Five on Friday- Pinterest Finds

The theme for today is some of my favorite recent Pinterest finds :)

1. I think this OPI Matte nail polish would be a great purchase to change up your polish for Fall/Winter.

You could add it to this mason jar manicure kit/lantern for a great, creative gift for any lady in your life.

2. This personalized board book it is a great idea for anyone with little kids. It would be especially good for those who have family that live out of town that you may not see very often.

3. These loaded nachos look so delicious and would be a great Fall comfort food.

5. I have been seeing this bracelet all over the internet for about a year now and have really wanted to buy it, however it's much too expensive for me to spend on a bracelet if I were to order it from J. Crew. 

I got super lucky and got an email from Jane.com the other day, and they were selling one that looked identical for a great price! That particular deal has now expired, but they run the same items often so if you aren't signed up yet, I would highly suggest it! Also, Groop Dealz is very similar to Jane.com, and I'm signed up to get their emails too. They both have some really great stuff for amazing prices.

Being a Working Mom

Yesterday, I was off work because I had several appointments in Conway that I scheduled on the same day. Clint's aunt kept Harper, but I did get to see her throughout the day quite a bit in between all of it. I REALLY enjoyed that and thought of how great it would be to have the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. I know that it wouldn't be all sunshine and roses and it would be really hard and trying on your nerves at times because taking care of kids isn't easy by any means! So, don't think I'm saying that it would be a much easier job than working outside the home! However, it would be nice to clean the house, do the laundry, grocery shop, run errands and cook dinner every (well, almost every!) night during the week instead of having to do all of these things on the weekends when all I want to do is relax, spend time with my family and do fun stuff.

I didn't think much of it throughout my pregnancy, but as soon as I was nearing going back to work last Fall, the guilt set in. Should I quit work and stay home with her? Am I a bad mom because I'm going back to work?

As most of you know, I did go back to work and have been back for about a year now. I still feel guilt several times a week over this, but I know that it is the best thing for our family right now. I could quit- we've certainly talked about it and Clint would be very supportive of it. We could sell our house, buy a smaller house, curtail our spending on non-essential "extras"; Clint could pick up some side jobs (he's very handy), but I really do enjoy my job, what I do, my coworkers and having my own responsibilities outside of the house that I am solely in charge of. I love our house, our neighborhood and being able to buy things that we might not necessarily just absolutely NEED. I also don't want Clint to have to work any more than he already does. I think an advantage to his job as a firefighter is the schedule that he has and being able to have his down time.

We stick to a strict budget in our household, but it would be crazy strict if I didn't work too! The only thing I absolutely HATE about my job is the commute. On average, I'm on the road almost 2 hours every weekday. I leave the house around 6:30 am and get home between 5:45-6:00 pm. On weekday nights, I really only get to spend about 2 hours with Harper after I get home.

We are extremely blessed to have Harper be at home all the time. Clint's aunt keeps her two days a week, Clint keeps her two days and my mom keeps her on Fridays. I think this makes me feel better because I know that she is being cared for by family (and her dad!), so I know she's comfortable and gets lots of attention. I am jealous that Clint gets to be with her so much during the week while I'm at work, but I'm so glad that she gets to spend lots of time with her dad! Also, it's a huge plus that Clint's aunt is a retired Kindergarten teacher, so Harper should be just as prepared for school as kids who go to daycare/Preschool. We have been doing some research and will probably put her in a Mother's Day Out program within the next year or two, just so she can socialize and be around other kids/adults.

So with all that being said, I don't think there is ever a perfect solution or answer to this dilemma that I feel every family faces who has kids. I think all options are great- working parents, stay at home parents, daycare, home care- it all depends on what works best for you and your family. Each parent wants the best for their children and makes the best decisions for their family.

I think the perfect scenario is having a job where you work about 3 days a week- too bad those are few and far between! :)

Finally Fall

I am excited to say that I think it's officially Fall around these parts. I'm ready to get my boots out! We had a cold front move through on Saturday/Sunday, and the weather has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Let's hope it stays this way for at least a couple of weeks before getting frigid and cold!

We had a very low key weekend, just hanging around the house and running a few errands here and there. It rained off and on most of the day Saturday, but we spent quite a bit of time outside on Sunday.

I just can't believe how grown up Harper is looking these days. I think she has transitioned from looking like a baby to looking like a little girl!

She has also gotten to where she will actually sit in the chair with us at night and let us read a few books before bed. Before, she would just pull the books out and wouldn't sit and actually listen/pay attention. It is so precious, and I look forward to it every night :)

I did try a new recipe for dinner last night, and I thought it was ok. Clint LOVED it though, so I would say it's a keeper. Here's the recipe link. It was a shrimp pasta dish.

Five on Friday- Halloween Edition

1. I'm not a fan of scary or horror type movies AT ALL. I do, however, like some of the fun Halloween related movies. Some of my favorites are Hocus Pocus, Halloween Town, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Practical Magic and Teen Witch. I'll definitely have to watch a few of these this month :)

2. I decided that Harper needed a trick-or-treating candy bag that she could use every year, so I ordered her this one from Pottery Barn Kids. It was very reasonably priced, the shipping was free and they monogram it! They have lots of other cute options to choose from as well. Not to mention, I ordered it on Wednesday, and it's supposed to be delivered today! Now that's fast service.

3. There are so many cute Halloween costumes that you can buy or make yourself for little kids. Clint's mom bought Harper two costumes last year from someone that she knows- a ladybug and a pig. They are both SUPER CUTE, and this year Harper is going to be a ladybug :) I'm not sure how long we'll be able to keep the hat portion of the costume on her, but hopefully long enough for a few pictures. I can't wait to dress her up and take her trick-or-treating in her wagon around our neighborhood. Also, it's an added bonus that Clint and I will get some candy to snack on!

4. Here are a few of my favorite pumpkin "designs" that I've seen lately. I'm not sure mine would turn out as good if I tried, but they are all really cute. I could probably manage the white pumpkins that you draw on with sharpies.

5. I really want to be a fun and creative mom, even more so as Harper gets older and remembers more. I think it's hard sometimes to make the effort to be creative when you work full-time and have a commute. Mornings are rushed and by the time you get home, you're exhausted. I really do want to make an effort though, so that Harper will remember me as fun and goofy. What make me start thinking about this was this cute, easy idea for pancakes that you could make on Halloween morning for your kiddos. We do eats lots of chocolate chip pancakes around our house anyways! You could come up with things like this for every holiday.