A lil pumpkin pickin & carvin

Tonight our preparations for the C Country Craze included the girls pickin their pumpkins and making our jack-o-lanterns. 

Helping dad cut the pumpkin stem.

Lil Miss C pickin her pumpkin.

Littlest C with her first pumpkin. 

Playin on the hay wagon. 

Helpin carve the pumpkin. 

Settin them out and givin them a test light. 

Annual Mother Daughter Weekend

Whew....what a weekend....

Friday afternoon we finally got on the road for my annual mother-daughter weekend. The plan was to leave around 3:00P but with having to take Lil Miss C to the dr's we didn't leave until about 5:30P. So we picked up CJ on the way instead of her driving down by herself. B didn't join us this year as she had to help B get ready to go out of town for work. Friday was a long day in the car for me, we finally arrived at the hotel at 11:17PM. Littlest C went with us so that Mr. C could get a few more things done around the house in preparation for the C Country Craze next weekend. Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast and were ready to leave a little before 10A to start on adventure for the day.

We headed to the Precious Moments Chapel. This is outside the chapel.

Littlest C in the gift shop and chapel entrance.

After we got through there we headed to find some lunch. One of our traditions is to only eat at local restaurants.

We found Granny Shafers restaurant and enjoyed some good home cooking.

After lunch we drove around Joplin looking at what remains from the 2011 tornado damage and then we found a winery B&B for some wine tasting.

I was a little creep-ed out at this place. For some reason they were just giving me a weird vibe... the wines were okay and then we moved on to our next stop, the Farm Girl Fest.

We saw a sign for this festival when we were driving into the winery so we decided to check it out. There we getting close to quitting time for the day so we browsed quickly. Lots of neat photo opps at this place so i took lots of pics.

A neat craft project to use old propane bottles. 

Hooker was the name of the sheriff. 

Cheep childcare....:) Sent this to Mr. C and his response was: She hasn't been that bad has she. 

A beautiful afternoon spent exploring this festival. 

Next we drove by the town square and stopped in a few of the antique stores that were still open.

We finished the evening with drinks and a light dinner of cheese and sausage at the hotel. Littlest C enjoyed some play time before bedtime.

This morning we got up and ready and decided we would grab breakfast at a restaurant since we were not impressed with the hotel breakfast on Saturday. We saw this place yesterday so decided we would check it out.

Then we got on the road headed for home. We stopped at the lake for a quick 30 minute stretch the legs stretch at the outlet mall. Dropped CJ off, had a short visit there and then got back on the road so that i could get home in time for the H Family Pictures.

I am so thankful that my Littlest C was such a trooper for the weekend. She traveled great and bared with us at all of our stops and being in her car seat.

H Family Pictures

On Monday September 16th Mama emailed and asked if we would be able to take a H family picture on a Sunday in October. I emailed that we would be able to do something on October 6th & 27th only if they schedule it for after 5:00PM The other Sunday's we would be able to do any time. So i don't hear anything more until at the wedding reception Mama said that they were still trying to get a photographer for the 6th. So on Monday the 30th she emails and says that the main family picture will be at 5:00P and other family pictures before that. I tell her that i will do my best to have us there by 4:30P but i am out of town and will be relying on Nathan to get the girls ready, at this time i hadn't decided if i was going to take Littlest C with me or not. Then on Oct.2 i got another email saying that they met with the photographer and that the main family pic will be at 6:00P and the other family photos before that and the C Family didn't need to be there until 5:45P, so i was planning on being there at 5:30P. So this would give me a little bit more time to get ready as i was still planning on getting back home around 4:00P. Well Papa calls Mr. C sometime and they are discussing times and everything and Mr. C tells them we will be there as soon as we can (i was still planning on that being 5:30P) as i was out of town all weekend and Lil Miss C was not feeling well. So we got home around 4:00P, got my stuff unloaded from my mom's car, i went straight to work getting ready, getting Lil Miss C ready and then Littlest C and we were out the door a little after 5:00P. Mama called me at 5:21P to see how we were coming along....to say i was fed up and annoyed with the whole situation is an understatement...but i put a smile on my face and did the best i could until we left. So as soon as we got there we took our C Family picture and then did several with the entire H Family. Anxious to see how they turn out.  

Lil Miss C not feelin well

Lil Miss C woke up in the middle of the night last night and felt warm and wanted to be cuddled. I slept with her in her room the rest of the night. When it was time to get up and ready for work, i took her temp and she wasn't running a fever so i took her to the sitters. Her cough was sounding awful and she was sounding horse, so i called the dr's office and they wanted to see her. So we got an appointment for 2:00P. The NP gave her a checkup, her ear's looked fine, throat was a little red, and her lungs sounded good. She instructed us that it was more than likely a virus and it would need to run its course and to continue with the benadryl and Tylenol and if not better in 7 days to come back. So i probably didn't really need to take her to the dr's but better safe than sorry especially since i am going out of town.

This morning as we were getting ready, Mr. C calls me and says that Lil Miss C isn't feeling well at all and feels warm. I instruct him to take her temp and he does and calls me back and asks to speak to CJ, her temp is 101.7. She tells him to give her some ibuprofen, of course i don't have any children's at home so she tells him to split one in half and give it to her with some food. He gets her to take it along with the Tylenol and benadryl. By mid day her temp was back down to 97.3 but then Mr. C started not feeling well so they had a pretty calm evening watching movies. Updated 8:07PM 10/05/13

An unpleasant evening

This evening when i got home I went to let the dogs out and i found Millie asleep in her dog box. Mr. C was helping a friend and not home from work yet, so when he got home I had to gesture to him why i was trying to reach him and had called his friend. Lil Miss C was playing and i didn't quite want to blurt anything out yet. Mr. C caught on as to why i was so upset when he didn't see Millie with Suzie. After some tears, okay lets be honest lots of tears were shed tonight and still are. We explained to Lil Miss C that Millie had gone to doggie heaven and was no longer with us. Then he had the neighbor help him and they buried her on Grandma H's farm, her farm surrounds the subdivision that we live in.

Millie was our first dog together. She was a lost dog that was at our property when we first purchased the lot. Mr. C had finally convinced me to bring her home with us and then we found her owner. After taking her back to the owner, he was looking for a good home for her, so he said that we good keep her. She has seen us through our wedding and first 5 years of marriage, our first home, our first child, our second child, many many good times and bad times as well.

One of the first pictures i have of Millie in 2008, we got her in the fall of  2007.

Swimming at the river on the last day of our honeymoon.

Meeting Lil Miss C.

She was a trooper with Lil Miss C. She let her do just about anything to her and she loved her. 

So glad that i got these pictures with Littlest C just a few weeks ago.

We knew it was coming, she was an old dog, but she just kept hangin in there and giving us the best. She was a wonderful companion to Mr. C, myself and our girls. She will be missed by all of us.

Love you Millie and thanks for being such a wonderful dog and friend to us.

2 weddings & work

Yesterday was an extremely busy day. I had to work an event at work from 8A-12P. I got home from work about 12:45P and started getting ready. We had 2 weddings to go to. One on the W side and one on the H side. So we had decided that we would go to the W side wedding ceremony and H side reception. We left our house around 1:30P and headed to the ceremony, getting there as they were starting to walk the grandparents and parents down the aisle. We sneak in and found seats next to the family. Littlest C did not cooperate and did not stay asleep. She lasted for a short while during the ceremony but then got fussy so i took her outside for the remainder of the ceremony and left Lil Miss C and Mr. C to watch.

Lil Miss C blowing bubbles while waiting for the bride and groom to come out.

Mr. & Mrs J! 

We then headed into the reception hall and visited with GPa J, S&K, as they made the trip down for the wedding. They were not staying with us though as they knew that we had the other wedding. After visiting with them for a while, Papa had called and Mr. C had talked with J and they were all at UD&AM's house until it was time to leave for the reception. When Mr. C told me we were going to go there for a bit before heading to the other reception i got a little peeved. It meant that we had to drive 20 min in the opposite direction, and then head back to the O for the reception. My plan was to just stay at the W reception until it was closer to time to head to the H reception but Mr. C insisted that we go, so we did, and i was not in a good mood about it. But luckily Lil Miss C fell asleep and stayed asleep while we were there, so at least she got a little nap. After visiting there for a while we headed to the reception. It was a lot of fun. Lil Miss C danced the night away. Unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of the bride and groom and the one i took of Mr. C & I didn't turn out. 

Congrats to Mr.&Mrs. J & Mr. &. Mrs. H!! 

Littlest C 5 Months

Hey Littlest C,

Tidbits for this month are that you are reaching & grabbing lots, you love sitting up although your not quite able to sit on your own yet. You roll all over, love to grab your feet and blow bubbles and raspberries. We get to start eating twice a day now and have had cereal, pears, bananas, and apples. Your eating a 6 oz bottle every 3 hours.  

You were done by this point and ready for your nap.

Love
Mommy