Kinsey Family Farm

Saturday October 12th our friends Susan and Jason tagged along with us to The Kinsey Family Farm in Gainesville, GA.  It's FREE to visit and on beautiful land.  I had never been there, but seen pictures from friends and thought it would be fun.  They had a few animals you could feed/pet (3 cows, geese, a horse and I think a mini horse or pony...what's the difference??).  Persephone wasn't interested in the goats so much or the cows, I think because they kept mooooing.  But when Hardy put her on the ground she walked right up to the fence where the pony was. 

I wish we had bought some food before going over there because once the animals figured out we didn't have any treats they were over us.  Ha ha.  I think this will certainly be a tradition each year.

We did manage to find three pumpkins to our liking and let Persephone pick a little $0.50 one too.  I think we'll definitely visit the farm again.  We elected not to do the hayride because she was sleepy and I knew she wouldn't sit still long enough.

Living Dead Girl

For any of you who don't know - I love Halloween, I love horror movies and most importantly I LOVE haunted houses!

 

My parents always let us watch scary movies growing up and instead of getting scared and having nightmares, my older brother and I turned into movie fanatics.  I can't remember how old I was when I went to my first haunted house, but I'm sure I was still in elementary school.

 

From 2008 - 2012 I volunteered for Rot N. Rusty's haunted house in Dahlonega. 

 

My first year I was a zombie.

My second year I was an insane nurse.

My third year I was a gypsy.

My fourth year I actually took tickets at the door.

My fifth year, I had Persephone so even though I wasn't there physically I helped with marketing/advertising through the web.

 

This year Rot N. Rusty's is on hiatus and I totally miss it.  I miss scaring people, I miss seeing the reactions you get from patrons walking through, I miss the friends we made over the years...I miss it all.  My good friend Caren signed up to work at Netherworld every Saturday through the haunt season and last weekend she finally talked me into tagging along.  So on Saturday October 12th I nervously rode with her to Netherworld.  I have no idea why I was so anxious, being surrounded by people I didn't know?  Worried about the part I would play?

 

Turns out the anxiety was for nothing.  Every one there was so nice and helpful.  They ended up putting Caren and I in the same room inside the haunted house so we could play off of each other's character.  They were so organized with costumes/props/make-up/masks..etc.  In fact, I was airbrushed by Ron who was featured on a couple of seasons of Face/Off on Syfy.

 

I was happy to be inside -vs- outside because I feel like you have more action inside..but it was HOT AS HELL.  No joke, I don't think I've sweat that much in a very long time.  In fact I had my cell phone in my sports bra and I ended up hiding it somewhere inside the room because it was getting to wet...gross.  We opened right around 7:15pm and didn't leave until 1:45am!  I thought the night was never going to end....I was having fun, but was so hot and tired, did I mention hot?  I love seeing the reactions of people coming through.  Sometimes it's so hard not to laugh at them.  I didn't get to go through the haunted house so I have no idea what the rest of the place even looks like.  I plan on volunteering again Saturday October 28th and I'm sure with Halloween being just around the corner, that night will be even longer!

Visiting Alabama

The weekend of October 4th we drove over to Birmingham to visit my mom, stepdad and younger brother Trevor.  We had a great visit and Persephone got to try her hand at finger painting again.  She wanted to eat it instead...thank goodness the label said NON TOXIC, right?

I'm so thankful she's not afraid of water.  It gives me hope that we'll know how to entertain her the older she gets haha. 

Persephone is ONE!

Ok so this post is nearly 1 month late.

Let me start by saying I truly cannot believe how quickly time passed.  It feels like just yesterday I was pregnant and would be having her soon, now she's almost 13mos old.  What the crap?!  Now I understand why everyone always says "cherish every moment".

On Sunday 9/22 we had Persephone's 1st Birthday Party.  I rented out the Oakwood Community Center from the YMCA and it was the perfect location.  You could sit indoors or out, they had tables/chairs/kitchen/bathroom and most importantly A/C.  My friends Tabitha, Madison and Darlene helped me set things up before the party. She walked into her own party with her Daddy.  I had a co-worker embroider a onesie with her name on it and another co-worker had a tutu made for her.  At first she wasn't sure why all these people were standing around, staring, poking and prodding her but eventually she warmed up.

We served hot dogs with some fixin's and chips w/ dip.  For dessert I enlisted the services of Amazing Grace's Sweet Tweets for some delicious red velvet/cream cheese Minnie themed cupcakes.

Valerie made this adorable cute smash cake to match!  Persephone LOVED her cake, like seriously devoured most of it.  She didn't just smash it, she consumed it.

 

After the cake I had about 45mins to clean up and clear out, so I elected to take the gifts home and open them later.  She got such an abundance of clothes (which we needed for fall/winter) as well as some pretty cute toys.  I was so happy with the turn out we received from friends and family - THANK YOU EVERYONE.

On to the fun stuff...

She started WALKING without assistance at about 10 1/2 - 11mos.

 

She FINALLY got her very 1st tooth the week of Sept 23-27.

She has been completely weaned from formula since about Sept 16th.  We're giving her about 16oz a day of organic whole milk (either Publix Greenwise or Horizon brand). 

She can now drink from a straw by herself.

11 months old!

On Wednesday August 21st Persephone turned 11 months old!

-Meals-

Still eating 7-7.25oz about 4 times a day.  Each morning we alternate yogurt and oatmeal for breakfast.  We still offer her the foods that we eat, but she started playing with it more and making a mess instead of eating.  So we're also giving her the small Gerber meals (mac n cheese, spaghetti, chicken and pasta...etc and she loves them).  One thing I noticed is almost all of the Gerber "toddler food" is pasta.  Do you think they do that to keep the babies full?  I mean don't get me wrong, I love me some pasta, but still curious.

-Motor skills-

Our little girl is WALKING!  We've been working with her every morning and evening letting her walk back and forth between us.  She's gotten brave enough to step away from the couch and go to the chair or go for a toy.  I'm so proud of her and excited, but our parents have been warning us when she does begin to full on walk, we'll be wishing she was still a crawler.  Speaking of crawling...between 10-11mos she officially started crawling up on her knees.  She also LOVES to dance!

-Vocalization-

Dadadada

Mama

Nini (which is what we call her pacifier)

Olie olie

Okay

Oh

Whoa

Dickle...yea its just a sound shes making and we just pretend its tickle

Hello

Kitty Kitty

--She slaps herself in the mouth and says "oh oh oh" like an Indian.

-Play time-

She has no issues with independent play.  Sometimes in the evenings she'll find a toy, book or misc object and play with it by herself.  Hardy made the mistake of downloading a Fisher Price app on his phone though so now anytime she see's us with our phone she immediately reaches for it. One night I was on FaceTime with my mom and Persephone was in her own little world and no matter how many times we said her name or "Hey" she ignored us.

-Sleep-
Amazing little sleeper.  Usually goes down for the night between 8:30-9:30pm and sleeps until 6:20-7:00am.

-Teeth-
STILL NO TEETH!!!

 Persephone with Persephone!!

Swanging

With Lady (which was Hardy's when he was little)