Friday, September 16, 2011

3 Seasons in Less than a Week

Fall officially arrived on September 1st.  The chill soon entered the air here in northwest Indiana and the mums and autumn decorations abound in the stores and on doorsteps!!  I LOVE IT!! 

In the midst of this seasonal transition, I took a little trip back to Summer!  I flew to Florida for a few days to be with my family and celebrate some birthdays.  Most importantly, I spent time with my super smart and adorable niece, Shyla Lynn, who turned 2 on September 8th!!! 

She is the star of the show!!! 




We celebrated Shy's 2nd birthday, my sister's 24th, my nephew's 12th and my grandma's 83rd!!!  And to throw a little more celebration in the mix: Grandparent's Day (my grandparents and my mom!!)!! 


We bought Shy a Halloween tshirt (of course!!) and something leopard (double of course!!)

Pretty little kitty!



I am amazed at how smart this little pixie is!  She knows her alphabet and can sit by herself with a book and read the letters of words!  She also knows the sounds that certain animals make ~ my favorite being a monkey.  She does the "ee-ee, ooh-ooh" with a big grin on her sweet face!
Shy with her monkey from Gigi and G-pa



She feeds herself, too!  She eats "salad," iceberg lettuce with a little dressing; applesauce; Velveeta shells and cheese (and don't give her regular macaroni noodles or Kraft cuz she knows better!!); chicken nuggets; pizza, crackers...

And, Aunt Jennie got her to try watermelon ~~ which she now loves!!!  She gets her own pieces (I always cut my watermelon into bite-sized squares) and just nibbles on them.  It is TOO cute! 

She picked up some new words during my visit, too.  My favorite: thank you!  It is the cutest to hear in her sweet little voice, "Thank you, mommy!"

Ahhh, I can't even convey how much fun I had with her and how hard it was to have to leave, knowing that I don't know when I will make another visit. 

Aunt Jennie and her favorite girl

I loved being able to see all 3 of my siblings this trip, plus my mom, my grandparents and one of my nephews!  It was a very short visit, but accomplished exactly what I wanted ~~ to just hang with my family. 

I had lunch my first day with my mom, grandparents, one sister (+ her boyfriend) and my brother!  My brother was a surprise that day and it made my heart happy!!!  And, of course, my eyes water!  One of my sisters came to see me everyday (thanx, Kel!).  I lunched with my mom & grandparents on the day before I left.  My mom & I took Shy to the park one evening and Aunt Jennie did the slides with her ~~ and I had to crawl thru a tunnel, too!  (We didn't do that particular slide a second time!!!)

It was typical Florida hot and I spent as little time outdoors as possible.  So, no, I didn't make it to the beach. I NEVER even put on my bathing suit to swim in my grandparents' pool and I am totally fine with it.   (I don't sunbathe anyway ~ it ages the skin!)

My return brought me to chilly, chilly temps and rain!  We have sort of skipped over Fall for a few days this week and entered early Winter (yuck!).  However, there was a sight that delighted my eyes during our drive home from the airport:  Pumpkins for sale at the farmer's markets!!!  Looking forward to the 70's that are to return Sunday (but bringing that dreaded rain).  My mums are doing fabulous and the front steps are full of fall foliage ♥♥♥  The Halloween decorations aren't too far in the future.

We are having a yard sale tomorrow and I hope we sell most, if not all, of our things.  If we could sell the living room furniture that would be a bonus!  (Note to self: print a flyer before leaving work.)

Happy Weekend!!!


    

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