Go Wildcats!

A couple weeks ago, Matt and the Blue Springs Wildcat football team had a huge victory over their cross-town rivals, Blue Springs South. Siena and I were very excited to go to the game...
Of course we were very excited to WATCH the game. But I must admit, we (or maybe just me) always get excited to DRESS UP for the game too! Somehow, friends and family thought that Siena needed lots of purple and gold...I guess they thought she might be attending a couple of daddy's football games this fall. :) That being said, a dear friend of mine gave Siena this precious little hat to keep her head warm during the cool fall nights. The South game was the perfect night to wear it! It was a chilly night and we were bundled up. Siena didn't see much of the game though...she slept like a log in her little pouch! That is always a treat...that lets me actually watch the game!
The football team is continuing to do very well - they are really playing on top of their game these days! It's really something special to be a part of this - mostly for Matt's sake. To see him doing something that he truly loves is a treat for me (and now for Siena too). We love to be a support to him and the team. Go Wildcats!!

Out of Town Visitors!!

I must admit, it's sometimes a little difficult living far away from family. I never really had any problems with it...until little Miss Siena came along. It's hard to not be able to share her with my family all the time. Sometimes pictures just aren't enough. That's why this past weekend was so special...
Friday night, my mom and four of my cousins came into town for the weekend to meet Siena (and see us, of course)! It was such a treat! Briana, Heather, Marc, and Kari are all in college up in Grand Rapids and decided to give up a free weekend and cram into my mom's car and come down here to see us! I can't tell you how excited I was and how special it was to have them here.
I wanted to make the most of the weekend, so on Saturday, we had lots of fun doing "fall stuff". Aside from holding and playing with Siena, we went out and got pumpkins and carved them on the kitchen floor. They turned out great! And maybe the best part about that was the pumpkin seeds we cooked up. They were super delicious!! Later that evening, we all made homemade pizzas. Apparently we have a "closet pizza maker" in the family - Briana made the most perfect looking homemade pizza ever! It looked like a Dijorno's Pizza that came out of the box! To top the evening off, we had hot apple cider and apple blueberry pie while playing Speed Scrabble and watching football - does it get better than that?! Sunday, we got up and all went to church and then had lunch at Chipotle. After that, they had to leave already to go back home. I couldn't have them skipping MORE classes! A short but very sweet trip. Siena loved the company and so did I! It'll be great to look back at pictures and see my family here with Siena when she was only 2 months old. :)
THANK YOU guys for coming down to visit! I know we all run very busy lives but it was such a treat for you to give up some of your time and drive down to see us. It really meant a lot to me...and Siena can't stop talking about you guys! :) We look forward to seeing you again for the holidays. Love you guys!!!

Pumpkin Patch

This past Friday, a few moms and their kids got together and went out to a pumpkin patch! I haven't had this "stay at home mom experience" yet, so I was really excited to be able to do something during the day with the girls and their kids! And, on top of that, I have never been to a pumpkin patch before...needless to say, I was really excited to go!
The day started out great because Siena and I met some dear friends from school for breakfast before they went to work. It is always wonderful getting together with them - and Siena loves to see them too. She ate breakfast with us and then snoozed in their arms...a perfect way to start out the morning.
Then, I rushed home, fed Siena (again), and was picked up to head out to the pumpkin patch. It was a cold day on Friday, so I grabbed a few blankets, a little hooded coat for Siena, and of course, my favorite thing...Siena's pouch. This particular pumpkin patch was quite a ways away, but it was well worth the drive. The pumpkin patch was on a little farm - there were horses and goats and geese...SO fun for kids! We took a hay ride to the patch and then there were all kinds of fall fun games for little kids to play. Siena slept in her pouch, all snuggled up close to me. The entire time I watched little ones playing and running around, I just pictured Siena doing the same thing in the coming years. It brought tears to my eyes just thinking about it...or maybe that was just the cold wind making my eyes water. :) The other kids that we went with had a ball! They were running through mazes, playing corn games, skeetball, shooting hoops, climbing hay bails...and of course, searching for the PERFECT pumpkin in the patch! Siena got her first pumpkin too...a perfect, small, bright orange pumpkin! What a great experience...mostly for me, but it will be fun to tell Siena about it someday - her first experience with pumpkins. :)

Sweet Expressions

While I'm on this frequent blog update kick, I might as well post some sweet pictures we took this past weekend. Siena was in a smily mood and the weather was great...so we put her outside on the deck, and Matt starting doing what he does best - capturing some great pictures! Looking through the 110 pictures Matt took in a matter of 15 minutes (ha - what a shutterbug!), it was fun to look at all her facial expressions. Obviously she doesn't move a whole lot yet, so they all have her laying the same way...but her face is different in every one! I think she might be learning to "turn it on" when the camera is on her....
With pictures like this, they are just asking for captions to capture what she might be thinking or saying if she could talk. Bear with me while I have a little fun with this...

"Shoot, I think I broke a nail..."

"Reporting live from Coach Marble's house, this is Siena Grace...ESPN..."

"Party people get down!"

"Work the camera..."

"Hey there, thanks for stopping by!"

"Daddy...I'm making something for you..."

"Hmmm, never thought of it like that before..."

"Power to the people!"

"Why no, Momma, I have no idea how poop got on the floor..."

Nature Walk

We have had such beautiful weather lately! The perfect way to enter fall - sunshine, crisp air, and mild temperatures...you'll hear no complaints from me! Sunday was such a nice day outside, so Matt and I decided to take Siena for a walk in Burr Oaks Nature Center. There's a perfect little loop that is paved and the stroller works really well on it. Siena didn't see much of the nature...she slept peacefully amidst the bumps and cracks. We stopped a couple of times to take a few pictures and enjoy the view. Fortunately, the only wildlife we saw were a few squirrels and bugs. I say fortunately because the last walk I was on, I saw WAY more wildlife that I care to EVER see!
A friend of mine and I were walking our little ones earlier this week and 2 HUGE (seriously, enormous!) wild turkeys came scampering out of the woods and one darted out right in front of our strollers. It scared me half to death - we were not expecting a very large creature to jump out at us! And to make matters MUCH worse, a little later down the path, a disgusting, long, red and black snake made his way along our path. He was just napping on the path...but there was NO WAY I was going to get close enough to the snake to move him out of the way. I contemplated throwing a stick at him to move him, and we almost turned around and walked the other way, but he eventually slithered into the brush. It was long...it was colorful...it was a snake. And that's disgusting! I can handle birds and squirrels and chipmunks along the nature walk - anything else, stay where you are!! :)
Our Sunday walk reminded me of when I was little. Pappa, Emilie and I would go to the nature center and Amon Park all the time on Sunday afternoons. When TV, stores, restaurants, sports, etc. were not an option on Sunday, good old Mother Nature always offered fun for us on those peaceful afternoons. It also reminded me of the famous "leaf collection" that I think every child had to collect sometime during their schooling career. A lot of the trees had signs with their names (and scientific names, which would have been SO handy when making the leaf collection!) on them...it was neat to walk through them. Walks like that get me in the mood for fall - the leaves are going to be changing before we know it!
Needless to say, our little family had a really nice time walking through nature. We look forward to the day when little Siena runs down the path and picks up flowers and leaves and makes bouquets to bring home and display. And yet, I want her to stay little for as long as possible...the days are already flying by!

Sweet Pictures...

As you can see, I am totally on my game with this whole updating the blog thing...I'm actually shocking myself these days! I guess when it's not about me (and having to upload pictures of me with an additional 40 pounds attached to me) and I get to put sweet pictures of Siena up, it's way more fun! :)
I am getting so "good" at this that this entry doesn't even have a "theme"...I just have some cute pictures that I want to show! Maybe I'm patting myself on the back too much, but while I'm on this blog kick, I might as well! :) Enjoy!

Here's Siena with her sweet little "boyfriend", Brady. Brady was born just a day after Siena and they like to "hang out" a lot. (Actually Amanda, Brady's mom, and I like to hang out...so they don't have a choice!) But they are so sweet together. :)


Here's Matt with two of his very favorite things in the world: a dominating win on the football field and his precious daughter, anxious to see him after the game.


This picture I just can't resist. After a bath one day, Matt did the honors of combing her hair...this is what it turned out to look like. It's actually pretty cute! I guess a baby can pull off anything and we think it looks precious...even a "baby mohawk"!


On a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon, Matt and I had this great idea to take some nice pictures of Siena, all dressed up in her Sunday best. However, Siena had other plans...we laid her down in the grass for about 2 minutes and that was all she was going to give us - not a happy camper. I have to continue to remind myself - it's her world these days...and I have no choice but to go along with it, throwing my plans/ideas right out the window! :)

Smile!

There is just nothing sweeter than a child's smile and laugh. That's what got me through my workday as a teacher and that's what makes my day with sweet little Siena. She is starting to make little "cooing" sounds, which are few and far between right now, but I know they're coming! But I'm telling you...the smile gets me every time. And I'm proud to say - I think she is actually starting to smile at me now! You see, since we saw the very first smile (that wasn't from gas) the only thing that could make her smile automatically was the ceiling fan! That's right - not me, not Matt, the boring old spinning ceiling fan. It cracks me up! I'll lay her under the fan and she is set - she thinks that thing is the best thing ever! Who needs toys?! But now she will smile at me, which I take as a great compliment - I'm almost as cool as the fan! What a treat! It makes me wonder what goes through her head when she smiles these days. I guess, who cares at this point! I'll take those smiles every day, all day long. It just melts my heart to see her little face and cheeks light up with the biggest smile.
Here's a few pictures of her, smiling away...