Hiking together

It's been a long week. But the reality is right now, all weeks are full and go by quickly. I'm struggling to find time for myself and time to spend with other adults. (The plight of all parents with young children, but especially challenging for a single mom.) So I went to bed last night feeling overwhelmed and was happy to wake up this morning to a beautiful fall day. It's 65 degrees and sunny...in mid-November...yippie! So I knew we weren't going to sit around the house today....so off we went to Raven's Run Nature Sanctuary. It's about 15-20 miles from the house and it's thousands of acres of beautiful.

Here we are enjoying our day!

This was Katelyn's first real hike and I wasn't sure how far she'd make it, so I picked a one-mile forest loop. She did awesome! She walked the whole way herself.

We got to go on the stepping stone's to get across the creek.

Isn't it gorgeous!!!

I love my girl. She really is my favorite person to spend the day with...even though she talks about Dora the Explorer a lot.

I packed apple slices and sandwiches. Here's Katelyn's sandwich spot. :)

The trail...

She's gotten so big. There's always part of me that wants her to stay little forever, but today there was part of me that was excited for the years to come. The main trail around Raven's Run is 4 miles and part of it goes along the cliff overlooking the Kentucky River. It was so nice out I really wanted to do the whole loop. Maybe I need to get a hiking carrier for her so I can throw her on my back and then we could go...She's getting kind of heavy though....hmmmm.

I love this picture. It always amazes me how perfect a fit Katelyn and I are for each other...and how much I love her.

I feel like today was the deep breath I needed...and now I'm not so overwhelmed.

An extra hour of sleep...maybe not.

I was pretty excited about the extra hour of sleep that we were going to get last night....until Katelyn woke up at 5:30. After some coaxing she laid back down and was relatively quiet until 7, but then she was definitely ready to get up. So we were ready EARLY for church today (that's a first). We went outside for a few minutes before we left and of course I had to snap a few pictures. I know this is my girl. I make the same crinkled up brow when I'm concentrating on something. :)

All ready to go to church and play with her friends!

She heard an airplane and was pretty interested in that...

"Mom, are you almost done?"

I went to Half Price Books and got a book for $1 and then went over to Starbucks and read my book with a pumpkin spice latte. Ahhhh...I'm all ready for the week now.

And for those of you who were mad at me for not posting often enough...have I caught up yet?

Trick or Treat

Just when you thought she couldn't get any cuter...here comes Snow White. She was so adorable tonight. She was so excited to go trick or treating...

What a pretty princess!

She had the gig down pat. Ring door bell. People answer door. "Trick or treaty. Get some candy. Thank you. Happy Hawwoween!" She said it every time and you can tell by the look on this lady's face that people ate it up! She got a handful of candy at each house and her pumpkin was full to overflowing by the time we got around the big block.

I love this girl. I really, really, really do.

I was so proud of her tonight. She was so big and interacted so well with people. She used her best manners and flashed the biggest smiles.

Halloween is super fun with a little one!!!

Happy Halloween!

Today was a FUN day. We got up kind of late...watched cartoons (I drank coffee and read the paper.) I carved the pumpkin and then Katelyn painted it.

She's very focused when she paints.

Here's our finished pumpkin!!! I think it's perfect.

This is a girl after my own heart. She's surrounded by books. She pulled out every last one of them and then sat there so nice while reading to herself.

Katelyn in mommy's shoes. Yes, she's two going on sixteen. I know.....sigh.

Happy Halloween!

So many leaves....

We got to the church today and Katelyn was instantly excited about all the leaves that had fallen from the tree outside the door. Of course she had to go run and play in them. Fortunately, I had my camera with me to take some pictures of the after school program kids. All of the colors were perfect and it was a warm sunny day!!

Yippie!!!

She was doing leaf angels....

Here's a picture from this morning....

All day long she's been saying, "Go trick or treat. Knock on door. Get some candy. Thank you." (We've been practicing for tomorrow.) :)

A perfect fall day

It was sunny and in the 60's today. A beautiful fall day for sure. After church today I mowed the lawn while Katelyn took a nap. I was happy for an excuse to be outside. It will most likely be the last time I'll mow for the season. The colors this fall are just beautiful. Lots of bright oranges and reds. The bushes in the front of the house are more beautiful than ever. It will be sad to see the leaves actually fall.

Katelyn and I took a walk and collected some leaves before dinner tonight. Then our neighbor came over and brought dinner and we all ate together. Loveliness!!

Sweet picture of Kateybug on the front porch. Katelyn's been fabulous this week. She's gotten over the separation anxiety issues and we're back to normal. She's been super happy and lots of fun. Delightful is a good word to describe her this week. I just soaked it all up!!

She's sitting...a rare moment indeed.

She really likes to ring the door bell and say, "Ding dong. Ding dong."

We didn't do anything extraordinary today...just an average day...but it was nice...very nice.

Play date!

My friend had a class to take yesterday and her husband had to work so Katelyn and I got to play with their daughter N. N is 10 months older than Katelyn and they had a great time together. We painted, did sticker art, read books, danced, made english muffin pizzas and created many plastic meals from Katelyn's little kitchen. :)

Of course the little pizzas were a hit. Katelyn tried to eat the toppings as she was making hers and then she was really upset when I took it away to put it in the oven. My kid's not real patient when it comes to food...But she was happy when it came out of the oven!

N. was pretty happy herself. :0

Katelyn...that is so gross. (But really funny.) - Don't tell her I was laughing.

Plastic food is delicious...and fat free...calorie free. Eat all you want.

It was amazing to see how much will happen in the next 10 months. N. is three years old and I just can't believe that Katelyn is not far behind. We had a fun girl day!!