Fall has arrived. No, for real this time. I keep saying that but then we go through another week’s worth of temps in the high 80s. Not today my friends, not today. It was the perfect fall, rainy, dreary, cool and relaxing day that we’ve been holding out for. I made sure to soak up every last bit of it. I’m typing in my favorite sweat pants and tshirt and actually feel a bit chilly in the house right now. YES! Fall is finally here!
We woke up when the rooster crowed this morning which is nothing new. But this particular morning we had places to go and people to see. Very special people I might add. We had plans to meet up with family in Enid: Riley’s cousin Heidi and her daughter Isabelle are visiting the states from Germany which is where her husband is stationed right now. Joining her were Riley’s aunt and uncle, Kent and Sandy, and his aunt MaryAnn. They drove in from Sapulpa and Owasso to meet us for a morning of playtime with the kiddos at Leonardos and lunch. In true Fanning fashion, the entire clan was running very late and we arrived too late to play. But what energy the girls didn’t expend there, they made up for at lunch. The on time bunch met the tardy bunch in the parking lot and exchanged lots and lots of hugs and greetings. After all, there was a new family member they were meeting. Miss Carmen Jo was prettied up in her turquoise dress to meet Kent, Sandy, Heidi and Isabelle for the first time. The last time we had seen Isabelle was a year ago at cousin Heather’s wedding. She is a bonified big girl now! Of course I stood back and did my appointed duties (by MaryAnn ;)) as the family photographer and did what I do best….snapped away at unsuspecting lovely faces…..
"Ok, so tell me your names again...it's been awhile."
Sweet Isabelle
I think this is the part where he was explaining his bike crash to MaryAnn...
I wasn't privy to this info until later :/
Heidi meeting Carmen
MaryAnn and Aunt Ky
Gman pulled up beside us and got out of his truck with his hands shielding his face. Turns out his eyes were burning from all of the orange. Sad to say but we were very outnumbered on this day. Not burnt orange, but OSU orange. But I have a feeling who they were rooting for silently today. ;) I was getting antsy knowing that the OU/TX game was about to start. There are a few games (ok, maybe all of them) that make me so nervous each year that I can’t even eat let alone function. Today started off just that way too. I just could not get myself in mommy gear and get everything done that needed to be done. I was wandering from room to room all morning not accomplishing a thing. Turns out my nerves were spent for nothing because dad and I watched during lunch as the Sooners jumped out to a big lead to put our minds at ease. Our rivals that surrounded were great sports and didn’t mind our cheering. J If we had been losing I’m sure I wouldn’t be sounding so chipper about watching a game in public. Those around may not have enjoyed lunch very much. Oh but enjoy lunch we did….lots of fun and the best part is we had the whole back room to ourselves so that meant Izzy and Hal could run around and play. And that they did! But not before getting some food in her belly. Oh yeah, and a little bit of playtime with Gman....
Check out those jeggings. OH MY!!!
This pose is becoming a favorite...work those quad muscles girl!
"You have such pretty hair....tell me your secret. I just need a little bit at least, nothing fancy"
"You think they'd notice if we blew this joint and went down the street for some ice cream?"
Gman thwarted her plans to leave and blocked the door. She got a pretty big kick out of it....
"Gman, you funny."
Aunt MaryAnn finally got her hands on some Hal and had a good time by the looks of it....
Such a sweet picture of these girls...their faces say it all.
Aunt MaryAnn had gifts for all of the girls and Carmen Jo was given the sweetest little knitted sweater from Aunt Sandy. I made my way around the table catching up with everyone while keeping an eye on the two silly girls running around. They were so much entertainment for us. Lots of giggles ans squeals could be heard. I think it's safe to say they are friends now and not just cousins. ;) Shame on me for not getting a picture of Carmen, Hallie and Izzy together. But I did manage to capture this sweet moment before we said goodbye....
Cousins
Where was Miss C during the lunch fun? Being a perfect baby of course and snoozing in her carseat. But she woke up in time to say "bye" to everyone....
We do wish we could see everyone more often...and Facebook doesn't count although it has been a fabulous way for everyone to keep up to date on Heidi's adventures in Germany. I so enjoyed hearing about all of the places they've been and what they are looking forward to. All so interesting...makes me want to plan a trip to visit their little family!
The Tulsa bunch headed back east while Riley, Nanny and Papa made their way toward Stillwater for the OSU/KU game, Katie and Kylie headed west back home and I drove the ten minutes over to Gman's house to finish watching the romping known as OU/TX. Today's game brought back memories of the Red River Rivalry in 2003...will never forget that game from the stands. What a whooping...their largest margin of victory ever against TX. I thought today might top that but we had mercy on the poor souls. Horns down! That would have made the day great alone but there was so much more that made today a perfect kind of day. So far we'd been to the pumpkin patch, had a great time catching up with family and now I was in full relaxation mode spending time with my dad and my baby girl....
Loving life today
She wasn't big on putting the final piece of her cheerleading uniform on so we settled for this version of it....
"Mom, I can't see the tv like this!!"
Somebody's getting sleepy...
She was beginning to doze off in my arms while we finished watching the fourth quarter. All sounds very normal but do you notice something wrong with this picture.....
Confused much?
Well, ya see, after you get past the disgusting color of that blanket on my lap and the large set of horns on it, I'll tell you why we were wrapped up in it. A couple reasons: one being that I was looking for the softest blanket in the house to warp Hallie in for a nap, another being that I also wanted to wrap up in the softest blanket for a very rare relaxing moment with Hal and finally we thought it was only fair to let Grammy represent her Longhorns with her favorite blanket. Don't worry, my skin did not suffer third degree burns after wearing above blanket. Hallie didn't seem to mind either way because she was passed smooth out from all of her busy beeing around.
I took advantage of her nappy and took an excursion alone to the promised land. My little oasis away from home. A place known as Hobby Lobby. Where your imagination runs wild and the baskets fill themselves with goodies. See what I mean......
That darned 50% off illusion
I came back from my "short trip" which had turned into a 90 minute trip to find Hallie and Gman doing laundry together. He was putting the clothes in the dryer and she was closing it everytime he turns his back. I'm sure it made his efficiency shoot through the roof. But something tells me he didn't mind her "help" a bit. She had some good sleep and an empty belly at this point. After a quick search through Gman's fridge I realized that she was going to get to try a first this evening. The maiden hotdog experience......
Somehow it seems cannibalistic for dogs to be begging for hotdogs
Surprise!! Aunt B and Uncle Spencer were home! It was pretty obvious that she was just as excited to see them as they were about seeing her. She made sure to show off her "I'm a little teapot" pouring skills for them and had all of us cracking up when she'd bend over when I'd sing the last line....or actually even the first line of the song. I've got her trained...all I have to do is stand up and say "Hallie, are you ready", and she starts to "tip me over and pour me out." She was diggin' all of the love.....
Gman headed out for dinner with some friends and I realized it was a lot later than I had thought it was. But we had one more stop to make before we drove back home. I recruited some helpers to go to Old Navy with me for some fall clothes shopping for a certain little girl. I knew Aunt B and Uncle S would be good entertainment for her....
"Giddy up horsey!"
Hallie and I spent the most peaceful car ride home together. Not one whine to be heard and I really kept pinching myself thinking that I was in a dream. This couldn't be! My girl? Happy? In the car? Well there is a first time for everything and I can say with a huge smile on my face that it was worth the wait. :) Riley got home from Stillwater a few minutes after Hallie started counting sheep. He told me about his day at the game and then asked me how mine was. My answer went something like this: "this has been one of the most relaxing days that I can remember in the past 14 1/2 months." It was one of those days where everything just falls right into place and you can go to bed completely at peace....and that's just what I'm going to do.
Life is good.
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