A Pint-Sized Snow White

Lia and I duked it out for weeks as to which princess she was going to be for "Falloween." She wanted Cinderella and I wanted Snow White. My argument? Well, for starters, she looks like Snow White! With her fair complexion and dark hair, people have been commenting on the resemblance for years. Secondly, her Snow White costume is much nicer than all of her used and loved Cinderella hand-me-down dresses. So, after weeks of debate, I finally convinced Lia to come to my side by offering to buy a matching red bow to go with costume. Who knew it would be that easy?
After getting my girl all dressed up this afternoon, we headed outside for our traditional photo shoot in the front yard before heading out with papa to our church's trunk-or-treat and a quick trip around our neighborhood. Lia made off like a bandit for the amount of time that she was actually trick-or-treating tonight. Ron and I can't wait to get into it when her back is turned!

Quite possibly the cutest princess I have ever seen.
Cheese!

I just love this pic. Can't you see Disney's actual Snow White posing like this while warbling by her wishing well?
One more coy pose before heading off for the evening.

Working hard at the trunk-or-treat in our church's parking lot.

Trick-or-treat!

A girl on a mission.

Heading out for more candy back in our neighborhood.

Lia organizing her inventory with papa's assistance after a busy evening.

Happy Falloween everyone!

Pumkins and Such...

The Hartland fam got into the Halloween spirit this year by heading off to our local farm, Spooners, on Saturday to pick out our Halloween pumpkins and then carving them for Family Home Evening last night. A good time was had by all. I think we are now ready for some candy and the big day!

Lia and I posing in the pumpkin patch.
After taking a spill out of the wheelbarrow, Lia wanted nothing to do with it or pictures for the next few minutes. Hence the grumpy face.

Lia standing a safe distance from papa and his evil wheelbarrow.

A few minutes later, Lia brightened up when it was finally her turn to pick out a pumpkin. She had been asking for weeks to have a "medium, white pumpkin." We had to wander over to the area with the big bins of gourdes to find a white pumpkin to choose. Here Lia is hard at work with papa searching for the perfect one.

The two of them carefully weighing their options.

The chosen one.

No autumn trip to Spooners is complete without the classic pumpkin house picture.

After finding our pumpkins, we walked over to the barn to check out the animals.

And then to participate in some duck racing. Lia loved this!

Ron and Lia gearing up for another round of racing!

Lia pumping hard to send her little duck down the chute to the bucket of water below.

Lastly, we wandered off to the back area of the farm where they had the goats and llamas and a mock set-up of Alice and Wonderland. Random, yes, but fun nevertheless. Here are my two favorite people on top of the Queen of Hearts' castle.

We're on top of the world!

Lia and I back at home at on monday night. We started first with Lia's pumpkin. I was instructed to carve a happy face on Lia's pumpkin and a sad face on mine.

Lia supervising my carving.

Papa hard at work across the table.

The Hartland fam of pumpkins. From happy to scary to sad, we covered a wide range of emotions that night.

Backwards Talking

Allow me to set the scene.

We were at church this morning.

It was during the first hour when we are all together.

Lia was sitting on Ron's lap keeping herself busy with one thing or another.

Suddenly she producess a pretend chapstick and runs it over Ron's mouth.

She then follows up with the following directions:

"Okay, now lip your rubs together."

Aren't three-year olds the cutest thing???

The Patient, Impatient Toddler...

Yesterday, Lia and I headed up to my parents' house so that I could recruit my mother's help in making and canning 49 pints of homemade applesauce. Since my dad was out on various errands and my mom and I were busily at work in the kitchen for many hours, Lia was in dire need of a playmate. Although she continually asked where her grandpa was and when he was coming home, Lia managed to remain pretty patient the first two hours by keeping herself busy in the adjacent family room. However, Lia finally hit her wall during the final hour before my dad's return. Out of nowhere, she turned to to my mom and me and shouted, "WHERE IS MY DARN GRANDPA?!" We turned to each other and just burst out laughing! Needless to say, when that darn grandpa did eventually stroll through the door, he was greeted by one happy and impatient granddaughter that didn't let him out of her sight the rest of the day!

The Week 22 Belly

I promise that I am not going to be one of those over-zealous, pregnant women who posts weekly, belly pictures and plasters my blog with countdown widgets; however, I did want to post a photo of my baby bump now that it is finally starting to make an appearance at 22 weeks. The maternity jeans are feeling mighty comfy these days and I'm sure the maternity shirts will follow shortly. I know it sounds crazy, but considering what it took emotionally, physically, and financially to get this baby on the way, I am happy to be growing bigger and bigger every day!

The Manner's Police

Ever since Lia and I started reading a book about Mr. Penguin and manners, she has become fascinated with the subject of manners. Every day, we discuss whether or not something she does or something someone else does is good or bad manners. With that in mind, fast foward to last night when we were sitting side-by-side reading her bedtime stories. During one of her books, Lia's little brother-to-be delivered a swift and powerful kick to the right side of my belly. It was so strong that I jumped and yelped at the same time, suprising both Lia and me. Of course, she immediately wanted to know what had happened. After discussing in great detail that her baby brother had just kicked me from inside my stomach, Lia got a very serious look on her face and said, "That's bad manners." After I finished laughing, Lia then informed me that I needed to tell her brother to stop doing that. Oh dear. The big, bossy sister has already arrived on the scene and her brother hasn't even been born yet! What are we in for?!

Lia's First Homecoming Dance!

It's not every day that your first homecoming dance happens at the age of three, but this is what happened to our little one due to a funny chain of events last night. Since Ron had to chaperone his high school's homecoming dance yesterday after work (meaning he would be gone from 6 am til midnight), Lia and I decided to drive up to his school and go out to dinner with him beforehand. Right as we were heading out the door, Ron called and asked if we wanted to go to the dance for the first hour or so. I immediately jumped on this opportunity as I knew that Lia would think of it as a real, live ball with an endless amount of princesses wearing "gown balls." So, I quickly threw some clothes in a bag and off we went. A few hours later, Lia and I found ourselves parked on a bench next to the entrance of the dance watching girl after girl after girl arrive in her finest duds. Although Lia loved them all, her favorites had to be the gowns that "went all the way to the floor" (a particular feature of all Disney princess dresses that Lia has loved from day #1). Lia was absolutely adorable that night! She was so well behaved and faithfully followed me everywhere. She loved wearing her own party dress and kept on asking to go into the room where the actual dance was taking place to see the princesses dancing at the ball. Since we were there the first hour, only a few people were dancing out on the floor each time we went in. However, every time we left the gym, Lia would swirl and twirl around the hordes of teenagers as we weaved our way back to our observation spot on the bench. It truly was a magical evening for Lia and one that I will always remember!