Fair Play

The Beanie Family went to the State Fair over the weekend. It was fabulous! Beanie Mom loves fairs and this one had it all - rides, animals, fair food, and well, strange-looking people. The fair tends to attract a nice cross-section of society....

JillyBean didn't know what to do with herself. She was full of excitement and wonder the whole five hours we were there. One of the highlights was the opportunity for Bean to play in corn. Yep, corn.

One of the exhibition buildings had taken a traditional sand box and filled it with corn feed. Kids had a blast scooping it up and dumping it into buckets or burying themselves in it. To be honest, we could have left Bean right there for hours and she would have been perfectly happy. It's amazing how simple things like scooping corn can satisfy a child.
Next up was the animal barn where JB was thrilled to finally see a cow up close and personal. Beanie Mom thought that she would be a bit scared of such a large animal but she stuck her arm in the pens to pet them while mooing. It was so cute. And although Beanie Mom doesn't like them on the football field, it was nice to see a piece of Texas in Virginia.

As far as rides went, Beanie rode the carousel and a flying elephant ride. She had ridden the carousel at the little county fair over the summer and loved it but was a bit apprehensive about this one for some reason. Still it was a fun experience and all of her fears were gone once she took her first bite into the smoked turkey leg. Ahhh...Nothing says fair or festival quite like a massive turkey leg.

The adventure was wrapped up with another trip to an animal barn. This one, though, was loaded with goats, which may now be Bean's favorite animals. She was so excited to see them and ran from pen to pen touching them. She even hugged the goats who stuck their heads out of their pen which was very cute. I'm pretty sure they thought her blond hair was hay because she walked out of there with a bit of goat slobber. Needless to say she got a good scrub down once she got home.

Baby Crocker

JillyBean and Beanie Mom made banana bread yesterday. It was the perfect project for a cool rainy fall afternoon. JB mashed the bananas and did a great job. And because we love all of you who follow along here, we are sharing our fabulous banana bread recipe. Well, it isn't exactly ours. We got it from a cookbook that JB's Great Grandma Patterson gave Mom many years ago. It's a compilation of recipes from members of her church - church cookbooks are the best. There are three banana bread recipes in the book and the one submitted by Mollie Erwin Custer is to die for. Enjoy!

Banana Bread
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 Tbs canned milk
2 cups flour
3 mashed (ripe) bananas
1 cup chopped nuts
pinch of salt

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, flour and milk, then soda and baking powder. Mix well. Add bananas, nuts and salt. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 325-degrees

Ain't too Shabby

You may recall the cute black and white dress JillyBean wore to Beanie Uncle's wedding. It came from a shop called Shabby Apple and I just love their stuff - for both baby girl and mama. They have great dresses. Well, now through the end of the month they're offering $3 shipping, have a decent sale, and have added some new items.

I adore this little dress for fall:

Yo!

Beanie Mom has fallen out of step this past week. Things have been so busy and she hasn't taken the time to come in and share all of our happenings. So here is a quick rundown of what's gone on the past few days.

The Backyardigans came to town last Thursday and made a special appearance at Barnes & Noble. JillyBean didn't quite know what to think of the "real life" characters but enjoyed hearing them tell stories. Beanie Dad had the task of escorting the gang to the bookstore, so it was a special treat to see him in the afternoon. That evening Beanie and one of her buddies went to the show. She LOVED it and Beanie Mom had a pretty good time as well.

On Friday JB and Mom met some friends from our fabulous Mom's Group at the park. It was a blast playing with all of the kids. Beanie is beginning to show her sense of adventure by climbing up the big slide and going down all by herself - she gets upset if anyone offers her any help. I wonder where she gets that independent spirt?

We came home to find a treat on our doorstep. Beanie Grandma sent a box of goodies that included a new version of JB's true love, Elmo. Beanie wouldn't put him down and loved and cuddled him all afternoon. Of course he had to sit on the couch with her to watch Elmo's World. She even found it in her heart to share her milk with him. Now that's love because she doesn't share food or drink with just anyone. Beanie Dad wasn't too excited about the newest member to our household until he discoved that you can burp Baby Elmo. Boys!

On Monday JillyBean felt the nice fall weather setting in and decided that it was a boot day. Unfortunately she didn't see a need to wear pants, but she seems to have the ability to pull of such fashion risks. It did seem like appropriate attire for a morning ride on Mr. Horse.

Fall into Books

JillyBean and I went to Barnes & Noble this afternoon for Toddler Storytime. It was a pretty positive experience, except for an incident with an older child who walked up to JB and began slapping her on her head and body in a fit of rage (seriously, it was scary). I really felt bad for the mom - she was so embarrassed and disciplined the child (actually they left). And while it was completely weird I just have to think that these things will happen and it's somewhat tolerable (though still unacceptable) when the parent of the bully is just as upset as you are.

But, moving along, one book that was read today was this fabulous, fun story:
It kept JB's attention because of the amazing illustrations. I think that she'll appreciate it on a whole new level as she gets older because you are able to see the various shapes made by the leaves as they scatter across the earth.

Thinkin' Christmas

I know that we have a bit of time until the actual holiday, but I feel like it's time to begin preparing for Christmas pictures. Think about it - if we're going to send out an adorable photo card that our friends will post on their 'fridge and feel guilty to take down (I find it hard to put away these pictures each year - but I never throw them away), we need to get things moving soon.

JillyBean loves to wear hats. It's the strangest thing because she won't keep a bow in her hair but she'll wear a hat all day long. Last year's photo was on the casual side:
So I'm thinking of doing something a little more formal/classic this year. I ADORE this hat and coat and think that they would look beautiful in pictures. Plus, JB's bright blue eyes are sure to pop with this scarlet red:

Fun With Words

I'm sure that you've noticed JillyBean's reading list on the right. She loves books and is now at the point where she is "reading" to me during the day as well as "reading" to her babies.

This is her latest love:

It's a delightful collection of poems accompanied by fabulous, fun illustrations. She doesn't quite "get" the stories but I know that they will completely crack her up when she gets bigger. Now she likes to hear the cadence of my voice and look at the pictures.

The author/illustrator, Calef Brown, has a couple other books, Polkabats and Octopus Slacks and Flamingos on the Roof, that Santa may have to bring her this year.