Wednesday Lovin' ... Fall has arrived!

Whew!
I'm managing to get my foot back in the What I'm Loving Wednesday door (aka: link party).
SO glad to be back!
And while I'm at it ... why not go for Oh, How Pinteresting @ The Vintage Apple, too!?

Did you know, as of last Friday, it is officially FALL!?
(Yes, I'm sure you already knew that ... I'm usually the last to know these things.)

Annnnyway.....
Despite Fall being an insanely busy season for me, I do LOVE so many things about this beautiful time of year....

The amazing colors.

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The warm, cozy decor.

Trips to the fabulous pumpkin patches, located just minutes from our house.

(Lucy is going to have SO much fun this year!)

Comfort food ... especially lots and lots of soup.

(This is a YUMMY-sounding White Chicken Chili recipe I can't wait to try!)

Starbucks Carmel Apple Spice, anyone!

Oh. My. Yum. 

....And pumpkin-anything is high on my list of favorite sweet treats!

Pumpkin Bar recipe HERE.

BOOTS!!!!

Oh, how I LOVE LOVE LOVE my BOOTS!  

This is my current favorite pair ... by Enzo Angiolini @ Nordstrom for $150. 

(Not a bad price AT ALL!  I think they look way more expensive, don't you?)

And just for fun, here are a couple of cutie-pie crafty projects that I think are so clever and creative!

Fabric Pumpkins Tutorial HERE.

Paper lantern pumpkins HERE. 

And finally, love this FREE printable ... pretty much sums up the season for me! 

I especially love BLESSINGS and give thanks.  Such a perfect time of year to stop and appreciate all that God has given us! 

To check out some other great Fall pictures and ideas ... check out my Trick-or-Treat and We Gather Together Pinterest boards! :-)

What's your favorite part about the Fall?

She's a "big kid" now! :-)

Well folks, as of a few weeks ago, I believe I can FINALLY officially say Lucy is potty trained!!!
I was honestly beginning to think this would NEVER happen.
Not kidding.

I have posted about potty training numerous times before .... sadly (and I'm almost embarrassed to say), my first potty training post was a year and a half ago -- at which point, I was pretty sure Lucy was "almost" potty trained.

(insert: hysterical laughing)
Yeah.
Ummm.... that didn't exactly work out.


I won't bore you tell you about about all of the details again (if you really want to read about it, you can click here), but what I will tell you is that what finally did the trick was this cute little scooter ....

She wanted this thing SOOOooooo badly.
So, we whipped up another trusty potty chart:

The plan: 

She would get a sticker every time she used the potty ... and when it was filled up, she would earn the scooter.

That might sound kind of extravagant, but c'mon .... I was reaching desperation, people.  

(And yes, I was still using the Potty Treats jar, too!!!)

Anyway.  

Whether the scooter was really THAT great of a prize ..... or she just finally decided she was ready (probably the case), it FINALLY WORKED!!!

It's kind of amazing how quickly she has transitioned into a "big girl" all of a sudden, too...

(Do you think I can talk her into un-potty training now!?! :-/  I don't really think I'm ready to have a "big girl."  I'd much rather rewind, start over, and enjoy the past three years all over again, thank you very much.)

But alas ....

I now have a potty trained child.  

Who rides a pretty rad scooter.  

With a pretty sweet helmet.  

(I think she likes the helmet just as much as the scooter ... she wears it for about 3/4 of her day!)  

Safety, first! :-)

My advice to anyone nearing the potty training stage...???

WAIT.  

Wait until your son/daughter is begging you to use the potty (no, I mean literally BEGGING YOU.)

And.

Have ZERO expectations and have no estimated time of completion.  

'Cause it ain't gonna happen.  

At least not if you have a child as stubborn as mine.  

At least she's cute! :-)

Have you read it? Seen it? Loved it?

I've managed to have a few moments of fun, mixed in with all the work these last few weeks ....
One of those was going to see The Help.

Amazingly enough, I even managed to read the book before I went to see the movie!

To say I loved them BOTH is an understatement.
Love, LOVE, LOVE these ladies ....

Reading the book first made it so much fun to compare my version of the characters with the "real" characters .... and all in all, I thought the casting was perfection.
If you haven't seen the movie or read the book .... do it.  Both of them.
You won't regret it!

One of my favorite parts of the whole book/movie...?

Aibileen saying this to that little girl over and over just pulled at my heart strings to no end.
How would ANY child be affected by someone telling them that they are KIND, SMART, and IMPORTANT every single day?
Definitely took this lesson to heart .... both in my home and in my classroom!

Did you miss me...???

....'Cause I have definitely missed YOU!  (and the blog world, in general)  I feel so disconnected these days! :)~
Unfortunately, with the hectic schedule I've got going on right now (particularly until the end of volleyball season), I'm going to have to remain "out of the loop" to some extent.
I'm going to try, Try, TRY to post at least a few times a week though, but I look forward to six weeks from now when life can go back to normal (whatever normal means!  haha!)

For now, I thought I'd give you the quick and dirty version of what I've been up to these last two weeks!
More on each of these in the days ahead! .....

Back to school!  Here is my classroom (with the curtains mostly closed to keep out the blazing sun, seeing as how summer waited to come to the Pacific NW until the first week of school, at which point it made its appearance at 90+ degrees every day.  (Dislike.)

Fair fun!  Our state fair was a few weeks ago, and Lucy had some serious FUN!  Can't wait to show you more ....

Included in the fair fun was Lucy's very first concert!
We were fortunate to have front row tickets to see The Band Perry.
They ROCKED!
Loved every second.
And Lucy ESPECIALLY loved every second.

Camp out with Daddy!  (In the back yard.....)

New scooter!!! (Which goes along with some other exciting news ..... well, exciting for the mama of a toddler, anyway:)~

And why is my little dolly dressed like an adorable little German princess?

Promise to tell you all about it very soon!

Thanks for hanging in there with me, friends!  

C is for Crazy!

I know I keep making excuses for my blog-slacking lately, but people .... life is just a bit CRAZY right now!

I'm a teacher, you know -- and a volleyball coach, to boot.  

So every year,  I go from a nice, (mostly) relaxing Summer .... to a ridiculously crazy-busy Fall.   And I'm here to tell you,  that is a HARD transition to make!!!

And when I throw the whole blogging thing into the mix....?

I started blogging in the middle of last school year -- in January.  

Apparently, by January, life must settle down a little bit in my world, because I have NO IDEA how I did this otherwise.  

So .... with my new kinder kids arriving next week, volleyball season in full swing, and a big change of pace upon me .... I'm going to take a teeny-tiny little breaky-wakey from blogging for a week or two.  (Although I'm sure I won't be able to resist throwing at least one or two updates in there!)

So, please don't give up on me!  I'll be back soon, I promise!

You all mean the world to me .... and I feel so blessed that you are here reading Little Lucy Lu! :-)