A Day in the Life of Callie (September Edition)

Our morning began like all of our mornings - a wonderful wake up call from Miss Callie :) During the week, she hears our alarm clock go off and it wakes her up so early -then she gets in the habit of it :( Unfortunately, she enjoys getting up around 7 AM every morning now...unless we're really lucky - then it's 8 AM!

My bright eyed beauty was ready for some cuddles with her mommy :) We laid on the couch together, watching our Saturday morning cartoons (The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That was on!)
Next up - breakfast! Today's menu consisted of an English Muffin toasted with peanut butter, strawberry yogurt, 1/2 a banana (that was already eaten before I took this picture)! Callie has been doing SUCH a good job of feeding herself! It's so crazy to believe that 6 months ago we were thinking, "Will she ever learn how to do this?!" Now she is a rock star and does a VERY good job of keeping her food on her spoon or fork!

After Callie was dressed for the day, and daddy was up, mommy was dressed - it was time to pack for our weekend to the cities...Callie has always LOVED opening my Paris box that sits next to my dresser. It's full of all my old "fancy" jewelry from when I was competing in the Miss America Organization. She loves pulling out the necklaces and putting them on, then walking over to the mirror and checking herself out! She's crazy :) Now she learned that she can push it by the window, stand on it, and see outside!

Mommy and Callie took a break from packing to have a tickle fest...and I stole a lot of Eskimo kisses from her :) We were having a GREAT time and she was laughing so hard!

Yes, I know our bed is not made and that is not like us at all...Josh literally had just gotten out of bed and we were getting ready to leave :)

We traveled up to my parents house - good news...Callie DID NOT get car sick this time! WHOA WHO! She is a rock star at throwing up between Austin and Owatonna ALMOST every trip to the cities...we have a "puke emergency kit" in our car...and fabreze! We finally arrived and it was past lunch time - so we stopped at Wendy's and got some lunch! I'm so impressed with them - their toy in the happy meal was a BOOK! AWESOME! Wendy's, you have my vote!

After eating, Callie spent some quality time with Grampa! He had hip replacement surgery on September 15th and has been doing AWESOME in recovery! Callie sure likes to play with him, and I'm pretty sure she brightens up his day :)

After saying hi, it was time to go! Josh, Callie & I headed out to McDougahl's Apple Orchard "Apple Junction" in Afton - it's literally less than 10 minutes from my mom and dad's house. I've been going here since I was a kid, and it seems to get better and better every year!

We started picking apples right away! Honey Crisp weren't ripe yet, but McIntosh were ready, and VERY delicious!

Callie enjoyed picking the apples, but I think she was more amazed at all the open space!

Picking apples with daddy too :)

Ah yes, can't pick them without trying them! Callie is a rare toddler - she will eat an entire apple...WHOLE! Peel on and everything :) That makes me so happy, because the most healthiest part of the apple is the peel! Good girl, Callie!

We went on a tractor/wagon ride through the orchard! Callie had fun and, like any toddler, got antsy whenever he stopped to talk about something!

This was my attempt at a family self portrait on the wagon ride :)

Daddy and Callie having a tickle war...I think daddy won :) I love that her little tummy is showing here...I could just EAT her!

This was on top of their look out tower...the owner built this, along with every other structure on his orchard, with his own two hands! Very talented man! To think he used to be a chemistry teacher at my old high school :)

There was a little kids area that I had never been to, but now that Callie is old enough, we ventured over there :) Just think, next year, she will probably be pedaling herself around this little track...with the two of us trailing behind her :)

There were slides, swings, and wooden train climbing structures that Callie played on! Another feature was a corn maze! We ventured into the corn maze!

I think everything about this picture is perfect! The colors, the lighting, the scenery, the subjects :)
There were 5 hidden mailboxes! We had a slip of paper with different questions on it. They were all related to apples! We made it to 2 mailboxes, then decided to answer them on our own :) They were super simple questions about Johnny Appleseed and taking care of apple trees :)

Callie was able to trade in her "quiz" for a prize! Choice of a coloring book or a beaded necklace! Guess what my dress up queen wanted! That's right - beaded necklace! She wore that sucker ALL DAY LONG!

As we were walking out - Callie grabbed her daddy's leg...I LOVE this :)

They also had a "water pump" game! Callie loved watching the blue duckies "guckies" go back and forth as we pumped water! She wanted to pump it herself, but was a bit too small to get a good "pump!"

One more family picture before we left! You didn't think we'd leave without taking a fun family photo in the crazy head holes did you :) Too bad we were looking DIRECTLY into the sun!

That's right ladies and gentlemen! Callie is 32.5 inches tall :) Almost 3 feet tall - that is a great age to height ratio...if she keeps this up, she'll be working towards that basketball scholarship in no time!

When we got back to my parents house, my mom and sister, Colleen played with Callie while Josh and I loaded some wood into our trailer (which by the way - Larry gave to us! THANK YOU!) We have many more loads and more brush to haul away to the compost...

I think this picture says a lot! Auntie Colleen was doing something weird, and she had Callie's blankie around her neck...Callie was looking up at her, and you can see her thoughts..."You are crazy Auntie Colleen!"

Supper time :) My mom made chicken with potatoes! Callie preferred the grapes, a little cheese, some corn and that was pretty much it! She's been such a picky eater lately...

I turned some Disney dancing music on my iphone, and Colleen was showing Callie some dance moves. They were having a blast!

But like all fun days, one must take a bath and get ready for bed! This isn't the greatest picture of us, but it's a bedtime photo! Poor sleepy peanut! At least she slept until 8:30 AM the next day :)

Hope you enjoyed A Day in the Life of Callie in September :)