Big News for Phoeberella!

First, let me start off by sharing Phoebe's newest nickname by her fellow classmates at school, "Princess Phoeberella."  Now when I pick her up in the afternoons, she runs to me and says, "I Phoeberella!"  She doesn't know Cinderella from Snow White so for her to even be interested in princess names is a step in the right, girly direction! 

As we continue to move stuff out of our house, it somehow remains in a state of disarray.  I tried tackling the floor and Phoebe, who is usually afraid of the loud vacuum, took over.

She even wanted to help when Ryan brought up the Little Green Machine from the basement.

So, after our hard work Thursday evening, Phoebe and I headed out to Stuckey Farms (where I grew up going every fall) on Friday to pick apples with YiaYia.

As is obvious by our brown grass, or lack of it altogether, we're in much need of rain here in central Indiana.  However, the apples were plentiful and at $0.75/lb. how can you resist picking more than you could ever eat?

Here's our eager apple picker with her very own bag.

She found the perfect Phoebe-sized apple.

Say "cheese!"

I think it's standard for every orchard we visit to have a honey bee display.  Phoebe finds them all fascinating.

Saturday, the temperatures dove down into the 60s and that means its Cracker Barrel weather!  As we waited for breakfast to arrive, Phoebe and I hit the Country Store.  Every time we visit, she's enamored by the little weasel toy with a ball.  She proceeded to pick it up, pet the tail and say over and over again, "I love her!"

And because it was so lovely outside, we had to play a game of checkers in the rocking chairs.  Or simply stack all the available checkers and then promptly knock them over. 

And since we had such a good time at Stuckey's, we decided to try Tuttles with Daddy after breakfast.  AND for the first time when we asked if she wanted to ride a pony, our little daredevil said "Yes!"  Luckily, the pony's name was "Starbucks" and our girl loves her Starbucks like her Daddy does so that helped calm her fears.

Then it was determined that Mommy must walk along side for the entire ride.

And as soon as I removed my hand for a photo opportunity, this is what we got.  Oh well, I'm just impressed she got ON the horse and worth every cent of the $3.00 we paid for the little lap we walked together.

Then we spent LOTS of time in the hay pile.

And then headed to a rope maze that she was short enough to run under, while Ryan and I had to run THROUGH the maze just to catch up with her.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside so we just rolled with it.

And of course, if you remember my post from Tuttles last year, the swing still holds a great deal of fun for our Phoebster.  She even ventured to the "big girl" swing but still prefers to be a bit more securely fastened.

After much swinging, we headed to the bales of hay that state "No Jumping!" but beg to be jumped from. 

And here it is, folks - the side view of my ever expanding belly.  Phoebe's big news is that she's going to be a BIG SISTER by April 1st!  I'll be 14 weeks on Friday and feeling much better now that the first trimester is over. 

And here we are picking more apples (that we certainly don't need) simply because Tuttles wasn't picking pumpkins till October 1. Seriously, who checks the website before they hop in the car and go!?  That may have explained the smaller crowd than expected, but it made for a very pleasant visit.

After picking apples, we headed back to the play area to drive the tractor.

And then after we headed to the store to get an apple slushie (turns out not all orchards pasteurize their cider) for them and a carmel apple with nuts for me, we went back to the play area one last time.

We thought for sure, after a full morning at the orchard, we'd be guaranteed a nap on the ride home, but no such luck.  After about 30 minutes we gave up and tried out a new park I'd discovered the other day.  Phoebe was quick to make friends on the teeter totter and quickly delegated where I should sit and bounce. 

Our single goal at the park (other than to have fun) was to wear our kid out so we raced.

They had a huge hill that will be oh-so-fun come winter when it snows.  Ryan and I both grew up enjoying the simple things in life, like rolling down hills and attempted to share that joy with Phoebe at the park.

She didn't quite get it.

So Daddy had to show her how it's done.

After rolling down and then running back up too many times to count, we headed down a field for another race.  These attempts were all in vain however as Princess Phoeberella declared Saturday a "No Nap Day" indeed.