Fall Fun

Miss Pants and I made some caramel apples this morning:

Bumpa came to visit...

Bumpa came to visit this weekend. We made a trip to the apple orchard, and stopped in to see my 90-something year old grandmother. Here are a few snaps of our weekend:

Mommy needs one too!

So guess what arrives in the mail for me? My very own American Girl Doll! And "Kirsten" no less. I had heard she was going to be retired this holiday season and considered purchasing her. But ... I didn't need one.

My mom is notorious for this kind of thing :) In a good way! I should have seen it coming, but I didn't so when this box arrived, I just had to have a little cry over it. Thoughtful, generous, and ... and... and... So, thanks mom.

SN I came over the other night to see Miss Pants and brought Samantha with her. We couldn't resist a picture of the three of us and our "Girls" ... I love this picture. SN I has to be one of the most thoughtful people I know as well. She bought Pants a book for her birthday about what it was like to be a child in Williamsburg. So now Pants has an even greater sense of Felicity and her life. Thoughtful and sweet and Pants is pretty much attached to all things Felicity and SN I.

The photos are a little cloudy because we were also taking the fog machine for a test drive. You'll have to wait until Halloween for the rest of those pictures. Here's Annie, though, standing in our front porch with the pumpkin lights behind her, deep in the fog:

Seven is the Magic Number

Miss Pants turned 7 today. I have a 7-year old. She's lovely, funny, and coming into her own. I read somewhere that this would be "the loveable sevens" and true enough... I'm more in love than ever.

At breakfast, she opened up a few family presents: a gorgeous coat from Memaw, Pollyanna the movie from Papa and a balloon launcher from daddy. She went off to school this morning with pencils and erasers for her class to hand out at snack time.

We celebrated after school with a trip to Bonfire, her favorite restaurant on Grand Avenue. She gets to make her own pizza and make her own ice cream sundae at this restaurant -supervised by the wait-staff, not a parent- so it's no surprise that it's her favorite. She opened up the remainder of presents there: a watch that helps tell time... Pinkalicious, a lovely little book... and the coup de grace: Felicity the American Girl doll. Felicity has been a favorite at the Beach House for a year. She lived in Colonial Williamsburg and Miss Pants relates to the Patriot in her. It's beyond cute.

So she opens the doll and is excited. Then she actually gets her hands on this lovely thing and FALLS IN LOVE... I mean, she is SMITTEN with this doll. I have to say they are wonderfully made and have a wonderful heft to them that inspires snuggling. And snuggle she did. She had to show her off to a couple of tables near to us and then proceeded to tell her daddy all about Felicity.

And I'm crying the entire time. My little creature that is my daughter is moving me to my core. She is gracious, grateful, polite, and loves the gift I bought her. Is there any better feeling than knowing that you made your child happy? Truly happy. Somewhere in between bites of her sundae, she looks at me and delivers the most heartfelt "Thanks, mom." I have ever heard. More waterworks. All I could do was watch her...

I overheard her telling her Bumpa about her doll and he said to me "I can tell by the tone of her voice she is smitten." He's such a "girl's dad" kind of guy. He'll be here Thursday and we are really exited to see him.

As of this moment, we are cuddled up on the sofa watching the Twins/Yankees game with popcorn and she is talking to Felicity as if she is her sister/daughter/friend. Felicity is all pj'd up like Miss Pants with her hair already out of the ponytail. The Type-A in me keeps repeating "she's meant to be played with...she's meant to be played with... she's meant to be played with..." It's amazing what this doll has brought out in my sweet girl. Delightful... simply delightful.

Tomorrow is the outdoor friends party at Afton Alps... forecast is for snow and low 40's. Will post more after the party.