Small Town USA

As we prepare for our Thanksgiving trek to Arkansas, I find myself wondering where the time has gone. And then I smile, knowing exactly where it has gone... it has gone to upright time, tummy time, feeding time, bath time, and even on a very lucky day... nap time. The in-between time has harbored lots of excitement as well- I have chronicled some of our adventures below:

On Oct. 21st Mia had her first non-family visitors from the great state of Texas. Christie and Meredith are two of my all time favorite people from high school and it was so great have them here in The Land of BBQ, Fried Chicken, and Sweet Tea. It's always fun to see people who knew you when your jeans were tight at the bottom, your white socks were constantly covered by Nike tennis shoes, and your hair was in desperate need of a straightening iron that had not yet hit the market. Time has blessed Meredith with a great husband and two precious little boys, and has made Christie a world traveler who works very successfully by day allowing her to do all sorts of neat things when she has the time to play. Mia and I capitalized on Meredith being here and tried out tummy time on the floor (up until this point we had been doing it in the elevated crib as suggested by the doctor), figured out the car seat base did in fact adjust, and got a lesson on how to put the car seat in the grocery cart. Christie made the ultimate sacrifice and held Mia during dinner so everyone else could eat and then promptly sent her boyfriend a picture of her holding a baby on a "Saturday night"- I guess that's not what single people do on typical Saturday nights! After a Friday of an unsuccessful pumpkin patch search, we hit up the NC BBQ Festival in Lexington on Saturday. Our knowledge of the BBQ Festival consisted of the fact that it has been featured in Southern Living Magazine, and is supposed to attract over 100,000 people. We loaded up two cars, one with John and Cary, and one with the four girls, and hit the road. We arrived in Lexington after minimal traffic and paid six dollars to a very large man to park in what appeared to be his yard, loaded up the stroller, and rolled away. I felt like I was in a commercial for Small Town USA. The streets were lined with balloon arches and covered in booths selling everything from home made pet rocks to fried Oreos. We all agreed we were a little disappointed at the lack of BBQ present at the BBQ festival- I had imagined tables and tables lined with the greasy, vinegar soaked stuff but instead just found one or two tents dedicated to it. We wondered around- bought some home made items we did not need- ate BBQ- waited 45 minutes for fried Reese Cups and called it a day. Not before, however, Christie walked into Merle Norman and said "my friend needs to feed her baby- can she do it in here..", to which Small Town USA worker said "of course, come on in!" It was great- Small Town USA worker escorted me past two little swinging doors and I set up shop and fed Mia in the Merle Norman break room! Determined not to cave in and buy anything to reciprocate the nice gesture, I mentioned I got my ears pierced at Merle Norman and that Mia and I would be back in 12 or so years to repay their kindness. We had a gourmet dinner of Subway and the girls left the next day. I would say a great time was had by all- I can't wait to do it again!

:) Kelley