we haven't had many quiet nights around here lately

This morning as I was driving to Walmart I started wondering where I put my keys. I couldn't remember if I put them in my purse or if they were on the seat. Then I remembered THEY WERE IN THE IGNITION. I blame Annabelle. She didn't fall asleep until after 12:30 last night. TWELVE THIRTY IN THE A.M. If there's any time I don't want to discuss her book about dinosaurs or her new Paw Patrol shoes it's at 11:48pm.

I feel like I've missed Fall this year. We went to the pumpkin patch, had our family pictures taken under trees with yellow leaves and drank a gallon of apple cider but none of it made me feel fallish. Even leaf peeping didn't do it for me. 

In case anyone besides Christopher isn't familiar with the term leaf peeping.

Yesterday I burned my flannel blanket candle and played in the leaves with Sesame. Making leaf angels finally put me in the autumn mood. 

Speaking of things that put me in a good mood, Annabelle's first school pictures came in and I'm dying over the cuteness.

On this particular day she was getting molars and the fake apples went straight into her mouth. She didn't have time to start eating the fake pumpkins. Clearly she didn't pick up any tips from the 4yo boy who had his picture taken before her. He was wearing a vest and smiling so perfectly I fully expected to see him as the cover model for the November GQ magazine. 

This morning we went to an event about harvesting at the children museums. The teacher started off by handing everyone clipboards and pencils and herding us over to the Faces of Our Town exhibit. She sat everyone down and said, "ok, friends! Can anyone tell me what 'community' means?" She got the following responses-
My shoe is coming off. 
She's sitting on my lap!! 
I don't want her sitting on my lap! 
That's my pencil. 
Where's my paper?

That's what you get when ask a bunch of 2 year olds a question way over their heads. 

Tomorrow the topic at MOPS is Become Better Sleepers. This is a very unusual topic for our group.Unless they're going to hand out ambien I don't know how they plan on discussing this topic. Personally I think they should let us all take a two hour nap while the kids are in child care. Annabelle's been in bed for two hours and is no closer to sleep than she was when I put her down. I should have her sit in the meeting with me and pick up a few sleeping tips.