Thanksgiving!

After a lovely trip to Richmond, we have enjoyed one of the greatest weeks yet with Van and all our family. The only thing missing is more time with Auntie Snags, Uncle Bo, Cousin Fray, and baby mayhew bergman #2. I don't think I'll ever get used to having to say goodbye to them.  Love you guys! Thanks to Uncle Bo for all the cute pictures.

Walking & Talking

What happened to our little baby? I am loving the child Van is growing into each day. He is changing so much! He has been dare-devilishly toddling for a while now, but over the weekend he took his walking{and talking} to a new level. His new favorite word is "light" {points to light and repeats over and over!} Will post footage soon. Right now I am so excited about our upcoming weekend in Virginia and the following week of Thanksgiving with our northern fam!! Enjoy the start to the holidays!

Leaves -- Leaving -- Left.

True story.

Emily: Gah, Evans--my abs hurt from raking so much!

Evans: Hang on, my dad is calling. (Answers phone...Okay--sure! See you in a sec.)

Emily: (chasing Evans down to the basement...) What was your dad up to?

Evans: (mumbles something along the lines of "leaf blower")

Emily: Scuse me?

Evans: Oh...he's stopping by to pick up the leaf blower we borrowed last fall thats been down in our basement...

If I didn't miss him so much while he was out of town this week...he may have been in trouble!

Despite the irony it was nice to be outside and worth the exercise!

This week has been so lovely. We spent hours and hours outdoors.  I have a few recommendations...

1. Umstead. So beautiful this time of year.

Van really enjoyed it: 

2.  Cooking Light Magazine--Oct. issue:

 It has 92 delicious recipes.  Last night I made the Chipotle Bean Burritos with guacamole and home-made spicy-cinnamon chips (or as Auntie Snags suggested, "gourmet taco bell"). 


3. The "Perfect Applie Pie" recipe from Southern Living's September issue-- give yourself some time to figure out the crust.

4. Stella & Dot jewelry.  I just got this necklace from a trunk show and excitedly await its arrival:

5. Raleigh Denim. We are going to the grand opening tonight. Evans has a pair of their jeans and they are awesome! Very durable yet nice and classy. If you have a second, visit their website and read their "in press" story from Elle magazine. Its neat!

Thats all!

Pecan Picking

Last week I took Van to Oakview Plantation Park where we collected pecans and tested our hand at picking cotton.

{When the county bought the farm, families had the opportunity to "adopt" a pecan tree in memory of a loved one. I think this is a beautiful idea! Each tree had a small stone indicating to whom it was dedicated.}

...We played with goats

chewed on sticks...

{and ran around in circles while screaming loudly as needed}

It was a lovely way to spend a nice fall afternoon. God bless the outdoors and little boys. What a fun combo!

Feed Me! I'm Yours.

Rhombus graciously passed down her copy of this lovely book she used to feed Auntie Snags and me.

Full of tips to get your little ones eating properly {ie: ants on a log, adding honey to rice cereal} the book has helped me transition Van to whole milk.

This little stinker:

Was refusing milk. We kept trying and he kept pushing away the cup after one sip.

Feed Me! I'm Yours suggested adding a tiny drop of chocolate syrup to the milk. 

Brilliant!

Van chugged the entire sippy cup after his first taste. 

{Now we are slowly weaning him off the chocolate syrup...sneaky Van!}

Don't you love his mini-sized "Van" chair? It has been a great birthday present from G-Mommy and G-Diddy. Van climbs on it constantly!

I have raker's elbow this morning. My next door neighbor told me that when her children {all 4 of them} were little, they would beg the previous owners of our house to let them rake up all of their leaves {courtesy of our two enormous maple and oak trees out front} so they could play in the enormous leaf piles.

Unfortunately for us, all of her children are now grown up and realize raking is not exactly a fun chore.  Maybe we should invest in a leaf blower, but for now, its a nice playground for Van & Soph-Linda {who gets mad zoomies in the fall leaves!}

Van is all over the place right now. He is covered in bumps and bruises from tumbling over pretty often, but he's loving the freedom:

Lastly, here is one of my faves from Auntie Snags. Have a read!

Pouty Pumpkin Tarheel

Van wasn't his usual happy-go-lucky self on halloween.  It took some effort to get him into the fleece pumpkin costume in warm 70+ degree weather.

Soph was acting strange too:

Then we got a visit from Van's girlfriend--dressed up as the cutest piglet ever! He lightened up a bit...

Sophie too.

Van was worn out from his afternoon of tarheel tailgating the day before.

Go Heels!

We are treading on thin ice over here. We found some replacement Muddys {"Muddy" is Van's little blue tiger that he looooves--snuggling in picture above}.  His original one was beginning to smell extremely unpleasant. I was so proud of myself for finding identical stuffed animals on amazon and ordered a few extras.  They arrived, I washed them {twice}, and handed one over at bedtime. I'll be darned if Van didn't give that replacement one quick snuggle then chucked it over the edge of his crib.

  He knew it wasn't the right Muddy.

 



My First Birthday Party!

Van loved every minute of his first birthday party. We had such a great time with family, friends {and in some cases, their entertaining little ones!} and missed those there in spirit.  I have come to the conclusion over and over again this past year, that Evans, Van, and I have the most incredible, supportive, loving, and wonderful group of family and friends. 

When does the party start?

I am so grateful for the sweet little life that was delivered to Evans and I a year ago.
What a fun and beautiful day!!

Pumpkin party favors {or sea urchins, if you prefer}





Delicious food-- Jerianne's sausage balls and Lawrence's cheese straws.
{Ashley brought her yummy chocolate-chip pumpkin cookies}



The beautiful cake Rhombus had made to match his party invitation.

 

Van's pressies! {Plus a free night of babysitting from Syd--YES!}



{Pearls may be a little fancy for a 1 year old party, but these were Evans's gift to me when Van was born.}





"Life of the party"

 

 

Birthday boy!



Cousin Oliver





{Mom, I got this...}





TEENIES TAPPAS! and Teenies babies! {The rest there in spirit, :)}

{Van is sporting his first scraped knee when he fell pushing sweet baby MK in the car!}

My party is over? Boo. More cake please!

We had so much fun catching up with Van's god parents and had some very short, but meaningful time with cousin Fray and Auntie Snags, who I am missing so badly. What an awesome weekend!

{Fray and Van test driving Van's new wagon from Granny Rhombus and Granpa!}