Friday, November 25, 2011

Oh, There Was Turkey...

Oh, there was turkey yesterday:


This particular turkey came from our beloved CSA and was particularly delicious!  Honey prepared and roasted it to perfection.  But turkey wasn't the only thing going down yesterday.  I'm pretty sure we started off the day with sour-cream pancakes (a recipe from The Pioneer Woman that you must try immediately; Dave LOVES them, as does Evelyn, apparently, since she gobbled down three of them), gator-pushing, and a stroll around the neighborhood to visit our local inflatable turkey with Grammie and Grandaddy:




Later on, at Honey and D's house, there might have been some croquet, too.  And some delicious snacks.  And some swinging and chatting and Lego-playing.  And a sweet baby cousin and a beautiful dress adorned with turkeys and a ridiculously wonderful meal with everyone crowded around the table and even some present-opening (Christmas PJs and some fun new Christmas china to use in December!):






Also, we very much enjoyed a brief concert from Dave and Ev.  When they are playing in Carnegie Hall someday, you can remember that you saw it here first:

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thankful

Oh, for so many things we are thankful this fall...

 ...for cut-out photo ops...


...for godmothers who help you dress up and take glamour shots...

 ...for tiny hands grasping...

 ...for peek-a-boo games...

...for baby-gate installations (and help with the tape measure)...

...for explorations with snacks scattered all over the floor...

...for Thanksgiving crafts (I am not the craftiest lady around, BUT Ev and I did whip out some hand-turkeys made out of felt this afternoon for the grandparentals)...

For all of these gifts, and for the blessing of YOU, dear family and friends, we are thankful.  
Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Our Favorite Things

Bright pink flamingos...

...and big-girl car-seats...

...visits with cousins...

...and good things to eat...


...Adams and Nasiefs, Berrys and Cummings, THESE are a few of our favorite things!

P.S.  The above post is best sung to the familiar tune from The Sound of Music.
P.P.S.  Can you spot an unfamiliar face in the pictures?  It belongs to Isaias, a dear member of our clan, who was connected with the Berrys through Compassion years ago, and has stayed in touch ever since.  He is currently a doctor in Spain, and paid us all a visit last week.  What fun!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

More Birthday!

In case you didn't get enough last week, grab a cup of coffee, settle down, and check out these videos.  The first one features Ev (and me, a little less patiently:)), unwrapping her new favorite thing around here these days:  The Foot Book, a Dr. Seuss creation.  The second video is longer, but does have a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" in Chinese towards the beginning, sung by Evelyn's beloved godmother over Skype from China.  Enjoy!




Sunday, November 6, 2011

1 is One!

Do y'all know that Tasha Tudor book?  1 is One?  It is beautiful, and I highly recommend it for any little ones in your lives; Honey gifted Ev with a copy at her baptism last spring.  But speaking of little ones and being one and all that, OUR little one turned ONE on Wednesday.  We can't believe it!  And man, did she celebrate in high style.

Ev kicked off her birthday week with a visit with Uncle Phil, who came in town on a work trip.  He brought along a fun gift for Evelyn from her cousins Piper and Lily and her Aunt Amy.  Evelyn had never opened a birthday present before, so thank goodness Phil helped her figure it out before her big day arrived....
 Do you see the slow progress depicted above?  Evelyn has tended be a very precise and fastidious present-opener thus far, neatly ripping off the tiniest shreds of paper possible to reveal the surprise within.  Though I open my presents in a very different manner, I love that she can savor the unwrapping process in this way.

 OK, this is what I'm talking about.  Rip that paper off, girlfriend.  Really get after it!  Can you spy the surprise waiting for Evelyn in the box?

Sometimes it's good to just hang out with your wrapping paper and take a breather.

Hooray!  A shopping cart!  Evelyn has since loaded and unloaded this cart approximately 6700 times.  She LOVES it (thanks Phil and Ames:)).

So after learning how to unwrap a present, Evelyn was all set for November 2.  Ev's daddy was in the midst of one of his busiest weeks of the year at school last week, staying late every night in rehearsal with his students to get ready for their performances this weekend (just for the record, he directed the kids in King Lear, and it was awesome).  Since Daddy wasn't going to be home for an evening birthday party, we did the only thing you can do in such a situation:  we had a 6 AM birthday party with just the three of us, complete with presents, cake for breakfast, singing, skyping with a godmother in China, and other general merriment.  (You'll have to forgive the lack of pictures; Dave and I were stumbling around in a 6-AM-stupor, coffee cups in hand, and having a hard time speaking clearly, let alone taking pictures of our sweet baby.  We do have a couple videos I will share later, though....)





Though eating/smearing-all-over birthday cake for breakfast while naked and wearing a party hat is pretty much the best thing ever, Ev followed this up with some serious play-time with all of her goodies (a bead maze, the shopping cart, lots of fun books, and a couple puzzles), and then threw on some clothes and went out on the town to meet up with her other godmother for lunch at a Mexican restaurant....

This is after Ev consumed 2 flour tortillas, some rice and beans, and a fair amount of my enchiladas.  I feel like this sometimes after too much Mexican food, too:)

After a nap, some cupcakes before dress rehearsal at school with Daddy and his cast of high-schoolers, and an evening visit from D, Grammie, and Grandaddy, our ONE-YEAR-OLD hit the hay.  What a glorious twelve months it has been, sweet thing!  We love, love, love having this little bit around, and can't wait to see what the next twelve months will hold....

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Happy Halloween!

 Much love to you today, friends, from our little pumpkin!