Spring Break (ATL)

Happy Palm Sunday, friends!  As we enter Holy Week, the Berry crew is enjoying the last day of spring break before the home stretch of the school year.  We took a few days to travel south at the beginning of the week to visit family and do some fun things along the way!  First stop:  Atlanta, home of Evelyn's Aunt Mac and Uncle Eddie....

We had a brief layover in Sewanee on the way, where we pulled over for a snack and a stroll:)

Once we arrived in the ATL, we had a wonderful long weekend with Mac and Eddie, exploring playgrounds and fun places to eat, strolling outside, dancing and cooking and playing in Mac and Eddie's apartment, and even watching some SEC tournament games:

We also had a fun visit with Evelyn's great-aunts Rosemary and Pauline, who admired the drawing Evelyn had made for them and treated Evelyn to a fun St. Patrick's/Easter bag of snacks and books and such:

We loved our time in Atlanta!  So good to visit with all of our family there:)  More on our spring break travels coming soon!

In Like a Lion

March is upon us, folks, and has indeed arrived like a lion, chalking up some torrential rains, a day of snow flurries, and warm sunshine-y afternoons in its first week.  Meanwhile, Ev has been a whirlwind of activity herself...

...dressing up for dance parties daily...

...cheering Ensworth on to victory in the state championships...

...cooking (and eating)...

...celebrating her friend Halley's birthday...

...playing with her Playmobil (note her very precise alignments)...

...creating beautiful art (this one with assistance from one of Dave's students)...

...chasing cats (the ones belonging to her godmother Anna)...

...and playing with Baby Ellen:)

While describing Baby Ellen to Dave earlier this week, Evelyn said, "She is a little smaller than me.  And cries."  We didn't bother pointing out to our girl that she herself cries upon occasion, and not just when she is hungry or sleepy:)  Anyways, friends, enjoy the weekend!  Hooray for more daylight coming our way soon!

Lately

Lately, Evelyn has been hanging out with friends, playing inside and outside, and helping her mama cook and clean:

Ev seems to be warming up to Baby Ellen a little bit, as evidenced by her attempt to share her treasured pink scarf above:)

 We made our own playdough last week and have been having so much fun playing with it:)

Evelyn also took the opportunity to strike a series of Vogue-style poses in a doorway while waiting to meet a friend for supper last weekend.  If only we had thought to provide a Madonna soundtrack for her!

Happy weekend, friends!

Girl Stuff

So we have a little girl living in our house.  Obviously, Evelyn has been a girl for all of the 27 months we've known her, but it is hilarious to see her gender manifest itself over and over again, with little-to-no-prompting from her parents:)

Last week, she invited me to a tea party.  And asked to use "the china."

Nearly every day, Evelyn can be found carefully checking the contents of her two purses (jewelry?  check.  old Starbucks cards?  check.  tiny peg people or Playmobil cats?  check.), and then carrying one or both around with her while she goes about her business.  

Evelyn can also frequently be found delving into her basket of dress-up clothes, donning as many beautiful items as possible, and then asking me to turn on "dancing music" so she can "be a ballerina."

These last two I include not only for the sake of contrast (from freezing cold and snow to sun and blue skies and 60 degrees, Nashville in February is crazy!), but also to draw your attention to Evelyn's wardrobe choices.  Can you guess her favorite color these days?

Enjoy the rest of the day, friends!

January in Review

Whoa there.  It's February 4, folks, and time is a-flying.  I feel like we missed part of January because we spent a couple weeks being sick...with colds (Ev), flu (Em), and ear infections (Dave).  But thank goodness everyone finally seems to be healthy again, so we are back in the swing of things.  While we weren't lying on the couch or the bed or the floor, we did manage to celebrate two birthdays, play outside in some unseasonably warm weather, and hang out with cousin Joseph, who came to town for a solo visit with Honey and D.

So on to some pictures.  First up:  my birthday.  Though I spent most of my birthday lying on my back trying to will the flu out of my system, Dave and Evelyn presented me with a lovely card, a fun gift, and mini-bundt cakes to celebrate:)  D also stopped by briefly with some birthday surprises to cheer me up, and Grammie and Grandaddy sent along a treat, too!

 My most favorite card (from Ev and her daddy)

 The beautiful card that Grammie and Grandaddy sent.  It really was wonderfully beautiful, and then Ev went to work on it and did a little stripping-down, so only the essence remains:)

Ev's most favorite card.  Honey and D picked this one out, mainly for Evelyn, I imagine.  It meows "Happy Birthday" and is still going strong a couple weeks later.

A week later or so, we celebrated Grammie with a birthday lunch!  Ev gave Grammie a brand-new copy of Mother Goose to take home, so they clearly had to try it out a bit.

And then there was a spell of warm(er) January days.  So Ev did lots of playing outside with some of her dolls and stuffed-animal friends, and even fit in a visit to the zoo.

Finally, Joseph spent the weekend with Honey and D, and we got in some good play-time.  Note that both toddlers are sitting still in the picture above--this lasted all of a minute or so:)

Happy February, friends!

How to Spend a Rainy Weekend

Can you believe the weather around here, Nashvegans?  From 70 degrees and sunny on Friday to a frigid 30 degrees last night, with torrential downpours in between.  We had fun, though, despite the weather and Ev's lingering cold:

There were several bubble baths...

...a stroll in the sunshine before the rains came...

...a pineapple-upside-down-cake baking extravaganza...

...some snuggles and hair-brushing with G.G. (who came into town for the week! please also note that Ev looks like a jailbird in these PJs)...

...a puppet show and birthday party at the downtown library...

...some indoor sheet-painting...

...and some coloring and escalator-riding at Nordstrom's.

Also overheard in our casa recently:

Ev, muttering to herself while playing with her Fisher-Price horse Cactus:  "My saddle fell off."

***

Em:  "Are you finished with your lunch?"

Ev:  "I lost my appetite."

***

Happy Monday, friends!

Joy to the World!

From cousins to cookie-decorating, from visits with friends to visits with Santa, from church pageants to Christmas-light-gazing, we certainly made the most of the days leading up to Christmas itself....

Although Evelyn still hasn't completely decided what she thinks about this precious baby (who happens to belong to her godmother Anna), she was willing to pose for a picture:)

 Also, Nashvillians, have you seen the lights at this place?  There is a house in Sunnyside (off Hillsboro Road, not too far from Old Hickory) that goes ALL OUT.  And by all out, I mean a Santa who passes out candy canes and poses for pictures, traffic helpers, limos, tour buses, and a wonderland of lights.  You must go next year.

And this is one of my favorites.  Evelyn and her great-grandfather B are having a fireside chat.

More pictures to come....happy weekend, friends!