A Good Man's Not Always Hard to Find

Take Baby Sam for example.  He stopped by to visit Ev yesterday.  At first, things seemed to be going swimmingly, as they sat next to each other on their mamas' laps, Ev grabbing Sam's feet and sticking them in her mouth, and Sam looking on with a mixture of confusion and patience.  Later, though, things began to unravel....

 When Sam lay down on the floor next to Ev, she burst into tears for no reason (as girls are sometimes prone to do)...

 ...but Sam didn't even blink.  He just nestled his shoulder up to Ev and provided a strong, comforting presence while she freaked out.  

What a guy, right?  He already knows just what to do when his girl falls apart.  Definitely a keeper:)

Happy Weekend!

Evelyn and Her Bluebird

One of Ev's favorite spots to visit every day is a bouncy chair, passed down from her cousins Piper and Lily.  It's not the most aesthetically-pleasing baby accessory ever; its vivid yellow, blue, neon green, and purple hues make sure of that.  The thing no longer plays music (which may actually be a blessing!), and its "vibrate" setting could be more accurately called a "violent-shake" setting.  Nevertheless, hanging from the crossbar over the middle of the chair are two dangling plastic butterflies and a bluebird, and it is this bluebird in particular that has attracted Ev's attention.  In fact, she now seems to consider the bluebird a dear friend.

 Within seconds of getting in her chair, she zeroes in on the bluebird...

 ...grabs hold of both butterflies so she can really focus...

 ...and then stares intently at her friend...

 ...pausing mid-conversation to chew on her hands...

...before looking to the bluebird again to see what it thinks.

And woe be unto you if you try to remove Ev from her chair and her bluebird friend before she is ready.  See this face?  Our girl has no trouble letting her mama know that she needs to commune with the bluebird for a little while longer:)  

Oh, the simple pleasures!  I love how merely sitting in this chair and gurgling and staring at the bluebird delights the heart of our sweet baby.

Yep, She's Our Girl

How to Visit Vermont, According to Evelyn

1. Make sure you have a REALLY warm hat.  Preferably one that your Aunt MC gave you for Christmas.

2. After your morning flight arrives in Manchester, NH, take a snooze at the Airport Diner while your parents eat some of the best food they've had in a long time.

3. Drive to the-middle-of-nowhere Vermont and do some exploring.  Swing by the building that houses the library in downtown Vershire, VT.  Note that downtown Vershire is comprised of three buildings.  Also note that the library building is labeled with your own middle name (Orr).

4. Before you go to bed in your 70s-era playpen that the nice folks at the Devil's Den Bed and Breakfast provided for you, strip down to your diaper and read Goodnight Moon with Daddy.

(P.S.  Though we don't have pictures, imagine all of these scenarios taking place with 4-5 feet of snow on the ground.  Vermont was actually having kind of a "warm spell" last weekend while we were there, meaning that the wind chill was not below zero.  We were there to visit a really neat boarding school, and had a good time seeing part of the country that we don't get to explore too often....)

Week in Review....

On Monday, we bid farewell to Black Mountain cousins and returned to Nashvegas...

...on Tuesday and Wednesday, we giggled and snuggled with great-grandparents...

...and on Thursday and Friday, we had snow days, complete with a chilly hike in the woods and a snooze in front of the fire.

Happy weekend!

Road Trip!

Evelyn's Grammie just celebrated her 60th birthday a couple weeks ago, and to make it extra-special, we piled in the car with Grammie and Grandaddy last Friday and headed east to spend a long weekend in Black Mountain, NC, with Ev's Uncle Phil, Aunt Amy, and cousins Piper and Lily.  The Friday evening trip on the way there stretched long past the usual 5.5 hours or so, due partially to Little Bit and partially to a fruitless search for phantom Logan's restaurants in Knoxville.  Anyways, we finally arrived in Black Mountain around 1 AM and crashed, and after a good night's sleep, had a great weekend hanging out with cousins, walking around downtown Black Mountain, stopping by Camp Ridgecrest, and eating some good meals.  Yay for Grammie's 60th year! 

Dave and Ev in downtown Black Mountain (near the firehouse where Uncle Phil volunteers as a firefighter)

Grammie's birthday supper at the Oak House....Evelyn is clearly in no mood to be photographed:)

Baby Ev is still not so excited to be here...

...but a snuggle with Grammie and some help from Piper always make everything better.

With Spotty-Dotty in hand, we are good to go.

Happy birthday, Grammie!

And here we all are, gathered 'round the pretty table that Amy decorated:)

Finally, a short excerpt of Evelyn's evening conversation as we were getting ready for bed after Grammie's birthday supper...she has a lot on her mind these days, and is trying her best to get her parents to understand:)