B is 88!

I mentioned in the last post that we had spent a long weekend in Black Mountain, NC, celebrating the 88th birthday of B (Evelyn's great-grandfather) with a whole gaggle of Berrys.  We had a wonderful weekend!

 Here's our distinguished man of the hour, with his sweet baby great-granddaughter...

...and then with all three of his sweet great-granddaughters.  Note that Ev is perched precariously on the edge of B's lap underneath her cousin Lily and is looking slightly worried about it.

Over the course of the weekend, Ev LOVED having playtime with her cousins...

...mealtime with Aunt Amy...

...chats with great-aunts Clare and Karen and Patsy...

...and quality time with a flamingo at Camp Ridgecrest, where Uncle Phil works.

Hooray for B!  We love you so much and are so thankful that Ev gets to spend time with her great-granddaddy!  

(Above, Ev is doing her new favorite thing:  clapping.  She claps when she is hungry; she claps when she is happy; she even claps when she is angry sometimes.  It is pretty wonderful.  Anyways, in this pic, she is clearly clapping for B.  Yay B!)

The Orr Cottage

Whew!  We are FINALLY settling back into our semi-normal summer routine, after being on the road for most of the last few weeks.  So last we checked in, we had just spent a fabulous weekend in Oxford celebrating the wedding of Aunt MC and Uncle Eddie.  Since then, we have spent a weekend with friends on the river at Rock Island, time in Indiana at the lake with G.G. and Grand-D, and a long weekend in Black Mountain, NC, celebrating the 88th birthday of B, Dave's grandfather and Ev's great-grandfather.  More on Black Mountain later; for now, a look back at our time on the water!

Ev is getting to be quite a water-baby these days; she loves to splash in the pool at the Maryland Farms YMCA, and seemed to really get into chilling on the dock next to the river at Rock Island, too:

Some of the sweetest moments we've had this month, though, occurred during our stay at the Orr Cottage on Lake Webster in Indiana with Honey and G.G. and Grand-D.  Ev's visit was kind of like a visit to the homestead, since the Orrs (whose name Evelyn shares) originate in that part of the country.  One of Ev's Orr ancestors built the lovely cottage on the lake, and G.G. said that Evelyn is the seventh-generation Orr to stay there!  Pretty neat.

Here's the mailbox out front; we clearly had to take a picture on it:)

Ev relished our daily spins around the lake in the boat; the faster, the better for this girl!  In the picture above, she is holding her mama's adult beverage for her--don't be alarmed:)  Also, note that her life preserver is NOT completely fastened around her neck; she and the life preserver are not good friends.

She also helped G.G. and Grand-D with some planting and landscaping.  They even planted a lilac bush together in honor of Ev's first visit to the lake.

And of course, Ev received a plethora of snuggles from everyone all day every day:)

Finally, if you've ever wondered what Evelyn looks like in a freezing lake in the summer in Indiana, check out this video.  It's a little lengthy, but just a few seconds will give you the idea:

An Oxford Wedding

It has been a whirlwind of activity over the past couple weeks in the Berry household....after our sweet baby's river baptism, we packed up and headed down the road to Oxford, MS, to celebrate my youngest sister's wedding over Memorial Day weekend!  Mary Cooper married Eddie, her beau of the last several years, in a beautiful ceremony in First Presbyterian Church in Oxford, and then we all enjoyed a fantastic celebration at the reception at the Oxford University Club downtown.  Little Miss Priss had several firsts over the weekend:

Her first stay in a "penthouse" (Ev's grandparents generously put us all up in the penthouse of the Oxford Downtown Inn--fancy schmancy!)--Ev's luxurious digs are pictured above...

 Her first rehearsal dinner photo shoot with a beautiful bride (although Ev didn't get to attend the actual rehearsal dinner itself)...

Her first bridesmaids' luncheon, with lots of love from her G.G. and her great-aunt Lulu...

Her first wedding ceremony (which she viewed/slept through in the comfort of her Ergo on Daddy)...

Her first ride on a double-decker bus, which transported us all to the wedding reception...

Her first wedding reception, where she posed with the bride, danced with Daddy, and hobnobbed with family and friends...

And finally, her first meal at Big Bad Breakfast before we left town, an amazing breakfast spot.

What a weekend!  We are so thankful for such a fun time together, and so thrilled to have Eddie officially join our family.  Hooray!  

As I Went Down to the River to Pray (Part Two)

So when we left off the story of Evelyn's baptism yesterday (if you missed it, check out the previous post), our whole congregation had processed down to the banks of the Harpeth River, following a band of musicians playing some good old-fashioned gospel music suitable for the occasion.  And then...

 Evelyn is clearly wondering what we are all doing, standing around on the bank of a river...

Especially when her daddy carries her down some steep steps and walks into the river with her.

 And after the appropriate prayers and blessings...

 1...

2...

3!

(Please note for the record that a) the river is almost waist-deep at this spot, b) my hands look truly bizarre in the above picture, and c) our rock-star baby is not merely sprinkled symbolically, but is fully submerged, along with her father.  She is REALLY baptized now, folks.)

 So a full-body dunking in a cold river was not necessarily on Ev's to-do list...

But she recovered quickly...

And after a wardrobe change and a snuggle with her lovely godmother Anna...

She participated in a big ol' potluck lunch (aka munched on some kale-flavored puffs while the rest of us participated in the big ol' potluck lunch)...

Hung out with D...

And posed for some final pictures:)

What an amazingly joyful occasion!  We thank God for entrusting this precious little one to us, and for surrounding all three of us with dear family, sweet friends and godparents, and a wonderful church community.  Praise the Lord for all these gifts!

As I Went Down to the River to Pray (Part One)

Every spring, St. Augustine's Chapel (our church) does a Spring River Baptism for all the babies born that year.  Now though St. A's is Episcopal, and though infants in the Episcopal church are traditionally baptized with a ceremonial sprinkling accompanied by some parental/godparental/congregational vows inside the church building, our church doesn't let that slow us down.  Instead, St. Augustine's Spring River Baptism looks something like this:

A beautiful farm, complete with a barn...

Straw hats and picnic blankets and folding chairs...

A sweet baby girl all ready to be baptized (along with 9 other sweet babies)...

 Two wonderful godparents (and a third in China!) and some prayers and vows...

A procession down to the banks of the Harpeth River...

And some old-timey gospel tunes from some of our church musicians.

And now, friends, things are about to get serious.  So serious, in fact, that I will post the rest of the pictures tomorrow:)  Stay tuned to see baby girl get baptized....

Now THIS is What I Call a Good Tuesday.

First, there was lunch at Chick-Fil-A.  With Daddy.  And everyone got his or her own drink.

Back at the ranch, after a half-hearted attempt (read:  15 minutes) at a nap, our sweet girl decided it was high time to break out a bathing suit.  So Ev and I donned our suits, spread out an un-inflated water mat on our back deck, and filled a tupperware container with water, which I proceeded to scoop and pour on Ev's head with her stacking cups, eliciting this face.  Sophie the Giraffe was also present, obviously.

According to a baby book we have, our daughter appears to fall into the category of "mouther."  A "mouther" is a baby who explores new things by immediately putting them in her mouth without thinking first.  A baby who is highly impulsive, but also fearlessly daring:)  Anyways, since Ev had never played on this water mat before, she spotted a pink seahorse and went in for the kill...

...and here we are.  It's pretty hard to chew on a pink seahorse when it is lying flat on your deck and is printed on your water mat.

And these last two are just for kicks (check out those expressions!).  Meanwhile, happy almost-summer, friends!  If you need to cool off this week, just pull on your bathing suit and head on over to the Berry deck:)