"Precious in the Sight of the Lord"

Our sweet Grand-D was called home to Jesus last week, and we are grieving and rejoicing that he now resides with our Lord and Savior.  What a blessing that Ev got to spend as much time as she did with him, and that we have the hope of the gospel to cling to until we are someday reunited with Grand-D!

Letter P, Letter P

Pumpkins...

...picnics (sometimes on our back deck, but nonetheless)...

...and playgrounds!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends:)

Folks, It's October.

Gracious!  Where does the time go?  I feel like we were just getting the hang of September, and it hastened on out the door last week before I could blink!  Little Miss Priss is now 11 months old (um, what?) and on the brink of walking/talking/who knows what else.  Though she is still no champion sleeper, she is firing on all cylinders when awake, socializing, babbling, and exploring.  She is in destroyer-mode at the moment, cruising around on any furniture or other surface available and emptying shelves, tearing things to pieces, and generally leaving a path of destruction in her wake.  But what fun it is to watch this girl continue to grow and learn and explore!

This girl loves her some playground time.  Swings to swing in, slides to crawl up, sand to swallow, mulch to munch...so many things to do!

 Not only does Ev have a Vandy cheerleading outfit that she breaks out on Saturdays, but her godmother also graciously whipped up an Ensworth outfit so she could attend football games at her daddy's high school in style. 

Oh, and there are pumpkins.  Ev is very much into both pointing and pumpkins these days, and we rarely pass pumpkins on walks or in the grocery store or wherever without much vigorous pointing and bouncing from my girl.  This little pumpkin patch is down at the Produce Place, a little grocery store with lots of locally-grown organic produce and goodies for sale.  We love the Produce Place; we pick up our CSA food box every Wednesday close to it, so we usually swing by the Produce Place to visit their pumpkins and supplement our CSA produce, and the sweet employees there are always glad to let us wander and explore.  I love how delighted our sweet girl is to spend 20 minutes standing in gravel and patting pumpkins--would that you also delight in spending some time outside this month, patting pumpkins, swinging, or going to football games:)

Who Ya With?

V-U!  That's right, folks, the Vanderbilt football team has garnered itself a 3-0 start to the season, and the Berrys are loving it!  Dave and I grew up attending Vandy games with our families, and have spent more hours watching those guys play football and basketball than I care to count.  We've always talked (only half-jokingly) about how being a Vanderbilt fan builds great character and humility in a child, and so, it's only right that we "train up [Evelyn] in the way she should go" (Proverbs via Grandaddy) and take her along to as many games as we can while she is still young and impressionable.  To that end, Evelyn has tailgated with all four of her grandparents and various other friends and relatives before all three home games so far; she hasn't actually entered the stadium yet, but all in good time, right?

 This is Evelyn's idea of pre-gaming it...a football game on TV, some blocks to play with if she gets tired of the commentary, you know, the usual.  But once we get down to our tailgate spot at Vandy, the real fun begins...

 When Ev tailgates, she likes to do things like stack her cups (under the supervision of her father and both her grandfathers)...

 ...commune with nature...

 ...chew on any shakers available...

...and get tailgating tips from her Aunt MC when she's around (note that Aunt MC and Uncle Eddie attended Ole Miss and therefore have a master's degree in tailgating).

Vandy hits the road this weekend to play South Carolina...maybe they'll win, and maybe they won't, but either way, this girl will be back for more.  

P.S. Did you note Ev's Vandy-themed attire AND quilt?  Her ultra-talented godmother made all of these accessories special for her:)

An Ode to Grandparents

Aren't grandparents the greatest? 

They think you are beautiful no matter what you wear...

...they love to make you smile...

...they cuddle with you whenever you want...

...and cuddle with you even when your mind is somewhere else.

Grandparents love to show you new and interesting things...

...to visit your favorite places with you...

...and to introduce you to some of their favorite places, too!

Little Miss Evelyn Orr is so blessed to live only minutes away from all four of her grandparents. Honey and D and Grammie and Grandaddy love, love, love on our girl, and we love that they get to spend so much time with her.  And not only does she have four sweet grandparents at her beck and call, Little Bit also has three amazing great-grandparents!  These three do not live nearby, but they sure have gotten to have some good time with this baby so far....

With G.G., Grand-D, and B ready to party with you at a wedding, walk with you wherever you need to go, and rock with you to your heart's content, what more do you need?  Our girl's got it pretty good, I'd say:)

Farewell, Summer

Here in Nashvegas, we are slowly, but surely, creeping into fall...the weather is cooling off (at least for now), the leaves are just beginning to change color, and college football season has begun!  But before we get too deep into September, a quick look back at how we spent the last few glorious weeks of summer....

 We joined the Maryland Farms YMCA for the summer, which might just be the best money we've spent in the past year.  Evelyn LOVED IT.  She loved crawling around in the spray, she loved splashing and plunging her face under water, and she especially loved patting the giant crab (as seen in the first picture above).  YMCA pool, farewell for now; we will certainly miss you until next summer!

We ate lots of yummy meals with fresh produce from our fabulous CSA; isn't summer food the best?  Evelyn has really gotten into both corn cobs and apple cores lately (which is a combination reminiscent of meals enjoyed by a Cummings dog of my youth, a crazy black lab named Mallie).

When we had some cooler days in late August, Ev and I headed outside to blow bubbles and have afternoon cocktails and snacks while waiting for Daddy to come home from work.  Yes, we are sitting outside our garage on the driveway with our bubbles, Puffs, and drinks.  The Berrys are classy people, folks:)

A New Cousin

Remember this?  Our sweet girl was merely days old in this picture with her cousins Piper and Lily:

Nine-and-a-half months later, we spent the weekend in Kentucky visiting with a NEW cousin!  Joseph Victor Cummings Nasief was born a week ago today, early, early in the morning, to his proud parents Ellen and George.  What a delight to have three cousins in the family (and a boy, to boot!).

 It's a little hard to see in this picture, but Ev is waving to Baby Joseph.  She seemed only mildly disappointed that he wasn't waving back:)

Two proud aunties, a new mama, and two sweet babies--what fun!