thankful

Sorry I have been off line recently. I wanted to stop in and let you all know that yes we are still alive :) Family has been first and foremost on my mind recently and this blog has taken a back seat as a result. I promise it is just for a little while. I thought is was appropriate I pop in today and give you a little update because I am reminded on this day that I have so much to be thankful for this year ....

I have a husband who loves me and Will more then I could have ever imagined.

I have a baby boy who is healthy and growing and turning into a sweet almost 1 year old.

I have family who rally and support us when things are not always easy.

And most of all I am thankful to have a God who loves me and hears my prayers. He sits besides me and carries me through the tough days and for that I am the most thankful.

Well I am off to celebrate Will's first Thanksgiving. This little guy loves to eat so I am pretty sure this is going to be the best day of his life so far ;) I hope all of you dear blog readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and are able to relax {especially you cooks} and enjoy the day!

merry merry merry

Is it sad that this got me excited for Christmas....

{red and green peppers ready for the pasta salad}

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Will and I spent the week with Nonnie and Granddad in Norfolk and then we made our way to Richmond to visit with Auntie Katrina. Glad I now have the weekend to recover!

boo!

In honor of Halloween approaching I thought I would share some appropriate pics I took last week of Will getting ready for the big day in his orange and black hoodie :)

the ghost

 the zombie

 Boo!

I was cracking up to Will's reaction to wearing a hoodie. He has worn them before but apparently now he has an opinion!

 We also carved some pumpkins last weekend and I was pretty excited about Will's. I had this idea last summer when Will first starting getting his teeth that I would carve a pumpkin with as many teeth as Will had at the time to document how many he had on his first Halloween. I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with this :) Will was not so sure about pumpkin guts.

 The "Will" pumpkin. Don't judge my carving skills :)

 Apparently, pumpkin stems are really tasty ;)

 Happy little guy with his pumpkin!

Only 2 more pumpkins to carve!

cousin love and a hayride

 Yesterday my sister in law called me to say that they were on a field trip with her daughter's preschool right down the street from my house. Even though I had a zillion things to do before our busy weekend I could not pass up a chance for a hayride with my little guy so we decided to join them for the morning.

 I love this one of all three looking intently at the hay

 I think these two are going to be best buds one day. Will loves watching Emmett.

 Again, in case you did not know, little boys think hay is cool.

{And here are a few outtakes of Will}

Hey mom! I am on my first hayride!

 I  LOVE HAY!

 You all, look how big I am! {yeah we were trying to get a pic together}

 

He is one blessed little guy to live near his cousins. I love my niece and nephew so much and it is so neat to see them loving on Will. Cannot wait for cousin sleepovers one day! Thanks Katie for the call! We had a great time!

hints of fall

You know it is fall in my house when a few regulars come out of hiding... 

Turkey platter {maybe an antique... found at the Big Flea} and a scented candle sitting next to a bowl filled with pine cones.

Turkey plates replace our everyday dinnerware for a few months {His Majesty by Johnson Brothers}.

Vintage Plates that if I ever host Thanksgiving dinner I would use but for now they look pretty next to my Ironstone {Harvest Time by Johnson Brothers and these are antiques and cannot go in the dishwasher which is why they just look pretty on the shelves :)}

 Yellow mums sit outside my kitchen door. I usually go for orange or red but this fun pop of color was to hard to resist.

 Gourds and mini pumpkins from the farm stand.

...and a few new fall items have joined our home this week

 New pleated burlap and green wreath I made for above the sink.

 {Green "flowers" are just stripes of pleated fabric I twisted to look like a flower}

 Homemade cinnamon applesauce for Will.

And apple cinnamon bread for the adults :)

I just cannot get enough of this season!

something is wrong with this picture

Will's new favorite post nap activity... pull down as many alphabet flash cards as he can reach. Whatever keeps you entertained and happy little guy :)

dinner lately

 Most of my time these days is spent avoiding one of these.... 

 

and the last thing I want to think about is dinner. So this is what we have been eating a lot of recently and I am pretty sure my husband would be okay with it {most every night} since we LOVE Mexican food. Quick and easy equals my kind of dinner.

Quesadillas:

-leftover grilled chicken
-fresh shredded cheese {a must in my opinion}
-tortillas
-refried or black beans {optional}

Side Sauce:
-1.5 cups of sour cream
-tsp of cumin
-pinch of chili powder {a little goes a long way}

I love that I can have this on the table in less then 10 minutes because right now long involved meals are just not going to happen in my house. Thank goodness it is also crock pot season :)

our fall weekend

This past weekend Dave and I decided to try and take advantage of Will's 1-3pm awake time and head to our local farmers market. I love the town I live in especially in the fall when the local farm stands have all of their fall gourds and pumpkins out. I wanted to try and get the classic picture of your baby with a pumpkin {you know the ones you have been seeing all over facebook} but Will was not cooperating that is until a crowd of women came over to comment on how cute he is. I swear that boy understands and he started flirting right back with them. So basically smile photos are the ones with his fan club nearby and the non smiles one are where I was jumping around like a crazy person trying to get him to smile and got nothing :)

This next one cracks me up because I spotted a hay stack and thought it would be cute to get a picture of Will sitting on it. I guess we do not get out much around hay/grass because Will would not take his eyes off of it. Seriously, all of my pictures are him staring/playing with the hay. {Thank you Aunt Katie for the hand me downs.}

We decided to take a back road on the way home from the farm stand and I think I spotted {one of} my dream homes. It is hard to see but this estate was built in the 1920's and the property is amazing. It sold in 2005 for 3 million!

And in case the huge house, trees and fields were not enough of a seller this is the view they have. Yeah, that is the Potomac {in very sunny sunlight}. Can you imagine!

I did spot this beauty for sale right down the road which is a little less the one above. If you have 1.5 million this home could be yours ;) It has a basketball court, putting green, swimming pool and seriously have you seen a cuter home. I love houses that have the cute little side mudroom entryway.

When we got home from our adventures I made these for dinner. Oh my goodness they did not disappoint. Garlic bread on the outside and yummy pizza on the inside. Nothing says fall to me more than comfort food {and babies with pumpkins :)}.

And lastly, we ended our night with entertainment from Will.  Playing with his shadow {this was entertainment for at least 20 minutes... love it!}

What is more fun to a 9 month old then a classic game of hide and seek? Although Will does not quite have the hide part down.

Where is Will?

There he is!

I wish fall Saturdays were year round. Life seems so much better in crisp cooler weather :) Hope you all had a fun weekend as well!

lazy sunday

Watching football on a chilly Sunday is so much more fun when you are snuggling :)

pretty in pink

I feel like I probably give you all way more details then you ever wanted to know when I write a post. I always give to many details when I am telling a story {so my husband/family say} so today I am taking a break from extra details, updates on my house and tons of pictures of Will to share with you all some fun pretty pink pictures of a shower I threw this past weekend for my friend Leah. I will let the photos speak for themselves :)

 I cannot wait to meet baby A!