Eden & Charlie's Wedding

My sisters and I have been trying to plan a Sister Weekend Away for some time now.  Eden's wedding proved to be a great time to get away and the Chesapeake provided a beautiful setting for relaxation and celebration.

 

 

This was the first time my sisters and I have gone away together without any kids!  It was glorious!!  I forget how pleasant it is to sit down to eat a meal at a normal pace or have a lengthy conversation with another adult.

 

 

Charlie and Eden both have fond memories of the Chesapeake.  Charlie's farm has been in his family for more than 200 years and Eden's family vacationed at a place nearby all through her childhood years.  So to have a wedding right there was so fitting. 

 

What a beautiful couple!



Embracing their Scottish heritage with the bagpiper! 

Me and the Beautiful Bride:)

Mr. & Mrs. Henderson

After they left we stayed to enjoy the views.

Jessica and Lena

A perfect end to a beautiful celebration

 

 

 

 



Drew's First Birthday

Drew's birthday fell on one of the busiest weeks of this fall.  I was going to be leaving the next day to go to Eden's wedding and every evening we were supposed to be at baseball or soccer games.  Thankfully it rained the night of his birthday so our games got cancelled and we were all home to celebrate Drew's first birthday!

 

 

Jack especially thought Drew would really like a baseball cake.  I was very thankful for his idea because I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to devote to making a cake and a baseball seemed to be about the easiest cake to make!

 

 

No matter how much Emily tried to convince him that he would like it...

 

...he just didn't want any part of it.

After he was left on his own for a bit, he did manage to enjoy a little bit of the icing:)

Being Garvin baby #6, there isn't really a whole lot that we don't already have (plus Daddy doesn't really think that a one year old should get anything at all), so he just had one present to open.

 

 

A book!!  You can never have too many books, right??


It's hard to remember what life was like before Drew came along.  In a way his first year has flown by, but in another it seems he has always been a part of our family.

It has been fun watching his own little personality come through!  He loves his blankey, loves to climb (although he hasn't tried to climb out of his crib yet...just into the tub), loves to be outside, loves to be upside down, is always on the go, is easy to make laugh, and will bite you if he thinks you are in his space!!

As Abby says for all of us, "I wuv my baby Dwoowie."



Emily's Hairstyles

 

Emily has been into having her hair done lately...YAY!!  I have always wanted to braid Emily's hair, but she has never been too interested...until now.  While we were on vacation this summer we watched our friend Amy do her daughter's hair every morning.  That must have inspired Emily because she finally wants me to do her hair!!

 

She got on youtube to find us some how to videos and found some great tutorials from "Cute Girl's Hairstyles".  They have a you tube channel as well as a website.

 

Here are several of the styles we have tried:

 



The Harvest

Over these last few years, gardening has become a big part of our summer so I thought I would share some of the bounty we received this summer.

 

Our first bowl of raspberries

snap peas and lettuce

Digging up the potatoes

The first onion

Potatoes

Garden pizza is my all time favorite summer time meal

basketfuls of tomatoes, so we canned...

salsa

Aunt Nancy's spaghetti sauce

diced and whole peeled tomatoes

Plus there was so much more that I never took pictures of...corn, zucchini, garlic, different leafy greens, tons of green and yellow beans, zucchini, eggplant, different kinds of peppers, yellow squash, watermelon, cucumbers, did I mention zucchini?!?!