Her Special Coloring Spot

 

Vivi likes to do things by herself, without being bothered by Gavin. This is challenging on most days since Gavin makes it his daily job to be up in everyone's business. Well, when Viv really wants to color (with crayons, chalk, or pens) by herself and one of us is in the kitchen, we'll let her color on the counter. She loves her special spot.

But every once in a while, Gavin will figure out where she is and convince Wes to be his personal ladder.

Thanksgiving 2011

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house in Harrisonburg this year. We had 13 adults and our two kiddos over for appetizers, games, dinner, and pie. It was definitely a fun time.

We started the day off by playing a few games (with prizes!) and eating a ton of appetizers. Here are the prizes that each winner picked:

Then it was time for dinner, which was put together by just about everyone who attended. Delicious!

More to come about our Black Friday festivities...

New Orleans

Last week, I went to New Orleans for four days for the National Communication Association Conference. Thursday was spent traveling down to NOLA and Sunday was spent traveling back up to VA, but Friday and Saturday were filled with presentations, great food, and amazing time with friends. Although I didn't take that many pics (I was way off my normal photo-taking game), I had so much fun catching up with everyone. 

On Friday, I presented a paper from my dissertation research and then had breakfast with a Purdue friend, Elizabeth. Lunch was an incredible crab meat cheesecake and bananas foster with my friend, Kelly, who I haven't seen for over five years. Then, I met my peach tree friends (Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Brenda) for dinner before heading over to the Purdue party for some dessert.

On Saturday, I went to Cafe du Monde with my friends, Ashley, Rebecca, and Colleen, for some beignets. 

Jackson Square:

I had two more presentations on Saturday and then went out to lunch with another Purdue friend, Heather. Last, but certainly not least, I spent the evening with Kelly again. We went out to eat and then came back to my hotel, ordered room service for dessert and just watched tv.

It was so great to see everyone, but I really missed Wes and the kiddos. I don't think I'll be leaving for four days straight by myself again any time soon.

Cookies & the Park

The other day, we made cookies.

And then we quickly realized that G & V were going to need to burn off some of that sugar at the park.

It was a good day.

Photo Shoot

Our fall 2011 photo shoot pics are in! I'm in love!

Brandy's Birthday

A couple of weekends ago, we celebrated our good friend's (Brandy) birthday at our house in Harrisonburg. Brandy, her husband, Iad, their son, Carter, and our other friends, Steph, Tony, and April were all in attendance. Usually, I would have taken this opportunity to take a gagillion photos of everyone (since we're rarely in the same place at the same time), but I only got photos of Steph, Tony, and my kiddos.

We had a "dip party" on Saturday with 5 different dips (hot and cold) and several things to dip into the dips. It was a hit with everyone- especially the kiddos. Saturday night, we ate lasagna and chocolate cake. Once the little ones all went to bed, the girls and I attempted to make a craft we found on Pinterest- a cuff bracelet that you make out of lace. Let's just say that I still have all of the cuffs here and I'm still periodically spraying them with fabric stiffener in hope that they will work.

Love you Brandy and I hope you enjoyed your little birthday weekend here as much as we did!

He's Nutzo

Gavin is crazy. Let me explain.

For some reason, we have these small square holes in the floor of every room in our house. The good news is that each one is filled with a small square block of wood. The bad news is that Mr. Gavin has figured out that these little square blocks of wood are capable of coming out of the floor.

Well, Gavin now enjoys taking these blocks out and then either sticking things (toys, pacifiers, Wes' keys) down the hole or staring down the hole and telling us what he can see in the basement (yes, the hole goes straight through the floor to the basement).

He's nutzo.

Coasters

A few months ago, I made these coasters for one of my BFFs, Stephanie. I found the tutorial on Pinterest and I think they turned out great!