Grand illumination parade in Norfolk

We are out getting ready to enjoy the annual Grand Illumination Parade in Norfolk :)

Is it November yet?

I think it might be here to stay! Most of the leaves fell off of our maple tree last night when the temperature dropped about 30 degrees!!!! Now it feels like November, right in time to celebrate Thanksgiving :)

Work in progress......

Halloween 2011!

Since I still get to pick out Em's halloween costume because he's too little to care....HE went as a duck :)

Pretty much everyone who doesn't know him (and know he's a boy) thought he was a girl! WHAT!!! I know! I don't see it either but anyway here HE is....... 

 We had a little photo/playtime in the backyard this afternoon, because I was at work on Monday and didn't get to take him out Trick-or-Treating, and the Trunk-or-Treat we went to at my parent's church on Sunday, it was too dark by the time we got there to get any blog worthy/printable pictures, so we just played dress up in the backyard like all the other BOYs do!!!???

 Em really likes walking around and picking things up, today he wanted to share with me :)

The duck's not feeling too great today and he's up from his nap.....see ya!

A beautiful reminder :)

When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

Genesis 9:16

surprise beach weekend

Greg was playing golf this weekend with some friends in Corolla, NC......so Emerson and I tagged along for a little bit of our own fun :)

 we took a morning walk to go play at the beach

 Chased a "dah-gee"

 Sunday, we ended up at the park, where they had the coolest tire swings!!!! They're horses if you can't tell and very appropriate for a beach known for it's wild horses :) I would love to have one of these at home!!!! Maybe one day?

.......took a little drive onto the beach!

and then soaked up some sun on the deck while Emerson had fun learning that his voice echoes if he yells loud enough.....pretty darn funny :)

Emerson is soooo much fun now and quite the looker, I must say! He is very inquisitive at this stage of the game and is amazed by the smallest things, like bubbles in the surf or even a pile of rocks. 

 He is a constant reminder for me to slow down and remember that laundry and groceries and that (never ending) to do list can always wait until tomorrow, we need to enjoy today :)

Ash Lawn Highland

If you've never been the the home of James Monroe, it's beautiful! You should go!

It's got some breathtaking scenery

 We spotted some cows on the way up to the house

 Here's Greg and Emerson walking the grounds

 I forget exactly how old they said this oak tree (it was atleast several hundred) was but it's really old, and really big and keeps the house cool in the summer time!

Here's Mr. Monroe himself! Not really! But we did find this statue walking through the gardens

fall pickin'

I'm pretty go with the flow when it comes to vacationing with another family, I pretty much enjoy doing everything or atleast can enjoying watching others enjoy :) I made it known before we even got there this is the one thing that I wanted to make sure we did this week. Apple pickin'!!!!!!

It's something I've never done before and would love to do again, and you know what I think everyone enjoyed it just as much as I did! I hope anyway :)

We also headed to a real pumpkin patch, I can't remember if I've ever done this either? 

That means one of three things:

1. I probably haven't been

2. I have a horrible memory (quite possible)

3. or I was too little to remember

Either way, we have a new little family member and I want him to experience everything, is that normal?

Anyway, we headed out to the patch with our little pumpkin in tow, in search of his own pumpkin

Found it!

"the farmhouse"

We are thankful, that last week we were able to go on a much needed vacation, for some quality family time and fun with our friends

We rented "the farmhouse" and enjoyed lots of scenic views, relaxing evening walks, bike rides, walking around in small towns, a little history, playing at a great park, skyline drive, and some pickin'.

I'll be back with more details soon :)

homemade wine

So.....my grandparents have a grapevine in their backyard, and have more grapes than they know what to do with. My Gammie and I decided to try our hand at some homemade wine. I found a recipe online, and we got to pickin'.

With our grapes picked and washed, I crushed them seed, hull and all in a food processor.......while Greg mixed the sugar, water and yeast

Here's the grape mash, sugar water and yeast mixture

We followed the recipe and added a small potato sliced up?  

And some steel cut oatmeal to top it off

We scooped the mixture into 2-3 gallon pickle jars, we borrowed from my Gammie

2 weeks in this is what we have, I have no idea if this is how it's supposed to look? We'll see 2 weeks left :)

Amazing note: it doesn't even smell like the tupperware that got lost in the back of the fridge that's full of who knows what from who knows when........

our new fall wreath

This is the wreath my best friend and I made several months ago. It's yarn wrapped around a straw wreath with felt flowers, hung with matching ribbon.....

well after several months and cooler weather creeping up on us :) I thought maybe we needed an update for fall! So my Mom and I headed to Michael's and decided on a color scheme, the pictures don't really show it all that well so I'll tell you what the colors are. 

It was really, really easy!!! A little time consuming but easy! 

1. I just removed our old flowers

2. Rewrapped the wreath with leftover yarn (just to freshen it up)

3. Cut out our diamonds hot glued them on

4. Then wrapped our berry yarn around in a criss-cross pattern

 and wallllahhhh! there you have it!!!!

(taupe yarn, mustard and sage felt diamonds and berry yarn on top) 

Best part about.......it was cheap!!!!! With a Michael's coupon it this was about a 4$ update. I didn't even need all of the felt I bought, so if I returned it, it would be even cheaper!!!!

To infinity and BEYOND!!!!

Emerson and I happened to stumble upon this cute little Buzz Lightyear plate at Target. We carried it around for a little while and then decided to just go for it! He enjoyed using it today and it didn't even end up on the floor like our other plastic plates do ;)

Our relaxing Tuesday in instagrams