our first fight

Here is EJ's 8 month video.  At the end you can witness our first fight.  When will she ever learn my name?

month 7

month 6

month 5

month 4

month 3

month 2

month 1

pop pop pop

Last night I finally made these Jalapeno Cream Cheese Crescent Poppers. (pin here)  They were mind blowing awesome.  I mean crazy cream cheesy goodness with buttery flaky biscuits awesome. Then tonight I made Brunswick stew and I made them again.  I did not regret it.

You won't either.

I mean, you should probably go make them right now.

Like now.

GO!

a revival of an old favorite and a pretty darn great weekend

This was just about the best weekend I've had in a while.

Friday my sister and her husband came over and we all stayed up talking til 1:30.  I love them and I am going to miss them so much when they are in Augusta (good luck on your interview Joe!)

Saturday I got to take a two hour nap with my little and then we all showered up and went to see The Avengers at the dollar theater (well they all did, I had a wiggly baby so I went to Goodwill and bought a few blazers.)

Then we went to the fair.  It was SO much fun.  Daddy won a bat and a little dolphin for EJ. (We won't go in to the humiliating details of the basketball game that Mr. Murphy played.  Those carnies will get you every time.)  We had foot long corndogs, a deep fried Snickers, and an elephant ear in all of its fried glory.

Then Sunday after church we brought to Fender system and guitar outside on the porch and soaked in the fall wind and played music while eating chips and salsa with my mom and watching Evie roll around on a blanket.  We also layed out under a tree in the front yard and watched the hummingbirds enjoy the last bit of the feeders.  They will be migrating in a week or two.

After EJ went to sleep Mr. Murphy and I caught up on some of our favorite shows and then played "1-2-3 Come and Jump on me!".  It was a revival of an old favorite.  I love that man and our amazing weekend. 

a date with my little

Yesterday Evaleigh and I had a date while Daddy finished up with work.  I had been getting a lot of emails about the new Ian Henderson's Antique Mall in Monroe.  I have been dying to go and see what its all about.  It is right across the street from the Monroe Cotton Mills Antique Mall which I have frequented several times.  Before I even made it in to the place the manager was right out telling me how cute my baby was and thanking me for coming to shop there.  As soon as I got inside an employee welcomed me and said,"We are so glad you are here, have you been here before?"  

"Nope, But I've been to the Cotton Mills across the street."  

"Well we are nicer than them."  He said with a laugh and a grin.

And it was true, they were amazing!

I am most certainly going to this auction.  It looks like it is going to be amazing.  I saw a list of the items be auctioned off today and I am so excited!  Anyone want to go with me??

The prices were really quite good.  Most booths were having at least a %20 off kick-off sale because this place has just opened up.  I got this pillow for $4, an old Atlas Mason jar FULL of vintage necklaces for $7, and these cute vintage red Angel shoes for EJ for $5!  I'm so excited to keep going back especially for their auctions.

pup

Evaleigh is 8 months old.

If I could freeze time right now I would. She is the most perfect and precious age. She is learning so fast now everyday and I absolutely love watching it.

I love how she smells like syrup all day after one maple waffle wagon wheel. I can scrub and scrub and she still smells like breakfast all day.

She hears everything. Sometimes she mimics sounds she hears. If I am singing she will start to make long high noises like she is singing along. The other day we heard a motorcycle in the distance and then she roared like the sound the cycle made.

She has 6 teeth, oh my gosh.

She is learning to wave and clap. Talk about heart melting. When she claps I jump up and down clapping to because I get so excited.

She loves to fake cough to get our attention. I see right through it.

She is SO much fun to hug. She doesn't enjoy it but I do. Her little independent personality is starting to show a lot more.

She is trying so hard to crawl. I'm thinking we only have about a week left of the army belly scoot. She rolls all over the place to get to where she wants.

Still no 'mama' sounds. Everything she says is 'dada'. She likes to taunt me by saying dada even louder and more often when I'm trying to teach her mama. Then she laughs. Little stink.

Sometimes I look at her little body and can't believe how long it has gotten. She is so beautiful and my heart is so happy because of her.

I still have those moments where I look at John and say, "Holy crap! We made a baby! That little thing rolling around on the floor is ours!" I love those moments.

(Thanks for the puppy coat Nanny. Evaleigh wasn't sure how she felt about it but I loved it!)

Who wants to caption these pictures?

lace cupcakes

Yesterday I had a little party over at my house for a few ladies.  My sweet Evaleigh slept through the entire party despite the 10 spirited children making ruckus downstairs!  I made these lace dusted cupcakes and they turned out pretty good!

All you do is place a piece of lace over the cupcake and sift powdered sugar on top of it.

The recipie I used was:

1 box devils food cake mix

a half box of vanilla pudding mix

cup and a half chocolate chips

Follow the recipie on the cake box. (except if it calls for 3 eggs, that's just crazy. Mine did so I only used two.). Mix all ingredients together. Then bake according to the box!

(If anyone local is interested in coming to our monthly Pinterest groups, send me an email!)

pin idea here

a little too ambitious

The other night while Mr. Murphy and I were driving home from babysitting 4 precious kids we got to chatting in the car as Evaleigh slept in the back seat. I'm not sure how we got on the topic of our wedding but John came up with a lovely idea that made me mush inside. He sweetly suggested that every year for our anniversary we have a special dinner in our wedding clothes. I love this idea because it is a great incentive to get back to our younger and slimmer bodies and it's romantic. He said, "I can just imagine us at 60 still wearing our wedding clothes to dinner." of course I have a pass if I'm pregnant. That thought makes me happy. It's a great excuse to wear my wedding dress again, I've always hated that I only wore it once. I think it's one of my favorite traditions we have come up with, even if it is a little too ambitious.

kites & a persimmon tree

Here is another one of my sets for Holly Robbins.  My vision of handmade fabric kites and lace garland in the trees came out exactly how I hoped it would.  We shot in the horse pasture on our property under a persimmon tree by the brick red picnic table.  

(A special thanks to my sister coming to save the day and getting EJ to give us these big grins!  That little girl is obsessed with her Aunt Bekah>)

(Ej is wearing one of my baby dresses and a re-purposed headband which I had originally made as a detail to put on my wedding dress before my mother and sister veto'd it.  Glad I used it for her instead!)

To book a fall session with her contact her at info@hollylrobbins.com, visit her webpage, or facebook page.

The fall session fee is $30.00 and print collections start at $40.00

Don't miss out on this chance to get beautiful updated family photos!

fall shoot: sneak peek

Yesterday I had my first shoot with Holly Robbins.  I designed 5 sets for her fall sessions.  I am so pleased with how they turned out.  She is beyond words talented and I am so excited for all of our future collaborations!  Stay tuned next week for shots of the other sets.  But for now here is a little look at our cozy fall woodland fort!

Mr. Murphy's yellow bow tie...i love it.

To book a fall session with her contact her at info@hollylrobbins.com, visit her webpage, or facebook page.

The fall session fee is $30.00 and print collections start at $40.00

Don't miss out on this chance to get beautiful updated family photos!

some grams

A few things I've been enjoying as of late:

1. Peek-a-boo with this smiley chick in the mornings. She loves to hug attack her stuffed animals and chew on their faces, it's so endearing.

2. Mustard cords and cuddling with my girl in my dads new home.

3. Naps on the swing on the side porch in the almost fall air.

4. Staying up til midnight making little things for my girl. It's a labor of love people, a labor of love.

5. Watching EJ play with my favorite dolly from when I was young, looks like Maryanne found a new friend.

6. Wearing my first engagement ring. One of Johns guitar strings from when we first met. That story here.

7. Hot pink lips on Sunday.

8. Getting the props ready for my first styled shoot with Holly Robbins today. Can't wait, love this new job so much! (no picture here, you'll have to come back to see how it turns out!)

the chair

I can't believe this beautiful chartreuse velvet chair is mine.

I saw it at Goodwill on Saturday.

I knew it had to be mine but the tag was already gone off of it, which at Goodwill we know that usually means someone else has snagged the tag and is carrying it around laying claim on their fabulous find. I waited around an hour while doing some other shopping but my eye was periodically set on that chair. I asked 3 workers if they knew anything about the buyer and no one could help me or tell me anything.

When I went to check out in a last ditch effort to have that chair be mine I asked the cashier about the chair. She said they could call it out to have the person with the ticket come up to confirm purchase. So they did...twice. And no one came!

So the manager went back to make a new ticket for me to purchase it. Up until this point I didn't know the price. I wanted this chair so badly and had resigned my self to being willing to pay just about anything within reason. When the manager brought out the new ticket, l flipped!

$10.91

"Put that baby in the back of my car now!" I was hopped up with excitement for about two hours afterwards. I love it and now it has a home in the corner of our bedroom.

different eyes

We love this little girl with all our hearts.
Can't wait to show her fall.
Yesterday she woke up ready to play at 5am. I got up with her and we went downstairs as I knew my mother would be getting ready to go to work. She emerged from her outside porch bedroom and we took Evaleigh out on the front porch. We walked out on to the driveway and looked up at the clear dark sky untouched by the sun. EJ had never seen the night sky like that. The moon was still shining so bright and the morning star was right to the east. EJ squirmed to be put down and I set her on the concrete. It was just the 3 of us in our jammies and her diaper. The cool morning air hit us and I knew fall was on its way. We stood there still and quiet for a few minutes.

Im so exited to see fall through different eyes this year.

kind of heavy for a friday.

Yesterday I stumbled across some very disturbing images through what I thought was going to be an innocent hashtag on Instagram.  I have been quite disturbed since then and have not been able to get them out of my mind.  I have been wondering how some people get to such a point of self loathing or how their life situation has caused them to have no self esteem.  This makes me feel sad. I wish I could show people that they have incredible worth.

I know every single person has a different life situation and I couldn't even begin to imagine some of them.  The world is such a dangerous place but it can also a beautiful place if you look for the positive.

I think it is so important to start with loving yourself.  

I think its important to be able to take a look at your self and say, "Yeah, I'd be friends with that person, I like her."  I can truly say that I love myself, and I don't mean this in a conceited or egotistical way.  I enjoy who I am.  I think its important to respect yourself where you are in your life at the current time.  Life is always going to be changing and you will be transitioning from one stage of life to another.  Always.  It is important to love yourself through those changes and to be kind to yourself.  

Sometimes I look at my sweet baby and pray as hard as I can that I will show her how much we love her and she will know how precious she is.  I couldn't imagine a day where she would feel alone or hate for herself.  It is SO important that we spend our days with our children loving them and helping them to acquire solid foundations of true self esteem.  Not just that they are beautiful or smart or funny, but that they are worthy of life and worthy of love and that they deserve, yes DESERVE, to have the best life has to offer.  Because they are children of God.

announcement: new job!

I am so excited to announce that I have been hired by Holly L. Robbins Photography as her set and photo shoot designer!

  

I couldn't be more excited about this new venture.

  

I look forward to working with Holly and creating beautiful places for people to capture unique images that they are proud of.

If you are interested in booking a shoot designed by me and photographed by the incredibly talented Holly here are the upcoming sessions.

Fall Minis - October 20th + 21st

Santa Minis - November 10th + 11th
Valentine's Day Minis- January 19th

send her an email:

info@hollylrobbins.com

if you have specific design needs/questions feel free to contact me as well.

tunesandspoons@gmail.com