moving and change

We've been busy moving all weekend. God bless the handful of people we had come help us. We've had two nights in our new place and they've been great but FREEZING. In all of the madness of returning from a week long trip to Colorado then packing and moving in a few days we forgot to turn on our utilities. Whoops! Evaleigh, who detests blankets, has had to suck it up and I've been sneaking in after she goes to sleep and covering her up.

We adore our new home and are falling more and more in love with it as the hours pass and things come together. I'm amazed at how quickly I am getting things to look like home.

Since our water is also not on yet we went to my dads house last night and took the biggest bubble bath with Evaleigh that has probably ever existed. I don't know who enjoyed it more, John or EJ.

Today I am continuing the endless task of unpacking boxes and Evaleigh is pulling herself up on every single thing. It's making unpacking a slow but fun process. She is getting so good at standing and sitting. I love watching her get herself around and she is shocking me with how quickly she is learning new things right now.

I kind of love moving. I love change.

pears from the rafters

Here are pictures from mine and mama's barn birthday party.  It was so much fun in the fall air.  Mom made my special request of cauliflower soup and biscuits.  Ashlyn brought the most beautiful pie I have ever seen.  There were children everywhere and Evie fell asleep in the swing in the midst of it all.  We were surrounded by great friends and had boiled peanuts, root-beer, and a fire in the fire pit.

Have a great weekend!

Florence

While we were in Colorado my sister in law took me to Florence.  Its a beautiful old town near Canon City, CO.  Every single building on the main drag is an antique store.  We topped off the day at The Aspen bakery with creme puffs, cherry turnovers, and glass bottled sodas.  She fed Evaleigh pastry creme til she couldn't take it anymore, it was pretty hilarious.  I ended up with some amazing finds.

-1940's lace

-a quilt scrap

-1940's black and white polka dot fabric

-some vintage fabrics for Bow to the Queen and King

-a 1936 silhouette in its original frame.  Hello Helen Fischer.

-9 old match books

-a chicken wire basket

-an old hanky.  I'm going to revive the hanky wall in our new house!

freeze

Oh sweet girl if I could freeze time right now I would.

You are perfect.  You are happy and sweet and cuddly and hilarious.  We are obsessed with you and every noise you make and shake of your head do.

You are the perfect shape and size and you melt right in to my arms.  Sometimes I get jealous when other people have you now.  I want to be with you all of the time.  I call you Evie, I never thought that would be the name that stuck but around the house you are Evie.  Sometimes we call you Evaleigh, EJ, Ev, Evie Joy, or when you are in trouble Evaleigh Joy.  You love broccoli and tonight you enjoyed the core of a pear in your chair for an hour. A WHOLE HOUR.  You sat still and devoured that pear and "Emmmmm'd" with each bite.  I like it when you enjoy healthy food.  Especially after a week of your Grammy and Auntie Makayla spoiling you rotten with whipped cream and cinnamon roll bread pudding custard.  I thought I would be lucky if I ever got you to eat a vegetable or fruit again.

After your pear eating frenzy we got in a hot bath together and you splashed and tried to stick your fingers down the drain for a long time.  We are going to love having a bath in our new house every night.

You are the light of my life.  Your personality is blooming and I can't get enough of you.  

I love seeing your face spring up after a nap full of smiles.  

I love that you think its hilarious when I bite your toes.  

I love that you shake your head 'no' when you eat something delicious.  

I love that you are a little shy when you meet new people and bury your head in to my shoulder.  

On the flip side sometimes you just take to a stranger and reach out for them.  My mother heart skips a beat when you do this.

You grew longer while we were in Colorado.

I love you so much. 

big changes!

We are on our way to the Denver airport right now! We have loved our week here in Colorado so much. I've never seen trees so yellow and full of fall. I have a few things to share from our trip later.

We have some pretty big changes taking place when we land back in Atlanta. When we get back we will start packing up our things in my mothers country farm house and we will begin moving to a townhouse in the city. We are so excited for this move and to finally have it be just our little family of 3. We have loved so much living with my mother. I am so grateful for the time she got to spend with Evaleigh and that I was able to watch their relationship grow to be so close.

Leaving is a little bittersweet but we know that it is absolutely the right thing for our family. I am beyond excited to decorate our home and make it ours.

Can't wait for the changes ahead!

gone baby gone

We are in Colorado for a week and it is gorgeous! I have never seen leaves so yellow. We flew in to Denver yesterday. I was SO nervous about Evaleigh flying for the first time but she was perfect! We left at 6:10am which was still technically night time for her so once we took off she fell back to sleep. She slept in my arms for the first two or more hours and then played on her daddy's lap for the last hour. She didn't cry once. We nursed for the takeoff and landing and that seemed to be just the trick. She was quite a loud little talker after she woke up but I say a talking baby is better than a crying baby.

Other than the fact that Southwest lost my bag and we waited around for 4 hours at the airport for it and it still wasn't recovered.....we are off to a good start. They are going to FedEx it to me sometime today, thank goodness! We are so excited to share her with our Colorado family.

tender loving care

Yesterday I found this bread box at Goodwill for $4. It was brown wood and had a wooden knob on it. I already had some mint paint at home that I'd been waiting to use on something. Another thing on my to do list was to run to Hobby Lobby to pick up some crafts for Johns youth project for mutual last night. So while I was there I picked up this cute little red knob for $1.50. I painted it this morning and love how it turned out. Can't wait to make a homemade loaf with tender loving care and put it in there!

(Thanks for my sweater pumpkin CJ! I love it, even though right after this picture Evaleigh ripped the leaves off of it.)

I chose a playground

25 was a fantastic birthday.

This is how it went down.

12:01am-  I had gone up to bed so Mr. Murphy could pull an all nighter and get his work done.  He did this so he could suprise me by taking the whole day of my birthday off of work. (unknown to me!)  He pops in a little after midnight saying, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"  

12:02-  My birthday is started off perfectly right with a kiss from my John and a little hanging out before I go to sleep.

7:00- EJ wakes me up for a little birthday snuggle.  We play in the nursery til 8.

8:00- Time for first nap.  Evie nurses and we fall back to sleep.

9:10- Wake up and go down stairs to find Bek, Joe, and Parker.  We decide to get ready and go to Chic-fil-a for a little b-day breakfast.

10:00- drive there

10:20- Arrived at Chic-fil-a and the cute one gives me my first present of the day.  A nice big diaper blow out.

10:25- All is well and Bek has gone in ahead of me to order.  When I get to the table she has my biscuit waiting on a beautiful blue and pink antique plate she bought me. Can't wait to hang it on the wall somewhere. Because that's what cute plates are for right? Certainly not eating on.

11:00- John, Evie, and I get ready to drive into ATL.

11:30- John gives me my present! Some fabric push pins and a kitchen towel. I'm in love...with the boy and the gift.

11:45- We hold hands and chat while EJ sleeps in the back seat.

12:40- We spend quite some time dreaming and praying about something. (more on that to come later)

2:00- John,"what do you want to eat?"
Me,"Flying Buscuit, no Fresh2Order, no Schlotskys. Definitely Schlotskys."
John,"Of all the cool places to eat in Atlanta, you pick Schlotskys?! Does anyone even eat there?"

2:01- I realize my grave mistake and decide on Tin Lizzys instead.

2:30- We enjoy delicious tacos and I get my fish taco fix for the week while Evaleigh captivates everyone she sees with smiles and waving and her huge leopard bow.

3:00- Goodwill Birthday shopping. I come out with a mustard crocheted pillow, two teeny gold frames, a turquoise and black frame, and a brass owl trivet.

3:30- we head home to beat the rush hour traffic.

3:50- John is a sleepy face so I take over driving and he falls asleep on my new pillow.

5:00- We go to Target to meet my dad while he is on his way back to ATL from Athens.

5:05- We get Starbucks and feed EJ pumpkin bread.

5:40- She takes a ride on Pawpaws shoulders and pulls out some of the hair he has left. She was loving it! Thanks for the velvet leggings dad, I'm wearing them right now!

6:00- Get home and I get to hang out with my mom. She gives me some gorgeous new black flats, a dove chocolate bar, a pair of earrings, and a yellow dessert tray that I've been eying at Target! We talk about the day I was born.

6:30- She hugs me and says, "Thank you for making me a mother."

7:15- I put my little girl down for the night and its party time for me and John!

7:40- We get in the car and John tells me we can do anything I want. I decide I want to go to a playground.

8:00- We swing, we slide, we run, we seesaw.

8:20- While on the swings I tell John I don't want to grow up. I don't mind getting older but I never want to grow up. We promise to make each other laugh everyday.

8:40- We walk over to Jonny's Pizza and I have a raspberry sprite and some garlic knots.

9:30- We drive to the dollar theatre and see Rekall. Liked it. We snack on Reese's Pieces and Snow Caps. (John still doesn't know why he chose Snow Caps.  That's like the Schlotsky's of candy.)

11:57- Drove home and got to the house just in time to see mom for my birth minute. I hug her in her bed and she says, "Hi, how are you? We are just meeting for the first time." 25 years ago of course.

12:00- I snuggle up with my Johnny and we go to bed.

Last years b-day.  And the year before that.

today I am 25

Today I turn a quarter of a century.

I will embrace it even though it feels vastly different than any other number I've turned so far.

I am having a day date with my husband and then a night date sans baby. This is a big deal!

I'm a wife, a mom, and I'm 25.
Whoa.
Who's life am I living?
Because I'm certain I'm still climbing Mabel in our backyard in North Carolina, playing waff-woo with my sister, having lunch in the Starlight Cafe with aluminum foil stars on the porch, taking walks with my mom and catching tiny frogs, and singing songs to myself in an old tire swing in the woods.

This life of mine sure is moving right along and it sure is a good life.

bow to the queen and king + a giveaway

Now introducing a new wonderful creation by Tunes & Spoons!

Bow to the Queen and King is our lovely new Etsy shop.  

We carry headbands for girls and bowties for boys(coming soon!). There will be many other exciting items coming in the future as well!

We love to bring out the Queen and King in everyone.

As a kickoff to our Grand Opening we will be giving away a set of 3 bows of your choice to one reader!  

To Enter:

You must be a follower of the Tunes & Spoons Blog

For an extra entry you can:

favorite the Bow to the Queen and King Etsy shop.

leave a comment telling us which 3 bows you would like.

blog/facebook about this giveaway and leave us a link to that

If you just can't wait to see if you've won the giveaway then use coupon code GRANDOPENING to receive 20% off an order!

Thank you so much for your continued love and excitement about the fun things we do!  Giveaway will be announced 10/15/12.

fall things

There are so many reasons this time of year is special to me. I can't believe a year ago I was pregnant with my sweet girl. I loved being pregnant in the fall. It's crazy how I can hardly remember what it was like to be pregnant though. I know I loved it and I know it was the most beautiful I've ever felt. But the details are hazy. I miss feeling little kicks inside of me. I would do it again as soon as I could, being pregnant is wonderful.

Fall is almost here and I can hardly wait. The calendar may say it is fall but Mother Nature sure doesn't know it yet. This 80 degree weather is putting a damper on my deepest desires to wear boots and blazers. But today I sweated it out and wore one any way. I went to the Corn Maze and Pumpkin patch with my sister, mom, and the babies. I'm so excited to be doing fall things.

ch ch ch changes

A week or so ago my sister let me de-flower her luscious locks. I have been waiting 23 years for her to let me do something to her hair. She is not the kind of person who likes a whole lot of change so this was a big step for her. Me...I thrive on change. I love it. I need it. It's the spice of life for me.

So, we used Em Dickson's Ombré hair tutorial and got this girl a new do! I love how it turned out and she does too. (Even though almost two weeks later she is still getting 'used to it'!). I'm so glad my little sister let me fulfill a life long dream of dying her hair, I can finally check that off of my bucket list.

This was so easy and a perfect new look for fall.

Fall !!!!! I'm so happy you're here!

ma ma

After all of my waiting and hoping Evaleigh finally said 'mama' yesterday!  We were on our way to the barn getting a few things ready for my birthday.  I had been practicing blowing kisses with her earlier that day and making 'muwah' sounds.  I guess something clicked because when we were walking out she said it.

"Ma....ma"

Followed by 'babababababa dadadadadada'.  Just to give me a little tease.  I started jumping up and down screaming I was so happy!  Then when I was swinging her in the barn she said it a few more times and I flipped.  My heart is so happy.

Fall is coming, my birthday is too, and my little girl said 'mama'.  What could be better?