pizza night with the fam...

evan comes from a big family. i mean BIG. he's the youngest of 8 kids whom one by one are having kids of their own. the good thing about that is, cousins for penny! lots and lots of cousins! a few of her out of town ones were here in Charlotte recently, and there were many a day spent playing, swimming, and for penny, getting reacquainted with them. cause when you're only almost 18 months old ya tend to forget someone who you last saw at christmas. i'm pretty lucky to have married into this family of mine...

an impromptu rainy puddle jump session. is there really anything better?!?!

golden sun and muddy toes

this past sunday was chock full of the good things in life, and i was happily left thankful by the end of it. thankful for marrying into a big family, with so many aunts, uncles, and cousins that love our girl. thankful for sunshine, and that first taste of spring that leaves you wishing desperately for more. thankful for muddy kids, and glasses of wine in the afternoon. yup, last sunday was a keeper for sure!

now if only every day could be a sunday...

an early christmas...

since we were spending christmas in NY, we decided to have a little family christmas of our own at home with penny before we left. we kept it simple with just a few new toys, christmas music, and snuggles with puppies on the floor. it was a very sweet evening and she was stoked about her new books, blocks, and stacking cups. i hope we can always just appreciate the little moments as a family and never let christmas get too out of hand. it was perfect!

NY... as seen from my iphone

penny's first trip to NY was a pretty darn good one if i do say so myself... and yes, i do! she did really well on the plane, with the exception of some really bad gas caused by the pressure on the way home. sorry to the folks traveling with us who just wanted some peace and quite. penny needed to get the farts out, and y'all were gonne hear about it from her! she got to meet all of her cousins on my side of the family, and even a second cousin too! she had lots of firsts, like sitting in a high chair for the first time, and her first nap in a pack-n-play! my heart was quite full watching her with all of my family, and it makes me a little sad that she doesn't get to see them all more often.

here are some favorite moments from our trip. naturally i forgot my camera, so these are all iphone shots...

 until next time ny... xoxo

family time

the other night penny and i met up with evan after he got off work, for a little pre-dinner, sweet treat date. i know just how lucky i am that i get to stay home with penny, and i often feel sad that evan has to miss a lot of her first's because he's at work. so long story short, penny and i decided a family date was needed! also, it was about 84 degrees on said day, and mama had a bit of a sore throat, so frozen sorbet goodness sounded perfect for lots of reasons! 

i know people always say that you have to plan time away from your baby to keep from going crazy, but really, when your baby is as sweet as this, why would i ever want to be away from her? i love our little family to bits, and i know eventually this may change, but for now i'm just happy as a clam when it's the 3 of us doing anything at all. penny, you make what was already a good thing pretty darn incredible!