Fall Bucket List

This year I was SO excited for Fall to finally arrive. Living in the South, sometimes Fall isn't exactly on time. Sometimes she comes stumbling in, leaves all a mess, with temperatures that go from 75 and sunny to 40 and frosty in one week. And yet, every year when I get into the swing of things at school I start pulling out the hats and scarves, opening the windows to let the breeze in, lighting my apple and pumpkin scented candles, start putting out pictures from past Fall seasons, and sipping on coffee spiced with pumpkin and cinnamon. There's just something about the transition to cold that begs us to slow down and savor the time before us. I like all the seasons, but I'm especially fond of Fall.

The season started off tragically with the loss of my grandfather; a man who did not have to call me granddaughter but loved me fiercely as such. He taught me so many things; things about nature and life and how the best things in life aren't really things. Our family is grieving and devastated at his sudden loss. It's been hard to enjoy my usual Fall traditions because they seem obsolete in the midst of my grief. Nevertheless, I've committed to enjoying my one wild and precious life.

We also lost Josh's sweet grandmother Memaw earlier this year as well. Although our hearts are learning to live with the grief, we are determined to make time for memories that matter and to create a culture of adventure and joy within our little family. If you've hung around us any amount of time, you know our son Daxon oozes a spirit of fun. His smile lights up his entire face and he finds joy in the simplest of gestures. He has been incredible medicine for our pain. With his irresistible desire for fun calling me out of my sadness, I created a Fall Bucket List for this season. This year's list was pretty much just in my head, but I anticipate it becoming a tradition and editing it as our family grows and changes throughout the years.

To celebrate Fall this year, we crossed of the following from our list:

• Decorate for Fall
• Go apple picking
• Make apple crisp & apple pie
• DIY Fall crafts
• Go to a football game
• Decorate for Halloween
• Visit a pumpkin patch
• Carve a pumpkin
• Make Dax's Halloween costume
• DIY Halloween crafts
• Watch Halloween movies
• Bake Halloween cookies
• Trick or Treat
• Decorate for Thanksgiving
• Drink apple cider
• DIY Thanksgiving crafts
• Make yummy treats for Thanksgiving
• Make s'mores with a fire in the fireplace

 Photographic Evidence:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Click here for the recipe! I swapped pumpkin for sweet potatoes & pecans for cookie crumbles.

With only one thing left to cross off of our list, we are so excited for the Christmas season and a chance to teach Dax about Jesus & His birth! This year has certainly had its challenges, but it has also been chock full of sweet moments and God's comfort. I can't wait to share more snapshots of our holiday season and the fun memories we make as a family. 

Until then,

A

Dax Does the Beach

We got the opportunity to crash my parents' beach vacation this year. My dad was invited to a Fire Convention and invited us to tag along for a long weekend. This was the first time Dax got to experience the ocean and he loved every minute! I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

This trip kicked off a really busy, fun summer for our little family! I'm looking forward to sharing more as we ease into cooler temperatures, crispy leaves, and pumpkin everything. :)

-A

The Big O-N-E

Daxon,
Your first year was also ours. You taught us how to sacrifice, how to persevere, and more than anything, how to love with every ounce of our being. Your birth was your Mama's biggest accomplishment. You are your Daddy's pride and joy. We pray for you to grow big and strong. You do. We pray for you to be brave and full of joy. You are.

Each day you leave us in awe as we watch you explore and figure out the world around you, Keep it up, buddy. Your first year was the best of our lives. We cannot wait to see what adventures await us your second year of life as we continue raising you to love life, love people, and love God!

Thank you for capturing this day, sweet friend! (:

These are just a few of my favorite moments captured from his camping themed party! My friend Kayla is such a wonderful friend and took photos while I was running around being Mama and host. It's only been a month and a half since his party and he already seems so much more grown up. I can hardly believe it, but I'm SO excited about the summer adventures headed our way!

Easter Eggcitement!

Ready for some eggcellent pictures?! I love puns. Anyways, 2015 has proven to be even busier than 2014 was so far. We have so much going on! However, I'm looking forward to getting back into the habit of documenting our life and sharing bits and pieces of our world with family and friends. Let's start with Easter!

Dax is a very fortunate fella because Easter fell on April 20th last year. He was 3 days old. Easter this year was on April 5th, so he got to experience TWO Easters before his first birthday! What a lucky guy! Last year we had only been home for a day, so we didn't really get to celebrate Easter. I more than made up for it this year! Easter is one of my favorite holidays and such a great time to reflect on the love of our Savior and the miracle of the Resurrection!

Dax got to participate in dyeing some fun Minion eggs and two little egg hunts. I wasn't sure how interested he would be in Easter Egg dyeing... he was not very interested in it at all but did like looking at the fun colors the eggs turned! His Uncle Andrew helped me out and enjoyed decorating the eggs with stickers.

His very first egg hunt was set up just for him by his Granny and Papa. I really wasn't sure if he would catch on to the whole "eggs in the basket" deal but he did and impressed us all by picking up his eggs and dropping them in his basket. I'm pretty sure nothing cuter has ever happened in all the Easters ever.

I LOVE this article about things to include in an Easter basket that aren't candy. She even breaks it up by age group! In Dax's Easter basket the Easter Bunny took my advice and included:
-Dax's favorite Puffs in his football eggs
-Bubbles
-A counting book called Easter Babies
-The Bunny Rabbit Show, by Dax's favorite author Sandra Boynton
-Bunny rabbit sidewalk chalk (I think the Easter Bunny found it at the Dollar Tree! Holla!)
-A really cute clip on bunny tail
-A few yummy treats for Mama and Daddy

So Josh dressed Dax for church and did his hair while I got ready. He went a little overboard with the detangler, but my sweet boy still looked precious. And while Josh was getting ready I mussied up his 'do so he'd look more like himself and less like a creepy nerd. ;)

He wasn't sure what to make of his basket at first, but after a few days he loved picking out what to play with next! He also quickly figured out what was inside his eggs and enjoyed trying to pry them open and get the yummy Puffs.

After an incredible service at Newspring Church, we headed up the mountain to celebrate Nanny's birthday and enjoy Easter lunch and his second egg hunt. This time he was in competition with his cousins for the prize eggs, but he did great and scored 3 dollars!

While we were outside enjoying the beautiful weather we got the kids together and snapped some pictures. They were hilarious! The sun was in their eyes, my niece did NOT want to sit on the grass, and really... making 4 kids sit still for one photo was pretty ambitious. Then Dax got to meet chickens for the first time! He was a fan.

We finished up our Easter by having family pictures taken for Dax's first birthday. Stephanie Burton took them in my parents' field and they turned out soooo good! Dax was a great sport and gave lots of smiles! I cannot wait to get some prints made and framed. I highly recommend her and am looking forward to lots more family photos with her in the future. :)

All in all, Easter set us up for an even bigger, busier, and more fun holiday- Daxon's first birthday!!! I'll be sharing all about it soon. :)

Until then,
-A