All Pied Out

After a long day at the pie festival Vera and I decided to cuddle up and read a good book, Holly the Lamb Finds Baby Jesus to be exact. This book has been glued together multiple times because Vera likes to aggressively open the doors to see where baby Jesus is. It drives me bananas, but at least she loves books. 

Opening the door to the Bethlehem inn for the hundredth time, only to find that Jesus is still not  there.  I love reading books with Ve and hearing her ask "that" when she doesn't know what something is. She likes the last page of
this book the best because she now knows who Joesph, Mary, and baby Jesus are. 

Then it was time to put on p.j.s and snuggle with Daddy. Here she is feeding him one of her pretzels which is amazing because Vera doesn't like to share.

Like father like daughter...

I yelled, "tickle him", and she did. She loves to tickle her Daddy

This is right where she needed to be

My two favorite people

"Have I told you that I love you lately Daddy"

We Finally Got a Piece of the Pie

This past weekend Celebration hosted the Annual Great American Pie Festival. Thousands of people flocked into town from all over America to sample award winning pies and to compete in the best pie competition, more on that later. here is our sleepy little town on a busy, pie filled weekend.

Vera in her wagon chugging some water. We went down to the festival early as to avoid the extreme heat.  It didn't really work, but it sure as heck beat going  mid-afternoon

I volunteered earlier that morning to check in all the pies that were being entered into the famous Crisco competition. as a result, I got a free ticket to the never ending pie buffet. For real, there were about thirty kinds of pie to sample and you could sit there and eat until you could eat no more.  This concept sort of makes me ill, and watching some people eat more pie then I do in two years grossed me out. Six pieces was our combined total, and even then we didn't eat the entire slice. We just wanted to try them and say we sampled pies from all over. 

Vera and Matthew just had to try the apple pies, and showing off her fork skills. This was our third piece, all of them were different, and the only one that Matthew gave his fork of approval to. 

Try this Daddy, it's good! You can even see their I heart pie name tags. Hysterical. 

All smiles when it comes to jamming something into Daddy's mouth. She loves it when she can turn the tables on  us

Then it was onto key lime meringue pie. This won our overall best in show award. I personally think that was because there was no strawberry pie, but even if there was, it wouldn't be as good as my grandma's pie.

Two pies that we snuck out of the feeding area and past the pie police (for real, there were pie police there to make sure no pie left the feeding area) We have no plans to eat the pie, we just wanted to see if we could smuggle it out. I have my official volunteer shirt on and all. It was a pietaastic time.

Does too much turkey make you sleepy?

I think we can finally put this question to rest. If you eat too much turkey, you'll fall asleep. Here is my own personal experiment where I fed Vera all the turkey she could eat and out she went. 

Stop. Daddy Time

Vera sure does love her Daddy. When he gets home and on the weekends I am a blatant second fiddle. It makes me happy to see how much she loves him, and what a great father he is. 

Just playing with and sorting her blocks

Vera has learned to tickle us and she makes a hissing noise whenever she comes to tickle you. Here she is getting hers after a failed attempt at tickling her Daddy

Minutes before she tossed the pieces in frustration. That darn star just wouldn't go in

Later that night it was time to take a ride around the house with Mrs. Cotton Candy  and Mr. Jellybeans. Daddy loaded them all onto the blanket and drug them all over the place. Now whenever Vera comes downstairs she wants to sit on the blanket and go for a ride. 

Matthew: Vera please keep all you hands, feet, and bunnies on the blanket
Vera: Sure thing Dad. Whatever you say goes

Weeee!

Monkey Business

Aunt Heidi found this awesome monkey swimsuit for Vera. She loves it, contrary  to her face in this picture. She was in a stinky mood after being rubbed down in sunscreen. I get more compliments on this suit then you would believe.

Having a puff and heading to the pool in my monkey suit. Thanks Aunt Heidi!

The Buzz on Sycamore Street

The hardest part about moving to Florida is that we are very far away from friends and family. It makes living here really hard at times. On the positive side, we have wonderful neighbors who daily make us feel like family. I think God put us right where we needed to be when He put us on Sycamore Street. Here we are getting ready to go over to Mr Tim (aka Mr. Wonderful) and Mrs Pam's for another 408 Porch Party. Vera had to get all dolled up for such an occasion. 

"Bee"utiful 

Walking to Mrs. Pam's with Guga 

Vera's favorite people all in one place. Guga, Mrs. Debbie, and Mrs Pam. When Guga and Ruthie can't be here, it is good to know these women are. She is one very blessed little girl, and so is her mommy.

Riding the horse like a farmer does

Thanks for being such awesome neighbors. We love spending time with you!

In My Easter Bonnet with All the Frills Upon It

This year Vera's Easter basket was filled with bath toys, books, and outside games. We already put the sidewalk-chalk to good use. She loves using the tugboat at night in the tub.

Exploring what the bunny left her.

Walking to church to celebrate Jesus in her new Easter dress and shoes.

Weeee!

Three generations

We were joined by our neighbors who were also walking to church. i just love that we are two blocks from church and Ve's future preschool. Doesn't get better then that.

Listening to what Guga was saying

I just love this one. I love getting hugs from my Ve, and when she looks up at me with those big blue eyes, I know that Matthew and I are in for some serious trouble down the road

At the church egg hunt with all the preschool kids

Vera would find eggs and put them in other kids baskets. She didn't need that candy anyway, and it was pretty sweet.

Back at home with her basket and some eggs 

Dropping one in; she finally got the hang of it as the day was ending. There's always next year

Love this! All smiles on a sunny, eighty degree Easter morning.

Making sure they were all still in there

It was a wonderful Easter and a great morning with friends and family. We are beyond blessed

Hippity Hop Easter's on It's Way

The Saturday before Easter we headed off to the park for our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. Unfortunately we missed it due to a location mishap, but Vera still had one surprise ready to hop her way.

Mama Lucy's Easter Bunny costume found its way out of the closet  again this year.  I just love knowing that she made it and that Vera is seeing the same bunny that her Daddy did. If you look closely, you can see the bunny behind the tree

The Bunny decided to sit down in front of the 13th hole and wave to cars as they passed. I got a few smiles.

The Forrest Gump  Bunny picture

Vera getting her screws tightened by Mrs. EB

All smiles with this friendly bunny, but she still didn't want to be held for too long

Run!

A family of crazy people. Sorry Vera, you're stuck with us.

The ears don't stand up anymore. I think it makes it kind of look like an Easter lamb

Until next Easter!