week 26: happy birthday, blakey!

it was blakey's birthday this weekend!  the big 3-1.  old man :)  we celebrated with his parents in kansas city all weekend with lots of delicious dinners, including one of blake's favorite restaurant concepts - the brazilian steakhouse {fogo de chao}.  all the meat you can eat served on a sword?!  yes, please.  it was awesome & delicious.  we also went to an old kansas city favorite burger joint {westport flea market} & a delicious local frozen custard place {foo's fabulous frozen custard}.  so many birthday feasts! that's the best kind of birthday.

blake & dave also spent the weekend fancying up nora belle's nursery!  they installed a pretty white fan & built her crib!  {thank you mom & ray for the beautiful crib!}  she now has a place to sleep, a place to get rocked to sleep, & place to put all of her teeny tiny clothes.  it's coming together, nora belle!

 {the fellas hard at work}

 {LOVE her modern crib}

we hit the 100 days 'til mark this week!  & then we fast forwarded three days at our first OB appointment in kansas city - our new due date is october 21st!  little girl is growing right on schedule & has a healthy heartbeat.  we'll get to see her little face again in another week!  

love love,

kjp.

week 22: saying goodbyes.

our four years in sweet home birmy have come to a close.  it's been an incredible four years of ups & downs & beginnings & endings.  blakey learned how to be an excellent physician.  i learned how to be a pasty chef & actually love my job.  we learned how to live in a city we knew nothing about.  we learned to make friends, truly amazing lifelong friends.  & we even learned how to be husband & wife.

the biggest life lessons i learned while in birmingham:

1. be selfish with your marriage.  learn to put your spouse & your marriage first before all of the other things that are in your life - work, friends, even other family.  it might sound rude, but it's so important to start there & learn to live out your life together.  i will point out a very wise thing my father-in-law said to me before blake & i got married: when marrying a doctor, you have to be ok with coming in second.  you are always his first priority, but you are going to come in second sometimes.  this is also a good thing to remember.

2. find an amazing group of married friends with similar beliefs about marriage.  i cannot tell you how lucky & blessed we were to find these amazing friends.  not only because they are each awesome but because we all understood how important our spouses were to each other.  it made it even easier to put our marriages first.

3. marriage is a choice.  a wise friend of ours once told me that the key to a good marriage is to wake up each day & choose your spouse.  sometimes it's easy & sometimes it's hard.  but it's always a choice.

4. even if you love your job, it's ok to love home more.  i always wanted a job that i looked forward to going to on monday mornings.  after having my dream job for the last three years, if you asked me if i'd rather be at work or at home, i'd choose home every time.  & you know what, that's ok.

5. please don't ever say "i don't have time" or "i don't have a choice".  you have time.  you get to choose how to spend your time.  & you have a choice.  just because you don't like your options, it doesn't mean you don't have a choice.  

four years ago, i never would've dreamed it would be so hard to leave birmingham.  this city with its beautiful trees & hills, its cool summer nights, its amazing food, its southern hospitality, & its incredible people.  birmy, you've been good to us.  

& because you know i couldn't leave this city we love without having a "final meal" {& telling you about it} - our last meal was at saw's.  a pulled pork baker with lots of delicious saw's sauce & the best fried okra there is.  technically, we ate our "final" saw's meal at least six or seven times, including twice in the last week. each one was absolutely incredible.

"you get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place.  

like you'll not only miss the people you love 

but you'll miss the person you are now 

at this time & place 

because you'll never be this way ever again."

love love,

kjp.

our christmas 2013.

as with all things worth celebrating, blakey & i celebrated christmas all week long!  we began last weekend with a puzzle by the beautiful christmas tree, our annual viewing of love actually, our first viewing of white christmas, lots of football, & a couple of days home together.

{my happy boys}

 {the little guy & green man & me & coffee}

 {the beginning of our a christmas story puzzle}

{after three days, success!}

on christmas eve, blakey was working away at the hospital, so i brought a christmas feast to the call team!  we enjoyed some truly delicious smoked turkey from moe's bbq, super cheesy mashed potatoes, & my favorite green bean casserole.  & for dessert - eggnog cheesecake!  a happy christmas eve in the hospital.  

as soon as blakey got home christmas morning, our true christmas celebration began!  we opened presents, watched tanky tear into his presents, facetimed & chatted with family, threw greenman over & over & over, & made our christmas breakfast tradition - migas & chorizo!  it was a beautiful day with my amazing husband celebrating the love of Christ.

 {the pioneer woman's amazing migas}

 {tanky LOVES opening gifts.

that must be why he tried to open our gifts early too.}

 {the awesome new le cresuet tea pot blakey got me!}

{& the GORGEOUS sorel boots blakey got me!

he really really spoils me.}

 {Christ the Lord, the newborn king is here!}

a very merry christmas to you & yours.  may we remember the joy of this day all year long.

love love,

kjp.

a happy & tasty halloween.

{candy cane cupcakes!}

we hope you & yours had a most wonderful halloween filled with chocolate & candy & adorable kiddos in costumes.  that or a quiet evening at home like we thoroughly enjoyed :)

 {spiderweb chocolate cookies}

of course, i celebrated all week with a few fun halloween treats.  i just love getting to create adorable little treats with fun piping.  baking holiday fun!

 {satsuma orange cake}

{caramel apple cheesecake with a graham cracker crust}

malcolm was fantastic mr fox for halloween!  he was absolutely the cutest little fox man dressed in a tie in the universe.  he helped hand out the candy & taught all of the boys & girls to say "trick-or-treat" before getting candy.  smart & polite little man.

{that smile!  i swoon.}

love love,

kjp.

happy 1st birthday, #littlemalcolmv & happy 30th, benny boo boo boo boo boo!

malcolm turned 1 this week!  & benny boo turns 30 in a few days!  so we threw a party.  a fantastic party, of course.  there was birthday cake & balloons & our family & a beautiful evening in oklahoma.  what more could you ask for?

{little man loved his navy & chartreuse themed party}

{a happy day for the vandaveers}

little man sent me the sweetest card a few months ago, asking if i would bake his first birthday cake.  i was so honored!  his mom & i decided upon a homemade nutella cake with a nutella & banana center layer & vanilla frosting & lots & lots of sprinkles.  yummm.  little man loves bananas.  & we discovered he loves cake too!

{navy & chartreuse sprinkles, of course}

malcolm is a very healthy eater, loving foods like bananas & avocados & beans.  so this was his first cake experience.  he wasn't sure at first, but he learns he loves aunt kenlie's cake.

{yummmmmm}

he was super sweet to share his cake with mom & dad.  no smashing, really.  just sharing.

{mom, dad, try this!}

{i think he liked it}

after cake, our evening was filled with wonderful friends, a cookout, a game of ladder ball, an intense game of 3-on-3 soccer, & a good game of getting thrown in the pool.  a lovely birthday party indeed.

{so happy caric joined in the fun!!}

happy 30th birthday, benny boo!!  & happy birthday, little man.  love you both.

love love,
kjp.

happy friday!

{photo courtesy of lyssmoore on instagram}

how beautiful is this photo of my lavender & vanilla bean donut with a delicious urban cup of coffee?? i love seeing my treats through another's eyes.  it's an honor & really really neat.

blakey is heading home from interview number 4 of 12 this evening!  a third of the way through.  awoohoo!  we are going to enjoy our favorite saturday tradition - after finishing work & enjoying a lovely urban breakfast, get a workout in at body pump, soak up some rays at the pool, pick out a delicious brew at hop city, & enjoy it all on our patio while tanky runs around with green man.  & then if we have any energy left in the evening, date night!  we're pretty excited.

happy friday, my friends.

love love,

kjp.