{pretty, happy, funny, real}

** Capturing the contentment in everyday life**

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter.

No words today (no time, haha), but wanted to share our little piece of contentment:

{pretty}

Fall is just... wonderful. 

{happy}

A boy and his bucket swing.

{funny}

A penguin for Halloween...if we can get him to keep the hat on. 

{real}.... ly love this 1 year old so much.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

*Capturing the contentment in everyday life*

Hosted by: Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

Fall has fallen!  Out on a walk with little guy, I found myself picking up leaf after beautiful leaf.  Just another thing to love about this time of year. 

{happy}

Stephen is always a happy boy when we have something involving tomato sauce for dinner.   Clean-up?  Perhaps not so happy.... but it is still a joy to watch him relish his dinner so much.

{funny}

In my previous post about Stephen's birthday party, I forgot to include a picture of one of his "gifts" from some good friends.  (Those of you who know us know who these two are.)   What made it even funnier is that Stephen had cut a new tooth, literally, that very morning.  Disclaimer:  We did not use the "Tooth Reliever" quite as directed.  ;)

{real}

Again, my 'real' turns out to be a choir song.  Just yesterday we started rehearsing Faure's Requiem in preparation for the All Saint's Day Liturgy.  Every year I am reminded of how much I love this piece.  Listen to the "Sanctus" movement.  I truly think that, upstairs in heaven, the angel choir director managed to get his hands on this piece and now the heavenly hosts use this particular Sanctus to praise God.  Maybe.  In any case, if you give it a listen, PLEASE don't stop until you hear the unbelievable transformation that happens after minute 2:30.   Enjoy. 

A Birthday Bash

Yesterday was the coldest, dreariest day of the year thus far.   A chill air,  numbing rain, and grey skies dominated from morning to nightfall.

Not so in our household.  :)

What a blessed, warm, happy day we had... full of loving friends and family, delicious fall food (complete with mulled cider), laughter and kids running amok, and a very happy birthday boy.

Today my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude for all that we have--both in the blessing of our dear son, and in the blessing of our life here.  I am so, so very content.

In the busy-ness of providing for 30+ people, we really didn't take too many pictures.  But here are a few:

My mother's heart had been looking forward the entire year to giving Stephen a piece of birthday cake to smash.  He certainly did it justice--ate most of an enormous piece, and then proceeded to walk around the house with his little walker for the next couple of hours with impressive amounts of sugar energy.   Followed by a really bad night's sleep.  Oh well.  :)

A Happy 1st Birthday to you, my sweet boy.
Love, your Mommy.

Boy in a Basket

I think that the caption says it all.   :)