It’s hard to believe this weekend is Christmas–hopefully you aren’t as behind as me;). The month of December always seems to fly by for us between Avery’s birthday and all the Christmas activities. Secretly I love staying busy, but I can honestly say this year I’m ready for the slow down January has to offer. Among the craziness this year we slipped off to meet with some of the most talented and sweetest people ever—Joseph and Andrea of Connection Photography. We’ve been with them since we were engaged, and they have captured our last five years as a newlywed couple to a growing family beautifully. If you want to see a whole lot of gorgeous photos, head on over to their site! Meanwhile, enjoy!:)

Avery’s shoes//Avery’s bow//Avery’s hat//velvet dress//pink coat//

Hi all! Its been awhile forever since I’ve posted here. I don’t know how often I will, or even if it will be regularly, but there is definitely a few things in our life lately that I wanted to share with all my lovely friends, and I thought there was no better way than posting here:).

Over the weekend we hosted Avery’s third birthday– a carnival party. When I asked her what type of party she wanted, I was pleasantly surprised it  wasn’t a character party, which I had pretty much banked on (insert eye roll–haha!). This fall we had taken her to our town’s Forest Festival, which was complete with all the carnival rides her little heart desired. She actually thought we were at Disney World, so we’ll just let her go with that for a little while longer ;).

When she requested the carnival party, I’m 90% sure she thought we would be renting carnival rides. Although we didn’t quite pull through in that department, we tried to fulfill her second request–“Balloons, lots of balloons”.  I didn’t do much decor besides the balloon garland because it made such a huge impact, but I did do a couple floral arrangements–my former flower shop owner heart can’t help itself! haha! Sorry Doug!

I tried to make it as authentic of being at the carnival, so our menu was complete with with all that yummy fried goodness;). We enjoyed soft pretzels, popcorn, homemade corndogs, pulled pork sliders, baskets of fries, candy apples, mini bundt cakes, pies, and SO much cake! I also did pre-poured lemonade in disposable cups which was so nice for the kiddos.

The day was perfect, surrounded by family and friends that mean so very much to us all! Avery’s laugh and excitement was absolutely contagious–I call that a win in my book. This is the first year she’s really been into the idea of a birthday party, and it was so magical to watch!

  I couldn’t have pulled it together without the help of my parents, husband, and some wonderful truly amazing friends. Another year has passed watching our girl grow, and we’re feeling more blessed than ever. Happiest Birthday my sweet girl, I hope your year is filled with magic, adventures, and as many kitchen dance parties as possible. We love you!! xo.

Hi friends! My name is Calli, and here is a little more about me to break the blogging ice. I was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia. I attended four, yes four, colleges in four years graduating with a degree in Biology and Environmental Science from Davis and Elkins College in May 2010. I’ve always dreamed of traveling the world, or moving from my small rural town, but my homebody nature decided otherwise. I bought a flower shop (no one saw that coming-ha!) at the age of twenty-two and settled in my hometown. At this point my now husband, Doug, and I had been dating for about three years. He planned the most amazing proposal for December 2011. He counted down the “Twelve Days of Christmas” by giving me the number of gifts corresponding with the day and counting down from twelve. On Christmas he gave me one big rock! No, literally he wrapped up a rock–the diamond ring was hidden among the tissue paper. For anyone that knows me, knows how perfect this was–Christmas fanatic. We were married on September 22, 2012– yes, we celebrated three years yesterday! We got married at my husband’s family’s horse arena and barn. It was the kind of day you dream about as a little girl, and most importantly we were surrounded by the people we love the most.

We spent one wonderful week in St Lucia, and then came home to move in a small apartment that we had renovated beside my husband’s family’s saw mill. We knew we wanted to start a family pretty soon, so I lived it up as a stay at home wife for a few months;). It was no surprise on an unusually warm March day that six pregnancy tests read “positive”.

We welcomed Avery Grace into our family on December 10, 2013– eight long days past her due date.

Our little family felt complete, but the apartment began to grow smaller by the day. The following fall we were able to renovate a small house on fifty acres.

That leads us to the present day. We are fortunate enough to be building our dream home and #raisingavery.

I’m so glad you have found us, and stuck through my lengthy bio;). I can’t wait to share  on many topics I’m so very passionate about such as: children, family, fashion, holidays, party planning, home design and decor, and recipes.

Thanks for reading–xoxo,

Calli

All professional photos by Connection Photography www.connectionphotoblog.com