Y'all turns out I've been hanging around this space for a year now! Cool beans!!* And I have to tell you I've had a blast! Taking a breather was awesome and I'm so grateful to everyone who embraced me coming back. And major hugs and kisses to my new online family! I feel like I've been so incredibly blessed in this past year with meeting or growing close with so many of you who have touched not just my heart but my family's. You see when I constantly say "us" or "our" I mean it. This is not "my" blog it's our family's blog and you are all so very special to us. 

 A few months ago papa bear turned to me in the car and said "You know social media and blogging can be really great sometimes. It's been so nice to feel all the support that we've gotten since having Birdie. It's really comforting." And he is so right. You don't know how many of your posts I poured over while pregnant, collecting information and preparing myself. You don't know how instrumental your advice, here or on instagram or twitter, has been in helping us get over some of those "baby bumps." We read it all together and we cherish it so much. We know your families by name, we talk about your days, we pray for you when you're having a rough one and we celebrate those little and big milestones of your family. 

I like to think that the internet can help us feel like we all live on the same street in the same small town and we all gather on each other's porches in the morning for a cup of coffee or in the evening for some lemonade to talk about our days. To me there's no such thing as "instagramming too much," the more you post the more I feel like I'm there with you over breakfast, running errands or giving your baby a bath. It helps to feel connected and invested.

It's no lie that we don't have a lot of friends in our neck of the woods, in fact I think I read somewhere that 18 to 30 year olds make up about 20 percent of our very, very tiny town. And parenting can really humble you, make you feel lonely and overwhelmed and I feel so grateful to be part of this community - to not feel so alone. 

So thank you. Thank you a million times for cheering us on, for making us smile, for giving much needed advice or a simple "it's gonna get better." We're so glad to have you be a part of our journey and we can't wait to see what this year holds for all of us. We're just so thrilled to have you all reading along!!

*I fully admit that I appropriated this term from Josh Groban. The first time I heard it used was at his concert that I went to a few years ago and I just thought it was the funniest thing! Because you know that just about anything that man says is hilarious or darling, or both. 

P.S. This photo is not from a year ago. It's from a while ago, back when I had very looooong hair (oh how I miss it...) but it was all I could find right now and I didn't feel like dusting off the hard drive so there you have it!

My theory is that good ingredients make cooking easy and so when I spotted these gorgeous mushrooms at the farmer's market this weekend I knew I would have a meal in the bag. Mushroom soup is one of my favorite soups to make, mainly because it's just so easy! So here is my easy as pie mushroom soup recipe:

one leek, halved and chopped

half a stick of butter

two tablespoons of oil

two cups of mushrooms, stems removed and chopped

three garlic cloves, minced

four cups of chicken or vegetable stock

one cup of water

one and a half cups of heavy cream

salt to taste

fresh dill to garnish

Melt the butter and add leeks. Saute on medium high heat for ten minutes. Add garlic and saute on medium for two to three minutes, don't let the garlic burn. Add mushrooms and oil and salt (add a little at a time and taste). Saute on medium for another ten minutes. Once the mushrooms soften up add the chicken stock and water. Bring to a boil. Cover with lid and put on low heat. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Check for salt, add more if necessary. Add heavy cream and turn the heat up to medium high and stir the cream until combined and the soup looks silky. Take off heat and serve. Garnish with some chopped dill. 

I tell you there is nothing better than a bowl of this on a cold blustery autumn day!

*I said easy a lot here. What can I say? I'm lazy when it comes to cooking so easy is my favorite word :).

top - boden, glasses - warby parker, pants - j.crew, shoes - steve madden, bag - anthro

We're on our third day of true autumn weather and I have to admit I am enjoying it to the fullest! We went to Costco for some Olli sausage and when we walked back out to our car it was unmistakable - summer is gone and autumn is settling in. The mornings have been overcast and chilly and tiny piles of freshly fallen leaves are starting to collect at the edges of the sidewalk. 

As I was making our bed this morning I suddenly found myself thinking about all the things I'm looking forward to in the coming months and so I thought why not write them down?!

This autumn I'm looking forward to:

making pumpkin cookies, donuts and just about everything

wrapping myself up in an oversize cozy scarf

unpacking boots, sweaters and coats (it's like shopping, except it's my own stuff!)

thanksgiving with it's celebration of gluttony

piping hot cherry and apple pies out of the oven

cold and ruddy noses and cheeks

leaf piles that smell like autumn and are crunchy and fluffy all at the same time

hot apple cider from the apple orchard that burns your mouth

giving Birdie a ride in a radio flyer while we pick apples

the sound of wood crackling in the fireplace

Birdie's first Halloween!

the smell of butternut squash soup cookie on the stove (I make a mean one)

cuddling on the sofa with a million blankets during a rainstorm

fall scented candles

pumpkins gracing every surface of our home

cranberry sauce (I just got into this last year & where has it been all my life???)

roasting things - squashes, pumpkin seeds and poultry

chili simmering in the slow cooker

What about you?! What are your favorite things about autumn?

All summer long we've been passing the "Ryan's Fruit Market" sign on our way home. Every week I would tell myself - "that's it we're going!" And another week would pass and, boo, no trip to Ryan's. Well last Saturday I decided that was it we were going! So we grabbed a basket and a baby and headed out. We spent a good hour looking for it until we finally gave up and called. Turns out we had been essentially circling it the whole time. Also, they had just closed. Just our luck. We were disappointed but unwilling to let the afternoon go by without some fun so we drowned our "no peach" sorrows in some ice cream.

But I wasn't about to give up! So on Monday we tried again. We knew where to go, we knew the hours and we were sure it was going to be a success. And it was! Sort of... We found it, we were told we were catching the last of the peaches but that they also happened to be the best and that they... only accept cash. Which of course we had none of. But in the meantime we had bonded over the Redskins, our street (everyone knows every street in this town) kids; you always bond over your kids. And so as we stood there with our bushel of peaches under the hot sun and regretfully informed the kind gentleman that we had no cash and no checks he surprised us by telling us to come back with the money. Slapping papa bear on the back he laughed "I trust you guys!" He also gave us his phone number and invited us to a barbecue. 

We drove home in our peach scented chariot and naively dreamt of all the things we would do with all those peaches. Of course they were all devoured within days. On Tuesday we dropped off the check and lamented the Redskins terrible, terrible game. And thanked him for the peaches. And we thanked God for the fact that we live in a town where we can be trusted to "pay later." That in fact was the second time this month we had been trusted to do just that when the credit card machine at the farm stand broke. It changes the relationships you have with people. They are no longer just a "cashier," they are someone who invested their trust in you and someone you certainly don't want to be disappointed in your character. It's not just about money, a transaction, it's about building a relationship. Your name, your family, for goodness sake these people know where we live. I'm grateful for people like this that know that in the longer run it's much more important that we go home with that bushel of peaches we dreamed about or the basket of the week's groceries and feel cared for than them getting their money right then and there. I will never forget the kindness of the people in this town. The way they hold open doors when I'm hauling a baby and bags of groceries, the many times I hear the words "don't worry about it honey," the sweet souls that make my baby smile when they know she's about to fuss and everyone that has cut me or our family a break on many a "bad" day. God bless you all.