{Parker, van }

{and Taylor}

We had so much fun finding our way through the hay maze..

And played in the pumpkins..

There was also a tractor..

And a swing & slide..

Let’s just say we all had a blast.

And vannyB was sound asleep in his car-seat before we even pulled out of the parking lot!

**UPDATE**

Per Request- Please see the below picture of me this time last year at the Pumpkin Patch!

This one’s for you Amy Cox!!

I saw another familiar nursery featured this week.

This one created by my good friends, Kathryn and Phil Purgason!

It’s pretty darn amazing if you ask me!

Phil drew the images on the wall by hand and then they both painstakingly painted in all the details!

For the full scoop- check out the link to Chic & Cheap Nursery here.

You guys did an awesome job!!  Congrats!

Mr. vB and I have been waiting for this date since we found out we were pregnant 10 long months ago.   But it appears that van doesn’t seem to be in any rush to make his grand appearance.

Luckily my girlfriends and I have started a fun tradition of going to our favorite local Italian dive for dinner the night before any-one’s “due date”.  We’ve done it 3 times now- once for Kathryn, once for Amanda, and now once for moi!  Kathryn had her daughter Peliah 2 days later and Amanda had her daughter Edie that same night!  We credit both these births {well not totally} to one of our favorite items on the menu- Eggplant Parm.  Did you know this was one of those items that is suppose to help induce labor?  I definitely ate my fair share of it last night, so let’s hope it gets van moving in the right direction..sooner than later!

Here’s a pic of us ladies after dinner.  The lack of a flash on Mr. vB’s iphone, along with the bright a@@ markee above our heads, doesn’t make for the best photo.  But I do believe you can still make out my large baby belly!

Here’s an even grainier close up!

Mr. vB thinks tomorrow is the big day.  Care to place your wager?

It was time for our annual group getaway- remember our trip to Green Oaks Farm last year?  This year we changed it up and headed to my Aunt’s Rivah house in Deltaville, VA.

{thanks Aunt T!}

And this year we had 2 new members in tow!

Peliah Purgason

AND…

Edie Monger

The adults had a great time hanging by the pool, hanging in the rivah, eating, drinking and everything in between!

What Dave didn’t know was that he was jumping into a pool of ice cubes!  You can faintly see the terror in his face.

Peliah helped the boys with their putting.

Edie and I hung out on the dock, while her parents took a spin in the #2 Nascar golf-cart.

The boys stood guard on the dock, while we…

took silly photos…

practiced blowing kisses…

and made new furry friends.

And before long it was time for SMORES around the fire pit!!

What a great weekend!  Where we headed next year gang??

]]> http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2010/10/rivah-weekend/feed/ 0 http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2010/09/the-cafe-caturra-7/ http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2010/09/the-cafe-caturra-7/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 12:41:14 +0000 admin http://www.bootsandtotty.com/?p=3700 I was showered with love {and tons of presents} last weekend as my favorite gals threw me an amazing Baby Shower.

Marty, Keri, Sarah, Moi, Adrienne, Rebecca, Jennifer, and Amanda

We took over the front porch at a local hot spot called Cafe Caturra.

And let me tell you, there were so many personalized details.  These girls know me well!

They made lunch menus to match the invites…

{thanks to redstart creative}

And the cutest personalized table decorations…

And apparently the table decoration that we used at our wedding got modified a bit!

{Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s a no-no to strap a car seat onto a motorcycle- right?}

They also made the cutest personalized diaper cloths and onesies…

Here are some other fun snap shots from the afternoon.

{I can’t tell if it’s Boots or Bailey!}

{what up Squirrel Girls!!}

{this was a pin given to me by Mr.vB’s mom, that was given to her when she was pregnant with her DvB.}

{I definitely think our bellies have gotten bigger since our last belly bump photo shoot.}

{In this photo Sarah is definitely up to trouble.  I believe she has just written van a note that says when he turns 16 she really thinks his mom and dad should buy him a car.}

Thanks SO much to the Cafe Caturra 7!! It was such a wonderful day and I felt so loved by everyone there.

Baby van is very lucky to have so many sweet Aunties.

They welcomed Edie Kay Monger into the world on Friday, February 12th at 8:45 am.

She weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs 14 ozs.

{guess all those burgers did her good!}

Her Aunt TT {moi} and Uncle DD {Mr.vB} went to meet her today and she is JUST PRECIOUS!

I can’t wait to spoil her rotten!  Congrats Dave and Amanda!!

I luv, luv, luv a good hamburger!  Currently my favorite burger is from Five Guys Burger and Fries. Ever been there?  It’s amazing!  I don’t know which I like better, the juicy burger or the fresh fries.

But after reading the article about the Best Burger in Richmond, I am up to the challenge of testing out the competition.

I have enlisted Mr. vB and our good friends, Amanda and Dave Monger, to help with this challenge.  Our plan is to rate the burgers the same way that Richmond Magazine did.  We will rate the patty, the bun, the vegetable toppings, and other toppings on a scale from 1-5.  {5 being the best.}

Here are the contenders: Cafe Gutenberg, Honey Whyte’s, Racine, Delux, The Hill Cafe, Davis and Main, Dot’s Back Inn, River City Diner, Can Can Brasserie, Tarrant’s Cafe and The Belvidere at Broad.

Once we have tested every last burger we will crown the 1st Annual BBURP.  {Best Burger Upon Richmond Prize)

Will my {5} guys be able to hold that sacred place in my heart?  Stay Tuned to find out…

Friday morning we took a {REALLY EARLY} flight from RIC to LGA and were in the city by 9am!!  Major amounts of coffee were needed to get us to the airport that early.  Christian also packed her trusty NYC map and we were checking out the lay of the land before we even touched down.

Our first stop in NYC was my Aunt Totty’s apartment to drop off our bags.  She and her husband have an amazing place right in Midtown and offered us the place to ourselves for the weekend. {Ironically Aunt T and Uncle T were headed back to VA for a few days.}  Here’s the view from one of their bedrooms.

After a quick hello to Aunt T, Christian and I hit the pavement.  Operation STUD {also known as Shop Till U Drop} had begun. We navigated the subway like pros as we went down to Ground Zero, up to the Upper West Side, over to SOHO and back up to Chelsea.  It looked a little like this.

Have no fear.. we did stop long enough for lunch.

What?! Were you expecting to see food?? After a glass {or two}, we were back on the streets.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon hitting a few more stores and then we went back to my Aunt’s to relax before dinner.  Christian and I had plans to catch up with an old friend that has been living up in NYC for the past 3 years.

Honor suggested her favorite local Mexican spot for us to meet. Salsa Y Salsa.

Let me just give Honor props now.  She was out LATE the night before and was majorily hungover all day.  I think she was still hurting a bit by the time we caught up- but she was a trooper!

After dinner we hit a few more bars… and then called it a night.

On Saturday, Christian and I had a slow start, but nothing a NY bagel couldn’t fix.  Since Operation STUD was still in affect, we decided to switch it up a bit and hit some thrift stores.  Christian had heard stories of rich ladies dropping off their Designer labels after wearing only once.  We knew it had to be too good to be true and we left empty handed. Bummer!

Operation STUD was proving to be a very unsuccessful.  {Let me go ahead and admit here that yes- Christian and I know that there is more to do in NYC than just shop. Sure there are cultural things like the MOMA or the Guggenheim, but when you have money burning a hole in your pocket that is all you can think about.}  So if we couldn’t spend money on clothes, we thought we should spend it on food.  Thanks to my trusty iPhone we found a great burger spot called Pop Burger..

YUMMO……

We also took a break to catch up with a college friend of Christian’s.  Ellen and her husband had just welcomed a new baby girl into the world.  Miss Millie was only 10 days old when we met her.  What a cutie!!

Before we knew it, it was Sunday and time to pack up and head back to The Old Dominion State.  But before we left, we grabbed some quick breakfast and checked out Rockefeller Center.

Thanks for the great hospitality NYC.  Even though Operation STUD was a total bust, Christian and I still had an awesome time!

]]> http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/10/live-from-new-york-its/feed/ 2 http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/09/last-weekend-in-photos/ http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/09/last-weekend-in-photos/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:33:47 +0000 admin http://www.bootsandtotty.com/?p=1405 Yard Sale Time…

We made about $175 buck-a-roos! Not shabby!

Birthday Party Time…

Baby Travers’s 2nd birthday party at Romp-n-Roll

Baby Shower Time…

We had an Ice Cream Social/TomBoy Party.  Our buddy K-RO is having a baby girl, but NO PINK allowed, hence the tomboy theme.

Congrats Kathryn and Phil on the pending Bundle of Joy!! We can’t wait to meet her!

(but in the meantime we are going to continue to take bets on what her name is going to be!)

This farm has been in my friend Christian’s family since 1687.

Yup- you read that correctly- 1687.

This was our 4th Annual Trip to the farm and this year did not disappoint.  

Here’s a tour of the farm.

Here is the main farmhouse. The land was patented to the Christian family around the late 1600′s by the King of England.   And the original structure consisted of just a cellar because Indian’s still inhabited this land. For safety, the Christian’s had to hide below ground. Over time, the family added more rooms and a second floor.  Today the main house consists of a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and four bedrooms.  Many of the door frames in the house are about 6′ tall, where the standard one today is about 7′ tall.  Mr. vB tends to forget about the height difference and has clunked his head on them several times.

Here is the lane that leads up to the farm.  During the Civil War Union soldiers camped out in these fields.  And surprisingly the house survived the war as most homes that the Union came across were burnt to the ground.

Here are some of the original barns that are still being used today.

This structure used to be the farm office and now is the guest cottage.  There are 2 bedrooms that are connected with a bathroom in the middle.

And here is the Pool house!

We love going out to the farm because it it so quiet and relaxing.  We spent most of the day Saturday lounging by the pool reading magazines and napping.  It was awesome!  And we never skimp on the food or drink.  For dinner on Saturday night we changed it up a bit.  We normally eat either in the main house or the pool house, but instead we decided to eat under the stars. We first started with a cocktail hour out under the 200 year old Ginkgo Tree.

And then we moved around to the front of the house for dinner.

I felt like we had walked onto a movie set- it was absolutely gorgeous!  And once the sun finally set you could see every star in the sky.  (Us city folk forget how dark in can get out in the country.)

It would take your eyes just a bit to adjust to the darkness and then you could see.  Unfortunately the camera didn’t adjust so easily.  Here is Mr. vB trying to take a photo without the flash.

Can you barley see our outlines??

Ah- there we are!

Thanks again Christian for an awesome weekend.  We thoroughly enjoy ourselves every time and can’t wait for next year!