Boots & Totty » Holiday Traditions

Happy 2012!

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:32:36 +0000

Happy New Year Everyone!

I’ve been lucky enough to have the past 8 days off to enjoy family, food, and hanging with my little dude and his daddy 24/7.

I’ve loved EVERY second, but alas it is coming to an end. Thought I would try to sneak in a quick recap of the Holidays before things get crazy again.

Let’s start with all the playing we did…

van made out like a bandit with Santa. Apparently he was a VERY good boy this year!

He got a kitchen, a shopping cart, a rocket, some books, and a cute stool with his name on it. And that doesn’t include what he generous grandparent’s and aunties/uncles/cousins gave him!

We also said “see you soon” to van’s Day-Care provider. {Now that he has turned 1, it is time to move on to another day school as Ms. Sutton only watches infants.} Thankfully she still babysits after hours, so Mr. vB and I might have snuck in a date during my week off.

{disclaimer- I love this woman. She is like van’s 3rd grandmother. Who knew I would get so attached??}

Somebody also got his first hair cut!

Here he is pre-cut..

He was a trooper during the trim process. No tears and minimum squirming!

Thanks Jay {at Wyldology}!

Lastly we have fit in a lot of time being outside in this amazing un-December like weather. {for those readers that don’t live in Virginia, we have had several 65 degree days lately!}

“look ma- both hands!”

Now on to some new recipes we made…

For Christmas Breakfast with my family I was in charge of a yummy treat.

This receipe for sticky pecan rolls has been ALL OVER pinterest lately, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Photo courtesy of Nicole at The Jones Way

OMG! They are SOSOSO easy to make and SOSOSO good!

My little sous chef even got in on the fun of making it!

I highly recommend trying it out for yourself!

And then last night I tried my hand at making fried chic peas.

I have had them several times at a local wine bar in town and the waiter told us it was just chic peas, with a little panko crumb and salt. I thought how hard could that be?

Well, it wasn’t hard and I ate them so fast I didn’t get a photo. OOPS.

I searched the world wide web for a good receipe and none that I saw mentioned panko crumbs. I took libertys with this specific recipe and kinda made it my own. Even van liked them- {but he likes almost everything so that’s not saying a lot!}

I used them as a side for the main course of greek chicken pitas, but they would also make a great appetizer or snack! Definitely another easy, must try recipe!

Finally, being stuck at home time twice a day for naptime might have lead to some furniture rearrangement.. {blame van, not me}

The Goodwill Gold Velvet chair has moved out of the living room to make room for the mini kitchen

Not my favorite location, but what else you gonna do in a small house?

I have thought about moving it to the back room, but the tile work that we started 4 months ago is still not complete. So maybe one day that room can become the make shift playroom. Maybe.

I also moved that big {5 shelf} bookcase out of the the hallway, orginally thinking the mini kitchen would go there. I’m kinda digging it empty though.

I think it would be cool to do a picture wall on that left side with a variety of black frames and stuff.

Something similar to what the gang over at younghouselove did.

photo courtesy of younghouselove.com

You might have also noticed that I moved some of the rugs around.

{who am I kidding- no one noticed but me!}

Sorry about the bad lighting, but the sisal with black band use to be in the hallway and the oriental that is currently under the sofa was by the front door.

Here it is from the other direction.

Eeh, I’m not sold on the switch-a-roo, but am too lazy right now to put them all back to where they were originally! So for now they stay put! ha-ha

Perfect Timing.. the wee one is starting to stir from his nap, so time to wrap this up! I hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday and here’s to a great 2012! I’m hoping to debute a new look for b&t.com in the next couple of weeks. I’m serious this time! I’m working with a designer friend to get the new look I want and then my web-developing hubby is going to make it work. I also hope to update you soon on some new projects we are undertaking in the new year. They include but are not limited to drywalling the ceiling in the basement, tiling the downstairs half bath, and MOVING!!!

Beach Babe!

admin — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:26:55 +0000

So last weekend me, Mr. vB and the boy headed down to Myrtle beach for some 4th of July Festivities!

I was a bit tentative about how the 6 hour drive would go, but the boy{s} did fine.

Vanny stayed entertained with his toys, one of which was his momma’s iPad.

And Mr. vB was entertained by walkie-talkie-ing his brother who was in the car behind us.

We had a great 4.5 days of beach, sun, food, and most importantly hanging with family!

Here’s some photos of our fun, in no particular order…

{cousin lily anne}

{vanny LOVED the sand almost as much as he loves his daddy}

{van channeling his inner Bruce Springsteen}

{the vB’s}

{the other vB’s}

{I should’ve brought a hair clip!}

So my days of relaxing at the beach are officially over. Van loved the sand and he was non stop the entire time we were at the beach. By the end of each day we were BOTH covered head to toe in sand.

Thanks Gigi and Hootie for the great southern hospitality! We had an awesome time!

Happy Halloween!

admin — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:58:37 +0000

Thought this photo would make you guys laugh!

{And no I am not smuggling any pumpkins under my shirt!}

Mr. vB and I headed to the pumpkin patch last weekend to pick out our pumpkin for my brother’s Pumpkin carving party.

Once we Mr.vB found the perfect pumpkin, we he got busy creating a design.

Then he jumped right in with little Travers and Aunt Keri carving said pumpkin.

But in true vB style he brought a power tool with him.

Nothing like a Dremel tool to carve a pumpkin properly.

The little guys were in L-O-V-E…

Here’s a photo of the whole pumpkin carving gang.

Maddy and Philip

Travers

Here’s our finished product! A little moldy from the hot and damp weather this week, but still looking good for the big night.

And here is the gang before they headed out for Trick-or-Treating.

Maddy- Cinderella, Gus- Santa, Philip- a pumpkin, and Travers- Spiderman

Happy Halloween to All!

All Stacked Up.

admin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:22:44 +0000

So I think the Dragonfly on my front door was trying to tell me it was time for a change.

So I headed to the pumpkin patch after work yesterday and picked up these cuties…

and then I…

Stacked…

And stacked…

And stacked a little more…

I think the people at the Greenhouse thought I was crazy. I must have stacked about 20 different pumpkins to get just the right look.

I think it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!!

And the best part is, I plan on using my Pumpkin Stack for not only Halloween, but also Thanksgiving, AND Christmas!!

Remember my post last December about a neighbor that painted her pumpkin stack green like a Christmas Tree?

YUP- that’s the plan!

Now I just want to find a little something to hang on the front door where the Dragonfly use to be. Any suggestions?

{RIP Mr. Dragonfly. You were a good door ornament. If I can’t find another one of you next spring, I might have to super glue your wing back into place and milk you for another season. xoxo Mrs. vB}

’twas the night before Christmas…

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:42:58 +0000

and all through the Edwards house, not a creature was stirring, except for the 2 yr old running around in the cutest smocked outfit ever.

My brother and his wife hosted Mr. vB and myself for xmas this year, along with my parents, and Mr. vB’s brother, his wife and their kids. {Unfortunately the other vB’s came down with a horrible respiratory virus just days before xmas and they all had to stay quarantined. Don’t worry- we sent them food and presents!} We normally celebrate Christmas at my parents house in Newport News, but since their house is still under construction from the fire, we decided to switch things up this year! Thanks so much to Travers and Marty for hosting us! We had such a great time and your new house was the perfect spot to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas Eve

At least he wasn’t putting the crayon in his mouth!

Baby T was quite excited about his new name puzzle from Cece and Honey.

Honey read Twas the night Before Xmas and then it was time for bed!

Next was the fun part! Putting together Santa’s gifts for Baby Travers.

Everyone was in on the fun!

Christmas Day

After a yummy breakfast we opened our Christmas Stockings.

Then we moved all the presents downstairs and tried to get Baby T to come see what Santa had brought.

He seemed to be in a bit of shock when he saw it all!

Santa was very good to me this year and he apparently read my blog post about my dining room face-lift. My mums has offered to help me sew new dining room drapes and recover the new dining room chair seats. I’ve got an idea of what I want- now I just need to find it. No sweat-right?!

Hope everyone enjoys the last days of 2009! 2010 is going to be here before we know it!!

Christmas Countdown…

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:13:45 +0000

Growing up, we counted down the days to xmas with a great felt advent calendar. It was shaped like an Christmas tree and had 24 “ornaments” to hang on the tree as each day passed. My mom likes to tell the story of how every year I would entertain myself for hours standing in front of the tree rearranging and organizing all the ornaments. {it was my A+ Personality already starting to shine at such an early age} My memories are of fighting my brother over which ornament we wanted to hang. We had to take turns, every other day, of choosing and hanging an ornament and it was pure torture.

As I got older, the arguing over the ornaments got less and less. But the excitement of getting the advent calendar out every Dec 1st never faded. My mom had passed the calendar on to me a few years ago, and then I passed it on to my brother for them to start the same traditions with the Baby Bird. It was hard to give it up, but my mom promised that she was going to make a second one for me and Mr.vB.

Well unfortunately my mom had just gotten the advent calendar back from my brother and had placed it in the spare bedroom at her house for safe keeping, when the house fire happened. Along with all the things my parents lost that day was my beloved advent calendar.

It took my mom and I several days to remember all the 24 ornaments that adorned the original calendar, but we did it. It’s amazing how you can look at something for so many years and then have such a hard time remembering everything about it.

So along with working on rebuilding her house, my mom put in time remaking the advent calendar. Two in fact, one for me and one for my brother. She ended up purchasing pre-made advent calendars very similar to our original one, and is currently using the ornaments. But she hand made the felt tree and backdrop for the ornaments to hang on. The plan for 2010 is to hand-make the ornaments as well.

Here is my NEW Advent Calendar.

Isn’t it cute?? See why I was so upset when we lost the old one?

Some of the pre-made ornaments are cute, like the gingerbread man, but some have got to go. The original calendar had a Santa Claus ornament that was always last to be hung on Christmas Eve. My mom agrees that the Santa is the first ornament that we need to hand make!

Thanks Mums.. I love it!

Also wanted to show you guys how big my paper-whites have gotten. Plus tease you abit with my xmas decorations.

That mirror normally hangs over the mantle, but has been relocated for the holiday season. No worries though-it won’t be sitting crooked on the console table for 30 days. Mr. vB and I want to add some picture molding to that section of the wall so it can be properly hung.

We still haven’t picked out our tree yet- that is on the to-do list for this week! Hopefully by this weekend we will have everything up and decorated! I can’t wait. Did I mention yet that I love Christmas?!? ha-ha