Six Year Anniversary

Ben took me to the Sanderling Resort in Duck, North Carolina for our six year anniversary! Ben always does such an amazing job planning our anniversary trips. On past trips we have visited to Maine, the Northern Neck of VA, Miami, Spain and Hawaii. Of course our trips must be shorter these days, so we just took one day to celebrate and left Everett with his Grammy and Pap Pap for the night. We had a great time on our trip, got to go on a walk on the beach (the weather was amazing!), visit the spa, had a romantic dinner, a delicious breakfast and hit some of the local shops. With life being as busy as it is, I do not tell him enough, but every single day I am thankful for the amazing husband I married. I am so proud of the man that he is and the life he has provided for Everett and I. He truly is my best friend and I am so looking forward to all the things we have in store together. He always has a kind word to say or a helping hand to lend. And what I honestly like best about him is how much he loves me. I hope he knows how much I love him too. I am truly blessed in my marriage...sigh :)

Halloween 2008

We are not sure if Everett truly enjoyed his first Halloween, due in large part to his costume. I could not resist the elephant costume when I was browsing through a magazine a few months ago. Also, with it being election year and all, I figured why not? Well it turns out Everett does not like to wear anything on his head, let alone a big hat with huge ears and tusks and a long trunk. That however did not stop me from dressing him up and parading him all around town to various Halloween festivities. On Thursday night before Halloween, we went to the annual Taylor Halloween party. Wow have these parties changed from a few short years ago :) Now it is full of kids and everyone leaves for bedtime around 8! Everett did have a great time with his buddy Gabriel (the bat). On Halloween itself, I took Everett back to Cox Farms with my mom's group. We had a ton of fun and got to ride on a great hayride. Everett LOVED it. We also went into my work to show off his costume and then finished the night by handing out candy to the neighborhood kids. All in all, a great 1st Halloween. Here are some pictures!

Big Guy!

Well yesterday we confirmed what we have always known is true, Everett is a big boy! He had his nine month appointment yesterday (wow how time flies) and weighed in at 25lbs (95%) and is 29 3/4 in. long (90%). He was not too happy about his shots or his finger prick, but quickly got over it (he is easily distracted!). At least now I can feel better that it is not becuase I am super old that my back kills me after spending the day with him! Poor Grammy had to see a massage therapist three times after watching him for the weekend. We cannot believe how quickly the past nine months have gone. Everett has changed our life so much for the better, he is our joy and inspiration. We love seeing his shiny happy chubby face when we get him up in the morning. We look forward to what each coming day brings and we are so happy he is our little (I mean big) boy.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

We took Everett to his first pumpkin patch this weekend at Cox Farms in Centreville, Va. It was quite a production! We could not believe all the people there and all the fun things they had to do for kids (hay rides, goat world, corn mazes and slides galore). Everett had a great time and even let us dress him in his adorable elephant costume for a few minutes (he does NOT like the elephant hat!). Here are some pictures of our special little man-- the love of our life!

Let's Go....... Mountaineers!!

It is a requirement in order to be accepted in the Caldwell family to be a WVU football fan. With Grammy being the #1 WVU football fan in the continental states (heck, probably all 50 states), we knew that Everett had to get in on the action early. We took Everett to his first WVU game (well, technically not his first, he went in utero last season!) the first weekend in October. We had a great weekend, capped off by WVU's win over Rutgers, and got to spend a nice few days with Grammy, Pap Pap, Aunt Emily and Uncle Matt. Everett was under the weather the whole time, which was very sad (his first real cold), and he did not much like the game itself (too loud!), but we made it through halftime before nap time came calling. We told Everett he better get used to games in Morgantown, Grammy won't let him play ball for any other team. Here are some pictures from our fun weekend.

Seven Months Old

These past few weeks have been filled with family visits! Twin cousin Amelia and her mom, Monica and her grandma Maria came from Orlando (and Thailand) to visit and we got to spend some time with new cousin Lanna and her mom, Yoko and dad, Chris, as well. It is always fun to see Amelia because she and Everett were born on the exact same day. Everett thought she was especially tasty as he kept trying to take a bite out of her (but she quickly crawled away during each "attack"). We were hoping that watching Amelia crawl would inspire our little man, but no such luck. He is happy as can be just sitting and chewing on ANYTHING he can get his big hands on.

We just returned from four days out in Boulder, Colorado visiting Jenni, Will and our adorable nieces, Lucette and Violet. We always love going to Boulder, the weather is always sunny and crisp and we truly enjoy the little ones. We got a chance to see WVU play Colorado and although we had a wonderful time at the game and at dinner beforehand (the kids stayed home with a babysitter, so it was rare night out for Ben and I), WVU lost in overtime :( Thank goodness my parents are currently on a cruise in Europe and did not have to watch the game live (I don't think my mom could have taken it!).

Everett was a good traveler (although he refused to sleep on either flight!), and got three teeth while we were in Boulder, which translated into a few tough nights for mom and dad. He is such a happy little man and continues to be the light of our life. How did we get so lucky? We ask ourselves that each day. Everett truly amazes us. Here are some pictures of our trip and visit with Amelia and Lanna!

End of Summer

I cannot believe how quickly time has passed these past few weeks! The summer flew by and Everett had his seventh month birthday over Labor Day weekend. We spent a few days up in Long Beach Island, NJ with Abby, Ben's uncle, John, his wife Linda, his cousin, Amy and her husband, Dan and their kids Peter and Katie. We had the best weather and a great time. This time was much more fun with Everett on the beach. When we were in Pawleys, he was not yet sitting up, but this time he was! He sat on the beach for hours and played in the sand (ate a lot of it!) and watched the waves. We went on a few walks, ate a bunch of yummy meals prepared by Linda and Amy and just enjoyed being with family. Here are some pictures of our trip!

In other exciting news, my little sister, Emily got engaged to her boyfriend, Matt Reinert. We could not be more excited, we love Matt already like he is a member of the family! They have not picked a date yet, but probably sometime next fall. So happy for them, they make a wonderful couple. As co-matrons of honor, Jenni and I are thrilled! Lots of planning ahead.

This morning I co-hosted a surprise baby shower brunch for my roommate from law school, Marcela, who was in town from Puerto Rico. We had such a good time and pulled off the surprise- which is hard to do in this information age! I cannot wait for baby girl Jenkins arrival in mid-December.

We are also looking forward to an exciting fall, a visit from twin cousin Amelia, a visit from one of my dear friends from Arizona (via Thailand), a trip out to Boulder to see the LeMaires and a trip to Morgantown for some Mountaineer Football with Emily and Matt and my parents in early October. Everett continues to be the light of our life, having such a good time with him!