Aunnie

We had visitors this weekend! Eowyn & her friend Miatta drove 12+ hours from Ohio to spend a couple days with us. :) Emily dubbed them "Aunnie" and "Mi" and couldn't get enough of playing with them. Yesterday we went for a walk in the woods, sat around the living room talking, and watched the Phillies game. Today was church, and playing on the Green.

When Emily woke up from her nap this afternoon, she immediately lunged for the door, asking for Aunnie... she dissolved into tears on being reminded that Aunnie had gone bye-bye.

Ball!

My dad is coaching the Westport girls varsity soccer team this fall. Emily and I spent two days this visiting him & watching a couple games. We also went for a walk in the woods and played at a playground. We were able to see their best game of the season, a 4-1 victory over a good team, and go out to dinner with Lily (my dad's cousin & the head coach, and her daughter Valentina). Emily had a blast at the games, and spent most of the time yelling "Ball! Ball!" and dashing towards the field. Luckily, there were a few dogs and other kids there to distract her.

A Chocolate Day

It's dreary and rainy today. A nice day to work from home. :) We had to venture out to the post office, and passed the library on the way back. Our little "borough" of Hanover has a sweet little one-room library. One of the librarians is a friend of a friend whose daughters are going to start babysitting Emily. They have a big basket full of board books, so Emily loves it there. Today we brought home a Baby Einstein VHS tape and snuggled up on the couch with some hot chocolate. We're resting up for our visit from Auntie Eowyn and her friend this weekend!

Unrelated, but here's a picture of the view behind our house on a nice day.

Florida Family

We added a new cousin to the Tavilla clan this month. Congratulations Dianna & Kevin!

I love family weddings for catching up with family from all over the country (a few other cousins have gotten married in the last few years, and it's fun to get to know their spouses a little), and since Dianna & I have friends in common from Boston, I got to see some friends too. And, of course... I met my brand new nephew! We even managed a picture of Grammy & Grampy T with all five of their great-grandkids, with everyone sort of looking at the same camera. Of course, it wasn't my camera (which I didn't bring - silly), so I'll have to wait to get a copy.

Very conveniently for us, a lot of Alasdair's family lives within an

hour of the wedding location. We went down a couple days early and spent some time with Emily's great-grandparents. Here she is with Alasdair's grandfather, having a snack. Highlights for Emily: swimming in the pool, and playing with cousin Alexa (who turned 5 while were there there), and generally getting lots of attention. Highlights for A & I: playing lots of pinochle!, Alasdair golfing with Uncle Brian, and just hanging out with family we wish we saw more!

Oh! And Uncle Brian & Aunt Michelle baby-sat Emily for us so that we could enjoy the wedding reception baby-free. Fun. :)

This was the first time we'd flown with Emily as a toddler, and I was rather dreading it... but it really went fine. Emily never slept on the plane, but she never really cried either. We had an extra seat for her each leg of the trip, and she spent most of the flight climbing on & off the seat and taking the magazines out of all the seat back pockets. She discovered crayons (good tip from my SIL), and a new toy where you put plastic shapes in the right holes (thanks Aunt Michelle!) and was delighted by all the airplane snacks.

EDITS!

1) I forgot one funny part of the trip. Emily & I spent a day with Aunt M

ichelle & Taylor, and the family's 4 dogs (to Emily's delight). One of the dogs was a great dane, and every time Emily saw him, she would say "neiighh!"

2) Here's a picture of my grandparents with their 5 great grandchildren!

Perfect. Fall. Weekend.

I couldn't have planned a better weekend than this.

My mom spent the night Thursday, on her way to the lake for Oktoberfest, and delivered the free TV stand she got us from Craigslist. On her way out the door on Friday morning, she offered to take Emily with her for the day. After a moment of "Can I really do that?" we threw together an overnight bag, put the carseat in Mimi's car, and they were off. I walked around in circles for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do with myself. I spent Friday getting LOTS of work done (finally felt caught up on work, and got my head around some confusing accounting for the counseling center), going on a lovely run/hike up the mountain in our backyard, finishing up painting the kitchen, and watching the Phillies comeback victory. After 8 straight hours of sleep (a rarity since Emily has been waking up at night again), and a pancake breakfast with Alasdair while getting my fantasy football lineup tuned up (I'm undefeated so far!), I headed for the lake myself via the heart-stoppingly beautiful drive through peak VT foliage, and caught up with some friends on the phone.

Emily did great on her own with Mimi (and Papa, Uncle Mike, Auntie Bekah, cousins Rosalie & Daniel). She was never sad about missing Mommy and had a blast playing with Rosalie. She didn't sleep real well, and my mom is a trooper for doing the night shift with her.

Emily and I spent Saturday afternoon playing outside and driving around on the gator with the whole family. It's so fun to watch the girls play together now. In the evening was a German feast with my extended family at the Big House, including some old friends of my grandparents I hadn't seen in 15 years. Here are a few pictures I took on my phone over the weekend. Most of them are on my dad's camera... so I'll get those added eventually.

Emily & I woke up early this morning to drive home (again, hard to keep my eyes on the road with the foliage, the mist on the lake, etc.) Oh, and my pumpkin latte. Mmm. Home for church, then home for some apple cider and nap, and then a visit & walk in the woods with Jackie Brendan. Dinner of acorn squash in the crockpot & sausages on the grill. Next up: the Eagles & Phillies both on TV, and apple crisp fresh out of the oven.

It doesn't get much better than this.

ps - We had a GREAT trip to FL to see both of our families last week, and I will get to posting about that soon!