Sunday, November 29, 2015

Thanksgiving in MA

We love being with family, and this trip felt like maybe the first time since the kids started arriving 6 years ago that the time wasn't spent predominantly managing kid chaos?  The older 4 played really well, and the younger two napped well.  Thursday & Friday were full of preparations and big meals and family gatherings.  Saturday was rainy and dreary and we all hung around the house, played games, let the kids watch TV, read books, and chatted... it was cozy and nice.

THURSDAY
Cousins reunited.  Thanksgiving meal (of which I took no pictures!) with our clan plus GG and the Orsattis. :)





playing with some of my favorite childhood dolls


watching "Inside Out" 
(a little intense for my girls, but they hung in there!)


oldest & youngest

FRIDAY
Playground trip, soccer game, pulled pork family party. 


 





 a favorite tradition
  
a house full of cousins makes me so happy :)


bonding with Julio.  after he left, Alden wandered around the kitchen looking for "Juli"

teaching Rosalie to play Nertz.  I suspect I'll be ceding my crown to her one of these days...



how funny is the similarity between Daniel & Mike in these pictures?!

SATURDAY

 introverted family time





Saturday, November 21, 2015

November photo dump

This continues to be the best fall.  Of course life isn't perfect, but we are soaking in the beautiful moments and joys of this season of life and of the year.

I forgot to blog about sweet Nico's baptism!  Probably because the only photo I have doesn't even involve him...oops! 

Alden and I have done some beautiful local hikes, and we've all played outside a lot.

The neighbors took down the basketball hoop, but put up a fun bench swing.

Adara hiked Balch Hill her with outside preschool.


And we went back that same afternoon. ;)



Holt's Ledge - vies with Gile for my favorite local hike.




Childcare at bible study.  Look at Alden looking like a little boy!

Painting nails & drinking coffee on a 70 degree day in November!


Few things make me happier than all three having fun together.


We love raking leaves.


Moose Mountain

Picnic with hot cocoa at Nathan's Garden

Ready for snow with her new boots.  And isn't she beautiful?

Sleepy stroller walk. 

 Such a cute little destroyer.

I am consistently impressed by my children's art skills, since Alasdair and I have zero between us.



Thursday, November 19, 2015

Mid-Atlantic road trip

Alasdair had to teach in PA last weekend, and turned it into a little family road trip.  The kids all had bad colds, and of course there were some less than beautiful moments in the car from all 5 of us... but I was really proud of how well they did with all the driving and new people, and we had some really good visits with people we love and don't see enough of.

Friday we drove to Glenside, arriving in time for Alasdair to teach that night.  The kids and I played with Granny and then I went out that evening to visit with Katie, a sweet college friend and one of my real-life heroes.  Saturday, while Alasdair taught all day, I got in another visit with a dear friend (Amanda and I had our first babies the same year and I can't imagine having survived that year without her), and then took the girls to Rocky's for Alden's first cheese steak.  Saturday night we had our last dinner with the Greens before they move to Australia; as always a mix of hilarity and depth.  
Sunday we rolled the kids out of bed and into the car and headed to DC to visit Eowyn & Ben's church.  It was really neat for my kids to be at Rebeckah & Brian's church and then here in the same month, and a cool picture for them that "the church" is made up of people worshiping God in different ways and places.  I just love seeing my people in their places with their people, so we loved worshiping at Mosiac and spending a few hours at the Bestor's apartment.  Next up was the Hanauers in Annapolis.  It was crazy to us that they'd moved across the country a year ago and we still hadn't seen them!  Our kids had never met, but Emily and Rachel (almost 6) became fast friends almost instantly, bonding over a shared love of art and many shared phobias. :)  I don't think I've ever seen Emily connect so fast with another child.  Adara loved playing with the big girls, and though she and Aaron (3) butted heads a lot, she asked repeatedly when he could come over for a playdate.  I think her highlight was when Jamie put on Frozen and made her popcorn.  We walked around Annapolis, looked at the water, ate ice cream for lunch, and just generally enjoyed being in the same place.  Monday night we drove back to Glenside, and headed for home first thing Tuesday morning.  

FRIDAY




SATURDAY





Emily found my phone she was supposed to be going to bed :)

SUNDAY

I managed to take zero pictures of Eowyn & Ben, but here is Alden playing at their house.


MONDAY




Adara wanted me to stand nearby & watch her watch the "marshmallow" (scary snowman) part by herself.

15 years ago these guys were random freshman year roommates... 







TUESDAY