Thanksgiving

We had our usual fun & chaotic Thanksgiving in Westford this year.

In addition to the immediate Ware clan, we had Brian &Becky and GG with us on Thursday (and I managed to take no pictures!).

On Friday, we had the regular soccer game with a much-diminished Ware side as Dad & I were out of commission, Robby/Katy and Spencer/Sarah had moved away... but we still had a big crowd at the 'after' dinner.  I think a lot of us agreed that the "day after Thanksgiving meal" is actually our favorite of the weekend -- mom's pulled pork & trifle, Aunt Katrina's shrimp, Tom & Leslie's spinach & artichoke dip, Alasdair's guacamole, and Angie's chocolate chip pumpkin muffins... yum.

cousin Tom is the best

the nerd corner (they were either discussing chess, lord of the rings, or steven king I think)

why no, I did not just take a big bite of the gingerbread train!

As usual, we saw very little of the big girls, as they were off playing most of the weekend.  Daniel & Adara were good buddies, and Adara also loved being around Evie - holding her, bringing her toys, and generally reporting to us all what Evie wanted.  We took a few walks around Grassy Pond, always ending with the balance beam.  The last day the kids even got out on the ice.

Mom, Bekah, Adara, Evie & I also took a trip over to Grammy T's to sort through some of the things she is getting rid of.  (I wasn't planning to bring Adara, but she really wanted to go visit GG, and had a lovely time making GG do "this little piggy" over and over, and read her books:)  She's planning a move later this month to a senior living community.  We are excited about this new chapter for her, but it's very bittersweet to be moving into her first home without Grampy.  

Montshire Hike

The girls and I had the sweetest morning last week, hiking the "ridge trail" at the Montshire.  The weather was mild, and the girls were happy and enjoyed each other's company 90% of the time.  It was a mile long, and took us just over an hour (a little longer than I expected, but we got sidetracked a few times).  

 I asked the girls to smile, and this is what I got.  This is why I need a professional photographer! :)

It's been really cold and rainy ever since, so I'm so glad we got out when we did!

Halloween

I had lots of cute costume ideas for Emily this year, but she just wanted to wear her generic pink princess dress from the dress up box.  And then the morning of Halloween, she pulled out her Dora outfit instead and Adara opted for the Dora princess dress instead of her ladybug suit.  Easy and fun and everyone was happy. :)  They dressed up for Romp & Stomp, Emily wore her costume to preschool, and they both had a blast handing out candy again.

Laura & Paris' Wedding

I love weddings. A few weekends ago I attended the wedding of a dear college friend Laura, and her now-husband Paris.  It was our 6th and last of 2013, and every one has been completely different.  I love learning more about my friends by seeing them in the context of their families, and seeing what's important to them in how they choose to do their wedding.

I flew to Georgia all by myself (and slept most of the way there:) for four days to be with college friends for Laura's wedding.  Virginia and her kids picked me up from the airport and I spent the rest of the day with them, and Juanita got in from FL in time to join us and go out for dinner.  Poor little James was sick with a really high fever, so V stayed home with him an extra day while Jua and I headed to the beautiful little campground/retreat center on Friday morning.  We spent the afternoon relaxing (and shivering - it was cold!!) and then a BBQ dinner & Malvi s'mores around the fire pit.  Cat, EJ & Kellie came in later that night.  I skipped the hot-tubbing and went to bed at 11, and (with a few bathroom breaks) slept until 10am!  Amazing.  We went for a little hike up an incredibly steep ATV trail, complete with a real rural GA sighting - a group of bearded guys out in their jacked-up jeeps and beer cans driving down the trail.  After a little more relaxing, it was time to layer up in our wedding clothes and wander over to the ceremony, which was in a clearing in the woods right by our cabin.  The wedding itself was simple & beautiful and made me so happy for L& P.

It was so refreshing to be responsible only for myself for 4 days.  I was grateful for the chance to get away, but then so eager to get home to my girls!  I was counting down the hours all day on Sunday.

Adara Swings

While Emily was laid up with the flu a couple weeks ago, I got to spend some time with just Adara.  She was so beautiful and fun playing on the swings with me.

Becky & Brian's Wedding

This was one classy wedding and we had a great time all weekend celebrating with family & catching up with friends.  Yummy pizza dinner (I'm still thinking about that pizza actually...) on Friday night, hours hanging out at an open house at Becky's & Brian's on Saturday (pinochle, Madeline reading to the three younger kids, Adara & Jack eating their weight in pistachios, kids climbing on Uncle Alden...) and then the big day on Sunday!  My parents graciously watched the kids for a lot of the weekend (we are so spoiled!), including all day on Sunday, freeing us up to focus on celebrating.  Alasdair & I spent the day with the men/women respectively... from what I hear, the guys mostly watched football at the bar while we watched Becky & Eowyn have their hair & makeup done at Becky's.  (Funny aside - the makeup artist, who was really sweet, turned out to be a close friend of one of my best friends from high school.)   Lots of things went well - the weather was perfect, travel from the Head of the Charles regatta was minimal, and the Red Sox won the ALCS in 6 games so as not to conflict with the wedding.  Becky had done so much good planning ahead of time that the weekend was pretty stress-free.  I've never been a part of such a calm wedding day! 

All of these pictures (except the obvious blurry ones from my phone) were taken by the photographers - Chris and Sarah Photography (https://www.facebook.com/ChrisandSarahPhotography).

writing a letter to Brian (iphone)

The wedding itself was just the upscale yet cozy event I expected.  Alasdair performed the ceremony, which took place on the landing of an ornate staircase while the guests watched from below.  Libbie walked Becky down the "aisle" and Eowyn was matron(!) of honor.  After dinner, the immediate Groves family carried on the parody tradition, and the evening flew by amidst much talking & dancing.  I was so busy I forgot to eat cake - a first!

(the blurry pictures are mine)

 

 (iPhone)

A few bonuses... while we were in town, we just happened to find exactly the car we were looking for.  So, as of today I am driving this.  Wow.  Also, Jesse, Joya & Kirsten came up to NH after the wedding, so we got them all to ourselves yesterday evening.  :)

Our weekend

Alasdair & I knew we'd lined up an intense fall for ourselves with 10 out of 11 straight weekends of travel by one or both of us from Sep through mid-November.  We did our best to compensate for Alasdair's work weekends by having him take extra days off, although of course there have been some extra factors that have eaten in to that margin (a flooded basement, extra work responsibilities for Alasdair, and first trimester tiredness for me -- oh hey, I guess that's an announcement:).

Anyways, this is weekend 6 out of 10 and the longest (by about a half day:) stretch that Alasdair will be gone.  He's at the CCEF National Conference in Texas, which has been very full but very good.  Here he is moderating a panel discussion during one of the main sessions.

Poor Emily is down for the count with the flu (thanks to the flu vaccine she got this week - sigh) and it's hard to see her so sick.  I'm thinking we're through the worst of it, but after three nights of croup and then 48 hours of high-moderate fever, body aches, intense fatigue (ie she literally hasn't gotten out of bed/off the couch in two full days) and lack of appetite (a few bites of food a day, plus some gatorade and water), I think it will take some time to recover.  Thus far the rest of us seem to have avoided it (fingers crossed!).   Thankfully, even though we can't be out much, I have had some help while A is away - some friends taking Adara on Thursday (before I knew she'd been exposed to the flu!), my mom here on Friday morning and the Eikoffs (who we'd already exposed) coming to play in the leaves today while Emily napped ...

(more cute pics from this series on our picasa page)

and then having us over to celebrate little Emily's 2nd birthday.  It was a sad little party.... Emily weak on the couch, little Emily with a cold (we hope!) and not wanting to eat.... but the grownups enjoyed the yummy snacks and Alex & Adara had a great time playing with balloons.  :)



Two funny little Emily moments.
1- After a couple days of not talking unless necessary... while in the car today Emily whispered barely audibly: "Mom, have you ever been baptized?"
Me: Yes.
Emily: Oh.  I never have.
Me:  Actually, you were when you were a baby.
Emily:  When you're baptized, you keep your clothes on when you go in the water.  I learned that in Sunday school.
Me: What else did you learn about baptism?  What does it mean?
Emily:  I don't know anything else about baptism.

2- I'd told her before we went in that her friends' dad would be at the birthday party, and was wearing his "doctor clothes" (scrubs), and that he might have some ideas about how to help her feel better.  She was laying on the couch when he walked into the room, and she immediately started telling him in her weak voice, "I threw up two times last day..."  He kindly crouched next to her and talked to her a little about how she felt.

I tried to put Adara (who has been her normal non-stop all weekend) to bed to early tonight and she wasn't ready to sleep.  She came out right away, took herself potty and brought me her pants & diaper to put back on.  Maybe 10 minutes later I heard some noises from where I was working in my office and peeked out to see her quietly reading books on the couch in the almost-darkness.  I decided to pretend I hadn't seen her and let it go.  After about half an hour, I went out, took this picture, and put her to bed.