Thanksgiving Memory

This photo was taken on Thanksgiving Day 2008. We drove up to Virginia to spend the holiday with Joel's dad & step-mom, Jan. Jan's son, Dan, and his wife, Adriane, opened their home to us as well as their family that day. It was beautiful weather and the home they were renting was set back away from the city among some beautiful scenery. I even got to take a walk alone on the property that day. The meal was delicious & Dan, a gifted wine maker, shared several of his favorite bottles with us all. The kids had a blast playing and looking at Dan's pet lizards. We stayed past dark & Joel even got to photograph the beauiful night sky. It was truly a perfect day and one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever. I am thankful for it today especially as this Thanksgiving approaches. As I was browsing Facebook this morning Jan's post told me it was Dan's birthday. It got me to thinking about him & this particular holiday we had in Virginia. Dan is no longer with us. He was hit by a drunk driver just over a year ago. It makes this memory all that more priceless. I did not know Dan terribly well, but each occasion I got to be around him he was kind, warm, funny and generous. It is very hard to watch the suffering of his family that loved him so very much. My heart breaks for them and this great loss. There is comfort in something Jan frequently says: that she has hope in the day of their reunion will all things sad will be untrue.

Kerry's Visit

My sister, Kerry, came to visit for the first time this past weekend since moving to California 3 months ago. We had a great time with her. The kids were talking about her coming to visit for days before. They had fun just hanging out with her on several occasions. I got to have a fun girly day one-on-one with Kerry. We went shopping & I pretty much finished out my Christmas list (yay!), had a very nice & super yummy lunch downtown at one of her favorite places, and grabbed a quick chair massage at the mall. Joel also got to shop with her on Sunday for my Christmas gifts & have some good alone time with her too. We really do miss her a lot. It's weird not having her just up the road anymore, but we really enjoyed the time we got. We will be planning a trip out to see them too, most likely over the summer. Look out California...the Harrisons are headed your way soon!

The kids making a Thanksgiving craft with their aunt.

Sister lunch. So, so yum!

Emily's Earrings!

Emily's Aunt Kerry is in town this weekend from California for the first time since moving there. I asked her if she wanted to get her ears pierced while her aunt was here. She quickly said, "yes!" So this morning her sister, brother, mom, dad, 2 aunts, and 2 grandma's all joined her for the event. She did really great and, as you can see, got very emotional after they were in. Her sweet burst of happy emotion caused mom & dad to tear up too. She's growing up so fast & turning into such a little lady. It is fun and slightly sad to watch. Joel did a fantastic job, as usual, capturing the occasion. Enjoy the photos...I sure did!

Joel's Favorite Place in the World

This is our backyard fire pit. It has been described by Joel as his favorite spot in the world. Very sweetly he said sitting by the fire with me is his favorite thing to do. I have to admit it is very peaceful and relaxing. We usually head out there after the kids are tucked in bed, glass of wine in hand, and just sit, stare & share conversation as it arrises. It most definitely ranks in my list of favorite spots too.

Dress Up

This past month offered a wealth of opportunities for the kids to dress up. We had 2 carnivals & a trunk or treat to attend. There were also some fun themed days at Em's school. Here are some pics from the out of the ordinary dress days.

Emily's school had a "dress like your favorite literary character" day on Halloween. She (with some brainstorming help from her momma) dressed like Pinkalicious. I let her wear pink blush & lipstick too. She looked super cute & even got to read the whole book to her class.

Her school had a crazy sock & crazy hair day too. Here's the craziness we came up with for that.

Jon's school let them wear their costumes the Thursday before Halloween. He was a super fast flying superhero. He styled his hair himself. Nice!

And Kat did not want to be left out of the fun. She brought Jon's cape to me one day with a smile that said "put it on me mom!" I did & added the mask. She felt pretty special (as the photo shows).

My Crafty, Creative Day

Last Friday I woke up with a serious creative bug. I just really had to do some crafty, creative things. So when Kat wouldn't take a nap I plopped her & Jon in the car and we drove to pick up the remaining items to make this year's Christmas teacher gifts. Then back home where Kat did finally go down for a nap allowing me to finish said creative endeavors. I also had been grocery shopping that morning and spontaneously picked up the ingredients for a teryaki chicken stir fry from scratch (something I'd been craving all week). The stir fry turned out amazing - exactly what I wanted to eat that day. I totally ignored my household chores for that day & had a blast creating fun things. It was a great day!

The gifts: pillar candles spray painted to have a frosed effect & then rub-on letters added with their last name initial. (I cannot claim this idea as my own. The awesome Glory gifted me with a candle like this 2 Christmases ago & very generously gave me instructions on how to make them myself.)

Dinner. It was really, really yum!

And...what was Jon was doing while I was being creative? Having his own creative fun painting in the bathtub, of course!

Trains with Jon

Jon and I built one of the best train tracks ever today. It went all the way around his tent and through it. We utilized every bridge, tunnel and cool piece of track available. It was cool. The train did not last for more than a few hours. Once Katherine woke up she pretty much became like baby Godzilla & destruction was immanent. Oh well, we enjoyed it while it lasted!