December 1

  

I am having a very hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that Christmas is in just a few short weeks.  I feel like November flew by and even Thanksgiving was a blur.  The night before Thanksgiving I told Mark I really couldn't believe we were going to be cooking a turkey that next day.  I felt like it was the beginning of the month.  It doesn't help that it was such a warm day.

Temperatures have dipped and the bus stop walk has been cold the past two days!  This morning I made the kids put on their warm coats and Liam said, "I hate this coat.  It makes me feel like a barge!"  It was really hard not to laugh, but I told him he had to wear it to stay warm.  I don't think anyone really likes wearing bulky winter coats, but I definitely appreciate mine when it's below freezing!

We decorated the house the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.  The nativity sets are out, the stockings are up, and the s'more ornament tree is up.  We won't get our live tree for another few weeks.  We are late tree people, for sure! 

I love this time of year, not for the great shopping deals or the time with family.  Those things are nice, but I love reflecting on Christ's birth, thinking about Him coming as a tiny helpless infant.  God incarnate, God with us....it's staggering to think that the Creator of the world came and walked in flesh so that we could know Him.  I love that we can have a meaningful relationship with Him because He came.  That is why I celebrate!

Pumpkin Patch

My mom, brother, and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch on Columbus Day.  We went early in the morning because we had a lunch date with my grandma later that day.  I couldn't believe how many other people had the same idea!  The patch was so crowded.  We got on one of the first tractors that went out to the field and were in and out in about an hour.  We had 5 really lovely pumpkins that we brought home and put on our front porch.  The plan was to carve them before Halloween, but just a few days later someone smashed three of them.  The kids were so upset.  I was angry that someone had the nerve to come onto my porch in the middle of the night and throw my pumpkins hard enough to shatter them all over our sidewalk.  How mean!  We moved the surviving two pumpkins into the house and won't be putting them out on the steps again.

Liam is 5

I cannot believe my baby is 5 years old.  We celebrated his birthday at the beach this year.  He wanted to go to the zoo, so we planned a trip to the Norfolk Zoo.  We were making pancakes that morning when the power went out, so we had a surprise IHOP trip that day too!  The zoo was really nice and we loved seeing elephants, red pandas, and a baboon with a colorful behind!  

 Meadows house rule:  gum is allowed when you are 5 - Liam's birthday gum

Trick candles are not funny, mama!

 

We had Liam's cake made by the Lady of Cakes.  I loved being able to order it and pick it up, instead of dragging cake making stuff on vacation.  The only snafoo was that we didn't have candles.  I went to Walgreen's to look and all they had were trick candles......Liam was NOT amused!  Now we are preparing for the next milestone....kindergarten begins tomorrow.

More Pool Pictures

I love taking pictures of the family flying through the air. I have about 100 or more pictures of us in the pool from our beach vacation. I will spare you and just post these!

The Pool is Awesome!

We swam in the pool every day we were at the beach. I really love taking pictures of the kids leaping into the pool. They were learning how to do cannonballs and can openers this year! Mark was happy to model how to do them!

More pictures to come.

We went to Sandbridge again this year for vacation. We were there while Hurricane Irene was brewing so we kept an eye on the weather channel. We were supposed to stay through Saturday, August 27th, but a mandatory evacuation was put into place for August 26th. We decided to leave late in the evening on August 25th to beat the traffic. We had no trouble getting home and made it late Thursday. The hurricane hit near us on Saturday and we ended up losing power from 12:30 Saturday through 2pm Tuesday! It was an adventure for sure.

We did most of our activities wearing headlamps. I told the kids it was like camping but without bugs! Some places in the metro area are still without power, but we are so grateful to have things back to normal. Here are some pictures of the kids on the beach. No fear of the waves at all this year. They loved being in the water.

Mark loves playing in the sand too!

A day on the James River

Earlier this month we took the kids down to the James River for a picnic and to wade around the rocks. We stopped at a place called Pony Pastures. There were tons of rocks to climb on and to jump off into the water. The weather was so mild that day and it was a great day to play outside!

Happy birthday, Peyton

Peyton had her 7th birthday on July 30. It seems like just yesterday that I was holding her in my arms and she was brand new.

Peyton, we love your sweet smile, your sense of humor, and your desire to be such a helper. You are so independent and smart. I am amazed at how you have blossomed into such a sweet and wonderful young lady. I hope you know just how much your mama and dad love you!

We kept the birthday low key this year. On her actual birthday we were in Fredericksburg celebrating her great-uncle's 80th birthday, so we celebrated on the 29th. We baked a cake from scratch and then iced and decorated it. Peyton did most of the work and her results were impressive!

When she woke up on the 29th, we had balloons and a happy birthday sign on her chair. She ate cake with her breakfast and then she and Liam went to the last day of vacation Bible school. We let her open her gift that evening after dinner.
A digital camera! Peyton has been asking for one and we told her as long as she takes care of it, we'll let her use it as she wants. She has spent a lot of time taking pictures of everything, her dolls, her brother, her dog!

Really, Peyton had a birthday week. She celebrated with her Nonna and then celebrated with her Granna, Grandad, and cousins. And now this week we have one more birthday thing to do, a movie and lunch with some friends from church. I think I'll take my cues from her and have a birthday week too!

Flying Squirrels....or how we spent our July 4th

The first inning - Richmond Squirrels v. Trenton Thunder

Our kids with Nutsy

Lots and lots of rain

Just before the game was cancelled

Mark and I took our children to a Richmond Squirrels baseball game on the 4th of July. I was so excited to take them because the after game fireworks are always awesome. We bought tickets through our church and saw some faces we knew and we met some new friends too. As we left for the baseball diamond, the clouds were building and the weather report was pretty ominous, but we hoped it would be a quick storm and that we would be able to see the whole game. Well.....after an inning and a half, they called a rain delay.

We took the kids to the concession area and got some junk food (really isn't that the best part of county fairs and ball games)! We found a dry place and tried to stay warm. The wind was blowing rain all over the place and it was cold. Our poor kids were freezing. The power also went out briefly. We could see the road and the cars were driving through lots of puddles. It was a pretty intense storm. We roamed around and ate more junk, dessert this time, and waited for the officials to either cancel or to continue to the delay. They finally canceled so we left for home. We found out later that they ended up doing the fireworks, but really really late.

Liam and Peyton were such great sports. They thought it was a great adventure and not one complaint was spoken. I was so proud of them for being so flexible and for making it fun, in spite of a really bad storm. We are planning to go back later this season to catch a game and fireworks!

Fun in the Sprinklers

One of the features of our new house is the built-in sprinkler system. We have never had one before and didn't think we would use it to water the grass. But last week when we had temperatures in the 100's, Mark found a great way to cool off our kids! They loved running around the yard through the sprinklers and we didn't have to haul out the hose!

Peyton is done with school in 4 more days and we are so excited for the end! I am ready to sleep in past 5am and to not have to rush around in the mornings. Liam has already done his kindergarten orientation and is ready to join his sister on the bus in the fall. I think the nicest thing will be having both kids on the same schedule. It will be nice to not be running one over to the preschool and having to get there for noon pickup. I get sad about them growing up, but there are nice things too.

I'll post our summer list of things we're hoping to do later this week!

JMU

New sidewalk leading under S Main St to the new performing arts center

Kissing rock

Portrait by Peyton

Our kids always want to sit on the Duke Dog

We went back to JMU to visit in April. It was awesome to see how JMU has changed since we left in September. We walked around in the performing arts center and took a peek backstage too. It was an amazing space. I still miss Harrisonburg, but this trip back was easier. I didn't feel awful this time when we left to drive back to Richmond. It felt better to be leaving knowing that Richmond is starting to feel like home.