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!