Hillsdale Reunion!

Yesterday we drove up to northern VA for a reunion with five Hillsdale couple friends (or mostly Hillsdale friends... Aaron... :)). Our friends, Paul and Kathryn, recently bought a lovely town home and graciously opened it up to the 10 of us, our 8 children, and Kathryn's parents. :) Elliott and Kelly live in OR but are in Boston for three years for Elliott to attend Harvard Law. We're trying to make the most of their time on the east coast! Kjerstin and Nick drove down from Baltimore, Aaron and Laura from Charlottesville, and us from W'burg. :)
There is a lot to pack when traveling over meals, naps, and bed times with kids but you'd THINK that the camera would always top the list when getting together with good friends, but of course, in the quick change between church and hopping in the car, we left it at home. :) These pictures are all from Nathan's phone - sorry for the blurriness and funny eyes - but you'll get the idea. ;)
The four new babies chillin' with their dads and meeting each other for the first time (Grace (5 mo), Will (1 mo), Thomas (6 mo), and Linus (3 mo) :)).
Our futile attempts at getting a good picture of the four older girls - lol. :)
It was really fun watching all the kids play together. Evie and Margaret played on the steps with Mickey, Minnie, and Abby Cadabby for quite a while. :) They had quite an imaginative story going. :)

The girls loved reading with Kjer. They were all enraptured with her stories - this one is something about a goat, rooster, dog and donkey scaring away robbers. :p
How many girls can fit in the bean box??

Linus chillin'...

The babies bonding... Sorry Thomas and Linus for the Gracie hands in your face. ;)
Gracie showing off her newly acquired skill of rolling from back to stomach. :)
All of us girls made Christmas wreaths again from live greenery from Kathryn's yard and surrounding area... I have mine on our front door already although it's not technically Christmas yet (shhh).
While we did our craft, the little girls got to decorate a gingerbread house! For some reason all the girls seemed to have a sugar rush after this project... hmm.... Nathan ended up getting to be the sole supervisor of this project. He looks pretty excited in this first picture - lol. I do think he enjoyed it as much as they did though. :)

The finished product!

Thanks again, Kathryn and Paul, for hosting! Already looking forward to next Thanksgiving's reunion! :)

We have a 2 year old!!!

Yesterday was Evelyn's 2nd birthday. She had been anticipating the day much more than I thought she would or thought she could understand. For at least a week prior she would announce to whoever was around, "My birday tomin' up!!!" (She says some of her "c"s as "t"s right now :)) For at least a full week before she would also randomly remind us that "Aunt Katie tomin' soon!!!" Last year we celebrated with quite a large party (like 40+ friends and family) so this year we decided to go much more low key and just had Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Katie over on Saturday evening.
When Evie woke up Saturday morning she was very pleased to find the streamers and balloons in the kitchen. It's hard to eat breakfast when there are exciting balloons you could be playing with. :) 
When she woke up from her nap and the table was all set, she got even more excited!
Aunt Katie of course helped make it quite exciting. ;) 
"It's a lot of responsibility to be 2..."
There were a lot of cards in the mail for Evelyn that day too. She loves getting mail so this just added to the specialness of the day. :)
Aunt Nancy, Uncle Chris and Kevin sent a card that came with penguin stickers! Evie decided that everyone at the party need one and took her responsibility of choosing a sticker for each person very seriously. :p Nathan was a little offended that I got a flower, Aunt Katie, Gracie and Grandma and Grandpa all got cute penguins, seals or sea gulls and he got a crustacean, but that's what Evelyn picked for him... ;)

The first present Evie opened was an Abby Cadabby doll from Grandma and Grandpa. In case you're not a huge Sesame Street fan :), Abby Cadabby is a newer SS character. We don't actually ever get to watch Sesame Street, but Busch Gardens has a whole Sesame Street area and Abby Cadabby is Evie's favorite character there. :) She was was thrilled when she opened her own doll. :p All she could do was whisper "Dabby! Dabby!" at first. :)

Abby is a fairy and so of course then Evie needed her fairy wings and wand as well. ;)
Evie was a huge fan of the party hats... as you can tell... ;) Even Abby got one!
Dinner was of course pasta and broccoli (Evelyn's favs) followed up by cake. Now, you may not know, but back in middle school I was very into cake decorating - took classes, made friends' cakes, etc. However, apparently cake decorating IS a skill that you lose if you don't use. ;) So, no judging the cake. ;) Plus, all my tools are still back in Ohio. ;)

(Yes, I did help her blow it out - she was a little perturbed that she couldn't get them out despite all her blowing, so I subtly helped. ;)) And apparently it as good because soon the fork wasn't fast enough. ;)

Yesterday, Evie's actual birthday, was gorgeous - sunny and 70s! We enjoyed as much of it as we could outside, mostly including swinging and going to the Second Sundays art festival down town.
Evelyn needed a break half way through our CW walk so she plopped down on the curb. ;)
We ran into a lot of friends down there, including neighbor girl, Lily, and her mom. The kids craft stand had indian head bands for the kids to make and Lily made one for Evelyn that said "happy birthday" on it. Evelyn opted to wear it around her waist though instead of around her head. ;) Here she is with Lily dancing to the live music.

We had such a great weekend and we are so so thankful for our little Evelyn Ruth and the 2 wonderful years we've had with her!! We love you, Ev!

Roomies!

Last Friday my college roommate, Kjerstin, and I got to get together with our 4 kids. :) I was so glad to finally meet little Linus and have Gracie meet Kjer! Evelyn and Bridget loved running around the playground which we had completely to ourselves! Bridget gave Evelyn a little doll family for her birthday and they loved sending the dolls and Evie's baby down the slide, pushing them on swings and carrying them around in buckets. :)  
Kjerstin and I tried to get a picture of us with our new babies, but I'm not that good at those self portrait pictures. ;)

Oh well, here's a cute one of little Linus anyway. :)

Before heading home we of course had to stop at Starbucks. :) Bridget and Evie were very pleased with their "special Starbucks water". ;)

Thanks for driving to meet us, Kjerstin, Bridget, and Linus!! :)

Fairies and Football

The other weekend Nathan was in SC for the Clemson/Virginia Tech game with some friends, so Evelyn, Gracie and I enjoyed a girl weekend. :) On Saturday Gracie went to Grandma's house and Evie and I headed to Yankee Candle for their Fairy Luncheon with some friends. Evie loved watching the fairy dancers, listening to the fairy stories, eating her fairy lunch and running around in her fairy costume.
She was a little too excited for pictures. :)


Sitting with Meli listening to the story with all the other little fairies. :)
She was mesmerized while the fairy dancers were dancing, but was more excited about Yankee Candle's toys when picture time came. :)
I think the highlight though was running around the Christmas area with Ella, Lucie, Meli and Jilli. :) The older girls are so sweet in finding ways to include her. :) I think Evie really does think that she is at least 6. ;) Here they are playing in the "snow" which Evie confidently informed me later was really soap. I have no idea how she figured that out!

The next weekend we all went to Jamestown's football game. The youth group girls who go to Jamestown came and sat with us for a bit. Evie was quite pleased to see her friends, Brooke, Laura and Erica. Their mascot, a person dressed up like an eagle, was also a huge hit and is still talked about. :)

We're so thankful that Williamsburg is such a great place for families! :)