KS visit

Our dear friends the Eriksens moved from WA to Kansas last spring, and Goose and I flew out for a long weekend visit with them. The flights - Richmond to Tulsa, OK through a Charlotte NC connection - went well, and Goose was a great traveller. (HF and the other 3 praycreekcrew kids held down the farm at home.)

We had last seen the Eriksens ages before in June 2011, camping in Oregon. At that time Mouse was 8 weeks old and their youngest, Thomas, hadn't yet been born (he's 3 now). We had a lovely time visiting them - playing Sleeping Queens and the piano in their house, visiting local attractions like Laura Ingalls Wilder's real-life "little house" and the zoo, watching their kid's basketball game, etc. Jo Ella and I even got a great dinner out in nearby Bartlesville, OK while Jeff watched the kids. Goose adores her godparents as much as we do (no surprise there).

Advent adventures

We made salted caramels at some new friends' house this week. The mom, Amy, is in my Bible study. Six of us moms baked and chatted while our combined 21 kids played. Super fun afternoon with an outstanding end result.

Next up: Nutrcracker performance this morning in Richmond. I took Roo and Goose while Monkey had a playdate and a babysitter watched the kids. Amazing performance, perfect for kids. Abridged, but the whole story (which I'd never gotten before); 50 minutes long. We rode down with two friends and their daughters and met two other families we know there; afterwards we went out for pizza lunch and went window-shopping. Fun and special girls'  Advent day.

Friday Fun

Monkey and his friend Sammy found this guy on the trail out to the back-field fort this afternoon:

Here is sweet Davery being held by Roo:

This evening our friends the Roles had a birthday party for their third child who turns 1 next week. Fun evening hanging out with new friends (thankful to have them!)--

Summer, belatedly

Here's a post I prepped on July 27 and see now that I never posted. Better late than never, I guess! Pictoral journey of our July days (largely in VA/DC but a few in CT and MA during our 48-hr turnaround trip to pick up our new dog Jack), many with our Project 143 host son who was with us till Aug 3.

Museum of Natural History in DC

Twins James & Kathryn above, Davis & Winslow below

Richmond zoo with VA friends and their Latvian host son

New dog Jack!

Roo with school bestie Hope on Hope's birthday

Mouse with pal Kate in the baby pool

Roo on the blocks at one of many swim meets

DC outing day

Yesterday we took a pass on swim team practice and the kids and I met up with some old friends from NH days for a Washington DC outing day. They live in Frederick, MD and have been in the area for quite some time; they are very familiar with the ins and out of DC (unless us). Cari and her three kids - boys ages 8 and 7 and girl age 5 1/2 - took us through the Museum of Natural History and the bottom section - lit-up moving walkways! - of the gorgeous National Art Museum. (We'll have to go back there for real sometime; what a place! Artist Roo in particular is eager.) Added bonus: there were some phone booths, now empty of phones, for the kids to pile into and play around in. Funny archaic items… Good fun on a HOT, hot day. We rounded it out with the fountain and some ice cream, and everyone was happy!

Half marathon! And some other stuff

First things first. I ran the Marine Corps Half Marathon last Sunday, and it went pretty well! I did it in 2 hrs 4 mins, which was 4 mins slower than the last (and sole) time I ran a half... In 2004. Before kids. So overall, I thought that was pretty good for a comeback run. And - bonus - it was pretty fun, a gorgeous day, and I only had a little bit of hip pain. So I was glad I did it.

Baking with the littles (Goose insisted on sprinkles in the chocolate chip cookies):

Final AWANA ceremony last night: here are the three kids getting their end-of-year awards. The couple giving Roo her are our friends who are also hosting a Latvian boy through Project 143 (theirs is a 12-year-old with a vision impairment).

Here's a language-learning effort, "fruit" in Latvian

And rounding it out… here's Monkey playing badminton at cub scouts this week (evidently he's pretty good):

Schumans and other friends

We had a great visit last week from the fantastic Schumans, among our dearest and oldest friends. They came for 1 1/2 days during both of our spring breaks, and we had a great and low-key time. We made pizza. Andrew learned he likes chickens and enjoys holding them (for more information about the sad fate that happened to this hen the following week, go here):

We flew kites on (seemingly) the windiest day of the year:

Then girls made jewelry out of beach shells and beads, and the boys fashioned weapons out of sticks using hot glue guns (in some cases). They then held a creative- and lucrative- sale:

The Schumans (sadly) had to leave, but we do have another friend. Pedro the peacock from up the road keeps coming down to hang out:

We also got four more sheep, a mother ewe (Agnes) and her three nursing lambs, two weeks old:

Speaking of babies: the youngest two and I went up to DC to visit sweet baby Charlie Weld on Monday, just 7 weeks old. What a dream! So much fun