Family skate and such

Good times this weekend… Family roller skate at Stan's Skateland in nearby Montross. Monkey and Roo have come a long way in their two sessions over the past month. The progress Saturday was helped by "lessons" by the rink's own Miss Shelley. She's a 70-something whipper snapper who was a champion skater in her time - the best. She even had them work on the limbo during their lesson.

Also HF is working hard on the Hallway Expansion Project… Exciting!

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.

Giving thanks for Thanksgiving

My aunt Susan lives in Birmingham, AL but has a house in Oxford, MD where she spends a lot of her time when she can. It's a gathering point where she, Uncle Bob, and their five children (my first cousins) - who lives all over the globe - come together at times. One such time is Thanksgiving. And this year we got to join them (three of the five anyway, along with 6 of the 9 second cousins), along with my Uncle Rob and his family of four- and several other guests. It's a little over 2 hrs away from us and an easy drive. We had such fun with them all. These shots can give a bit of flavor to our day there:

On Saturday HF and I left the kids at 7 AM in the hands of a brave babysitter and drove two hours east to the Shenandoahs to hike the well-known Old Rag mountain. It's nearly 4,000 feet and a 9-mile roundtrip hike. We expected it to be substantial in nature (which it was). We didn't expect it to be snow- and ice-covered (which it also was). Turned out to be quite an undertaking!

Fun adventure overall (though as we slipped and slid, HF noted nearly a dozen times how sad he was not to have crampons with us), and dinner afterwards in F'burg was also a real treat.

Patch time

Family day Monday (Columbus Day) complete with Home Depot run, stop-in at children's museum, and pumpkin patch quick visit.

Odds and ends in October

Fall weather is finally here! Mouse and I took Jack for a walk in the back fields… Light is gorgeous.

Rainy Saturday caused us to opt out of the fall festival parade. Instead we stayed home and HF made donuts for the first time - delicious apple-cider flavored. Monkey was his main helper this time:

Baby lambs born this week! And we didn't even realize that our ewe was pregnant. Came home to find them born and well… and they're adorable - Roo named them Davery and Luke (after Skywalker). Our total sheep count is now at 9.

Second to last game for Monkey's soccer team (still undefeated). Here he is playing goalie, which he's really been enjoying.

Blue Ridge Mountains

Yesterday we took an outing to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah State Park. About a two-hour drive, and completely worth it in every way. Beautiful shady day; nice colors almost reminiscent of New England; John Denver singing about this very mountain range as we wound our way through the park roads; solid effort put forth by our troupe of hikers. What could be better?

We picked a doable 1.6-mile loop with a good rocky outcrop at the top - achievable success and enjoyment for all. Our trail crossed the Appalachian Trail and we chatted briefly with some through-hikers, which made it all the cooler. Milkshakes from Chick-Fil-A on the way home rounded out the win! (Great call, HF)

Falling back into the groove

It's been a full month with lots of activities, new and old. But it's also been a pretty nice month because for the first time in four years, we are doing a true "back-to-…" routine. Except for Mouse (who started up new this year at preschool), everyone's in the same place they were last year. And routine and structure are so.very.nice.  Added bonus: we have been in VA long enough to now have some actual friends to connect with more regularly, with less effort on our part. Love! I even joined an evening Bible study with two friends I really like.

September stuff

I'm not going to try to fill in the blanks - descriptively or pictorially - on the past 6 weeks. Too much stuff! Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, alumni family camp at Brookwoods in NH, and a 5 day canoe trip in northernmost Maine on the Allagash River by HF and two old friends. Full! Blessed.

Instead: picking up from last week. Monkey and Roo are back in school at the same hybrid as they did last year. Goose is doing a pre-K class at her preschool, though she is technically a kindergartener (doing homeschool kindergarten with me). And - drumroll please - this fall Mouse has kicked off preschool as well! She's in the T/Th class Monkey was in last year with the same beloved teacher. She's so excited to be big enough at last.

Our first week back in action was immediately after we returned from New England, and HF was still away. That said, it went extremely well. Now we are getting into soccer, gymnastics, AWANA, Little Flowers, and homeschool co-op. Ramping up! And I start "back to work" next week myself.

Quiet reading time in the evening when littlest two are in bed

Within 6 hours of HF's return, we got a flat tire in the van! At soccer practice

Homeschool PE started up at the Y; this year the oldest three participate

How much chuck can a woodchuck…?

We have some woodchucks in our fields. They bother the fence posts and dig holes into which sheep and lambs are apt to fall. They are nemeses. Monkey has been after them with his gun any number of times -- some close calls, but no success. But this week, HF got one. Here it is, skin still on:

And here it is off -- while HF is gutting and preparing it (it is now all cooked up in a stew). Quite a science lesson, I assure you:

Mouse started her swim lessons this week. The girl adores swimming and is happy as all get out to be in the water; however, she's not a huge fan of the lessons. The first day she was fine and went right down the (tall) slide with no coaxing. See?

But every day after she's cried. Poor girl. Roo has gone in as a lesson 'helper' several days, as Mouse is not the only reluctant 3-year-old in the class…

The other, and most vocal, beginning swimmer who is disenchanted, is our friend Kate. Here she and Mouse hang out on the sidelines during their older siblings' first official swim meet (they did great!). Too sweet.

Our friends the Eaddys - the other family hosting a Latvian orphan - have access to a neighborhood lake and invited us to come swim there with them this week. So fun:

Monkey had his end-of-year cub scout ceremony on Thursday night, a barbecue most notable for the sheets of rain that were falling just outside the pavilion for most of it. They pressed on nonetheless, however, and Monkey promoted to Weebelo. New hat and new neckerchief to go with that new rank!

Here's the den

Today HF took Monkey out on the nearby Rappahannock River for his first canoe paddle. Very exciting! They both loved it.

Performances, grandparents, trips: something for everyone

Crazy full and perfectly fabulous past two to three weeks. So many wonderful events and blessings. Photos of a few: