Two weekends ago we had a family wine tasting party for Mouse’s birthday. Since we wanted to toast her birthday and a year of her life cancer-free, it was the perfect occasion to have the Battle of the Budget Reds wine tasting night. We had six wines, all within the $10-$15 range, and we rated them for our preference and tallied up our ratings at the end of the night to pick a winner.
We all had such a fun evening. I had intented to take a bunch more pictures, but we were so busy talking and laughing that I didn’t pick up my camera until the end to take a quick group picture of us. It was a great evening to celebrate Mouse and spend some time together with Brittany’s family also.
The next weekend was a busy one for us as well. I was in charge of the fundraiser for Lyla’s soccer team, and we worked with Krispy Kreme to purchase and deliver donuts to our friends and neighbors. As a team, we sold 193 dozen donuts, so after placing all the orders and collecting the money, Krispy Kreme prepared our order, and Mark and I filled our cars with 193 dozen donut boxes to dissiminate to the team for deliveries, so it was an early/busy morning for us. However, once everyone on the team had their orders, Lyla went around to deliver what she sold. We got to deliver to two fire stations which was a highlight - Lyla even got a little tour of the trucks!
After completing all our deliveries, we had a little downtime then it was time to get ready for Halloween. Obviously, things were different this year than in previous years, but we still managed to make it a fun evening. Lyla and her friend got an early start just walking around the neighborhood in their costumes, and Nina, Grace, and Emily did make up together at the house to do a little something fun since they weren’t getting in costumes, but they also spent some time walking around the neighborhood and just checking out the sights.
They had some Halloween fun food, then we put some of the donuts we bought to good use, and they turned some of them into Halloween creatures.
Prior to the girls coming over, Nina designed and carved this pumpkin on her own. We were very impressed and thought she did a fabulous job!
Meanwhile, Mark, Cayenne, and I sat outside with the fire pit and manned the candy table. We set out a table at the end of the driveway and spaced out candy on the table for kids to pick a piece without having to reach into a bowl. Then we used our tongs to replenish the candy so it was as safe as possible, and I was suprised how many people we had come by. We didn’t really know what to expect this year, but it was great to see some normalcy for the night.
Fitting for Halloween, the moon was pretty spectacular that night. There are no filters or edits on this sky. It was just beautiful on its own!
The only downer of the weekend came on Sunday. It was torrential downpour rain, and Lyla got a really bad knock to her knee during her soccer game when she and another girl collided going for the same ball. She was laid up for the day with ice on her knee, but Nurse Cayenne is always there to keep anyone company when they’re not feeling well.
Our final fun celebration came this past weekend where we celebrated Shenley and Garland’s 20th anniversary and Poppy’s 75th birthday!
It was a gorgeous fall day for us to gather in Haymarket for a couple rousing games of volleyball and poison ball.
Poison ball has quickly become a family favorite (think very fast paced dodge ball but with people running all around - not staying on sides). We played guys versus the girls, and the guys got clobbered the first few games until they got their strategy down.
Once they did, even the matriarch, Mouse, wasn’t exempt from fast flying poison balls!
After a couple hours of play, we were ready to settle down for some food and toasting to the anniversary and birthday. As if on cue, while we were out on the patio have drinks and appetizers, someone set off fireworks nearby. We’re not sure what they were celebrating, but we had a lot of happiness to celebrate ourselves.
