Christmas 2022

Winter Break started the week before Christmas for Nina and Lyla.  They both were looking forward to a nice break from school, and of course, everyone was excited for Christmas.  The weather that week was freezing though!  It definitely felt like the full force of winter.  Despite losing their power (and heat) for 24 hours leading up to hosting Christmas Eve dinner, the Williams family still pulled off a great Christmas Eve dinner, thankfully getting power restored to their house earlier that afternoon.  Aunt Jeanette kept us laughing with her Christmas creations that we all had to wear (and get a picture taken in) after dinner.  As always, Christmas Eve is a highlight for us - such a fun evening together with family, great food, and lots of good times.

  

After doing Christmas morning at our house, we left for brunch and more Christmas at Mouse and Pop’s house.   

   

Another Christmas tradition that we love is getting together with family again on Christmas morning for more presents and Mouse’s fabulous brunch.  

  

Mouse has carried on the tradition that her father set of always having a birthday cake for Jesus.  PB used to always say that we got together and celebrated everyone else’s birthday with cake and singing Happy Birthday, so we should do the same on Jesus’s birthay, so the tradition continues with our families.

    

We spent Christmas evening at home just relaxing after the activity and fun of Christmas Eve and Christmas day, and Cayenne made a point of claiming Lyla’s new fuzzy comforter as her favorite Christmas gift.  

 

After the cold weather leading up to Christmas, we got some nice warm days in the week after.  It was beautiful to be outside and enjoying some sunshing and warmish temps at the end of December!

 

 

We also managed to get in some ice skating at Reston Town Center this week.  It was a popular place to be on Friday night, but it was a fun way to spend some time, and thankfully none of us took any spills, so that’s always a bonus!

  

 

Sports Weekend

The first weekend in December marked the end of the fall season for Lyla’s travel team and the beginning of the winter track season for Nina.  Lyla was in North Carolina for the Raleigh College Showcase, and Nina was in Lynchburg for the Liberty Invitational.

 

We were really proud of Nina and the other two girls she jumps with for qualifying for states at their first meet.  Their high school is a 5A school for athletics, and in track and field they have to meet certain benchmarks for that specific athletic class to qualify for states, and hitting those benchmarks only qualifies when they do it at a meet that is an “Invitational”, so we were so happy for each of them to qualify early in the season.

Here is Nina’s qualifying jump...

 

Meanwhile, Lyla and her team were at the Raleigh College Showcase for three days of games.  They had a very successful weekend winning all their games, and it seemed like they were firing on all cylinders at the same time, so it was a lot of fun to watch them put it all together for a full weekend. They didn’t have any goals scored on them over the showcase, so that made our center back very happy.  Aside from the soccer, they had a lot of fun together hanging out at the hotel, watching the World Cup, having a big team dinner out, and doing their thing.  She’ll get a break for a couple weeks then they’ll get back to practice in preparation for a couple early spring tournaments, then most girls will try out for their high schools in late February for the spring soccer season.  

 

   

 

  

It's Been Awhile

It’s been awhile since my last post, so all four of my blog follower must be waiting excitedly at this point!  The fall has been busy for Lyla with soccer.  The team has had a stacked fall schedule in order to let the girls try out for their high school team in the spring, but it’s been a beautiful fall, so we’ve enjoyed watching the girls play every weekend.

 

Several of the team missed their homecoming to be with the team in the WAGS tournament, so they decided to get together for a make-up Homecoming dinner together to make up for those that missed their chance to go to Homecoming.  It was such a change to see them all dressed up, and they had a great dinner and fun evening together.

In addition to their league games, they played through the semifinals in State Cup, but sadly lost in the last three minutes of their semifinal game which ended in disappointment, but they had a good run until an unfortunate unravelling in the last few minutes of that game.

 

 

Like I mentioned before, we’ve had a beautiful fall with quite a few warm days, so on one open Saturday afternoon, Lyla and I took Cayenne to Barkfest at One Loudoun.  It was packed with dogs, had lots of ways to win prizes, there were treats for dogs and humand, and and there were all kinds of fun things for the pups to check out.  Lyla also fell in love with some puppies that were getting adopted out at Barkfest, all of whom were cute but not as cute as our pup!  

   

Speaking of our pup, she continues to live her best life.  She made our annual fall trip to Scruffy’s for ice cream (where, of course, she got some too), and she makes sure that she’s at the center of everyone’s attention at most points in the day.

    

  

    

Lastly, we enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving at Mouse and Pop’s house.  It was a beautiful day, so we got to enjoy some time outside, some great food, and a nice day with family.

Following Thanksgiving, we picked out our Christmas tree and got it some and set up with all the Christmas decorations.  It’s hard to believe we’re already thinking about Christmas just around the corner, but here we are!  2022 has flown by, and I can’t believe it’s almost coming to a close.  If only time would slow down a bit...

   

 

Catching up to Fall

Fall so far has been busy but fun.  The girls are well into their school year, and Nina, especially, has been busy with three AP classes this year and extra curricular activities.  It’s hard to believe she’s in her junior year already!  

It’s been a beautiful fall so far.  I love this season, but I always wish it lasted longer.  I miss the long sunlight days and warm weather, but I enjoy so many fall things like sitting outside enjoying a winery date with Mark, a nice night sky, soccer games, fire pits, pumpkin donuts, and watching the leaves changing colors.

  

  

 

Another big highlight of the fall so far was The Killers concert in DC.  Mark and I have long time been fans and have wanted to see them live, but when tickets went on sale we asked the girls if they wanted to come with us, and they did, so the four of us had a blast heading down to DC, getting dinner and walking around on a beautiful evening, then catching the concert which was amazing!!  It was such a fun night.

  

Coming off the concert, the girls had a busy week at school leading up to Homecoming.  It was Spirit Week, and every day had themes, events, etc, one of which was the Juniors vs. Seniors Powder Puff game which Nina was a part of.  This was no “show up and play” type of thing.  Both teams practiced reguarly in the few weeks leading up to the game, and while the Seniors prevailed (which the Juniors were told would happen regardless), the Juniors gave them a good run for their money!

 

  

The culmination of the week was the Homecoming football game on Friday night and the dance on Saturday night.  The day could not have been more beautiful, and the girls both got together with friends first then went to the dance.  Nina’s group had 5 girls and 5 guys, but only 4 of the 10 were couples, and Lyla went with a group of 4 girls and met up with other friends just before the dance started.  Both girls looked beautiful, had a lot of fun, and came home exhausted!