Thanksgiving 2019

This past Thanksgiving was another great year at Hartfield with the family.  We truely felt this year we had a lot to be thankful for in our family, so this was a special Thanksgiving.  Seeing the Mouse getting stronger every week and feeling and acting more and more like herself was awesome.  The last time the whole family was at Hartfield over the summer was the start of her discovering her appendix cancer, and after a rough several months, we were all back again with a much brighter outlook and a lot to be thankful for.  

Thanksgiving morning started off with the family Turkey Trot (or walk).  

While Pops wins the most patriotic Turkey Trotter, out family cross country runner (Emme) easily cruised home at the fastest speed.

  

Also a tradition is the shucking of a bushel of oysters.  Having oysters for Thanksgiving became a tradition from the first year we went to Hartfield for Thanksgiving (16 or 17 years ago), and oysters with the traditional Thanksgiving staples has become a mainstay for our Thanksgiving meal.

 

We had a chilly but sunny Thanksgiving, and our family snapped a quick picture after all the majority of the eating took place.

 

The Friday after Thanksgiving is a traditional golf day for the guys, and in the past all the girls have gone into Urbanna for a pizza lunch at our favorite spot and a little local brousing around the waterfront and River Birch Gifts.  However, this year, Shenley and Emme ventured to the Williamsburg outlets for some Black Friday shopping.  All the non-shopper girls came with Mouse and I to pizza and River Birch (as Mouse and I aren’t big shopper either).  

 

It’s a full house with seven adults, five girls, and three dogs, but before things get too nutty, everyone is packed up and headed back home for school and work the next week. I truely feel so blessed to have a wonderful and loving family, and this year we were especially thankful for the Mouse’s renewed health and all that she means to our family.

  

 

A Big Day

A few weeks ago we had a big day in the family.  Bo proposed to his girlfriend of several years, Brittany, and we were all invited to be a part of the celebration.  To say there was a lot of excitement around this day was an understatment!  We got word from Bo a few weeks prior to the engagment date to “save the day” and he told us why.  As part of the engagment celebration, he wanted to arrange to have our family and Brittany’s there to celebrate after he popped the question.  Brittany is very close with her sister who is living in England for work, and he flew her in to surprise Brittany, had Brittany’s parents there from Philadelphia, and our family was there as well.

 

He proposed at La Grange Winery in a room he had reserved in the manor house, and the families were very excitedly waiting downstairs.  We got the call to come up after the proposal took place, and we all got to enjoy seeing them both, hearing all about it, and getting the celebrating started. After spending some time at La Grange, we all went back to my parents’ house for some great food, wine, and more celebrating.  Bo and Brittany continued the celebrating that night at their place with a bunch of their friends, so I think it’s safe to say they had a full and memorable day.

 

We are genuinely so happy for them both.  They make a great pair and compliment each other so well, and we love Brittany and are thrilled that our families are joining hers in the near future.  I’ll refrain from all the sentiment about our baby brother getting married, but you can imagine the feels. We’re super happy for him!

 

   

 

  

 

  

   

  

Halloween 2019

Halloween is always such a fun holiday.  Even though Nina and Lyla are older, I’m actually still glad they enjoy getting dressed up for Halloween.  This year we had a spooky bride and a jellyfish.  

As is tradition, we started the day with a fun little breakfast of spider donuts then the kids headed off to school.  

Unfortunately, all the weather reports were warning severe storms rolling in on Halloween evening.  The temperatures were supposed to be mild, but severe storms, winds, and rain were in the forecast.  As a result, most of the kids in the neighborhood headed out trick or treating earlier than the normal start time.  I think everyone just assumed on getting an early start and hopefully getting in as much fun as possible for the storms.  I got some pictures of Lyla before she went out, but I got pictures of Nina once it got dark.

 

Despite a tad shortened evening out, both girls brought in a huge haul of candy!  I’m not sure how they managed that, but we heard there was a lot of running from house to house involved.  This was the first year that they went out with just friends and Mark, Cayenne, and I stayed home.  I have to admit, I missed being out walking around the neighborhood checking out all the cute costumes, but we managed to survive sitting back at home with a glass of wine and answering the door!   

  

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Mouse!

Two weekends ago, we got together to celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday.  From looking at her, it’s hard to believe 1.) that she turned seventy, and 2.) that she was just over a month post surgery.  While it’s been a rocky few months for her since her cancer diagnosis in July, she has been such an inspiration to our whole family in the way that she relied on her faith in the Lord to sustain her, continued to devote herself to family, and battled through a tough surgery and recovery to be where she is.  We all just really felt like this birthday was more than a birthday.  It was a gift to all of us to see her recovering, enjoying her family being together, getting healthier and stronger every day, and looking forward to all that life has ahead for her.  It’s so easy to take our family and our loves ones for granted until a health scare comes along and really shakes you to the core.  However, we’re so thankful that God put her in the hands of the specialists at University of Maryland who were incredibly brilliant, capable, and thorough in their treatment of her cancer, and we’re thankful that He enabled her the strength to get through her surgery, the chemo wash, and be doing so well on her road to recovery.  It truely was a great day to celebrate.

 

While we were there to celebrate my mom, it doesn’t go without mention that she wouldn’t have been there without my dad.  Since her diagnosis, he has been there through thick and thin and walked with her along the darkest of paths when things seemed really bad.  He was there to support her, encourage her, be her friend and protector, and he cared for all her needs with the deepest of affection and dedication.  It was a blessing to watch his love for her manifest itself in such real and tangible ways, and we are so thankful to have the dad that we do to care for our mom.  We really are so fortunate to have so much love in our family.

 

 

On a side note, we got a sneak preview of Emme’s Halloween costume when she had to leave at the end of the party to go to her cross country team’s Halloween party.  We all loved Miss Mantis!!!  For being a carniverous insect who eats her mates, Miss Mantis was quite agreeable to a photo shoot. But, I was sure to not provoke her! :)