Today Lauren celebrated her 3rd birthday with her friends from school at Philly InMovement, the same gym we’ve had Sophie’s birthday for the last two years. She had a great time jumping around with her friends. At first Sophie was sad to be the only “big” kid there, but then she realized she could show everyone the ropes.
Sophie and Lauren have been taking ballet for about 3 months, and Sophie had the chance to perform in the school’s annual holiday performance of The 12 Days of Christmas. She was a drummer. Although she was super nervous leading up to the big day, she did a great job and had a good time. She even told me afterward that “it was pretty fun.” I’ll consider that a success.
We were down in Virginia this year for Thanksgiving. It was a big crew, as usual. Doug, Vickie, Quinn, Carley, Nana, our friends Carl, Amanda, Gianna, and Ella from North Carolina, and Aleen and Yvonne were all there.
We deep fried the turkey again this year. It think it might be the 5th or 6th year we’ve done that. It’s always delicious. Doug was the turkey master again. I think he waits all year for this. He was out there for hours getting the oil and the turkey just right. But time worth spent because it was super tasty.
The weather was amazing and we got to spend a lot of time outside. We took a few hikes and just enjoyed my parent’s amazing property. It was also an opportunity to try and get a cousin picture. Alas, more failed attempts… Why they can’t all smile and look at the camera at once is beyond me.
Dave had his annual sales meeting in Florida again, this time in Clearwater, so we made a mini-vacation of it and the whole family went down for 5 days. The weather was beautiful! We had 2 days with the whole family, and then 2 days with just me and the girls while Dave was in his meetings. We hit the pool early and stayed the entire day – it was lovely.
Carl, who works with Dave, brought his wife, Amanda, and their kids, Gianna and Ella. Sophie and Gianna get along famously, which was really nice.
We’re just one month from the arrival of Dan & Maithili’s son! On Saturday the family was all in town to celebrate Nana’s 90th birthday, and on Sunday we hosted a baby shower at our house. Maithili looks great and says she feels good too. T-1 month!
In October I got away for the weekend to visit our friend Wade, who moved to Denver three years ago. Dave stayed with the girls and I headed out solo (ah…). The weather was amazing and we took full advantage, doing as much hiking as we could fit into 3 days.
The Pope came to Philly at the end of September and the entire City had to basically shutdown. We took the opportunity to enjoy the 4 day weekend in Rock Hall with the Devine’s. The weather was beautiful – perfect early fall days and nights. We spent a lot of time on the water.
