Halloween

Perhaps that I am posting about our Halloween on Dec 10 is an indication as to how busy things have been! I realized that I had not posted in a while and there are many things I want to capture here. 

Halloween was busy and fun. Especially busy this year for me because Colonial Williamsburg hosted trick or treating and Halloween events for the first time and I was on the core team to make it happen. With primary focus on signage and messaging but busy with all sort of cross foundation efforts. It was a great project and turned out very well. 

The kids had a great time trick or treating. We went with the Oneills in Indian Springs. 

Matthew Whaley had their parade. Nell went as Gem from Gem and the Hokograms- but before trick or treating had a crisis and wanted to change costumes. We managed to pull together her being a twin to one of he stuffed animals. She looked cute. Zav was a cowboy's fan and Esmé went as a pig again this year. She had planned to be Taylore Swift but changed her mind. 

No more pacis

(Written 11/15/15)

Well it's the end of an era. We no longer have any pacis in our house. 

Friday Esmé got strep throat and the doctor told us to replace her toothbrush after 24 hours on the antibiotics. Well it dawned on me that if her toothbrush can harbor the germs then her pacis certainly could too. So it seemed like as good of a reason as any to give up the pacis. I explained it to Esmé and she was not particularly interested. I then explained that there is a paci fairy and that she will Coke and take your pacis and leave you a present. She thought about that for. Minute and said " I hope she brings me more pacis". Well that was not going very well. I explained that no the paci fairy was not brining new pacis. She then said " I want a golden necklace". Hmm I had sort of thought a new book and stuffed animal would suffice- but Esmé had another plan. So off I went in search of a golden necklace. I found on and had it wrapped up. Then came bedtime and Esmé was being allowed to go to sleep with her pacis one last time- knowing the paci fairy would come and get them. Well at bedtime she was very upset and asked that I call the paci fairy and tell her that Esmé would put her pacis on the front porch on the morning. 

She cried herself to sleep in anticipation of missing her pacis.

 In the morning Nell and I got the gift on to the front porch just as Esmé came down. She opened the door and very excited to see a gift. She threw her pacis on to the door mat.

 She loved her sun necklace. She was later heard saying she did not like her pacis anymore. 

As the day wore on she was pretty upset to not have her pacis and then bedtime came she really felt like she should not have given them up- that she needed them to sleep. Then she fell right to sleep and was sleeping paci free!  

40 and happy!

Happy birthday to me! 

I turned 40 yesterday 

It was a great day. 

The kids were up early making me coffee and toast and being very attentive and sweet. 

We spent some time getting ready for the  party. Patty and Meghan came over and really helped whip things into shape. Meghan put out the cheese boards- patty decorated the mantel and helped get the kitchen straightened up. Chris had a wedding at 4 and the party started at 5- I could not have done it without Patty and Meghan. 

We had a great turn out and a really fun time. 

Zaven made fabulous petit fors for the party- they were delicious 

Beautiful flowers from Ellena FB Armen really set the tone for the party in the front hall! 

Mom and dad gave me two beautiful pillows for the living room. 

They also sent me a beautiful gold wedding band that was my great grand parents Walter Cooke Burbank and Margery (Margio) from 1912- amazing really special. 

Chris gave me three gold bangles- rose, white and yellow gold. They are so beautiful!

Selfie before the party! 

All in all it was a wonderful day ! 

Izzy's Wedding

We had a great trip to Charlotte for Izzy and Mike's wedding. Jessica stayed here with the kids. Chris and I headed out about noon and had an easy drive. We got there in time for a fun rehearsal dinner. It was very nice to hear Izzy's friends and family talking about her. I never knew of her love for music- several people noted being introduced to music by her. She and Mike seem very happy- what a special time. 

We had a great time sitting at dinner with Berk and Ginny, Brice, Laing, Ginna and Lolly. 

The next morning Brice, Berk and Chris went for a bike ride. 

Ginny and I went to Sarah and Brant's. They recently built their great house based on a sketch Uncle Jim made! Eloise and Patterson are adorable! 

The wedding was beautiful- and the reception was a great party. Chris and I had a great time knowing the kids were happy and safe and not serving any role at the wedding!

Don't tell Izzy, but Eloise kind of stole the show! So precious and happy! 

The next morning we all went to him and Isabelle's for brunch. More fun times. It really got us excited about Thanksgiving!

We got some cute pics of Esmé playing at the Mason's. They are such sweet friends! 

Esmé had her 4 year check up. She is doing great. She is tall and thin and very healthy. The dr did agree that we should have her eyes rechecked with the tracking issue. 

On September 22 we marked 26 years since McDaniel died. Many people posted remembrances which is nice. I also talked to the kids about him. 

Then today I went to a photo shoot for work with Jill Ellis- the coach of the US women's World Cup soccer team. I was able to get a ball signed by her forZav.  He was pretty excited ! 

Back to School

Well it happened, summer ended and the kids went back to school. 

Zaven is off to 7th grade at Berkeley Middle School. He seems to be ready to have a great year. With big plans to concentrate on his studies and get good grades. So far he loves his History, English and Spanisb teachers. He even had me make him extra vocabulary flash cards for Spanish. 

Nell is in 3rd grade and has Mrs Lampert. Her first assignment was to put 5 items in a bag and tell the class about yourself. Nell did a great job getting her items together and practicing her presentation. She had something turquoise for her favorite color. A necklace that Chris made at Tge jewelry store that her grandmother owns. A Russian nesting doll that she collects. A ribbon from the champs swim meet and her Taylor Swift concert t shirt. She even went so far as to write out notecards for it. Then I put Esmé to bed and by the time I got to Nell's room she was changing her items and the whole thing. She ended up with a turquoise Eiffel Tower, the swimming ribbon, a picture of Viola "her favorite cousin. The Taylor Swift T shirt and something about gymnastics. I will be untested to see how she did- her recap made it sound like she did not expound much on her items. She might have gotten nervous. But she is liking her class so far. 

Esmé is in children's house 1 with Ms Angela again at Montessori. It was funny the weekend before school started we saw Ms Angela out and about two times- we have never run into her before. It helped Esmé be excited about school starting. She still would rather be at home sometimes- but has a good time once she gets going. I forgot to take her picture so here she is through the door- with her friend Quinn 

Labor Day weekend was big fun with everyone being back together. We went to Busch Gardens with the Oneills on Sunday and Monday was a big wiggle ball game at the sunken garden and W&M   Esmé got a big spinster but otherwise lots of fun was had and we are hoping it will become a tradition. 

Vacation- St. George Island, Florida

What a great time! We drove out of Williamsburg on the 21st and headed south. We made it to around Savannah and spent the night. The next day we had just 5 hrs until we made it! It turned out that we could not get into the house until Sunday so we got a hotel in Apalachicola at the Water street inn. The kids swam. We had dinner at Papa Joe- which had moved but the hush puppies were just as good- which let's face it, are why we are there. 

Sunday we were able to get into the house early. Ellen, Spencer and Armen got there in the late afternoon and we celebrated Ellen's birthday and had Seafood pizza from BJ's- so tasty! 

We went on from there to spend a lot of time on the beach. We saw a shark. Lots of Dolphins. Nell let me bury her in the sand. 

Zaven loved skim boarding. 

We rented paddleboards. And just had a great time being together. 

It was super fun to have Viola there. She is adorable and busy and fun! It was very special to have her get to know us. 

The kids loved playing with her. Nell helped feed her a lot and I know they will look forward to seeing her grow up. 

The kids always love time with Grammy!

Ain't Ella!

uncle Soencer was an excellent chef- making breakfast every morning and grilling some amazing fresh fish a few times too! Not to mention hauling paddleboards and helping Grammy. 

Just a note about Zavens face in this picture. This is his "froggy" face. So cute and funny. 

Soencer also got Zaven to eat his first oyster- in two attempts. 

It was a really nice family time. We love St. George and this was a particularly nice time! 

We had one almost rainy day and we managed to do the 1000 piece puzzle that I had brought- in a feww hours. 

Our last night there was a spectacular sunset- these photos just barely begun to capture it! 

We left Saturday morning and drove to Atlanta. Esmé and I met up with Milla and Poppy for the night and Chris and the big kids went on the Chattanooga. We had a fun dinner out- there were some Fox statues at the restaurant by Michael Stipe and Esmé had a great time playing among them. 

Sunday Esmé and I flew home. Her first airplane trip. She was a bit nervous but once we took off she liked it quite a bit- even the turbulence did not bother her!