December 2011

I can not believe I have not posted since Thanksgiving. We had a super busy December!

I just uploaded a bunch of photos and they are not exactly in order, but I am not going to change the order I am just going to go through and say what each is, hopefully they will be grouped about right.

Here is a photo from our wedding, Chris and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on New Year's Eve, it is pretty amazing to think we have been together that long. Chris said it well "we are off to a good start"

Chris was installed as the 35th Rector of Bruton Parish Church, it was a great event. We were so thrilled to have Grammy, Milla, Poppy, Julie Toland and Sharon in addition to Stuart Hoake, who came to preach, here to celebrate with us.

The 3rd grade at Matthew Whaley put on the Nutcracker, it was great fun. Zaven was a toy soldier and did a great job. Nell loved the performance and we went out to dinner at the Cracker Barrel after to celebrate.

Jumping around a little, this is a photo of the family at the installation.

One warm sunny day in December, Nell, Esmé and I walked up to Merchant Square, got lunch at the Cheese Shop and ate outside. As we were sitting there, Santa came to visit. We have had a lot of great weather and have been able to be outside a lot.

The weekend of Chris' Installation we threw a cocktail party for the members of the Search Committee and Vestry and their spouses, I think about 70 people. It was a great success, but I must say it would have been a very different party without all the wonderful help from Milla and Poppy, here Nell is passing by as Milla works on flowers for the table.

I believe that this is a photo of me and Chris headed to the Colonial Williamsburg Christmas party. It was at the Lodge and Poppy was kind enough to be our driver for the night, which was great because the valet was a mess and it was raining. We had a nice time and saw a lot of people we knew.

Earlier that same day we all met at the Christmas tree lot, chose a tree, bought a new tree stand and headed home. Zaven chose the tree and it turned out to be just the right height. Esmé was asleep and waited in the car.

Before all of the above, Milla and Grammy came to Williamsburg to stay with the kids while Chris and I went to Mexico to celebrate Chris Ferguson's 40th birthday. Here is a photo of them the day we got home, it is a little foggy, which I think is an accurate depiction of their state after 4 days, 3 nights with this crew.

Here we are in Mexico on the beach with a full moon. We had an amazing time. It was a beautiful place. We were there with a really fun group of people and the weather was perfect.

While we were in Mexico, I went in to Playa del Carmen with two girls and we went to a few shops. I bought the winged heart at the top of the tree for Chris for our anniversary. It is now over the fireplace in our den.

A cute pic of our hosts Meg and Chris.

The view from our room!

This is a cute pic of Nell in her Christmas swing top. We are walking to get Zaven from school on a warm December day.

I was persuaded to get the kids an Elf on the Shelf. Here he is in one of his hiding places. We named him R.W Rollo. (R. W. stands for red and white). We did not find that the Elf had any behavioral benefits. But we had fun with the little guy.

Christmas was great. We loved having Grammy, Ella, Milla and Poppy here to celebrate. This photo shows the whole group.

Nell and Grammy and Strawberry Shortcake.

Milla and Esmé. Milla got in on the matching pajama act and had a coordinating Christmas morning outfit, so fun!

This cool sign was carried around on the night of the Grand Illumination.

Here is a picture of our house with our decorations up. Needless to say, we did not win any awards, but they did not come and redo it so I took that as a "win".

This is an out take from our Christmas card photos. I really love this one of just the kids.

Was this picture posted earlier too. This is cute Nell.

thanksgiving etc

well we had a great trip to chattanooga, the drive went well and the time there with family was great. the kids had a wonderful time being spoiled by everyone and playing with the cousins. we are grateful to the taylors for having the trampoline fixed- the kids had a great time bouncing.

here is esmé in a new hat from bea- who we only caught a quick hug from on their way out. the new hat is an instant hit!
chris and margo were fast friends again. you will note chris' cycling gear. chris, berkeley and brice did a ride everyday. i think they had a great time.

on thanksgiving day milla and poppy hosted a beautiful celebration. milla had set a great kids table, with herself at the head. it worked out really well.

all the cousins had a nice time together

the day after thanksgiving nell turned 5! we made a buttermilk chocolate cake with rainbow frosting- nell and margo helped coloring the icing and deciding the order of application at were chief bowl lickers.
more fun time with cousins
all of the memphis burbank boys
everyone loved holding esmé.
before we went to tennessee we took cupcakes in to nell's school here is a silly picture of nell icing the cupcakes.
nell with her crown at school. we also took apples as a part of the snack.
when we got home from tennessee we had to get our decorations up on the house. here is nell holding our wreath for the front door. i was happy with how they turned out, though nell thinks they are very dull.

sunday we took some photos for our christmas card, here is a cute one of the kids.

warm weather

today we had meghan over for a little tea party. her birthday was on saturday and we wanted to give her a little gift. we used the great tea set that st. columba's gave nell when we left. and a table cloth that granny gave me a long time ago.

on the way to school this morning esmé had a little nap with her dolly.
esmé is loving all of nell's antics. she loves being held by her and playing.
this morning after zaven went in for school, nell played around outside.
yesterday on the way home, nell found this BIG leaf. that is a really big leaf!
cute nell trying to get the lambs to come over to the fence for a visit.
another sleeping photo of esmé- i love all the dots in this photo.
today on the way home there were some girls running and she says to zaven in a teasing voice "those girls look cute to maaaarrry you" it is very funny.

we are having really mild weather, though i think it is going to change overnight and be a lot cooler. esmé has a bit of a cough and i have been going back and forth about taking her to the dr. so far i have not. i think it is the same cough nell had and it was just a cough, no fever. so i am playing it by ear.

i am trying to come up with fun christmas activities for each weekend in december. i am thinking, gingerbread houses, visiting santa, getting christmas tree may need one more.

can't wait to see everyone next week for thanksgiving.

good weekend

we had a very nice weekend. friday chris, nell, esmé and i went to the ymca for some excercise, then friday night we did our regular, plaza azteca and sweet frog. isabel came with us which was fun.

saturday we got up and decided to go for a walk/hike across the street behind bassett hall. someone had written us a note telling us about the trail and it was a beautiful day and a great trail. we had a great time.

here is a big smile from zaven on the trail.
nell is a ham even in the woods, she enjoyed running ahead.
it was a well marked trail, and a well loved one, with someone carving their initials into the tree.
i loved this leaf with just a touch of red on the leaf.
the crew and we were heading out.
it was a truly exceptional day.
and last but not least, here is esmé with the dolly.
church went well today. we had the annual meeting all went well. then it was football, grocery store and dinner at church with the college and high school church groups, it was fun.

fall in va

these photos are a little jumbled, but i am typing one handed and will jut tell you what we have been up to as it relates to each photo. this is esmé trying on the baptismal gown that i was baptized in, and was from 1870. she did not end up wearing this, but it was beautiful.

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we loved having ella and spencer here, the kids were thrilled to take a walk up to merchant square and get some lunch, it was a beautiful, but chilly day.
esmé's baptism was a great occasion, the service was beautiful. nell and zaven both sang in their choirs during the service and chris did the baptism. we were so glad that milla and poppy could be here with us too.
here is the epperson/wiberley crew. we surely missed larry even more acutely than usual.
when i see this photo, i think, that's a lot of kids! we sure are lucky!!
esmé's Godfather, chris ferguson, came from d.c. for the service, it was very special to have him there, ellen morris, the godmother, came down with a bug and could not make it.
the group that walked to lunch.
halloween. the kids and i drove back from woodward on halloween, skating into town, buying zaven's costume and rushing to meet friends for trick or treating. i will have to upload some pics of esme later. it was busy, but a success. the back up plan was to give each kid $5 to buy candy at CVS.
happy girl. she is wearing her hat inside b/c they did some work on the heating system and our heat was off for two days, it was a little chilly.
we are working on esmé being happy with people other than me. here she is happy with her daddy
we were all very sad to lose tips. we are so thankful for the time and memories we have of her. our trip this summer to visit her was great. when asking the kids what they knew about tips they said, "that she was generous" "thst she loved us very much" "she told funny stories and jokes" and then nell added "she was as quick as a squirrel" other than the last one, i thought those a great tribute and testament to ther great grandmother, and how cool that they knew her. we also love to do "old tom walker" a tips classic, as well as "sugar foot"
the next three pictures nell had me take at the ann taylor store, they totally crack me up. especially the neutral expression on her face in the third one.


poppy at the songbird with esmé.
we loved having lexie and quinn come to woodward to visit. quinn is so cute and sweet. lexie is a great mom and a wonderful friend.
zaven and esmé walking home from school on a beautiful fall day. nell was at home with the babysitter playing.
we have been having a nice fall and are looking forward to thanksgiving in chattanooga and celebrating with everyone. can't believe it is two weeks from today! then we head to mexic, have chris' installation on the 18th of decemceer and then it is christmas and our 15th anniversary (how can that be!!)! yipes. i have to try to get things done without getting too caught up to enjoy the time right now.