Giving Thanks

It's no secret:  I love traditions.  As a consequence, I've tried to incorporate several into each holiday we celebrate (Joe likes to tease that I'd create a tradition for everyday of the year, if he didn't reign me in).  The good news is that the girls are now old enough to start to remember and anticipate some of our holiday traditions.  It was no surprise, then, when they knew just what to do with these

a few days before Thanksgiving.  It's still unclear if this crew knows exactly what a pilgrim hat is or who the pilgrims were,

but they have no problem making these chocolaty pilgrim hats year after year.

Another family tradition developed over the last few years is inviting a crew of people over to enjoy a meal with us on Thanksgiving Day.  This has resulted in another tradition of  me buying the largest turkey I can find at the grocery store.  This year's turkey topped out at 26 lbs.

He was a challenge to lift in and out of the oven, but he was no match for me.

He also happened to weigh more than this one year old turkey that spent his day wreaking havoc in my kitchen cabinets and drawers.

For a moment, each year, it seems a shame to cut into such a beautiful bird. 

Then my stomach growls and I happily asked one of our guests to do the honors of carving the big bird.

Mr. Holmes (Brad's father) got right to work and carved the bird up while the rest of the spread got put out.

Others, like Beth, kept busy entertaining the nine small children, aged six and under, on the premises. 

We had several special people join us for the day:  The Holmes (Brad, Lauren, Jillian, Faith & Anna), The Tangs (CheeKin & Niina), The Holmes Grandparents

The Lockards (Jon, Julie, Ava & Andrew), Doug Noble, and the Amans (not pictured here, James, Nancy, Josh, Tim & Beth)

After dinner, we gathered in the living room to play a game of Thanksgiving Jeopardy!

Joe, sporting his Thanksgiving Turkey pin made by the girls (another kind of tradition), was Alex.

There was a lot of fierce competition between the three teams,

but in the end

the Aggies won on a question involving their favorite president and the state of North Dakota. 

To my knowledge everyone was still friends afterward. 
 

We were grateful to spend the day with so many special people.

We ended the day with an over the top dessert bar

provided by our guests,

and with hearts full of gratitude for the many blessings God has so generously and graciously poured into our lives. 

Upgrade

Xandra has designed a new home for us to live in when the one we're currently living in sells.  It's still got some of the same characteristics of our current home...flowers and lots of colors.

One big upgrade is the addition of a garage.

Do you think it's big enough for a mini van?

Moonlighting

Since December 1st I've been moonlighting.  After all our fall home improvement fun, we put our home on the market and I've been moonlighting by maintaining another blog. 

Let me introduce you to our new blog:  3313 Floral Court.

Feel free to pass along the address to anyone looking for a home in the DC area.  Desire for a home in the DC area aside, we're equally happy to talk to anyone who has some extra cash lying around they've got a burning desire to spend. 

Reinforcements

As mentioned in an earlier post, I spent much of the fall painting nearly everything outside our home.  Painting wasn't the only thing happening around our home this fall.

I spent the better part of a week bleaching siding. 

Before I started, the entire side of the house looked nice and green like the left side in the picture below.

Joe and Xandra repaired a leak in the roof of the shed next to the house.  There's nothing like being midsentence with one of the neighbors, only to have them interrupt with, "Oh my, your daughter is on the roof."

Fortunately, she, like her father, has a healthy fear of heights.

When I finished painting and bleaching outside, I headed inside with my paint brush.  So long my bright red friend.

The list of items for cleaning, repairing, organizing and painting was so long, that we had to call in reinforcements.

Jessica and her sister, Lauren, spent several days with us in late November watching the kids and assisting me with various projects.

Their projects were much more fun than mine.  They involved cuddling with the kids in the chair and baking chocolate chip cookies.

We also called in reinforcements from our care group, who voluntarily came to our rescue one Sunday afternoon.  They spent an afternoon doing various jobs, big and small all around our home. 

Some of the highlights from the afternoon include:  Julie helped me iron and hang freshly laundered curtains. Lauren and Kristin cleaned lots of dirt, spiders and spiderwebs from the kids' firehouse.  Lindsey found a half decomposed mouse on a glue trap in the furnace room (that's not embarassing in the least).  Doug clear cut our front yard with his weed eater.  Several men raked and hauled and raked and hauled and raked and hauled leaves.  Carpets were vacuumed, grills cleaned, widows washed, spider webs removed, and junk hauled away.

Some were brave enough to get on our roof to bleach gutters and siding I couldn't reach.

Some, like Brad, were lucky enough to be entrusted with the hose.

Joe and I spent most of the afternoon bossing people around.  I'm not sure how they captured a picture of him actually doing work...I think this one must have been posed.

He was even smart enough to rub some dirt on his knees in this picture.  It looks like he's really been working.

We did allow people to take a break, at some point.  But only for a few minutes before we began yelling, "Back to work, you lazy slugs."

Everything was going great until Brad climbed up on the roof.

Then, where previously calm had reigned,

panic overtook.

Thankfully no one fell off the roof.  The only casualties of the afternoon were a few unsuspecting spiders and Dave's split lip.  We forgot to tell him the axe was for splitting logs not lips. 

In five short (or long, depending on your perspective) hours the group accomplished what would have taken Joe and I innumerable hours to accomplish on our own.  We're so grateful for their kindness and hard work.  It is a true picture of God's graciousness poured into our lives through His people. 

Maybe more amazing than their work ethic, is that after all that work, they all still speak to us.

Three Little Bears

Richmond Run

On Veterans Day we loaded up the car and headed out of town for another Pull racing adventure.  This time our destination was Richmond, VA for the SunTrust Richmond Marathon on November 12.

We headed out of town mid afternoon with plenty of time to arrive in Richmond and pick up Joe's race packet.  It twas good we were so far ahead of schedule because we experienced some VERY slow moving traffic followed by a mishap with Mapquest and Trisha which dumped us in a not-so-nice street in the middle of Richmond nowhere near our final destination.  Once we got our bearings, we headed off to the correct location.  We didn't make it but a few feet when Joe stopped the van, backed up and rolled down his window to talk to someone in a stopped car in the middle of the street, all to Trisha's begging and pleading not to stop for fear we might all be shot.  I guess Joe didn't think the 20-something blond girl in the VW bug, waving her arms for help, looked threatening.  In the end, it was good we stopped, as she, too, was lost and was headed to the same place as we were.  Her presence also helped justify my mishap with Mapquest...I wasn't the only one who had done it!

After roaming around the packet pick up area for awhile, having another small mishap at the gas station wherein someone else accidentally prepaid for our gas, we headed to the hotel (hootel according to the girls) to get settled in for the night.

As we were unpacking the car, I realized that I'd forgotten one important detail:  the pack n play.  Not wanting to pay the hotel to use one of theirs, we simply blocked off the corner of the room, placed blankets on the floor and then watched Joey climb out of his "bed" approximately two minutes later.  Fortunately, it was late and he was tired, so once all the lights were out, he gave up climbing out, cried for a few minutes and then settled down to sleep.

The next morning we packed up our gear, left behind our makeshift pack n play and headed to the start line.

The morning was VERY chilly.  Despite hats, gloves and mittens, the girls were having a difficult time staying warm.  For awhile they hid in this faux doorway in an effort to get out of the breeze.

We saw Joe several times along the course

The girls, especially Aliyah, were very careful to make sure Joey didn't go anywhere he shouldn't.

At mile 19 we found Joe, a bit behind pace and walking.  Despite his excellent start and ahead of pace 1/2 marathon, and all my heckling to get his lazy bones moving, his finish was difficult and disappointing.

The one upside to a difficult finish is that he had plenty of time to run across the finish line backward.  He said he'd always wanted to do that and so, in one small way, he redeemed what had otherwise been a pretty terrible run.

Joe recovered with some post-race food, which included complimentary Papa John's Pizza, while the kids and I enjoyed being out of the elements.

After a bit of playing,

resting and visiting the bathrooms of this rather posh hotel lobby, we escorted a limping and tired Joe to the van and headed back to Maryland.  Thus closes another chapter in the Pull race anthology.

Fountain of Youth

I'm no spring chicken anymore.  My husband, who just turned a mere 31 takes great delight in reminding me of this.  In just under six weeks I'll celebrate my 34th birthday and while inside I feel much younger than my 34 years, on the outside I see signs that tell the truth about my age.  Recently I took up a campaign to bring back some of my lost youthfulness. 
While others might turn to beauty serums, hair dye (I'm considering this one) and plastic surgery in search of youthfulness, I've found a different answer. 

Before:

After:

I'd say the braces make me look like I'm about 15, wouldn't you?