When Friends Move

One of the major disadvantages to living in the DC area is that friends move. Most of the time people move for jobs but being in DC pushes people away either because of the cost of living or they want to be closer to family. We've made good friends over and over and over again only to see them leave. It's never easy saying goodbye and at times it can be quite heartbreaking. 

I'm pretty torn up about my friend Sarah and her amazing family leaving the area. I suspected something was up when they started taking 'random' road trips to places like Charlotte, NC. People only seem to move there for work. It all became too real when they actually put their house on the market. It sold in THREE days. I was happy their home sold so quickly but a part of me died a little too. I can hardly believe we had been friends for only three years! I am just sorry we didn't know them for all nine of the years they were here. It's rare to find people that you resonate with so easily and wonderfully. You would hardly believe Sarah--amazingly talented, generous, creative, inspirational, kind and totally unassuming. Cutest kids ever too. Sarah's sense of adventure is unparalleled. 

Anyway, we had them over for Sunday dinner on the weekend their house sold. Ben noticed a praying mantis outside and naturally he picked it up and it crawled all over him, much to the absolute delight of the kids. 

I met Sarah about the same time that my friend Caroline moved so her friendship filled in the hole that losing Caroline left. Not sure this loss can be saved.

It was at River Farm that I noticed Sarah and introduced myself to her. The day this photo of baby Maeve was taken!

Round Hill Farm in Orange, VA

Soren's cute, kind of spooky pumpkin.

Skull on skull.

Long horned cattle!

The hayride. We all love a good hayride.

The hayride dumped us out at this 'pumpkin' patch, which was just a piece of farmland covered in pumpkins picked somewhere else. After the acres of gorgeous pumpkins at Wayside, this was a disappointment.

Still beautiful.

We did find an excellent pumpkin to take home. Asher pointed out that it had a heart on it.

Asher and Soren were ecstatic to be included on the tire swing. The parents of these kids happily pushed the tire swing and the boys had a ball. Maeve and I sat on the grass and enjoyed the moment.

The haunted bus!

Asher LOVED it.

Skull on skull on skull.

The Saturday before Jamie got home I took the kids on one final fall festival outing. I wanted to go somewhere new so I did a bit of research and found a quaint looking farm in Orange, VA. The drive was beautiful and slight changes in the trees hinted at great color to come. 

We had a wonderful day. The kids were thrilled to get their cheeks painted and then they just played and played and played and played. We were in no rush and had no where to be so it was a perfect opportunity to simply enjoy the moment. The weather was wonderful and we encountered so many kind folks. Older kids were nice to my kids and there weren't any cranky people who were irritated by children. 

I marveled at the surroundings and that precious time with my children. My heart was heavy as I reflected on the past year and my countless shortcomings as a mother. I was often impatient and quick to lose my cool and throughout all of my inconsistencies, the kids loved me and were gracious with their forgiving natures. All three of them grew up so much and on that day in those moments, I could not have been more in love with them. I saw and felt so much value in their individual cuteness and collective awesomeness. 

On our way to the farm we passed a nursery that had a haunted bus. I pointed it out to Asher but he didn't see it. Many tears were shed. I promised we would stop on our way home. Well, he fell asleep so I pulled into the parking lot and talked with Jamie while the kids slept. It was quite perfect, actually. This spontaneous outing was surprisingly very fun. The nursery was adorable and had excellent Halloween decorations and pumpkins. The kids loved the haunted bus and it's creepy bones, bats and spooky contents.

Finally, we ended our day with dinner at Wegmans. It was an exhaustingly wonderful outing.

Delayed by Life

I have not forgotten my blog but my focus on life with Jamie home and getting the paperwork and home improvement projects ready for refinancing has absolutely occupied my time. I can't remember a time when I felt so busy! Poor Jamie thought that coming home from working EVERY day in a war zone would be much more relaxing and easy going but that has not been the case. We've had fun and accomplished a lot but it has been exhausting. Hopefully November will be chill with long, easy days.

October 2011--remembering an easy going month.

Bird on Bird

My friend Jocelyn took a 10 day trip to Italy with her husband and was lucky enough to have her MIL, Ellen, watch Millie and Cate. I picked up Ellen on a Friday morning and we met some friends at National Harbor for a free magic show (lame) and a spin on the carousel. I had fun hanging out with Ellen and was happy to have her to myself! Our three girls were all super busy and occasionally fussy (toddler-teenagers) but we had fun. We stopped by Pot Belly's for lunch and that was the best. Ellen did a great job knowing her granddaughters and caring for them so lovingly and effectively. Fun morning.

Afternoon at River Farm

One Friday afternoon I convinced a few friends of mine to meet us at River Farm after school. The weather was wonderful and since it was the afternoon, we had the place to ourselves and missed the usual morning mom rush. 

The kids played for hours and it was perfect. They were imaginative and active and fully utilized the awesomeness of River Farm. I enjoyed being in such a beautiful place with such great friends. Usually in those moments I feel almost overcome with emotion when I consider how pleasant my life is and how fortunate I am to pass my days with such a sweet family and group of friends. Being surrounded by the splendor of nature always makes me reflective and therefore, grateful. Also, Jamie's approaching return enhanced my happiness.

I look forward to more afternoons at River Farm! 

Dinner Pass-Out

When I have Maeve to myself on Fridays and the weekend, she rarely gets a nap. I'm too busy dragging her everywhere with me that naps are often a casualty of our time together. She still needs them and is often a rascally mess by dinner time when she doesn't get a nap. One Friday evening she passed out while watching a post-dinner show. Exhaustion induced dinner table sleeping is kind of my favorite.

Wayside in Part, the Last Part

I love this--living with boys means an endless stream of sound effects, most of which involve explosions.

Asher was gun blazing excited for the corn maze.

Battle of the corn stalks.

Asher and his corn grimp.

Soren always in the lead. He was an intuitive leader.

Oh, my sweet kids.

Scary cute.

My perfect red pumpkin.

Took this beaut home too.

After a satisfying exploration of all the recreation possible at Wayside, we entered the Angry Birds themed corn maze. We took the 'short' route because I just wasn't sure what the kids would tolerate. I took the stroller expecting the kids to be fussy and clingy. Turns out I didn't need it, which is always a pleasant surprise. Soren walked the entire time while Maeve and Asher walked most of it. 

There were ten points to the short maze and each one had an Angry Birds trivia question that if answered correctly put you on the right path. We killed the questions, even beating out three other souls we saw in the maze. Soren was ecstatic that we finished before three 'old people.' The kids really got into the maze and Asher especially loved it because he found endless corn 'grimps,' his word for grim reaper scythe. My friend Kristin suggested it could also mean grim reaper pimp. It's cool.

We got lost a few times and it was a little stressful to go in circles a few times with so many possible paths for either victory or more endless looping. 

After the corn maze we went to the farm's pumpkin patch, which was the most amazing one I have EVER seen. They had over 55 varieties of pumpkins and they were all .50 a pound, which is a price I have never seen for fancy pumpkins. They had ruby red pumpkins, winter white pumpkins and ghost gray pumpkins along with butternuts quash and big old traditional pumpkins. We had a blast choosing the perfect pumpkins, which meant finding the perfect 'baby' pumpkin for Maeve.

Wayside was way fun. Soren has already asked that we return.