SHE'S getting closer to 40!

To honor my sweet sister Amy on her 38th bday (!!), I didn't wash my hair or get dressed, watched 7 extra kids, cleaned and re-cleaned the kitchen two or 3 times (not bad..) and the last group of girls that came to be baby"sat" (what a funny word), all in honor of Amy's special day, sat down on my (kinda) clean kitchen floor, painted toenails, and applied "yittle girl" make-up. We love you, Amy! We really, really do..

tonight, last night, and last week

We put up the Christmas tree tonight. It was a big pine needly mess. Even my Oreck (which I thought could handle any mess) had a hard time sucking it all up. But it's done, and now we don't want to leave the front room (sleepover under the Christmas tree? I'll leave that to Geof. and the kids). The girls were very excited to play with the nativity. I caught June mid-sentence talking with Mary. (; Oh, and I just noticed i have that pic twice. Who's the favorite...?








We discovered a new part of Richmond that the kids and I had never been to last week. Church hill. The last few colors of fall were holding on just for our viewing. It was beautiful. As I always say, our family is happiest outdoors.

Cole turned eight on the 2nd and we had a bday party for him last night. We went to one of those indoor inflation places. Lame. No, not really. Just the price. I guess that's what happens when your house is too small to accommodate a bday party and you chose to have a kid in the dead of winter (we didn't really choose, though). He invited three boys and one girl who actually moved away during the summer. His first love... (:

And that adorable little pilgrim down there? That's Dayne, of course. Not to be confused with me when I was five (and just happened to be living in VA, as well) and came home during the Thanksgiving festivities wearing close to the same EXACT outfit (but we didn't stop with just the pilgrim/paper bag costume, we ALSO made an indian). I wish I had that5 year old pic of me to compare the two of us.

..and, goodnight!

He's EIGHT!

a little bit of cousin time before thanksgiving.

Here we are on Thanksgiving day. It's kinda nice celebrating this particular holiday a few days early..makes for a lot less stress in my opinion. Geof.'s little brother Brind, his wife Julia, and their baby Violet drove all the way from Kansas (19 hrs I believe?!) to get here!! I hope our crazy house didn't scare them off.

Cole, Dayne, and June adored "baby Violet", which is easy to do since she's the happiest little girl on earth. Fun times.











We ate our Thanksgiving meal on Tues. evening, went on an adult only date to see Harry Potter, drove to Jamestown and took a free ferry across the James (this was SO much fun..and did I mention, free?), and lucky for us, Brind and Julia introduced us to "Better Off Ted". Very funny..especially sitting next to Geof. and Brind whose laughter causes me to chuckle just hearing it. So, Kansas Bennett clan, thank you for sacrificing 4 days of driving to come see us, you two..er 3..er 4 (Julia's pregnant)!

And the last pic all the way down there..? Geof. and I went to DC and biked for 36 miles from Roosevelt Island to Mt. Vernon and back. The trail follows the Potomac and was just as we imagined, beautiful. I am so happy being with Geof. and doing what we love most...which is playing outside (in case you were wonderin').

to date..

We are in the "prime" of our fall foliage here in Richmond. Absolutely beautiful clear (and pleasantly warm) days and cold nights. Here's our Halloween pics (and a few of Gma teaching the kids how to braid bread and make yummy cinnamon rolls).

A doggie, Cleopatra, and a Jedi. Happy kids.

"The Republican Party is not always Conservative"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SsYhOuzkGM&feature=related My sister introduced me to this kid. Pretty incredible!

I wrote this.

Geof.'s mom was here for a week. Left yesterday on the train out of Richmond, up to D.C. to catch a flight to Denver, then on to Utah (driving her car) and back home to WA. She's been gone for over a month, traveling east to visit her sons (and the lucky daughters-in-law and grand babies who benefit greatly from her visits). Last Thurs. we took a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. It was surprisingly warm, but we still enjoyed it.

We especially loved our visit with the horses. Dayne did end up getting a nip (can you use that word when describing a horse bite? A little one?) from one before we left. She cried for a long time. Didn't expect it.

I left my camera (unbeknownst to me) there and was horrified when I couldn't find it for trunk or treat OR Halloween (I did get some pics with Geof.'s camera). I couldn't believe I'd lost another camera (the first was stolen, but still..). I called on Monday, though, and they HAD found it and it arrived in the mail today. THANK YOU Colonial Williamsburg!

Geesh, the whole travel log blog is getting old. I'm finding it hard to want to write about personal stuff and am plain tired of this semester (of school). Dayne finished soccer on Sat (woo hoo!) and didn't even play in her last game. She's just not into soccer. She sat wrapped up in a blanket on my lap while Geof. had to coach the team. He's glad to be done coaching Kindergartners, as well. (: Cole, on the other hand loves soccer and is so much fun to watch. He runs all over the place like I did. He's fast, but tires himself out running and kicking and not really "dribbling" much. I want to put all three in dance since they love it so much. Even Cole. He LOVES it. Makes me want to try a hip hop class or two with him. Or break dancing. ooh...wouldn't that be fun?!