Fall Weekends in Richmond (Oct. 11 -13 & 18 - 20)

The second weekend in October while Brec and Clara stayed in Raleigh to attend their fall outing for Y-Guides, Jack and Meghan traveled with me to Richmond to Nay-nay and Pop-pop's. I continued on to Northern Virginia for Fall Break 2013 with my fellow UVA swimming ladies. Jack and Meghan had the extra bonus of visiting with Annabeth who was in from Seattle for most of the month of October. They played Friday afternoon until the dean of students got off work, and then Jack and Annabeth went to the Children's Museum together on Saturday.

Throwing the ball with cousins.

These kids are very evenly spaced: Jack is 16 months older than Annabeth who is in turn 14 months older than Meghan. They all had fun getting to know one another again.

Three cousins spinning in a chair.

There's room for everyone in Gramby's lap.

Looks like Jack made it into the garage and felt like he needed a life vest to navigate it safely.

Saturday at the Children's museum, Jack climbs some bars that I'm pretty sure aren't meant for climbing.

The boy loves his pipes.

Picking apples.

The newest anchors for WRIC.

Jack on the news

The following weekend we traveled back to Richmond as a family so that Brec and Clara could get a chance to visit with Annabeth and Jo too. We also had the opportunity to see Ed who got in from Africa Saturday night.

Jack takes advantage of Pop-pop's lush grass and rolls down the lawn.

Wagon ride with Pop-pop.

To the untrained eye, this video might seem a tad dullsville, but I love it because Jack tells Meghan what he wants, and she actually responds, showing maturity beyond her years.

On Saturday while I was off shopping with Nay-nay, Brec and the kids met up with Su-su, Gramby, Jo, & Annabeth at University of Richmond to feed the ducks.

Jack sings "Paradise" (by Coldplay) at the UR amphitheater. He wouldn't listen when Brec tried to explain that the stage was at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently everyone should look up to Jack when he performs.

Meghan runs to Su-su.

Watching tv at Gramby & Su-su's

Saturday night we got a chance to Facetime with Uncle Jack and Dy who were in Prague! Thanks to Lucy for showing me how to do screen captures. The possibilities are endless.

Back at Su-su & Gramby's on Sunday, we were out in the front yard trying to take a family picture. The kids look psyched.

Everyone slowly trickles in.

Great shot of Brec, Jo, and all the kids.

Heading to the moon.

The space shuttle is overloaded!

Meghan enjoys her birthday cupcake with Su-su.

In the car on the way home, Meghan is wearing her "Nukky pocket book" as a hat.

Y-Guides

Brec and Clara have joined a Y-Guides tribe this year with several of the girls in Clara's grade at school. Here they are at their very first meeting working on a craft.

The second weekend of October our family was spread out. While Jack, Meghan, & I traveled to Richmond and then points north, Clara and Brec stayed in Raleigh. Clara had some extra special Daddy time with Friday night dinner at Chuck's.

Their reason for staying behind was a Y-Guides outing on Sunday to Camp Kanata. Saturday morning they finished work on their Y-Guides vests for the occasion.

First time in a canoe!

The tribe gathered around the big tree.

Two!

After celebrating Meghan's birthday on Thursday, she went to the doctor Monday for her two-year-old check-up. She is 36 3/4 inches tall and 28 lbs, 11 oz. She's my little string bean.

Jack at his two-year-old check-up was 37 inches tall and 29 lbs,  12 oz, only a 1/4 inch taller but a whole pound heavier. Must be the reason he looks so buff in this picture.

And then there's Clara, 35 1/4 inches tall and 30 lbs, 2 oz. The heaviest, the shortest, and the scruffiest hair. :)

Beginning of October (1 -16)

These are some of the everyday goings on for us from the beginning of October.

Nothing in the kitchen for dinner, so Zoe's it is. Meghan enjoys one of their chocolate chip cookies.

Oops, this isn't looking so good on my part, another dinner out... Beaseley's!

One morning I caught Meghan playing with Baby Margaret.

The beginning of October we were inundated with hawk sightings. This particular bird we saw walking one afternoon on the way to pick up Clara. After I snapped this picture it proceeded to fly down into some pine straw about 20 feet past us and sort of pick through it as if looking for something that perhaps got away.

This hawk Jack spotted and yelled for me to get a picture on our walk home from school pick-up a different day. What a catch on his part.

Then low and behold a few mornings later when we were walking out of the door to take Jack to school, we came upon this guy in our front yard! It also was digging around on the ground. The feathers around one of its legs were all ruffled, and I worried that maybe it was injured, and that's why it was acting so strangely. I even took a video, but in classic fashion seconds after I stopped recording, it flew away to a tree across the street. Jack hustled to the car, but I was a little concern that Meghan was going to charge it.

Apparently October is fire prevention month, so fire fighters came to Jack's preschool to talk to the kids, and he came home with this hat. Meghan tried it on for size.

Just two days before Meghan's second birthday, we went to Pullen park for Jack's friend Orson's birthday party. Though I managed to somehow leave out the birthday boy, here's a picture of my kids and Orson's sister, Rosalind, enjoying the cake.

Last but not least in this mish mash of early October happenings, Jack's preschool class invited their dads to school for Dads & Donuts. Jack was excited to show Brec around his classroom and of course to have a donut early in the school day. And look who's even dancing with his class! He's come so far.

A few shoots on the deck on Meghan's last day as a one-year-old.

What a stinker. He takes after his Uncle Jack with silly faces theses days but must be his Auntique with that tongue!

Rest of September (Sept. 16 - 30)

Now that we've survived Meghan's birthday and Halloween, it's time to catch up with the rest of our Fall happenings. After a relaxing weekend much of which was spent outdoors, Monday we headed to the vet to take Sydney for her annual check-up. It was especially important because on Wednesday Sydney was going to have surgery to repair a partially torn ACL on her back right leg. Meghan was very upset when I told her she couldn't have any chewing gum.

Following the appointment she was much happier at the park.

We dropped Sydney off at the vet's Tuesday afternoon, and they performed her surgery Wednesday morning. She spent one night there under observation and was cleared to return home to us Thursday. Poor thing. She hated her E-collar but was a trooper. Here she is recovering post-op on her new dog bed.

You can actually see the incisions around Syd's knee and how swollen it is. I'm so glad to be writing about this when Sydney seems to be well on the path to recovery now. It was so sad to see her limping around so much.

To complicate matters Brec actually went out of town Wednesday morning and returned late Friday night. Jack & Meghan jumped at the chance to go with Daddy to get bagels bright and early Saturday morning.

Sydney relaxed outside on the deck, soaking up some sun.

Jack is in the background mixing up some concoction. You can see Sydney's ramp in the foreground.

And pants are off thanks to the water play.

Sunday Jack was ready for the Pats game.

The last weekend in September we played indoors with some Play-doh and outdoors at the park. I have no idea what the kids were talking about, but they kept repeating it, so we figured, why not record it? "Let's go to the Fall Festival and get some clothes"

Jack in perpetual motion.

Jack's killer Euro moves & Meghan spins too.

Happy Halloween!

Our household is still solidly running on sugar obtained last Thursday. The kids sure had a fun time acquiring it though.

Per tradition much to Clara's chagrin ("everyone else's pumpkins are already carved"), we carved our pumpkins Halloween afternoon. For the first time ever, we actually carved two of the little ones the kids had picked out. Jack loved his white pumpkin and enjoyed scooping out the guts.

Meghan and Clara show off their "yucky hands".

Finished product! Clara's (2nd one down) actually had two teeth, one of which was loose and ended up being pulled, a fitting pumpkin for Clara at this stage in her life. Meghan didn't seem to notice that hers remained untouched which worked fine for me as her is a pie pumpkin, so now we can cook it up for pie!

Once the pumpkins were carved and dinner was eaten, it was time to get into costume. Clara went as Dorothy this year, and Jack stuck with his tried and true Jack 'O Lantern disguise. Megatron, however, had a time of it. We had an Elmo costume and a bumblebee outfit, both of which sent her into hysterics when they were brought near her. Thanks to the big win Wednesday night by the Boston Red Sox! I was inspired and fixed her up as a Red Sox player. Luckily she thought she was wearing regular clothes and so went along with it.

The look on Jack's face here cracks me up.

After the obligatory front step pictures, we were off to see the Wizard! Er... to trick or treat. We paused halfway through our route for an action shot.

And finally we made it home. The kids had a blast. Clara was joined by Jack this year racing up the walkways to ring the doorbells. They were tired but very ready to dig into their pumpkins. They humored me for one last shot.

Enjoying their spoils of trick-or-treating. I'm just there to assist in the candy opening.

Found this video as I was off-loading the Halloween pictures from the camera. Look what Mommy missed while out clothing shopping on Saturday morning - fun on the furniture with Daddy.

Sunday afternoon football-watching huddle with Daddy. Thanks to "Fall back" we have an extra hour to be lazy.