We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope everyone else did, too. We had Alex visiting, he had planned to go to New York with friends, but realized that he had so much homework and studying to do, so he decided to come here instead. We were so excited to have him! He is always pleasant and helpful to have around. He fits into our family like he lived here all his life and we are always happy to see him. The poor guy has been sick almost the whole time he has been at school, and looked terrible when he got here. Courtney immediately gave him a sisterly lecture on getting rest and taking care of himself-and he did. By the time he left he was all better and all of his homework done, with just a little more to do in the library this morning. He is still settling into a routine and balancing his studies, and we all just need to trust that he is good kid, extremely smart, and will do the right thing. He is in no way perfect, and we all need to step back and remember what we were like at that age. He has our unconditional love and support, and I hope I speak for everyone reading this.
We also had Casey and her boyfriend Nick for Thanksgiving. Casey has been dating Nick since the summer and dated him in high school, also. She was a bit nervous about bringing him here, and he was nervous, too-who wouldn't be nervous? But it was all good. Nick was perfectly polite and pleasant and we had a great time. I made him a cheesecake-his favorite, and I think that may be one of the reasons they committed to coming for Christmas! It was great to see them and we had a great time.
After dinner and Casey and Nick had left, we all went over to Steve and Caren's house for Pictionary. We played guys against the girls- it was fun. Caren's son Josh and his girlfriend showed up and they played for a while, then they left just as our friends Jodie and Alex showed up! Jodie and Alex were here having dinner with her sister, who lives here near us. So we got to see everyone! We had a glass of wine and chatted for a bit. It was such a nice ending to a great day.
I am putting up some pictures of Carli raking leaves today. The weather was nice today, but should be getting much colder this week, so she was outside enjoying the warm sun!
Make sure you watch for Courtney next Saturday morning on the Today Show-her class is going to New York for the weekend and will be outside the Today show trying to get a little face time. Her teacher says they always get on! We will be setting our DVR and hopefully will catch them!
Courtney finished out the cross country year by lettering in varsity cross country, not easy to do as a freshman and we are very proud of her. Her report card was excellent, too. She has already started indoor track and has practice everyday after school. It seems like we hardly ever see her anymore!
Have a great week....
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
So many things happened this week!
Well, we had a very busy week! On Thursday night Mark, Steve, Caren and I went out to dinner for Caren's birthday at a restaurant called Lemaire's. It is in a hotel called "The Jefferson", it is a Richmond landmark. It is very old and beautiful. The restaurant was outstanding. We were joined by another couple,friends of Caren and Steve's, and we had a great time. After dinner, Steve arranged a limousine to pick us up and take us to The Tran Siberian Orchestra. It is mostly Christmas music, but not all. It was 3 hours long! A bit long, really an hour or so would have been plenty...but it was much, much longer....anyway, we were all very tired after that and, showing our age, went right home and went to bed!
I worked on Friday, then Saturday, Mark and I split up to spend time with each of the girls. Mark took Courtney to her last cross country invitational, which was in Hanover. She did really well, she finished first in sub-varsity for Cosby High School. She really wanted to run varsity, but she has 3 more years to do that. She is very determined and works hard at cross country. Courtney never does anything half-way, she always tries her best. I love that about her, although sometimes I wonder if she doesn't put too much pressure on herself. Anyway, she did great and we were all very proud of her.
While they were off doing that,Carli, Ruby and I went to an apple festival in Charlottesville, Va. Caren and Steve picked us up in the morning and we all went together, and we met up with our friends Jodie, Alex and Allison up there. It was so so neat to meet up with them and do something together-the six of us and our kids have become like family and don't go long without getting together. We had a great day, it is a small family-run festival and they have a few local farmers selling their wares, there's a bluegrass band, and a hay ride, a few food vendors-that's about it, but it's very quaint. We went last year, too and Ruby is always quite popular there!
We had lunch on the lawn while Carli jammed to the bluegrass band, Allison and I got freshly made doughnuts for dessert (yum!), and then Caren, Jodie and I checked out the antiques and purchased some fresh chevre', fresh organic meats and chestnuts and of course apples! What a great day! Tonight Caren and I prepared a dinner featuring all of our purchases-we had homemade butternut squash soup, roasted brussels sprouts and apples, fresh organic pork marinated in rosemary, olive oil and garlic, homemade applesauce, and fresh apple pie. It was all soooo good.... so all in all, it was a good week. Today I let Courtney pluck my eyebrows. Random, I know, but she is really good at it and I have been admiring hers for awhile, so I figured I would let her try. I warned her about overplucking, and she did fine, although it did hurt-bad. Other than that, it was just your ordinary laundry, grocery shopping day, followed by a delicious dinner. Have a great week everyone!
I worked on Friday, then Saturday, Mark and I split up to spend time with each of the girls. Mark took Courtney to her last cross country invitational, which was in Hanover. She did really well, she finished first in sub-varsity for Cosby High School. She really wanted to run varsity, but she has 3 more years to do that. She is very determined and works hard at cross country. Courtney never does anything half-way, she always tries her best. I love that about her, although sometimes I wonder if she doesn't put too much pressure on herself. Anyway, she did great and we were all very proud of her.
While they were off doing that,Carli, Ruby and I went to an apple festival in Charlottesville, Va. Caren and Steve picked us up in the morning and we all went together, and we met up with our friends Jodie, Alex and Allison up there. It was so so neat to meet up with them and do something together-the six of us and our kids have become like family and don't go long without getting together. We had a great day, it is a small family-run festival and they have a few local farmers selling their wares, there's a bluegrass band, and a hay ride, a few food vendors-that's about it, but it's very quaint. We went last year, too and Ruby is always quite popular there!
We had lunch on the lawn while Carli jammed to the bluegrass band, Allison and I got freshly made doughnuts for dessert (yum!), and then Caren, Jodie and I checked out the antiques and purchased some fresh chevre', fresh organic meats and chestnuts and of course apples! What a great day! Tonight Caren and I prepared a dinner featuring all of our purchases-we had homemade butternut squash soup, roasted brussels sprouts and apples, fresh organic pork marinated in rosemary, olive oil and garlic, homemade applesauce, and fresh apple pie. It was all soooo good.... so all in all, it was a good week. Today I let Courtney pluck my eyebrows. Random, I know, but she is really good at it and I have been admiring hers for awhile, so I figured I would let her try. I warned her about overplucking, and she did fine, although it did hurt-bad. Other than that, it was just your ordinary laundry, grocery shopping day, followed by a delicious dinner. Have a great week everyone!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
So with Carli feeling better, Courtney and I left Carli in Mark's capable hands and met Brandi at Alex's Washington and Lee's Parent's Weekend. It was so fun! Alex is an awesome cousin-he kept such close tabs on Courtney he almost scared some of his friends! We had a great time-pics are on Facebook, because I did not take my camera! Bummer!
On a sadder note, this week my grandmother passed away. Grandma Whaley lived on a beautiful ranch at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains in Shell, Wyoming. It is breathtaking out on the ranch, but to grandma, it was isolating. She failed to see the beauty of it, looking for something else instead. She left her children several times, looking for that "something else". Sadly, the "children" are now left trying to function as a family, when they really were never taught how to function as a family. They fight so bad it is unbearable to listen to. As soon as grandma died my sister and I got on the phone and discussed our own mother's funeral wishes, as grandma's were destroyed right from the moment she died, due to lack of communication on the children's' part. I am sure when they read this they will all be mad at me for airing our dirty laundry, but honestly, why keep it a secret? That is not the way family should function. I hope the memorial they talk about is planned and I hope all of my aunts and uncles will attend and that everyone will at least pretend to like each other, just for the service. I hope that all my cousins will come, the ones I grew up with that I never see, and their husbands, wives and kids I have never met-wouldn't that be so great? I saw grandma two years ago and I am so glad we made that journey out west. Mark, Brandi and I pulled campers all the way across the country, and we went to visit grandma and our kids have a memory and a picture of that and I am so glad. Brandi and I spent a night alone at grandma's house "tucking her in" and although we laughed our butts off that night, I am so glad we did it. We have a memory of grandma that is special-of grandma laughing and making us laugh so hard-it will always be special to us. Rest in Peace Grandma and tell Grandpa we all said hello and we have missed him!!!
On a sadder note, this week my grandmother passed away. Grandma Whaley lived on a beautiful ranch at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains in Shell, Wyoming. It is breathtaking out on the ranch, but to grandma, it was isolating. She failed to see the beauty of it, looking for something else instead. She left her children several times, looking for that "something else". Sadly, the "children" are now left trying to function as a family, when they really were never taught how to function as a family. They fight so bad it is unbearable to listen to. As soon as grandma died my sister and I got on the phone and discussed our own mother's funeral wishes, as grandma's were destroyed right from the moment she died, due to lack of communication on the children's' part. I am sure when they read this they will all be mad at me for airing our dirty laundry, but honestly, why keep it a secret? That is not the way family should function. I hope the memorial they talk about is planned and I hope all of my aunts and uncles will attend and that everyone will at least pretend to like each other, just for the service. I hope that all my cousins will come, the ones I grew up with that I never see, and their husbands, wives and kids I have never met-wouldn't that be so great? I saw grandma two years ago and I am so glad we made that journey out west. Mark, Brandi and I pulled campers all the way across the country, and we went to visit grandma and our kids have a memory and a picture of that and I am so glad. Brandi and I spent a night alone at grandma's house "tucking her in" and although we laughed our butts off that night, I am so glad we did it. We have a memory of grandma that is special-of grandma laughing and making us laugh so hard-it will always be special to us. Rest in Peace Grandma and tell Grandpa we all said hello and we have missed him!!!
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