Last Saturday Dan had to attend a review course for an exam he has to take in a few weeks. It was at UVA so we decided to tag along and make a trip out of it. We stayed with my parents Friday night and first thing Saturday morning we went and had our family pictures taken by Anna Quillon, a friend from church way back in the day. I think they turned out pretty cute. I put one up on facebook if you want to check it out. We're waiting to get a CD with all the pictures.
After that we dropped Dan at his class and spent a few hours with my parents. When Dan's class was finished, the kids and I picked him up and headed to Carter Mountain to go apple picking. Everyone else in Charlottesville did, too. It was crazy busy. But there were still tons of apples and it was a good time.
Afton snacking on some cheesy doritos.
Fun times, and delicious apple donuts, had by all.
After we signed the contract on the house, but before we could move in, we had a Saturday with nothing to do. If you saw the pictures of our apartment, you would know that spending a Saturday in there was not an option. So we decided to be adventurous and introduce the kids to Busch Gardens, one of our favorite places to go while Dan was in law school.
Sadly, those are the only two pictures I took from the first time we went. Since law school, they have added some fun rides. One is a tower that takes you up 240 feet and drops you quickly. Another is a cool ride where you're in a car that goes super fast. Hard to explain, but fun.
We've gone once more. They've got their Halloween decorations out all over the park and after 5 pm, they start to have scary rides and a haunted house as well as creepy characters walking around trying to scare you. We tried to get out before 5, but it ended up being 5:30 or so so we had to try and keep the kids distracted so they wouldn't notice guys with fake blood and stuff.
Anyway, here are pics from visit #2.
Sam's tall enough to ride some bigger rides. It's hard to see, but he's with Dan on the ride below.
We're going to try and squeeze one more visit in before the season ends.
When we left Houston, I mourned the fact that I wouldn't be there for the UVA vs U of H game. Fortunately, BYU was also playing UVA! I was super excited. I got a ticket with my parents and Dan offered to watch the kids.
Sidenote: Ten years ago, when I was a senior in high school (maybe a junior?), BYU came to Charlottesville to play UVA. Somehow Candice and I had really awesome seats. BYU was down at the half and everyone was making snarky comments to us during halftime. Somehow BYU came back to claim victory. It was amazing! I was kind of expecting the same thing to happen again. I was wrong.
Labor Day weekend, we drove down on Friday and I dropped Dan off at the fireside that the team put on at the local stake center. Saturday morning we met Katrina and two of her kids at a splash pad. It was great to see her and catch up!
If I were the matchmaking type, I'd have my kids paired with hers already.
We met my parents at Bodo's and then went home for a little bit, I think.
We got to the game early and milled around for a while. There were tons of BYU fans. It was great. Until...
These babies started rolling in.
I think the first quarter had just ended when they told everyone to clear the stands because a storm was coming. We all stood in the outdoor hallways under the bleachers and waited. AND WAITED! There was lots of rain and lightning. I think we ended up waiting for 2.5 hours. Finally the game resumed. During halftime, the lines were crazy long because they closed the concession stands on the top levels so everyone had to go to just a few. I think I stood in line for pizza for 30 minutes. During that time it poured some more, but no lightning. Everyone was soaked. Neither team was doing very well.
Mom and Dad were both wearing sunglasses because they didn't think the game would still be going at 8 o'clock. BYU lost. It was sad. And I was surprised that Mom and Dad could see to find our way back to the car. I just noticed the kid behind us in the pic looks like he's going to barf. Maybe next time, BYU.
Let's take a step back in time and remember Sam's first day of school.
Fortunately, we were under contract on the house before the school year started so that Sam wouldn't have to change schools. The delayed closing threw us for a loop, but it all worked out in the end. Before we moved into our house, I would drive Sam the 25 minutes or so from our apartment to school in the morning and then back again 6 hours later to pick him up. I'm glad those days are over!
Here he is outside our apartment building on his first day.
I love how he dresses.
Sam loves school. LOVES IT. He loves his teacher. In fact, the other day he said he loves her more than he loves me. Don't worry. I'm not offended. His teacher doesn't make him eat vegetables and do his chores. He's a great reader and he won the "Student of the Week" award in his French class. Yes, they're learning French. Don't ask me why. It's just once a week. He's made lots of friends and prays every day to have fun at school. So glad it's gone smoothly. Love that guy.
The past few weeks have been crazy. We signed a contract on a house, we prepared to close. At the last minute, two liens from 20 years ago popped up on the records and our title company wouldn't let us close (for good reason). Our title company which wouldn't let us close, also didn't help much by way of figuring out what to do with the liens. Fortunately, Dan did some sleuthing and we closed one week later than planned. (Sept 19)
I spent the next few days coming over to the new house and cleaning it after I'd drop Sam off at school just a mile away. We moved in that Saturday, but only with the stuff from our apartment. Once that was done, I had to go BACK to the apartment and clean it so that we could officially check out. After that, I focused on the house. Thankfully, my awesome parents offered to come over and help me clean and get stuff prepared. Mom has been dubbed the Queen of Clean and Dad is Mr. Fix-it. We moved in eight days ago. I'm still trying to get this place organized but for now, here are some pictures of the house before almost any changes.
I guess it was dusty out? My nice camera's lens broke so I'm using a less fancy camera for now.
Dining room to the right as you walk in. Gawdy chandelier.
This will be our study/living room.
Front door from entryway. Another gawdy chandelier.
Powder room.
Family room.
Kitchen.
Breakfast area.
Laundry and garage door.
Master.
Upstairs hallway.
Upstairs bedroom. The curtains have since been taken down. The ceiling fan in this pic is new and beautifully installed by Dad, who said the old fan was only being held in by two tiny screws.
Jack and Jill bath. Let's get a better look at those light fixtures.
And how about another?
This is our guest room and play room. Dad had just added that ceiling fan, as well. We love the new fans!!
For now the kids are sharing the above room. The light in there has also been replaced by a ceiling fan.
I actually looked at this house fairly early in our hunt, but had passed it by because it was outdated and dirty. Later, our realtor suggested that we give it another look and this time I looked passed those things and focused on things that mattered more - a good layout, good location, good schools, and easy cosmetic changes. We'll be doing some updating, that's for sure, but most of it will be small things.
So far we've replaced three ceiling fans and added two more. None of the fans matched before and now they all do. Dad spray painted a light fixture in one of the bathrooms, we had the trim painted, and Dad put in a new smoke detector. Lots more to come! And more pictures as we go, too.
Afton turned three a few weeks ago while we were in Washington. I took her out one morning for a quick photo shoot in the Dursts' front yard. It was only 8 in the morning, but the sun rises so early there... The sun was strong.
And pardon her chapped lips, too. She's not used to low humidity.
Ever since we got back from our trip she acts like a cat at least once a day. Today she woke up and said, "Meow" first thing. She also says, "The cat is hungry. The cat wants some bread. The baby cat wants to drink her milk on the mommy cat's lap." Oh, dear. I know her cousin Wendy went through a tiger phase. Has that stopped yet?
She's got a little Ariel pool toy that she plays with sometimes. The other day she said, "Mom, do you know why Ariel wears purple glasses?" (She was referring to Ariel's seashell bra.) I said, "Uh, no. Why?" Afton: "So she can see underwater."
She loves to play with Sam and misses him while he's at school. His first day, she asked if we could go back and get him after he'd only been gone about an hour.
She loves chicken nuggets and ketchup and would eat them for every meal if we let her. Despite that, she's also pretty willing to try most other foods. She still loves a cup of warm milk in the morning, one before her nap, and one at bedtime.
At her three year check-up, she was in the 75th percentile for height and weight. But she's really thinned out this past year, I think.
She is a total girly girl. She wears a skirt EVERY DAY. I've made her four skirts and she's got one more. I inevitably end up either doing laundry twice or pulling one out of the dirty clothes basket for her each week. She refuses to wear shorts or pants. I'm sure that will change once it gets colder. Or I'll have to make her some long fleece skirts.
She is a sweet snuggler. She loves nursery, babies, books, movies, dressing up and spinning around with Dan.
She still likes me to hold her a lot, but she weighs 38 pounds so thankfully it's not as much as before. She sleeps well at night but is starting to skip naps sometimes. (NOO!!) We love having her in our home.
We are so thankful for Afton.
And here's the interview I did with her in Washington. It's funny how kids' answers depend so much on where they are or what they've experienced recently. I mean, that girl's only had fruit by the foot like twice.
I realized in July that I forgot to do Sam's birthday interview. So I did it and here it is. It's kind of long. Watch to the end for a classic Sam move.
