First Comes Love...

Deciding last minute to take a trip to Croatia and Montenegro this summer was probably the most spontaneous thing we have done since becoming parents (and man, was it great!) A couple weeks before our anniversary we talked to Kevin's parents about babysitting for a week and were set on going to New Orleans.  We loved the idea of getting away to celebrate our anniversary, but airfare seemed expensive for what we were getting. This of course started a different conversation: why not spend that money on something bigger and better. After a talk with my parents about an additional week of babysitting, and without much more than a second of thought, we booked airfare to Dubrovnik! In all, we spent a little over two weeks traveling through Croatia and Montenegro - it was the first time in either country for both of us, so seeing it together added an additional layer of excitement. After arriving in Dubrovnik late the first night, we booked a room near the ferry terminal, then ...

Abigail and I took Mamie to The Georgian Room for her birthday this year! It's been somewhat of an ongoing tradition but Abigail was delighted to join this year (she did around a year old, but she obviously doesn't remember that). Kirk watched the boys while we headed into town.  George was sad that he wasn't able to join, so he and I decided that we would pack some decorations and donuts for he and Papa to plan and surprise Mamie with when we got back. He seemed good with that 😊 Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

Abigail is bringing home a lot more "work" and homework these days than actual art, so I've put a mix of both in here (I'm sure it's only with your eldest that you find classwork so adorable...)

This year we decided to stay in our neighborhood and throw a Halloween party of our own! As many of you may remember, Kirk and Amy have thrown fabulous Halloween parties each year since moving to Seattle, but with our kids getting a little older we thought it would be nice to let them celebrate here with their friends. So, we did what any uber creative couple would do: we stole Kirk and Amy's Halloween party idea and copied it to the T 😉 This year our little family went rouge with their costumes.  Initially George wanted us all to be Power Rangers (that would have been so fun!) but Abigail understandably wanted to do something different. So Abigail went as a Hatchimal, George was Bumblebee, Ben was Elmo, Kevin was a Hot Dog (like I said, we copied their party completely) , and I went as a Care Bear A week or two before Halloween the kids and I passed invitations out to the neighbors, and that evening we had a nice sized group of kids and adults ready to party...

As usual, both Abigail and George celebrated Halloween with school parties this year. Since George attends school M/W/F, his was on Monday so George gets to go first in this post! George decided to be Bumblebee for Halloween.  Bumblebee is actually a Transformer character, so I think he confused a lot of older people and parents of girls, but he was so proud of his costume this year. We celebrated at school with food, games, a chance for each kid to introduce their costume, and a couple of songs the kids surprised us with. The Pre 4 class is such a fun group.  Most of the kids were in Pre 3s last year (which was 16 kids) and now they have a wild group of 18!

My baby brother is married - can you believe it?!? I suppose you should because I'm 37 and he's only 4 years younger than me, but gosh, it was so fun watching my little Vico tie the knot. Victor and Catherine were married on September 9th in Leavenworth, and just as promised, it was a laid back affair.  My parents hosted the rehearsal dinner at the house and the next day Victor and Catherine were married at Red Tail Canyon Farm (a place whose owners were good friends with my Grandpa - that sweet Leavenworth connection) . George and Abigail were both in the wedding as Flower Girl and Ring Bearer and were so excited about their roles. Here are some pictures from the big day: Checkin' for booze