Thanksgiving and a Visit from Aunt Amanda

We're so happy that my sister, Aunt Amanda, came to visit for Thanksgiving. On the morning of, we thought we might get a good shot of the family to send out in Christmas cards so we did an impromptu photo shoot. The following photo just about sums up how it went...

Here's what I'm most thankful for right here.

Amanda and Van

Here's the feast. There were so few of us and so much food that we literally didn't eat even a fourth of any dish.

Early the next morning we all went to the most precious little Christmas parade at Barrak's Shopping Center. It was darling and really got me in the Christmas spirit.

Van was more than impressed with the giant Elmo that he saw.

...Athen freestylin on the curb...

And here they are, straight from the North Pole

While Amanda was still here we decorated for Christmas. We would have waited longer but Athen was in physical pain due to anticipation. We could deny him no longer.

Then, before she left, we made a few of the obligatory C'vill stops.

Michie Tavern

Blue Moon Cafe

(these are Athen's pancakes)

And Moticello

All in all it was a great holiday!

Happy Birthday Van!

Sweet Van was a much anticipated member of our family.

Here is our "Vanimal" the day he was born.

And here he is again on the morning of his second birthday.

Some of our little friends came over to help us celebrate.

Van loves doughnuts, so we had doughnuts instead of cake. Here he is with a mouthfull, hamming it up.

You can tell they are so into getting this picture taken.

Vannie's main gift was this easel. He gets lost in his drawings for 20 to 40 minutes at a time.

Van energizes our family. He's Mr. Funny and always up for a good time. He takes to things quickly and has an amazing sense of self and the effect he has on people around him. We are so grateful for the past 2 years we've had to get to know him, love him, and help him grow.

All Hallow's Eve

Halloween finally arrived. In the afternoon we went trick or treating on "The Lawn". The area in front of the Rotunda at UVA. It was crowded to the point of not being that fun. But seeing all the kids costumes was a treat and the weather was perfect.

We actually had more fun on the walk back to the car

Elise lives next door and Gabrielle lives across the street. These 3 are together A LOT. And they're getting a little silly.

Finally time to trick or treat. Mom is bringing up the rear.

I don't remember this from when I was little, but our neighborhood had about 4 "Boo Houses" for the little kids to go to. After trick or treating Nile drove Athen and Elise to go see them. What a fun way to end the night.

What has 2 thumbs and just passed his LICENSING BOARD EXAM?

This guy right here!!!!!!!!

THE RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY

The morning after our "Obama sighting" we got everything ready so that Nile and I could lend our support to John Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity (accompanied by Colbert's Rally to Restore Fear). The Rally was pretty much a cry for the media and the political parties to give us Americans a break from their extreme tactics. Basically it was a rally to poke fun at fear tactics and lies while embracing working together and rational thought. We knew it was another long shot, but we believed in what they were saying and wanted to give it a go.

Here we are at the Vienna metro station. We caught major rally traffic on the way into DC and then had to wait in the metro station 1 1/2 hours before getting on the metro. By this point the rally had already started, but we didn't care. There were thousands of people there with us with costumes and signs just hanging out and having a good time. We all knew that we'd only catch a glimpse of the rally, but happy to lend our support all the same.

Shoulder to shoulder...and a little sweaty...and a little stinky...

People had GREAT signs. Some were silly, some were poignant. Many were both.

Haha. Get it?

Lots of people came in costume. Evidently Colbert asked people to come to his (mock) Rally to Restore Fear dressed in scary costumes.

We did make it! This is as close as we could get to any monitor or speaker. When we got to this point we both looked at each other and smiled as we recognized Colbert's faint voice coming from the closest speaker we could get to. If we got on our tip-toes we could peak at the closest monitor and barely see John and Colbert doing their stuff. If you're interested in what John Stewart told the crowd in his few moments of sincerity (after all he his a comedian), here's the clip: http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=363864&title=jon-stewart-moment-of-sincerity We mainly walked around for a few minutes enjoying the atmosphere and signs and costumes before it was time to jump back on the metro. We had to leave before the rally ended so that we could get back to the kids at a decent time.

Name that flick. "I'm glad we were here together in our nation's capital."

This sign touched us the most. We are devastated at the recent push to equate your average Muslim American with the extremist terrorists that caused 9/11. This is uneducated, unfair and will end up hurting innocent people if they don't cut it out.

Another sign we liked was "Think outside the FOX". But the best one of all had 3 gears turning each other. Each gear had a word on it. "listen, THINK, decide"

We had time to get an eggroll from a hotdog stand and then jump back on the metro.

Steve and Stacie were kind enough to watch the kids. When we got back we all went to the Trunk or Treat at their church.

Thanks S&S! We owe you some babysitting!

Cute stuff

Again, Van boycots the costumes...but not the candy

OBAMA SIGHTING

So, President Obama came to Charlottesville on October 29th. Nile was at work so I decided to brave the crowds and pack up the boys to make sure Athen got a glimpse of this historic president. He wasn't speaking until 7:30, so I picked up Athen from school at 3 and took the boys straight to the downtown mall to park and wait in line. HA! When we got there the line already went from the Pavillion out the other end of the down town mall. Later that evening, Nile and I decided that it would be fun to see him drive by, so we looked for a place we could get a glimpse.

Our first try was by the whale tails out side our neighborhood.

Everyone had a good time running around, but in the end they had to evacuate this area.

That didn't stop us. We ended up outside of Kroger on 29. First they closed off the highway, then Air Force I flew in really low right over our heads. Several minutes later the President and his entourage came zooming by. We made sure to look for the SUV with the flags. I didn't expect the lights to be on, but they were, and Athen and I got a small glimpse of the President. It was a fun chase. After we got home, we went to the neighbor's house to watch Obama speak. I was surprised that Athen half listened, and had some really good questions.

MUSE

The day of the Muse concert finally came and we headed over to JPA to see the show (thanks for babysitting Wendy). We met our friends, Heather and Selwyn there. They really showed us how it's done. They got there 3 hours early so they could be right up in front and saved a little space for us too! We really owe those guys. The show was SPECTACULAR! I wish I could post a million photos, but I only have room for five...

You just had to be there.