October was FULL!! Besides the normal fullness of regular daily life . . . I took on a new role at church as one of the leaders of welcome/hospitality, Rooke finished up his season of soccer and went on his first youth retreat, Ryan attended a Simeon Trust workshop and preached at our church, we celebrated special birthdays, and hosted special friends!
The kids and I took part in a field trip with our homeschool co-op. We went to the Baltimore Aquarium and enjoyed seeing parrots cuddling, sharks lurking, and a dolphin training demonstration
While Rooke was away on the youth retreat and Ryan was preparing his sermon, the girls and I spent part of our Saturday picking apples. It's always more about the experience than it is about the actual apples, though we did find a couple new apple varieties that are very tasty.
Ryan enjoying the lovely fall weather, writing his sermon
We are so grateful Rooke gets to take part in youth group activities! On the porch, he relayed to us that his first retreat included great teaching, silly games, little sleeping, middle school boy ridiculous antics, and a cool sweatshirt and hat (which I quickly commandeered as my own!).
Our deck celebration dinner! Vallerie wasn't able to join us, but we shared BBQ with Uncle Steve on an AMAZING deck he built with love and sweat and MANY hours.
Of all the kids, she is usually the one to sit down and just tinker on the piano. I love to hear her music.
A BIG and special birthday happened this month - Ryan turned 40!!
Handsome birthday boy
Ryan had guys over to celebrate his fortieth. I decorated (with photos from Ryan's forty years of life!), made snacks, and then took off. The guys hung out and ended up watching some of the Nats baseball game together. As adults, we don't get to relax with friends like this often enough, and I was grateful Ryan had this night with a great group of men.
Since it was his 40th, we decided two parties were in order! On Ryan's actual birthday, we invited several couples over for charcuterie and dessert with a couple games thrown in.
We are blessed with wonderful friends!
And to keep the party rolling . . . the Heavilands came to town in time for us to celebrate Jessie's 40th and James' 12th birthday!! Jessie wanted to ride bikes around the monuments, which was so much fun!
James wanted to play gaga ball on his birthday and, thankfully, there was a pit very close to our house that I didn't know about. So fun!
What 12-year-old doesn't want to ride in the back of a truck with his buddy on his birthday?!
The Heavilands stayed with us for a week as part of their nine-month tour around the U.S. What a gift to share life with them for those days, and to learn from their family who love so well.
Breakfast and Bible study with eight kids =)
Jessie took the biggest kids on a tour of the U.S. Capitol Building
No visit with Jessie is complete without the two of us sneaking away for a little girl time
Playing at the Arboretum
We spent a day at a corn maze, where the maze wasn't actually that great, but the activities on the farm were so much fun!
Tasting fried oreos - he was a fan!
The boys watched the first Indiana Jones movie while we took the girls ice skating
And our last adventure together was to play kickball at Gravelly Point Park . . .
. . . and a walk through The Mall to see some highlights at the museums. What a blast to share time together - thank you for making us a stop on your trip, Heavilands!
I love how this tree in our yard looks like it's on fire in the fall
My sweet Bridgette, running errands with me
At the end of the month, our church had our first ladies retreat. I was given the privilege of leading the women in music. It was a wonderful weekend.
While I was away on the retreat, Ryan treated the kids to a Daddy day of doughnuts and hiking
Wrapping up October with Halloween! We kept up our tradition of inviting families over for dinner before the trick-or-treating. At one point, towards the end of the night, I'm fairly certain there were at least twenty kids in my living room eating and trading candy!
Bridgette was the "milk" to partner with her friend, who dressed up as a box of doughnuts. Gretchen was the orange m&m with a group of friends (Gretchen chose orange so she wouldn't have to dye her hair to match her shirt - ha!). Rooke repeated his football costume because he couldn't think of anything else, and he's really just into Halloween for the candy =) This was the first year we let Rooke and a couple of his friends go trick-or-treating without parental supervision. His haul was definitely more than the girls' - ha!
The dads hung out on the porch while the moms sat in the yard and passed out candy.
