November has been another busy month. We started off with our friends’ son Jack’s 1st birthday party. We also celebrated the 14th annual Posse Thanksgiving at our house.

For Thanksgiving we drove down to Candy’s family in Georgia. The kids are still fantastic travelers, and in fact we ended up deciding to drive all the way back on Friday instead of stopping overnight in a hotel as we originally planned. We got back in time to put up the outdoor Christmas lights and to go to the Brambleton Christmas tree lighting.

2009 - November

November 1 | Jack Tez’s 1st Birthday Party

November 7-8 | Posse Thanksgiving XIV

November 22-27 | Thanksgiving Road Trip to Georgia

November 28 | Christmas Lights

October has been a busy month! Riley got his first haircut and we had lots to do every weekend.

We started out on October 4th with a trip to Breaux Vineyards for Allan’s surprise 40th birthday party, followed by a trip to Pumpkinville at the Leesburg Animal Park. The following weekend we went to Brambleton’s Fall Fest, where the kids were excited to take a ride on a firetruck provided by the Arcola-Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Department. On Sunday the 11th we went to our first Adoptions Together Fall Family Day, where we were happy to see several of the other couples we had met during the waiting parents’ meetings had also gotten their babies, as well as families of all types.

The highlight of our month was our trip to NY for Mom and Dad’s surprise 40th anniversary party. After many weeks of planning, especially by Jeannie and Kaitlin, we pulled off quite a bash. Nikki put together a moving video slideshow (see below) that had everyone laughing and crying. Mom and Dad were so surprised and were so happy to celebrate with so many of our friends and family members. It was a wonderful party!

We finished off the month with Hallowe’en. Candy worked very hard on the kids’ costumes - they were the Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna. We were surprised though to find that seemingly no one born that wasn’t born in the 70s seemed to know who they were!

October

30-31 October | Halloween

October 17-18 | Mom & Dad’s 40th Anniversary

Find more videos like this on The Murphy Family

Find more videos like this on The Murphy Family

Find more videos like this on The Murphy Family

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Nikki’s Photos from the Anniversary Party

I enjoyed my very first Father’s Day with a quiet weekend at home with Candy and the kids.  They surprised me with some wonderful gifts, most specially a picture frame with their handprints embedded.   They took me out for a delicious dinner at Blue Ridge Grill and we had a nice walk around the neighborhood.

The next weekend we went up to Delaware to celebrate Thomas’ first birthday.  The weather was great and it’s always fun to see the cousins all playing together.  That night we made it home in time to catch the tail end of the Brambleton Freedom Fest and our second annual fireworks display, which was just as impressive as last year’s.  They did get started late due to some technical difficulties, and Riley fell asleep during the fireworks display in spite of the noise.  Veronica was not a fan of the noise but did finally stop crying long enough to watch some of the pretty colors.  I ended up having to carry her home because she was too scared to go back in the stroller.

For the Fourth of July we had the whole clan down our way, and started the day with the ceremony at the National Archives and the reading of the Declaration of Independence.  After that, we watched the parade and hung out in Mom & Dad’s hotel before dinner at The Dubliner and the big fireworks show.  This time both Riley and Veronica stayed awake and there wasn’t a tear in sight!

2009 - June 20-21 | Father’s Day Weekend

2009 - June 27 | Thomas’ 1st Birthday

2009 - June 27 | Brambleton’s Freedom Fest

2009 - June 29 | Afternoon in the Playground

2009 - July 3-4 | Fourth of July Weekend Kaitlin’s Pictures Jeannie’s Pictures Nikki’s Pictures