Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving!

We have so very many things to be thankful for this year (SO SO many!) not the least of which is the unexpected blessing of still being in Winston with friends we love! Since many of these sweet friends would be spending the holiday here sans extended family we were lucky enough to get to have a big old party for Thanksgiving dinner.

The Whites, Baileys, Evans, and McKays all joined us meaning our feast was made for 10 adults and 7 kiddos (well, Juliette didn't technically partake, but she did get passed around, admired, snuggled, and fed some bottles). Steve and I broke out our wedding china and silverware and whipped up some ribs (our family tradition--we aren't turkey people) and homemade applesauce (plus an apple pie from Costco). Our guests brought turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, a strawberry-pretzel and a green salad, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and homemade rolls! It was a mouth-watering spread, and most (if not all?) of us went back for seconds.

I totally stole this picture from Hannah's blog. Hi Hannah! ...and um, sorry... :)

I did a terrible job taking pictures, but I did get a few of everybody lounging as we finished getting the meal prepared. (We actually ate only 30 minutes after the 1 o'clock start time, which I found super impressive!)

A national dog show came on after the Macy's parade ended, and everyone just kind of casually hung around watching it for a while--until Steve and Mike decided to convince Lance that this was THE thing to do on Thanksgiving. They kept saying things like, "Lance have you really never watched this before? What do you usually watch on Thanksgiving?!" (to which Lance replied, "Um... football?" very confusedly... like, what had he gotten himself into, right?). Mike then launched into a commentary about which bulldogs he preferred (French over English, obviously) and asked Lance's opinion. Lance said something about growing up with a pitbull and Steve and Mike debated whether pitbulls were a pure enough breed to be considered in the nationals. And the pièce de résistance: Mike actually pulled out his iPhone after Thanksgiving dinner--not to check football scores, but to check who had won the dog show. After which he and Steve announced to everyone that the "Pom" had triumphed. (They're dog show pros, so they clearly wouldn't bother saying the whole word "Pomeranian.")

Juliette peaking over Lance's shoulder during her (and his) first annual Thanksgiving Dog Show viewing. :)

Dinner was yummy and entertaining. We enjoyed eating and complimenting each other's food, discussing all of our feelings about preparing a turkey (Steve and I will never do it again), and learning that Mike's sleep-breathing sounds to his wife like a child crying.

After dinner the kids ran off to play, the ladies retired to the living room to talk about pregnancy (3 of the 5 of us were pregnant, and I had clearly just finished that up myself) while the guys did the dishes (wonderful men!) and then headed to the family room to talk about medicine (we ended up with all doctors and med students this year) and watch football (the dog show was over, so I guess it was their only option).

After we'd all digested and talked for a few hours we gathered in the kitchen to attack the pies (chocolate, pumpkin, apple, and apple-berry) dolloping ice cream on our plates and spraying whipped cream on in the traditional fluffy white spirals.

We ended the evening with a Skype call to Steve's family (in California and Utah)--which helped stave off that niggling homesickness a bit--followed by a relaxing sipping of some leftover sparkling cider in plastic champagne flutes after the kids were in bed. :)

{Atlanta} What up, 212!

Another Office quote, sorry. But so appropriate, because that is where we spent all our Atlanta evenings.

The last night there was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We were still super full from Flip Burger, so got whatever random food we wanted at the grocery store and borrowed some plates from downstairs, then all hung out and ate dinner and watched the Olympics (or, as Charlie says, "Ah-pics!!!"). The kids were so cute and happy, and Gracie especially enjoyed watching the beach volleyball (Misty and Kerry are our faves).

So we dined with Bob Costas. The kids and I had rolls and slices of cheese and grapes, and Steve had some microwaved eggrolls, and we sipped on chocolate milk and were just very relaxed and happy.

The next morning it was time to head home, but we had a little surprise for the kiddos on the way--we stopped to visit the Smiths in South Carolina about halfway through the trip. Aren't these girlies happy? Maybe it is because they were sneakily painting their own fingernails and jumping on the bed... :)

Even though I kind of look pregnant, I love this picture of Melissa and me, partly because I love her, and partly for the chaos of our children in the background. Can you see Aleeya curled up in the chair, Royce and Charlie escaping out the front door, and Iris trying to break into our car?

The kids were so worn out when we left that Charlie fell asleep with his hand still in his snack cup.

Then we passed this giant peach which Steve said looked like a b-u-t-t.

Which it kind of does.

And then to pacify Charlie when he woke up we gave him strawberries in his snack cup. Desperate times call for desperate measures, my friends.

Geekin' Out

Before the Pearsons moved, we spent at least one night every weekend playing games at their house, their kids in bed and ours sleeping upstairs. When they left, we all mourned the loss of those casual game nights, hanging out, chatting, and eating dessert.

But we're super geeky.

So we figured out how to play--face to face--2,000 miles apart.

We could have played online, but we decided real boards would be more fun. So we set up identical boards and faced our laptop webcams at them.

And set up our Kinect cameras facing each other...

And had a blast.

...the only problem was that we couldn't pass desserts through the TV.

The Everybody Birthday Party

As part of our May parting festivities, we had an Everybody Birthday Party--a little shindig for Gracie and all her best girlfriends, because they all have summer birthdays, and two of the group were preparing for big moves!

We decided to do a low-key swimming party, so all the mamas (and some of the daddies) sat back and watched while the girls and their little sibs scampered around Robyn's backyard splashing around and wearing themselves out.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect party! The weather was cool enough to be comfortable, but still warm enough for lots of pool time. When they got a little chilly everyone dried off and plopped down on Emily's blanket to open gifts (everyone got gifts!) and eat cupcakes (everyone blew out a candle!). They all had such fun, and since everyone was treated so specially, they ALL had a good time. I don't think we had one tear shed. They were just so happy. Best party, best friends, best birthday party ever.

And in case you wanted it in living color, here's the footage!

Goodbyes, and the Walton-Pearson Week of Fun

Today was the day we've been dreading since Match Day back in March: our best friends, the Pearsons, packed their final box and drove off in a moving truck bound for Arizona.

We'd planned a trip with my parents during the Pearsons' last full week here, so the week before we left we planned the Walton-Pearson (or Pearson-Walton) Party Week/Week of Fun, to fully enjoy our last full week together. As you may have guessed from the title, it was INCREDIBLY fun. :)

We kicked it off with a double-date night of Thai food (to celebrate David's last day of classes!) and hanging out in Downtown people-watching (we saw some bikers but not much else) and eating overlarge but mildly disappointing cookies.

And being really mature by programming David's iPhone to call him Bootylicious and laughing at this poor guy's sign:

But we decided that wasn't interesting enough, so at the last minute we road tripped 30 min to Greensboro and had a faaaaabulous dessert of chocolate fondue at the Melting Pot. (You can't tell, but Suzi's intense smile at the pot is because all that chocolate is on FIRE--on purpose! So fancy, right?)

The next night was Gracie and Abby's dance recital (which I will cover in more detail later), which was almost too adorable to bear (but we managed). Afterwards we brought the kids to the Pearsons' and took pictures of them being cute and silly...

...before putting them to bed so we could hang out and play Settlers while discussing things like ridiculous YouTube videos and 90's songs and all the things David shouldn't have done but did anyway in high school. And, as you can tell by these pictures, we took our strategies pretty seriously.

(But really, we actually did.)

I think this is the thing I will miss the most... The kids running around like wild things in their jammies begging for extra playtime, then putting my kiddos to sleep upstairs (Grace in a sleeping bag, Charlie in the pack-n-play) and playing games, watching TV, and hanging out for hours. It was our weekend night tradition, and one of my favorite things ever. If you want to make me cry (which is really mean, by the way, and not the best way to ensure that I'll send you good mail or make you a treat or something) go ahead and mention how we won't be able to head over for BBQing and games at the Pearsons' house on Friday nights anymore. So sad.

Sunday after church we got together once more to eat dinner (we do this tricky thing where we eat while the kids are playing so we don't have to fetch glasses of water or napkins or extra forks during our meal--we call it Peaceful Dinner and feel very sly when we can accomplish it), play games, and watch the latest episode of the new Sherlock Holmes on Masterpiece (which we loved).

As the week progressed we continued to party, watching The Fountain (David and Suzi had seen it twice and wanted us to try to figure it out) which blew our minds and made us laugh at the same time, playing more games, and watching Hot Rod at our place on an evening when their no-longer-for-sale house was being shown.

By the time Thursday rolled around it was time for our family-photo-swap at Old Salem, where we got a TON of cute pictures as well as these gems:

We also had an impromptu lunch date at Panera Bread, where one of the boys who shall remain nameless fell of a metal chair on which he'd decided to stand and banged his face (but bounced back incredibly well). Kids are so resilient.

Friday rolled around and it was time for a SUPER Pearson day, so Suz and I headed out for a shopping date at my favorite thrift store, where we each scored some super cute non-blue jeans and had fun trying on way too many things. Plus (shhh!) I found a set of Ariel princess dress-up shoes (still in their package!)  for Miss Grace. David very kindly babysat so we didn't have to haul the kids through the store (not their fave).

And that night was our grand finale double-date. It was serious stuff. I even curled my hair (which Suzi actually taught me to do that week as well--I know. I am like twelve.) We went to Outback (because that brown bread is delicious, and because we had a great double date there around Valentine's day, and because boys love steak) and tried so hard not to stuff ourselves (and only some of us were able to resist) because guess where we were going (again) after dinner?

The Melting Pot! I know. But it was so good, we had to go one more time! (Oreo marshmallow!)

Conversation topics included how David should be offended to be offered a Mr. Pibb in place of Dr. Pepper, because he was basically an official doctor by then and should never consume anything with a "Mr." in the title again, and that (thankfully) the marshmallows didn't taste like pepper that week (we suspect foul play in the kitchen the week before, though the waiter assured us that Suzi's "tastebuds were playing tricks on [her]"), and the awkward scene in Armageddon where what's his face is walking an animal cracker around Liv Tyler's bosom and navel--WHY is that scene in there???

On the drive home, I Don't Want to Miss a Thing--the THEME SONG FROM ARMAGEDDON!!!--came on, and we took it as a sign and turned it up and sang loudly and raucously (except for David, who I think might have been pretending this wasn't happening) for the duration of the song. Epic.

On Saturday, of course, we went to Firehouse Subs for lunch, because the kids eat free there on Saturdays, and we all love their magical Coke machine that lets you choose all these different flavors of soda (I always get a Vanilla Coke Zero). Only one of the kids pitched a fit, so it was a pretty good trip. ;)

We had a super fun Mother's Day dinner with the Pearsons, Evans, and Baileys (as previously mentioned) and then played more Settlers and watched another Sherlock.

Monday Steve took STEP 2! Crazy! So glad it is done. He was worn out afterward, so the Pearsons came to us, and the boys played video games so Steve's brain could relax while Suzi and I went to Target and patrolled the clearance racks. While we were there an INSANE thunderstorm took over the city--the lights even went out in Target and for a minute we were standing in pitch black and didn't know where the other was. On our way home we saw flooding on the freeway off-ramps, and several cars halfway covered in water. We were so happy to make it home safely to our boys (and sleeping kids) to play games and eat dessert (was it brownies or Oreo ice cream bars that night? I'm not sure.) It was a fine way to end our week of fun.

The next day David drove us to the airport, and when we came home both he and Suz were there to pick us up. As you can imagine, it was a party on the drive home. And then last night they came over for one final Winston-Salem hang out.

Though we managed not to cry during our actual goodbye (which, I am ecstatic to say, included a spontaneous group hug--true friendship!) there have been many many many tears shed, and Steve and I each indulged in some comfort food (Dole juice and Ben and Jerry's Phish Food, respectively) after they left last night. We feel so lucky to have been guided to this place where our paths could cross. That sounds cheesy, and it is not enough, really. How could we ask for more than a whole family of best friends? We love this family. :)

Just Dance

When I was a kid I remember my parents going out on dates every Saturday night, usually for fish tacos at Rubios or maybe furniture shopping. It never seemed all that mysterious to me. They liked to be together, we liked to have TV dinners in the living room while watching TV--all thrilling when you are 8 & 11. (We watched Dr. Quinn, because I was older and thus more influential.)

What I'm getting at, is, as far as I can remember, my parents didn't do things like this:

(Oh its just rootbeer, guys. Calm down.)

Welcome to adulthood, ladies and gentlemen. We invited our friends over to play a sweet dance video game (Dance Central for xBox Kinect if you are dying of curiosity) and made them dress up. We even had extra stuff ready for those who tried to wriggle out of dressing up, like David, seen above in a skull cap.

And then we had a dance tournament (complete with bracket), competing for a pair of amazing sparkle star shades.

Yes, we all had sweet dancer names.

I wish we had a photo of Steve in his full "Bronx Suit" but the jacket was just too hot to handle for dancing.

I know Steve and I are in the foreground, but please look beyond to Suzi's awesome face. She was definitely legit. Love it, Suz.

Really. I mean look at this amazing move...

The ultimate winner, Melissa, sporting her prize and her date Brooks... who did well at the sports portion of the evening, but lost the losers bracket when we switched to dancing. Sorry Brooks. (At least he's a doctor, though, right? That's got to count for something...)

(And for the record, Melissa came in a super fly hot pink dress but had to swap it for some shorts and a t-shirt because it was inhibiting her dance moves.)

Way to get your groove on, friends. Our kids will be nice and embarrassed when they're old enough to realize what we get up to on the weekends.

Thanks to Suzi and David who played paparazzi (and then I stole their pictures for my blog).


Also, I have now remembered that my dad once dressed up as an old woman for Halloween. So I guess they did some stuff like this after all. Haha.