40

Yes, it's true.  The end of October brought about a big milestone for the O'Connell family.  Dave (and Chris) officially turned 40.  It was a fun year to celebrate big.

The weekend before we enjoyed an INCREDIBLY fun night out with Hannah, Ginnie, and Chris.  Dinner at Blue Duck Tavern - delicious dinner, and lots of laughter.  Such a great night.

On his actual birthday, we were blessed to be able to sneak away for a night in DC (thanks to Grandma Kathy).  Superstorm Sandy almost ruined these plans, so we savoured every moment of our evening and morning away.  No pictures, but we haven't felt that relaxed in a long time.

A few nights later, we enjoyed having a few friends in for a night of craft beer tasting - there couldn't be a better way for my beer loving husband to celebrate.

The tasting glasses were ready.

The the tasting area was full - friends helped supply a wonderful variety of beers.

Different cork squares separated various types of ales.

So many great ones to try...

Love this man.

The treat table, full of many of Dave's favorites.

It was fun seeing so many of our friends together (and it was so special that Walt and Holly were able to come up from Southern Maryland).

Yancey is classy.

So many fun friends...

in one place...

made for lots of fun.

Andy with the "I dont like it", toss bucket.

The old men.

Love that these girls made themselves comfy on our stairs ;).

There were tater tots, homemade soft pretzels (made by the Choi's), homemade guac, and other various munchies.  SUCH a fun night.

I can't tell you how blessed I feel that I get to be married to this man.  My absolute favorite person in this entire world, who loves me and our boys with such integrity and selflessness.  Thanks for letting us celebrate you, Love :).

seven

Our sweet Andrew turned seven!

 He came downstairs to this - a bike from Grandma and Grandpa!  

We had a family party after church on Sunday (his actual birthday).

Ginnie completely rocks - it's nice to have an engineer in the family.  Our broken faucet was fixed in like 2 minutes.

 No better way to spend his day than watching the Redskins. And Tia was in town!!

 OC boys.

 Getting cozy in his new beloved Redskins blanket.

 Trying out his bike before it started to rain.  Hurricane Sandy was making her approach, so we were anticipating being inside for several days.

His party at Bounce U scheduled for the following day had to be postponed.  All of DC was hunkered down, schools were closed.  We savoured every minute of power - feverishly vacuuming, doing laundry.  The rain came, the winds picked up, lights flickered, but to our amazement, we never lost power!!  

So life resumed to normal, we put Grandma Kathy on a plane back to Seattle (much to our dismay), and before we knew it, it was party time.

 Watching the instructional video as they arrived.

 They didn't stop moving.

 Except to check out this light board.

 Will loved it too.

 Fun friends.

 Getting ready to move into the cosmic jump area.

 Conquering the cargo nets.

 This was too ironic not to try.

 Sandy was apparently much stronger ;).

 Coming down the slide.

 Crazy, fun friends.

 Sitting on his throne.

 Buddy Joseph.

 Love the open mouth.

 cake time!

 R2D2 lives on - my mom used this cake pan for my brothers in the early 80's!

 Goofy buddies.

And afterwards we grabbed Pho.

Andrew, what a joy it was to celebrate you!  You have grown up so much this year - learning to read, swim, ride a bike, earn a yellow belt in tae-kwon do.  So many big milestones.  We are so proud of your growing courage!  We love your enthusiasm, your expressiveness, your sense of humor - you bring so much joy and life to our family.  And the day you were born will forever be one of the best days of my life.  You, my boy made me mom, and you are our perfectly precious gift.  We pray that you continue to grow in your knowledge and trust in the One who loves you beyond measure, who crafted you with great pleasure.  May your life bring great glory to him!

October?

Wow.  What happened to October?!?  We've been busy soaking up big milestones these past few weeks (not to mention preparing for, and dodging the damage of Hurricane Sandy) - Andrew turned seven, daddy turned 40, and Grandma Kathy came for all the fun.  I'll highlight the birthdays in a separate post, but here are a few of the other things we've been up to.

A Fall photo shoot at Norwood park.

 With these fun friends.

Grandma Kathy walked in the door from the airport just in time for the ycf pumpkin party - one of our favorite events of the year.

Dave carved an Angry Bird this year - Andrew's request.

All of the masterpieces.

On Saturday we ventured up to play with the Wierman's - dear friends of my parents who moved out here from Seattle and are building a beautiful new home.  The pulled out the old motorcylce that I rode a a child, and the boys all got to have a turn.

 Happy boy with his grandma.

 Dave was a much better driver than mommy ;).

Super fun.

 And halloween - we hit the streets with a monkey, jedi, and ghost. 

 Trick or treating with Grandma - it doesn't get much better.

Showing daddy his candy - I seriously can't handle how cute he was. 

I have to include these pictures.  We got to sneak away for a few Friday morning dates earlier in the month, thanks to our sweet friend Lili (she completely rocks).  Our favorite was a quick trip down to the Hirschhorn musuem to see the Barbara Krueger and Ai Weiwei exhibits.  If you live in the DC area, you have to see this.  NOTE, this isn't one to bring the kids to (ai weiwei especially has more "adult" content).

Barbara Kruger - some of my favorites of hers: "I shop therefore I am", and "You want it. You but it.  You forget it".  She used to work in marketing.

Yep, that's the entrance to the restroom.

Ahhh, can't wait to go back and see this again. 

 Probably most known for desiging the birdsnest stadium for the Beijing olympics - pictures covered the floor and walls as you enter the exhibit.

 stools.

 Teahouses.  Amazing!

 See all the crescent moons?  This is looking straight through...

 all of these moon chests.

 Pictures of him dropping a Han Dyansty Urn, with painted urns arranged in front.

 Steel rods from poorly constructed schoolhouses that collapsed and killed a horrific number of children in a 2008 earthquake, in China.  And there was so much more.  Seriously, go see it.

Birthday celebration pics hopefully coming soon!