Tree Trek

We braved the cold (30 some degree) weather on Thanksgiving weekend, and ventured out to Butler's Orchard for our 2nd annual tree trek.

Something about rows of trees and rolling hills with lots of fun friends - paradise for our adventure loving boys.

Caden with one of his favorite buddies and classmates.  These two have a lot of fun together.

We found our tree!  

Can you believe how CUTE this owl is!?!  Perched perfectly in one of the Christmas trees (and no, we didn't take his tree).

Andrew ready for action.

This year's tree trek crew - Choi's Seetin's, Yancey's, Smith's and OC's!

The OC five.

Warming up at the barrel fire while our tree was shaken and baled.

Lunch afterwards at Green Turtle.

Their own personal tv to watch sports?  Pictures to color?  Our boys were in heaven.  It was one of the quietest meals we've had in a long time ;).

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2012

Our family Thanksgiving tree.  Some of the things we're thankful for this year (I'll write them as they spelled them):  Grama and Grapa, our family, our church, treets (treats), art, pizza movie night, the Bible, mom and dad, fun cousins, the Redskins, our pets, choo choo trains, chocolate milk, school - "that we get to learn there", our Lord Jesus, Mrs.Winkfield, close (clothes), the Choi's, YCF, Elecktrisidy, nabres (neighbors), our town, Caden and Will, My brothers - "they are fun to play with", my 3 beautiful boys, friends (Will said Gabriel and Abby, Caden said Nathan, Douglas and Genevieve, Andrew just said friends), the world, our house, stuff animals, food to eat, donuts, seasons, my selfless husband, my beautiful wife, His unrelenting pursuit of us and never ending grace.

 What is is about painting?  Definitely the highlight of this project.

This one made me happy.

Thanksgiving morning Hannah and I ran the 10k Turkey Chase.  It was a gorgeous morning, and a perfect way to start the day.  And then I went straight to the family Thanksgiving service at church looking like this ;).  The boys enjoyed a lazy morning eating donuts and watching the parade.

Thanksgiving afternoon/evening we celebrated with the usual suspects and family at the Wintrols.

 Having Aunt Nancy and Natalia in town from Mexico made it an official party - they brought the boys lucha libre masks!!  

This was the closest we got to a family shot.  Thank you H&M for the buy 1 get 1 free sweaters.

 Cousins.  This was the first Thanksgiving that we didn't have a really wee one to worry about - surprisingly more relaxing!  Dave and I were both actually sitting at the table for several minutes.

One shot of black Friday shopping - an O'Connell ladies tradition.   

 One last meal with Aunt Nancy and Natalia before they headed home.  The boys built Mexico in the basement.

Look at those smiles.  Aunt Nancy is truly one of the most fun and entertaining people I've met.  SO much fun to have them here!

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!