Visit from the Finn-Santanas!

Katie, Steven and Maddie came to visit his past weekend.  It's nice to have Katie and family only a car ride away, after years of flying back and forth across the country to see each other.  The last time we saw them was for the wedding, so it was good to have more time to actually chat and just be with their family.  

Just like the last time we hung out with the Finn girls, Maddie was awesome with Samantha.  Unfortunately, this time, we couldn't get the younger cousin to stay still in Maddie's lap.

Despite Samantha's inability to sit still, she really showed this time how much she loved her older cousin. On Saturday morning the girls were up bright and early so I had an hour to watch them play in their pajamas, and I loved seeing how Samantha wanted to do everything Maddie was doing.  

Later we headed to Princeton to show Steven the campus, while Andrew played in an alumni tennis match.  Katie and I had some moments of nostalgia walking around campus and showing Steven and Maddie where we lived and studied. It definitely made us miss all the people that used to be around campus, though.

Maddie with "Oval with Points."

 The whole family :)

 Maddie knew how to keep a hungry and tired Samantha happy- seriously best big cousin ever.

 Outside Colonial- one of us really doesn't like the sun in her eyes!

Back home and post-nap Samantha wanted to show Maddie how she likes crawling around the living room- Maddie happily obliged even when S crawled away.

Some cute parents.

On Sunday after church we headed to the local playground- we found some scary two headed monsters there!

One group pic right before they left (photo courtesy of 6 year-old Tyler next door who is an iphone pro- notice the shorter perspective).

Miss you Finn-Santanas!  Come back anytime!!!

Around the house in November

Even though we've been gone for most of the weekends in November, the perk of not working is that I'm at least home during the week. Samantha has been busy like always even when we're around the house.

She has discovered the magnets on the fridge.

And we can't leave shoes on the floor anymore.

Our favorite food these days is clementines- Daddy is an expert clementine peeler for our Samantha- expert clementine eater.

She has also started sleeping in this weird folded position.

Playing in the bedroom.

Just lounging.

And playing :)

Washington D.C.

This past weekend we headed out once again- this time to Washington D.C. We were in town for a wedding of a friend from Princeton, Karis.  We were lucky enough to have the Chens host us for the weekend so we got to spend lots of good time with their sweet family and still see lots of other Princeton people as well!

On Friday evening we were greeted with an awesome dinner.  Samantha is, of course, ready for some delicious food!

 After dinner the girls started playing together.  It was so fun to see them interacting because the last time and the time before we all got together, Samantha wasn't moving - now she can actually do things with Cadence!

 Cadence let Samantha play with her toys and read her books.

And she even shared her bedtime story time with her Daddy with Samantha (it only looks like Samantha is engaged in story time here- her attention span with books still lasts for approximately two pages)

And turns out S and C have the same taste in PJs (it's either that or they are both so skinny that their moms can only buy them carters PJs!)

On Saturday we headed to Karis's wedding, while Tiff and Julius graciously watched our daughter.  The cousins seemed to have a lot of fun together in the hour they were awake together (S naps twice a day and C only once and it turns out those don't line up very well.)  So thankful to have Samantha in such good hands!

Samantha tried to claim Cadence's chair.

Cadence looks stressed out by this development

But she definitely shared her walker with S. 

And C tried to teach S how to walk.  No luck yet by any means!

And then Cadence went to sleep and S got her Auntie Tiff and Uncle Julius all to herself for some playtime.

Meanwhile we headed into Washington D.C. for Karis and TJ's morning wedding.  

The ceremony was at St. John's Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square, which is literally across the street from the White House.  

It is literally the President's church - presidents have been going to church here since James Madison, and the designated President's pew was the pew in front of where we sat for the ceremony (imagine me having a history geek moment when I realized that half way through the ceremony!)

It was a gorgeous ceremony, with encouraging scripture, a beautiful bride, and a heartfelt homily.

After the ceremony we popped across the street to checkout the White House.

With Charlotte :)

The reception was at Washington Nationals Ballpark- what a fun and unique place for a reception!

Had so much fun catching up with Sarah!

Cocktail hour started on the field and the dug out- cracker jacks, pretzels with cheese sauce and popcorn...

And continued in the batting cages.  The bride tried her hand at bat!

And then dinner and dancing was held in the Diamond Club with a great view of the field!

Husband and Wife :)

Most of the girls- Jacqueline, Lisa, Charlotte, Karis, Me, and Anna

Andrew and I

With Charlotte and Phil!  So fun to hang out with you guys!

On Sunday morning Tiff and I headed out for a walk with the girlies-we so often talk on the phone with each while we walk, it was so nice to finally be walking in the same place!

One final group pic before we left- love those Chens!

Before leaving DC we stopped for brunch at Emily and Chris's house.  Emily is another dear friend from Princeton.  Samantha loved meeting Emily!

And playing with their dog, Puff!

So wonderful to catch up with these ladies!  And Em- thanks for a delicious brunch!

What a wonderful weekend filled with all sorts of different Princetonian friends!