Thanksgiving in Virginia

This year we spent a week over the Thanksgiving holiday in Virginia visiting Shawn's family.  It was a fantastic week.  The kids loved staying at Nana's house and spending lots of time playing and reading books with her.  Five of Shawn's six siblings were in town (Keith just had a new grand baby in Seattle so they spent the holiday there :-) along with most of their kids so it was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with everyone.  On Thanksgiving morning, Shawn, Nicholas and the whole Meadows clan ran a 5K gobble trot!  This was Nicholas' first 5K to run with his daddy.  Scott and Kim hosted a top notch Thanksgiving celebration, leaving us all happily stuffed!  We were able to see Mary Katherine and Meghan play field hockey, watch Madison and Anthony march and play in the Fife and Drum Corps, and enjoy the sights and sounds of Colonial Williamsburg.  While in Virginia, we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary with a special night out for dinner, thanks to Nana watching the kiddos!  We also celebrated Juliana's 4th birthday there.  We went to mass in the morning and Shawn's mom was so sweet to get a dozen lovely white roses in her honor as well as have a little cake celebration with the kids in the evening.  It was a great week spent with great family!  We are truly thankful!

Grace and Mary Katherine

Henry and Meghan

Henry with his godmother Aunt Kelly

Kelly is showing him her phone backdrop with his picture on it :-)

Happy Thanksgiving....the girls table

Nicholas and Aunt Carla

Happy Thanksgiving...the boys table

Nicholas and William

Happy Thanksgiving...the cool table :-) LOL

Happy Thanksgiving...the other cool table :-)

Grace was very excited over the entire trip, she had a wonderful time!

Grace and Aunt Kim

Henry doing a "pound" with Uncle Scott

Shawn with his goddaughter Madison

Our little man also had a lot of fun on the trip

Fun with Daddy

Nicholas getting smooches from Aunt Kim

Shawn with his other goddaughter Rory

Henry chose to hang with "electronic" crowd

Right at home :-)

Grace with her Godmother Heidi

Nicholas ran his first ever 5K with Daddy...they had so much fun and we were so proud of our little runner!

All the gobble trot runners...way to go!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday in Heaven, Juliana!

Dear Juliana Rose,

It seems like only yesterday your Daddy and I held you in our arms, sang to you, prayed with you, and told you how much we loved you.  If you were still here on earth, you'd be 4 years old now!  Sometimes I try to picture what you might look like at this age or what you would be interested in.  It is really hard to picture though.  To me, you are just too perfect for this world.  You were made for heaven!  You belong with Christ, his mother Mary and all the angels and saints.  I know you fit right in with them.  We sure do miss you here though! I still cry every once in a while, missing you.  But not too often any more.  Your Daddy and I both have come to find more joy than sadness in having you in heaven instead of with us, strange as it may sound.  We have come to see first hand what a blessing it is to have you there watching over us and interceding for us.  Juliana, you have touched many lives and hearts just this year alone.  It is so tremendous, so beautiful!  We are so thankful for you!  We love you just the way you are!  You will always be our sweet, perfect baby girl and we will always love you and remember you!!!

Sending Hugs and Kisses to Heaven for your Happy Birthday there.......

Love,

Your Mommy and Daddy