Anna Grows

Anna & Joe taking a break on the Custis Trail It was a rainy September in Northern Virginia.  Actually, it was the rainiest weather on record.  Usually September is one of the nicest months of the year as the temperatures drop to the 70s, the tourist leave town, and we just get to enjoy being outside.  This year the weather has been unusually warm and at a couple of points we thought we may be living in Seattle.  It just kept raining.  This was not helpful for Anna's soccer practice or games (they just play in the rain...lots of fun).    Finally, this weekend the skies cleared and we were treated to the September weather we have come to expect. Anna's soccer team, the Red Devils (oh yes...half of the team is Catholic school girls so of course they are the devils), won their first game of the season.  This year they are playing on a full field with a mix of 7th and 8th graders.  It is a whole new level of play.  Joe is stil...

Ready to zipline with Julianna Anna celebrated her 12th birthday on September 3, which also happened to be Labor Day this year.  As she reminded her parents numerous times, she will be a teenager next year.  Ack!! Since it was a holiday weekend, Anna really did celebrate the entire weekend beginning with a sleepover with 5 of her friends on Friday night.  The party also doubled as a back-to-school celebration.  It was exceedingly hot over the weekend, so a trip to the pool seemed to be a good idea.  Anna also requested that her Dad make his "legendary" pizza (apparently it is now legendary among Anna's friends).  There were a few challenges with the party, but the girls had a great time. Birthday slumber party The first problem was the pizza dough, which Joe left Theresa in charge of for a period of time during the day.  Apparently Theresa missed a critical step, which resulted in an emergency call to the local pizza place (two of Joe's p...