Chris' birthday

This year some of Chris' family came down to celebrate his birthday with us! His parents came down Friday afternoon and then one of his sisters and her boyfriend met us at a local brewery for dinner later that night. We went to the Virginia Beer Company for dinner because they had a German food truck and live music playing.

Later that evening we headed home for pie. Chris opted not to have a cake this year in lieu of pie since we had just had three other birthday cakes in the last six weeks (mine, Eleanor's, and Jane's). It was a delicious chocolate pie that the girls "helped" me make!

And the video the girls sent him while he was at work on Friday:

HappyBirthdayChris from Katie Stratton on Vimeo.

The next morning Ashley and Bryce left and we headed with the grandparents to watch Eleanor's soccer game. The weather was wonderful (cool, clear) and because Eleanor wasn't crazy sweaty and overheated, she really hit her stride this week. She is really starting to understand some of the game and played a lot of defense and controlled the ball fairly well. When I asked her how many goals she scored after the game ended she said, "Oh, just ten," and it really was somewhere around that number! The league director even started playing a bit of defense against her team about halfway through. She is absolutely loving this sport.

(Pictures above courtesy of Gaby, I think)

After soccer, Gaby and Papa Laser left to meet some friends and Chris was volunteering at the Wiffle Ball World Series so the girls and I headed out there for part of the afternoon to watch.

We went home to take naps afterward because later that night we had a W&M football game to go to! We went a bit early so that the girls could play on the inflatables before they got too busy. Jane loved them but was both slow and easily distracted.

Chris was being recognized after the first quarter of the game - he won the 2016-2017 Aubrey Mason Sr. Tribe Club Volunteer of the Year award! He says it's not, but it's a big deal!

 The girls and I stayed through part of the third quarter because they were having fun with their friends but then eventually ended up heading home for bed. 

It was a busy weekend but we were glad for the opportunity to get together with family and to celebrate Chris!