Happy Birthday Jenna

Some pics from Jenna's 2nd Birthday cookout at Homegroup last night. Dom and Kristen hosted a cookout and Dom grilled some delicious fancy hotdogs to go along with tasty cheeseburgers. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't think about it until too late, so you'll have to take my word on that.

Jackie and Daisy outside...



Playing inside...



Singing happy birthday and eating cupcakes... Kristen wisely put down towels just in case the girls spilled cupcakes.






Fun night with friends celebrating.

Super Sunday! Part 2

So we had a group of folks over tonight to watch the game. Some of them couples/families from our homegroup bible study. Other of them just folks that know us and stopped by to be part of the gathering. I think we had about 30+ people (when you start adding in kids) down in our basement.

Here's what the food table looked like at halftime -- we did some serious eating.


Oh, and that table was the just the main stuff. There was a separate little table with some desserts!

Some views of the crowd:





In the above picture, Katy (in the orange shirt standing) is about to pick up a baby carrier with 2-week old Jack. He definitely wins the prize for youngest guest!

Daisy enjoyed being passed around the room and held by friends. Here, Mama Staats is taking her turn.



We had a great time watching the game, and since the Saints won, it means I won the house pick'em game (beating David, Wade, and Jim). Not to brag or anything, but I was the only one who picked Colts-Saints to make the Superbowl, and I picked the Saints to win. Too bad I'm not that good in regular fantasy football! :)

Super Sunday! Part 1

Daisy and I are at home getting the house ready for a Superbowl party tonight. We've got some friends from our Bible study coming over. :)

David and Wade are out in Craig County sledding with a group of folks on Wade's parents' farm.

Daisy has been having fun playing in her Jumperoo while I've been working in the kitchen:


I'll post an update later once our guests arrive!

Weekend

Well a lot has happened since the last post...

First, our excitement over the bottle was a little premature. She struggled this weekend to take bottles from David and I, until late Sunday night when finally we decided to allow the bottle to warm to room temperature. Then she took it. Let's hope she just dislikes cold bottles.

Saturday was a very cold day, so we spent it indoors. We watched a lot of college football. Our friend Jen came into town and met Daisy.


Jen brought Daisy a gift -- a really nifty pink Nike outfit.

Daisy was ready in her Hokie gear, but unfortunately, they weren't able to come away with the victory. It was the first VT loss since Daisy was born.

The loss definitely made for a down evening. To help us forget about it, we broke out the Wii.

Later, I stayed up to watch the Angels game, which they blew in extra innings to the Yankees. It wasn't my a good sports day for my teams.

Sunday, we took Daisy to church for the first time. Here she is in her dress that Rachel gave her.


Daisy with Daddy at church.

In the afternoon, we invited our old student homegroup (bible study) over to meet Daisy and play the Wii (which we got through their generous gifts).


Daisy peering over Colbi's shoulder.

Jen saying goodbye to Daisy before she drove back to Ashburn.

Daisy had two "blowouts" while the crew was here, so we had to change her outfit several times. Here she is sporting her "I love Daddy" onesie from Aunt Lisa.

Here, we decided to give her a bath after her second blowout, so I took a few pics of her just in a blanket. She seemed content. :)

Tonight, we are watching the Bears play on Sunday Night Football. They are losing at halftime, which is a bummer. (The Grilled Cheesers are losing again, although David's fantasy team, the Darlins, are winning again. At least one Chinn is a good fantasy football player.)

I guess we'll see how the second half goes... Bear down, Chicago Bears. Please?

The Week(s) in Pictures

A lot has happened in the past two weeks! I wanted to post these pics last weekend, but our camera battery died and I couldn't download them until I located the charger. Fortunately, it was found safe and sound still packed in the suitcase from the Newcomb wedding a few weeks back. Pictures are now downloaded and it's time to share.

HOMEGROUP HALLOWEEN PARTY: OCT. 29

Here's some of the costumes from the night:

Devin & Koren = Mario Brothers


Colbi & Jen...hippie & 80's girl


Jess & Amber = Thing 1 & Thing 2


And here we are... Can you guess our costume?!?!?


DOUBLE CHINN!!! (Aren't we clever?) :)

Time to bob for apples on a string...


Trust me... bobbing for apples on a string is harder than it looks!



WOMENS' HIKE TO CASCADES: NOV. 1









THE HOMEPLACE & DOMINO'S: NOV. 1

My friend Heather was in town for the weekend from Orlando, so after the hike, I caught up with her and some other friends (Ben, Jilian, Mike & Sarah) and we headed to the Homeplace for dinner. After we enjoyed all we could eat, we headed back to the Swann's place to play games. We ended up choosing Domino's and played one LONG game of Trash train. I could be humble and not share the results, but I think I'll mention that I won. :)





HOKIES V. MARYLAND: NOV. 6

We joined David's coworker for a tailgate on Thursday evening before scoring last minute tickets (under face value, of course) to the game!











SPLIT DECISION: NOV. 7

I spent Friday night at a Contemporary Dance Ensemble performance called "Split Decision." Amy, from my homegroup, was dancing. It was an outstanding performance, and I captured a few images from my cellphone.





DT CONG. THANKSGIVING DINNER: NOV. 8

We headed to Dublin to Chad & Stacey's house for a Thanksgiving dinner with members of the Downtown Congregation from church. After dinner, we enjoyed a small fire in the backyard where we cooked S'mores. Yummy.



SYMPHONIC BAND CONCERT: NOV. 8

Devin & Koren (seen as Super Mario Bros above) are in the Campus Band, a symphonic band made up of VT students. Their fall concert was this weekend, so David and I decided to go. They both play percussion, and it was a wonderful concert.

THAT'S ABOUT IT FROM THE LAST TWO WEEKS... HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED THE RECAP!

Farmin' it in Craig Co.

Barbie & JC Winstead invited us to bring our homegroup out to their farm in Craig Co. pick apples and make cider. The Winsteads are the parents of our friends Kelly & John who both used to be in our homegroup, and cider making was a regular thing for several years. This summer at John's wedding, they invited us back this fall, and we were thrilled.

It was a crisp, clear day -- an absolutely gorgeous day to drive out into the country. Below are some pics of our HG's visit today to the Winstead farm. We picked apples, explored the old farmhouse, used the cider press, fed the cows by hand, touched electric fences, and enjoyed dinner! A great day! :)