I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Halloween 2016

First of the holidays are past, I can’t believe it!  Every year it feels as if it takes forever for Halloween to arrive, but then once it does it feels like Thanksgiving and Christmas that follow just zoom on by.  This Halloween was SO special to us this year.  Finally, our FIRST as a family!!  Last year Norah and I had to celebrate alone, but we made the best of it!  She sure made the cutest little mermaid anyone ever has seen!



This year we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on costumes, which definitely made choosing a bit more tricky.  We finally settled on a Harry Potter theme!  Ties from Amazon $10, and the cutest knitted Dobby hat/ears from Etsy and WaLa!  We had everything else to complete our getups.  My husband isn’t the most festive man you’ll find, but he definitely doesn’t want to be left out so he participated!  Even let me draw on Harry’s lightning bolt.  He sure made one handsome Harry.  As for myself, I LOVE Halloween.  I love dressing up, and since we became a family of three it’s really just become so much better.  I love figuring out each year our “family theme”, and I’ll be a little sad when Norah doesn’t want to match us anymore!  Luckily we have a few more years to go I think.
First we celebrated with her school fall carnival!  Dad had his night school, so it was just Norah and I.  She loved playing the games each room had set up, and LOVED her first sucker.





We of course had to paint our pumpkins this year.  I love that she’s old enough to do this.  She really was good with it, which leads me to believe she definitely has painted before at school!  She was patient and so delicate with it.







We went to Sand Springs downtown scare on the square and loved watching the costume contest.  Gave us great ideas for next year.  We got so many compliments and everyone loved our little “Dobby”.





Dobby loves suckers!

Harry freed Dobby!



Finally came Halloween night!  We didn’t dress up for that, and we thought no one would get Norah’s costume if we weren’t dressed up, so she wore her dress up princess clothes for trick or treating.  She made the cutest purple princess!

Trick or treat??

Needed a rest!

Treating at susnet



We’re so thankful to be celebrating this all together this year.  No long flights and short weekends.  We are loving the holiday season thus far!  Bring on Thanksgiving!!





Happy Halloween!  Love ALL the McVays!

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Farewell Summer 2016

I can't believe our second summer as a family is finished! We did so much this summer, and made SO many amazing memories.  This is what having a family is all about...spending time making memories, laughing, making messes and taking way too many pictures.  Before we get too far into Fall, I wanted to just put in one place all our summer adventures for this year.

First my husband and I both finished finals then started the summer with a hike to Nature Falls State Park, what better way to celebrate educational freedom then being in nature!?




Then we celebrated our sweet daughter's FIRST birthday!  We scrambled to get all our moving boxes unpacked before the party, but it was totally worth having everyone we love in one place.  Happy 1 Year Norah June!





Zeus turned 7 too! 


Before we left for our huge family adventure, we celebrated my second Mother's Day.  I just love being a Mama to this sweet girl.



Finally, we were on our way for the biggest trip we'd ever taken with Norah June, backpacking through Europe!  We visited Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.  Such wonderful memories and time spent together doing our favorite thing....traveling the world.





After only days back we packed up for our McVay Annual Family Trip, this time to Roman Nose State Park!  We hiked, swam, ate like royalty and Norah even took her first steps with Uncle Josh and Daddy.





Finally, we could settle back into Tulsa (home) and enjoy some fun things our new city had to offer.

Gay Pride!

Berry Pickin



Norah's first game!





Myriad Gardens 

Then came 4th of July.  This year we spent it at Lake Ouachita with my mom and stepdad.  We finally meet my stepsisters and their families.  We loved the lake, mountain views and time with Grandma and Daddy Jack.









We got in some lake time with the other set of Grandparents too, and discovered a beautiful lake only 30 minutes from us, Lake Skiatook!




Can't forget Father's Day!



Then we just had fun until dreaded school started back up again!


Voted for Mayor!



She graduated!

Last trip of summer to Eureka Springs!




Zoo Trip

My baby brother got married to his high school sweetheart! <3




Then finally our "official end of summer" happens when we return to school.  This summer was the BEST yet!  We did a little bit of everything, and had the best time with Norah June.  It just keeps getting better and better!