Game...set...

Today Mike participated in a charity Cops vs. Firemen volleyball game! 

The match took place during halftime of the VCU women's volleyball game

Which meant the VCU pep band was in the house!

I sat with the boys while they waited to play

Watched the VCU 'Gold Rush Dancers'

And cheered my heart out!

The VCU band director is also a firefighter so the band was partial

Caught Mike in action

 And the firemen crushed the competition!

But it was all for charity so everyone wins :)

Mike is so happy it's November 1

I love Halloween so very much. It's definitely my favorite day of the year!!

To celebrate I treated myself to this spooky treat at lunch

When I got home Mike made sure our front porch lights were working (to welcome trick-or-treaters!)

And I assembled our candy bowl!

We actually had a decent crowd this year and we loved all the kiddos in their costumes. I turned the lights off at 7:30 and happy to report no teenage hooligans rang our bell :)

The adults had a few spooky spirits

I rocked my totally glamorous Halloween sweatshirt

And Brooksy guarded the front door, just like last year. I took a comparison shot and just...wow.

Only 364 more days until Halloween!!!

Octoberfest

October has been jam-packed!!

Brooksy visited Papa at work and took his first ride on the firetruck!

Erinn sent me delightful Halloween goodies :)

I had a ladies night with Libbie and Dawn...

Mike and I finally had dinner at Accanto and it was, no joke, the best meal either of us has ever eaten!

And then we dealt with a jailbreak. I took this picture when I came home from lunch to let Brooksy out of his cage--I opened the bedroom door and was face to face with the escapee.

That boy really loves laundry.

We finished up wedding season last night with Shaun and Jess' ohsocute farm wedding

Jess and all the firemen :)

Needless to say Mike and I are exhausted. Time to buckle down and ride out Hurricane Sandy!

Where in the World?

We have been so busy lately!!

It seems like every free moment Mike and I have is filled with activities.

Taking Brooksy to the park is a favorite Sunday morning routine

3 weeks ago we headed to Scranton for a family wedding (Mike's hair is sooooo long!)

2 weeks ago we hit up 'Hogtoberfest' with Dawn and Matt!

The day was filled with beer, bands and barbeque

And I finally saw the famous 'River City View'

Our city is so awesome.

The next day we hosted 'Practice Thanksgiving'-- my parents are visiting for Thanksgiving this year and Mike insisted on a trial run.

Everything tasted delish! Judging by all our friends' praises, real Thanksgiving is bound to be a success!

Last weekend we were in NOVA for the wedding of Bryan, Mike's high school friend. Time in NOVA meant time with Mike's family and little Ms. A!

Brooksy kept himself busy

While we partied it up!

On Sunday all the boys went golfing and the ladies went to the park with Abigail. She LOVED me this visit! Everything was "Aunt Devon look at me!" Made my heart melt every time!

We met the fellas for lunch to celebrate the Possanza men's win, and headed back to RVA

The end of the year is jam-packed!

For UB

Earlier this year Mike and I visited Cleveland twice in two months. At the time I didn’t elaborate because it was really hard to talk about.

In April we found out my Dad’s uncle (who was a huge part of my life) was very ill - the entire family basically dropped everything to visit him while we could.  Mike and I flew in to meet my family on a Saturday morning and flew back to Richmond the next day. The six of us spent a wonderful weekend with him and I am so thankful we were able to make the trip.

Sadly, we were back in Cleveland for his funeral a month later.  My family constantly amazes me; a trip that could have been incredibly sad was highlighted with lots of love, laughter and time spent with the ones we care about.

I fell even more in love with Mike that weekend because he was my rock and did everything possible to help. There were many times when I would look for him, only to find him consoling a family member. He is amazing.

The point is this: my uncle was an incredible man. He treated my brother and I like his children and was present for every big event in our lives

Most importantly, he was Italian and proud of it! Last Christmas he taught us the recipe for his secret spaghetti sauce. I’ll never forget him telling us “You can change whatever you want in this recipe, but if you do, don’t you dare tell anyone it’s my sauce.”

He was loving and kind, yet didn’t hesitate to let you know when you were out of line. He was outspoken and funny and taught me that family.means.everything.

Mike and I were included in his trust and we received the gift a few weeks back. We spent a lot of time talking about trips we could take, the items we could finally purchase. We knew we wanted to do something in my uncle's honor. In the end, we both agreed the best tribute would be to treat ourselves to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, with a big bottle of red wine.

Tonight we went to La Grotta and did just that.

And it was amazing.

We know UB would have approved.