South Carolina - Welcome Baby Hiawa!

Abraham Hiawatha Mong was born on November 11, 2009 at 8:18 pm weighing 8 pounds 7 ounces and 21.5 inches long. Delilah had an all natural, no pain meds, water birth. Way to go, Delilah! Hiawa, the name they are going to call him, looks just like his daddy, Abe. Fortunately Ollie had an interview in Charleston, South Carolina on the 13th so we were happy to be able to travel together as a family, arriving one day after Hiawa was born. This is Ollie's and my first nephew and Genevieve and Anson's first cousin. We were so excited to be there so soon after his birth to meet the newest member of our family!

Philly - The Orewiler's

Saturday night we drove to meet The Orewiler's; Mitch, Mary Ellen, Elias, Loren, Aiden and Ezra for dinner. They live in Hanover, PA about two hours from Philadelphia so we met in the middle in Lancaster, PA at Fuddruckers. It had been about ten months since we had seen each other and the last time I was pregnant with Anson. It was fun for them to meet our little man and for us to see how much their kids had grown in less than a year. All of the kids cooperated pretty well so the adults could actually talk and catch up. Mary Ellen is my cousin who is one year younger than me, who I've always been close to. We don't see each other often now, but the times we do, I cherish!

Philly - Family Roots

Saturday afternoon we decided to explore more of Ollie's family history. We drove out to Paoli, PA to see the house and mill where Ollie's grandmother Marie grew up. They lived out in the country and Ollie's great grandfather, Richard Haughton, or Pop, was an insurance man who commuted to the city everyday. Marie commuted half way to school. They lived in the "big house". This is the house Marie and her sister were born in and lived until about 18-20 years old. They owned about 25-30 acres of land, which consisted of; the big house, the mill, a barn and three other houses. The grist mill was Richard's hobby. The mill was used by the farmers to ground their grain. Later it was used commercially and at one point even ground flour for Pepperidge Farms. After the depression, Pop lost his job and couldn't pay the mortgage. Luckily he had a friend that worked for the bank that helped pay the interest where they didn't lose the house.

After visiting the house and mill we traveled a few miles away to Bryn Mawr, PA to The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. Here is where several of Ollie's family members are buried; his great grandmother, his grandfather, his aunt and many more family generations back. James Haughton, Marie's great, great grandfather was a reverend at this parish.

Philly - Anson's Namesake

At the beginning of November Ollie, Anson and I traveled to Philadelphia (Genevieve stayed with Grammie & Pappaw) where Ollie had a test he had to take, but more importantly Anson's namesake lives there. Anson is named after Ollie's paternal grandmother's first cousin. It was a really special visit for all involved. We were excited to all meet each other and learn a little bit more about Ollie's ancestry.

Friday night we met Ollie's cousin Paul, Anson's son, for dinner. We got to share family stories over a good meal. Saturday morning we went over to Anson's place for a wonderful introduction and visit, full of more family stories, history and photos. The trip meant a lot to all of us, especially Ollie, to finally meet some of his relatives that he's heard about his whole life. And of course, to make the connection between the two Anson's was extremely special!

Halloween Week - Trick or Treating Round 2

On Halloween night we went Trick or Treating for the second time with a group of friends. Our friend John hooked a trailer up to his truck and basically made it into a Halloween float/hayride. We would drive through the neighborhood stopping to jump off go to a few houses for candy and then jump back on to travel down the road to more houses. We were a big hit by everyone who saw us and we all had a blast, especially our little monkey and banana!

Halloween Week - Painting & Carving Pumpkins

I know it's December and I'm still doing October posts, but our computer photo program hasn't been working so I couldn't upload pics onto here until now. It's finally working so I hope to get several posts done within the next few days and then I'll hopefully be caught up:)

Genevieve and Daddy had a fun time painting and carving a jack-o-lantern for Halloween!