For the "Virginia Slavens" this year has passed by quickly and in many ways unremarkably. There are no new additions to the family. Everyone is a year older; the parents tireder and Leo and Piper zanier (there's a correlation, trust us!). Leo is as active as they come. Lately he has taken to running laps outside while chanting, "runnin' around, runnin' around". Inside he loves to play with his cars and trucks. He loves them so much that he'll drift away from the dinner table to play, forgetting that he was in the middle of his meal. As a family, we went on some fun outings. In February, we traveled to Kansas to visit the ever growing Slaven family. In the summer the family went camping in the Shenandoah mountains. Leo didn't mind roughing it. He got to bathe in a trash bag-lined laundry basket with water warmed over the camp stove and he discovered wild blueberries for us to eat while hiking. In August Leo went on a father and son trip to watch a mud bog down in North Carolina. The real life monster trucks were fun but really loud and threw up mud on the crowd! In November Ronnie ran the Richmond Marathon (again) and got his best time: 3:09:38. Heather, Leo and Heather's parents were very supportive and cheered him on at rally points with signs and high-fives. Holidays have been extra fun this year, with Leo getting more and more into the action. For Halloween he dressed up as Bob the Builder and was a natural at trick-or-treating. Currently, we are doing advent activities for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. Leo helped pick our Christmas tree; we rode in a horse drawn carriage and met Santa Claus; we watched two Christmas classics ("Home Alone" and "Elf"); we saw Christmas lights and a life size Nativity at the Washington DC LDS Temple; and (tried) to put together a gingerbread house (Leo thought eating the candy trim work was more fun than sticking it on the roof). All in all, we are very happy and blessed as a family. We are thankful for our belief in Christ, and we hope that the Christmas Spirit will help lead others to Him at this special time of year. We send our love and wish each of you a very merry Christmas!
