Life at Pete and Sarah Lloyd Stevenson’s new Windsor Road home includes three children, two dogs, three generations—and a steady hum of activity. There’s Will, 6; Caldwell, 4; and Palmer, 1. Sarah Lloyd’s mother, Leesa, lives with the family, too.

Then there are the dogs. Lillie, Leesa’s two-pound Yorkie, spends much of her time terrified of the three children who adore her. Phillybuster, the family’s Cavapoo, may have the most Pete-and-Sarah-Lloyd name imaginable. They call her Philly for short. Her full name combines Pete’s Philadelphia roots with Sarah Lloyd’s affection for the U.S. Senate filibuster.

It’s a full house. And this year, it got a bigger one.

The Stevensons recently moved from their longtime home on Grove Drive to Windsor Road. But while the address changed, they never seriously considered changing neighborhoods.

“We needed more space, but we did not want to leave Belle Haven,” they said.

Sarah Lloyd grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. Pete was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and grew up in the Philadelphia area.

The two met while campaigning during the 2012 election cycle. Sarah Lloyd was working for Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, while Pete was living in Philadelphia and now describes himself as a “recovering political campaigner.”

One of their earliest shared interests was “The West Wing.” Years later, they would move to a neighborhood where one of the homes actually appeared in the show.

The couple married and found their Grove Drive house online, moving to Belle Haven in July 2017. The 1935 home had the stone exterior, historic character and large yard they loved.

Then they met the neighbors. They were welcomed with a bottle of wine, a cookbook filled with neighborhood recipes and introductions to other families.

“It felt less like simply purchasing a house and more like being admitted into a community,” they said.

For Sarah Lloyd, there was something familiar about it. Growing up in Jackson, her mother used to warn her to behave because wherever she went, someone was likely to know her—even when she had absolutely no idea who they were. As a teenager, she found that mildly terrifying. As a parent, she finds it deeply reassuring.

“We have always wanted our children to grow up somewhere people know who they are,” she said.

The children are now doing their part to make sure the family calendar remains complicated.

Will loves soccer, chess, Legos, Nerf guns, basketball, Hot Wheels and, according to his parents, essentially all things stereotypically “boy.”

Caldwell loves ballet and is adding soccer to the mix. Whether she actually plays or simply enjoys the uniform and social component, her parents say, remains to be seen.

Palmer’s current extracurricular specialty is attending his older brother’s and sister’s extracurriculars.

Pete and Sarah Lloyd have plenty going on themselves.

Sarah Lloyd leads health policy and government relations for Amazon, while Pete, who has a background in chemistry, works as a regulatory consultant at Sagentia.

Sarah Lloyd also has a history of taking on major commitments at questionable moments. While earning her master’s degree in public health part time, she took final exams the week Will was born and defended her thesis while on maternity leave. Years later, she formally took over as president of the Belle Haven Women’s Club while holding a two-week-old Palmer. She jokes that saying no has never been one of her particular strengths.

Through the Women’s Club, where she now serves as immediate past president, Sarah Lloyd has helped welcome neighbors, organize events and carry on many of the traditions that made her own family feel at home.

And the Stevensons are enthusiastic participants.

There’s Santa at the Circle, Easter festivities, Blocktail, swim and tennis—and, especially this time of year, Halloween.

At Grove Drive, Sarah Lloyd covered the house each October in pumpkins, witches and a graveyard that became slightly more elaborate every year. Now there’s a new house to decorate and a new question to answer: What is Halloween like on Windsor Road?

Whatever happens, one family policy is not changing: the Stevensons are a full-size-candy-bar household.

For all the activity, some of the family’s favorite Grove Drive memories involved simply being home. Snow days were particularly good. The yard had a large flat area for snowball fights and a steep hill that, combined with the driveway, made an excellent sledding run.

During one especially snowy stretch, Sarah Lloyd’s sister arrived from Old Town with actual snow skis. She started at the top of the backyard, skied down the hill and continued straight down the driveway.

“It was ridiculous and magnificent,” Sarah Lloyd recalled.

Grove Drive was also where the Stevensons brought all three children home and celebrated nearly every major family milestone. But after Palmer was born, their family changed. Leesa moved to Belle Haven, and six people and two dogs needed more room.

So the Stevensons started looking. There was just one rather significant restriction. They weren’t leaving Belle Haven.

Then a neighbor who knew they were searching called. She had been thinking about downsizing and wondered whether her Windsor Road house—and all its space—might be better suited to the growing Stevenson family. That conversation eventually led to their new home.

The move put them a little farther from some of their closest friends, who had lived about 700 feet from the Grove Drive house. Now they’re five or 10 minutes away. On foot.

This fall brings a new house, new routines and the first Stevenson Halloween on Windsor Road. But the friends, the Circle, the traditions and the community that drew them here in 2017 are all still close by.

The Stevensons call it “moving up, but not moving on.”

After all, they needed a bigger house. They already had home.