Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Week Before Thanksgiving

The Chiefs lost again today.  Boo.  Last week I put Lindy in a Chiefs t-shirt and they lost so I thought I jinxed them.  I didn’t put her in it today and they still lost.  Glad to know it wasn’t me and Lindy last week. 

It was a fairly quiet week around our house.  Which was great after the super busy week we had last week.  I volunteered in Lindy’s specials on Tuesday.  I went to science and media with her.  It’s nice to get to know some of her classmates.   Besides Lindy and Will telling us every day who got in trouble, I can definitely pick them out myself now. 

Wednesday night the kids and I ate Thanksgiving dinner at church. 

Thursday Lindy had her yearly neurosurgery appointment to check her shunt.  Drew took her and actually saw the neurosurgeon.  We usually see a PA.  Drew said it was basically a waste of time, but of course the doctor had to warn him that her shunt can malfunction at any time.  We know, we know.   But we don’t live in fear.  For the most part I forget she has it.  They found out the neurosurgeon has a kindergarten son in another class at their school.  Thursday evening the kids had choir practice.  They got to practice the bells and I got recruited to ring with them.  My ears were ringing when we were done but we sounded pretty good!

Friday morning Lindy started getting a cold.  Her nose was running – which is awesome!  It usually drains down her throat.  We were all supposed to see our niece Molly in her middle school play, Aladdin, but Lindy and I ended up staying home.  Mostly because she was getting sick but some because she wouldn’t be able to see the play.  It would have been her playing a phone for 2 hours.  Instead Lindy and I made cookies – with well washed hands - and we played in her bed. 

Saturday morning I took Will up to the YMCA and signed him up for basketball.  This should be interesting!  I hope they lower the baskets!!  We came home and my parents got to our house.  We headed out to our last Wake Forest football game of the season.  Going to the game was kind of a last minute decision because they had been calling for some rain all week.  I wasn’t taking Lindy if it was supposed to rain.  Saturday morning the forecast was almost 60F and not showing any rain so we all headed out.  We thankfully brought two layers of coats and gloves because it was a little nippy out there.   We got back home around 3pm and I got quite a bit of stuff done around the house last night.  I was in a productive mood!

Today we headed to Charlotte for the Southern Christmas Show.  Jamie rode with us and we headed to Bob’s.  We met my parents there.  Drew and the kids stayed at Bob’s house while Suzette, Jamie, my mom and I went to the Christmas Show and met Lynn and Anna.  It was the last day and we did see some deals.  It’s always fun to walk around and we did pick up some presents – and fudge.   I always come home with fudge.  We got back to Bob and Suzette’s around 4pm and headed home not too long after that. 

We have a short week of work and school and then it’s the Thanksgiving holiday!  There is a chance of wintery mix on Tuesday and Wednesday so we’ll see what that means for school.  We have Lindy’s IEP scheduled for Tuesday morning at 8:15am so it will probably be cancelled.  I’m hoping for no wintery mix. 

I only took a few pictures this week.

I found this in Lindy’s Sunday school classroom at church.  Check out the last line.  Joys and Concerns.  Lindy said Papa.  I wonder if she meant he was a joy or a concern?? ha ha!IMG_2998Making cookies Friday night.  This girl wants to help with everything so she loved doing this.DSC_5289DSC_5290Here she is waiting for the first batch to finish cooking.DSC_5291Tasting the final product. DSC_5292Rubbing her belly and saying ‘Yum’!DSC_5295Wednesday at church the kids got a gift from the other set of twins in our church.  Will and Nora just turned 16 this weekend but their mom gave Lindy and Will Nora and Will’s old bathrobes.  Lindy and Will LOVE them!  DSC_5298DSC_5299DSC_5300Today at the Christmas Show.IMG_3021My mothers!  My mom, step-mother-in-law, and mother-in-law!IMG_3023

Sunday, November 17, 2013

The Past Two Weeks

So after I posted my last post on Nov 3 I took my computer in to get cleaned up and worked on.  I didn’t have it last Sunday to do my regular post.  We picked it up on Tuesday but by that time I was knee deep in to work and had no time to post.   Let’s see if I can catch up. 

Will’s special day was on November 6th (see below for a post dedicated to him and his day). 

Friday November 8th was a fun day for our family.  We went to the Wake Forest basketball season opener and I got recognized as a community hero for my work with the March of Dimes.   My parents and Bob and Suzette came to witness the event.  I’ve been fussed at by other family members for not telling them what was happening (although I did offer them tickets.  I just didn’t tell them the whole story!)  At the first time out in the second half we got to walk out on the court and they read a little clip about me and then the Deacon presented me with a certificate.  Actually he tried to present it to Drew and Drew had to tell him it was me!  It was pretty neat to be out on the court!  They showed us up on the big scoreboard.  The kids thought it was super cool.  When I told Will we were going to get to do it he said, “This will be the best day of my life!”  It was a neat experience and it was crazy to find out so many people we knew were there.  

Saturday we had a home football game which we ended up leaving soon after half time.   We met and tailgated a bit with the usual crowd (plus Drew’s old college roommate and his wife) but the game was awful.  Wake got blasted by Florida St.  We got home and enjoyed a late afternoon and evening at home.   Well the kids and I did – Drew had a wedding to perform.

Sunday was the day we celebrated Will’s special day.  It turned out to be a very special day – for more than one reason.  Will lost his first tooth on Sunday morning!  He has waited very patiently since Lindy lost her two teeth this summer.  The dentist said it was loose at his visit in September and it got really loose last week.  I tried pulling it out on Sat. night but it wasn’t quite ready.  Will ate an apple slice for breakfast Sunday morning and  he wiggled it a bunch and then I popped it right out!  He showed everyone at church.  We made sure to put his tooth under his pillow that night so the tooth fairy could find him.

I’ve never really seen Lindy jealous but man she was jealous last Sunday.  It was killing her that Will was getting lots of attention for his lost tooth.  One of her top teeth is just barely loose.  Just barely.  She wiggled and wiggled and and tried to show everyone at church that she had a loose tooth.  I lost count of how many times I told her to stop and let Will have his day. 

We woke up Monday to find the tooth fairy had left Will $1.00.   He was super excited to find his money and a certificate from the tooth fairy.  The kids didn’t have school because of Veterans Day and they stayed home with Drew.  They actually stayed with Martha most of the morning as I had to be at work and Drew needed to visit someone who had just been put in the hospice home.  Martha saved the day by coming to watch the kids.  They had a lazy bum Monday by staying in pj’s most of the day.  Drew did bring them to me at work for a little while so he could go back and visit the family at the hospice house.  

Other highlights of the week – Will had character day on Thursday and he wore his globe costume again.  His teacher gave us a book called “Me on the Map.”  One parent could go and because of stuff going on at work, Drew went.   He said it was controlled chaos.  The boys were on the outside of the circle and the girls on the inside circle and they rotated and had to tell each other about their character.  Drew said Will got lots of compliments on his globe!

Friday the kids went on their first field trip with school.  They went with the children’s theatre to see City Mouse Country Mouse.  I  know Will enjoyed it.  Lindy didn’t say much.  She said she enjoyed it but I wonder where she sat.  Will said her class set up front so maybe they did that so she could see. 

It was a very busy week for me – work wise.  I had my big fall fundraiser on Friday night so I worked later than normal at work and then worked every evening after the kids went to bed.  Thursday night was a very late night and then Friday night was the actual event!  Thankfully it went great and we raised nearly $140,000 for the babies!  It was a super late night and I was worth nothing on Saturday.  Lynn came up to babysit the kids because I had Drew volunteering at my event!  I was so thankful she was there Saturday morning too.  Drew had a funeral to do Saturday morning but because Lynn was here they let me sleep until 9am!   It was glorious.  I still was so worn out and tired that we didn’t do much of anything.  We packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child and we ran to Target.  Other than that I was worthless.

Today we had church and then Will had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  We left early and went to the mall to look for blankets for the kids’ beds.  We walked the entire mall and ended up where we started buying blankets.  We headed to the party and Will had a blast. 

I think that catches everyone up on the last two weeks.  And now some pictures! 

 

Out on the court at the Wake Forest Basketball game.  DSC_5168DSC_5169There’s me – the community hero!DSC_5173Finally!  He lost a tooth and he has a ‘window'’!IMG_2967Putting his tooth under his pillow!DSC_5254Yay!  Finding a dollar the next morning!DSC_5255DSC_5266DSC_5259And a certificate!DSC_5260DSC_5262Character day at school.  All the boys.photo 1The circle of boys on the outside.  The kid on the right in black is ginormous.  I swear his feet are as big as mine.photo 2photo 3Today the kids sang in church.  They dressed up and looked real spiffy!DSC_5269Will wore his first tie!  So handsome!DSC_5271And she’s so beautiful – even if she hates being called that!DSC_5274DSC_5280My boys with their ties!  So handsome!DSC_5285So cute!DSC_5287Fun afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese!IMG_2984IMG_2987IMG_2988IMG_2994IMG_2995

Keep Reading for Will’s special day post. 

Will’s Special Day

On November 6th we celebrated Will’s special day.  If you have been reading awhile then you know this is the day Will came home from the hospital, 6 years ago!  We celebrate this day because it was much more exciting and happy than the day of his birth.  Plus it’s a day just about Will.  Which doesn’t happen very often. 

Things were a little different this year.  I did have some signs and balloons out around the house when he woke up.  He got a special donut breakfast, which doesn’t usually happen on a week day.  He went to school and told his teacher about his special day.  Drew and I went and ate lunch with him at school.  We brought him a McDonalds cheeseburger and he got to ask a friend to sit with him.  He asked a little girl (although she is about a head taller than Will) to sit with him.  They were super cute to watch!   He also got to pick his favorite dinner, lasagna.  After dinner I took them to get Frosties from Wendy’s, his choice of a special treat.

We did all that but we weren’t able to go and do something on his actual day because of a meeting Drew had and because of getting out of school much later in the day.

We did celebrate though, on Sunday December 10th. Right after church we headed over to Mooresville to see Nana and Papa’s house. It has changed a ton since we saw it in September. There are walls! The kids had fun playing hide and seek in the empty house. After we played in the house a bit, Drew, the kids and I headed to Zootastic. It was a mini zoo in Troutman we had heard about. They said it was the off season and they weren’t doing their usual tours but we were free to walk around and check out the animals. We got two feed bowls and headed out. It was an interesting place with some interesting animals. Lots of goats and alpacas along with some ostriches, bulls, zebras, tigers, camels, a bear, and other random animals. Poor Will didn’t hang on tight to the bowl when an alpaca was eating and it took his bowl. We shared the second bowl the rest of the time. They had a corn pit the kids enjoyed playing in as well. Not sure it was my favorite place in the world but the kids had fun. Which is really what matters. I think they have some pretty cool animal encounters you can do – like feed a baby tiger a bottle – but they are expensive and we didn’t spring for that. They were setting up miles of Xmas tree lights so maybe we can try the Christmas drive through some time in December.

After Zootastic we headed back to my parents’ house for dinner and then we headed home. I think he enjoyed his special day observed!

Waking up to balloons and a sign on his bed!DSC_5156DSC_5157Another sign at breakfast!DSC_5158DSC_5159It also happened to be picture day so they had to dress up for school!DSC_5160DSC_5161DSC_5163Frosties after dinner.  I thought my koozie on the Frosty was an ingenious idea!DSC_5164DSC_5165On Sunday we checked out Nana and Papa’s house progress.  They got in the pool for the first time!  DSC_5176Probably the last in a very long time that they’ll be on the bottom of the deep end!DSC_5177DSC_5181The progress on the front!DSC_5182At Zootastic, feeding some goats.DSC_5189DSC_5191Feeding the camel out of your hand.  DSC_5197Must have felt funny, based on their reactions!DSC_5198DSC_5199DSC_5201They had this beautiful white peacock.  Never seen anything like it!DSC_5207This is where things went south for Will.  Hey Alpaca….DSC_5213wait, don’t take my whole bowl.  Yep, he stole the whole bowl.DSC_5214The rams would butt everyone out of the way to get some food.DSC_5215This goat was out of the cages and just followed along with us like a dog!DSC_5221DSC_5223This thing had the biggest horns I’ve ever seen in my life.DSC_5226Lindy and her goat friend!DSC_5227The corn pit!DSC_5237DSC_5242Tigers.  They had tigers.DSC_5247And baby tigers that were so cute!DSC_5248DSC_5250