Easy Second Week of November

The second week in November was easy for three of us in our house.  We got home at midnight Sunday night.  My mom was there to help get the kids up and ready for school.  I had enough vacation days to take the day off but poor Drew had to go to work.  My mom took the kids to school on her way back home which was nice.  We got them out the door but since the routine was off I forgot Lindy's library books and to change her hearing aid batteries.  That came back to bite me later in the week.

I was able to take my time getting ready but then I was on the run after that.  I took the dog to get his nails trimmed at the vet.  I dropped him off and headed out to do our monthly grocery shopping.  The cupboards were looking pretty bare.  I barely had enough time to unpack the cold things before heading to get the kids from school.  I had an end of quarter parent teacher conference for Will that went really well.  He is doing well which is good to hear.  We left there and ran back by the vet to pick up medicine for the dog and finally got home. 

Tuesday the kids were out of school because the quarter ended on Monday.  It was nice that it was also election day because they vote in schools around here.  I took the day off to stay with the kids which was nice and made for a nice long weekend.  I let the kids take it easy that morning but we had to leave after lunch for a yearly neurosurgery appointment for Lindy.  We went first and got my flu shot.  I had Lindy holding my hand to make sure I was okay!  We got promptly called back for Lindy's appointment and then waited an hour in the exam room for a 10 minute appointment.  We finished our errands by getting Drew's car inspected. 

Wednesday we were all back to school and work for two days and then we were off again on Friday.  The kids had it off for Veterans' Day so I took it off with them.  They had another easy morning and then it was another afternoon of errands.  The kids got flu shots at 1:20pm and were not very happy about it.  We returned something at Michael's, bought two birthday presents at Target and then headed to Sam's before heading back home. 

Saturday was a good but busy day.  Drew left early to go hiking with Ed.  The kids both had a birthday party so I was merely the chauffeur.  Mimo kept Will while I took Lindy to her party from 12-2:30pm.  Her party was a skating party and I knew I'd have to stay with her.  She had never skated before and well, it was interesting.  I had to pay $4 for one of the little PVC pipe walker things which was a necessity but I think is ridiculous they charge you.  Then they wouldn't let me go on the skating rink with her.  I would have had to pay for skates to go with her.  She was very content just practicing on the carpet outside the rink for a long time.  She finally decided she wanted to try it and another mom we know who was randomly there and not with the party tried to take her out.  It didn't go very well.  That floor was much slicker.  Then she was 100% fine staying out on the carpet.  We went up and down the length of the carpet a hundred times and she fell about 50 times.  She was a good sport and I think only one really hurt.    She would have liked to have been out skating with some friends but they were all pretty good and were whizzing around.  We left there and picked Will up from Mimo's.  We took him to his party and I was able to just drop him off since it was at one of his good buddy's house.  Lindy and I met up with Mimo, Aunt Jamie, Molly and Ellie to go to a couple furniture stores.  We grabbed Will and then had dinner with them, too.  We were all tired last night. 

Today has been church and football - and blogs - because I'm caught up!!!!!

The furry peeps in our house all got new beds this week.  

 Lindy had to try it out though.  Aiden barked at her to get out of his new bed.

Dr. Lindy at her appointment.

 

 The sweet mom who tried to help her.  She ended up riding the PVC pipe back!

 She enjoyed resting her skates on the walker.

 She finds a dog everywhere she goes!

 

November?

It's already November.  How did that happen?!

It was rough having Halloween on a Monday.  No kid wanted to go to school the next day but they all made it. 

They did have an early release on Wednesday, 11/2, so I took the afternoon off to spend with them.   We ran errands and then we went to early vote in the big election.  I had wanted to take the kids but was dreading doing it on election day.  This early release allowed us to go and for them to see the democratic process.  We did end up waiting about 25 minutes but we got our votes in.  We all pushed confirm together and got our early voting stickers.  We headed home for the rest of the afternoon.

November 6th is Will's special day but Drew and I were going to be heading out of town on Saturday for a wedding so we decided to celebrate with him on Friday.  I went and ate lunch at school with him and his buddy Luke.  Will chose pizza for dinner Friday night and then we went and saw the movie Trolls.  It was super cute with great music and Will enjoyed it.  We had never done a movie for his special day so that was fun.

Saturday my parents arrived around 10am and they got Will out the door to tennis.  We headed out soon after they got there and drove down to Charleston, SC.  My boss was getting married on Sunday, but we went down a day early to look around.  We got down there and got into our hotel and then we headed out to look around and have dinner.  It'd been since college since Drew and I had been down there and I definitely didn't appreciate it back then.   I really enjoyed it this time though.  We had a fantastic dinner out and enjoyed walking through the city market.  Sunday we slept in, ate breakfast at our hotel and then went to a short wedding rehearsal.  We headed out to the battery and to see rainbow row and just to walk more around the city.   The wedding was from 4-7pm and Drew performed the ceremony.  It was a sweet and simple ceremony but Shawn and Velvet were very happy.  We left right after that and headed home.  It was a tough drive back.  We were both so tired.  We split the drive up but we were so happy to pull in the drive at midnight. 

After lunch on Saturday my parents took the kids and dog back to their house.  They messed around on Saturday but on Sunday they helped Will celebrate his special day.  He had mentioned wanting to go to the Discovery Kids museum in Huntersville and I had originally told him no.  Then I realized he'd be with my parents so it actually worked out.  They took them to play and then Mom drove them back over to our house.  She got them in bed that night and then spent the night with us as well. 

 

Voting.  Or sitting and waiting to vote.  And I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have taken this picture.

 Yay!  We voted and had stickers to prove it!

 Happy Special Day Observed Will! 

 Our trip to Charleston.  This was the view from our hotel room. 

 Rainbow Row - we met a guy who lived across the street who told us the history of the houses. 

 Creepy, mossy cemetery.

 The happy bride and groom! 

 Velvet and her girls

 Me and Velvet - a great boss and friend

 My date!

 Meanwhile, the kids were having fun at the Discovery Place on Will's real special day.

Olympic Halloween

We racked our brains for months to come up with a costume for Halloween.  Neither child is much into dressing up in elaborate costumes.   One day it came to me - Olympians.  I knew we needed to finish our Olympic year with Halloween.

It all fell into place beautifully and I present to you Michael Phelps and Simone Biles! 

We went up to our church around 6pm to just say hi and then we came back to our neighborhood.  It was the kids' first real door to door trick or treating.  Drew stayed at the house and gave our candy and Lindy, Will and I went out around the neighborhood.  We didn't even get to about 2/3 of the neighborhood though.  They had full bags and tired legs so we headed home.  They were pleased with their haul and were ready to call it a night.  The weather was perfect for the day.  Many people recognized Will as Michael Phelps and they knew Lindy was an Olympic gymnast, just not which one.

Last Week of October

The last week in October was another event week for me at work so my evenings were spent working. 

We carved pumpkins on Tuesday night.  It was our only available night before Halloween to do it.  The kids had Xmas program practice again. 

The kids spent Friday night with Lynn so that Drew could come volunteer at the event.  We got home very late and it was very nice to be able to sleep in that next morning.   We left around lunch on Saturday and headed to Mimo's.  We picked up Will to go tailgate and go to a football game.  Lindy got invited to an art party play date at a friend's house from 2-7pm.  Lynn helped us out by taking and picking her up for us so we could watch the game.  We had a little tailgate and then got to see Wake lose to Army.  The best part of the game was that it was Ellie's first football game.  She was super tired the first half and just chilled with me the whole time.  She woke up in the second half and had a blast.  She's so cute! 

Sunday afternoon Lindy and I met some friends at a park.  They went through a very similar pregnancy, preterm birth and infant loss like we did.  They have a boy and girl now as well but they are in high school.  Lindy and the daughter have been compared for years.  They both have severe vision and hearing loss but are both very smart girls.  We met them for ice cream and then went to a park.  Lindy and Asha got to hang out and the mom and I got to hang out.  Lindy and I both need mentors!  It was nice to talk to someone a little farther in our journey and get good advice from her.  Lindy really enjoyed hanging out with someone like her.

One likes the goo and one doesn't!!

 Ellie's first football game!  Cousins eyeing each other.

 Go Deacs!