Whirlwind. Truly

Sunday after church we surprised the kids with a trip to the beach. They thought we were just going on a drive to scout out Christmas trees. It was pretty funny. What we didn't know was that a huge storm was hitting the coast. The wind and rain was CRAZY. I don't think we slept much because it was so loud. Power went out at the hotel, the road to get home was closed so we had to go another way that took 3 hours. Definitely memorable. As soon as we came home out came the Christmas decorations. I literally feel like I have no time to get this all done. Next weekend is Aidan's Birthday party, the weekend after is my girlfriend's brunch weekend after that I'm having my Dad's side over (minus my dad) and then it's Christmas!  Once again working full time gets in the way ha ha.
Poor Aidan is so used to "routine" he doesn't know if he's coming or going. Being out of school this week and us running all over the place has him out of sorts. We already did the Santa visit and I left early yesterday so we went to the Zoo and did Zoo lights.
Rick took the kids to Costco on Tuesday while I was at work to pick up a few things and Abby wanted to get me flowers. Such a sweet girl!
We put up two trees each year, getting the kids their own 'live' one to put their ornaments on. I asked Abby if she wanted to go to the tree farm on Sunday to pick one out and cut down and she said no she doesn't want to see it get killed. So... guess it's tree lot again.
Aidan's 2nd adult tooth has come in behind his baby teeth. When it does this it gets huge and swollen before it cuts through just like teething and it's painful for him. We call him shark teeth.
Today is Thanksgiving and Rick is once again working this year. I'm going to run around like crazy and get all my side dishes done, and hopefully get at least half of the house clean and start decorating the tree. Tomorrow is a few errands, finish cleaning house, finish tree, eat our big meal... And then time  to get ready for the Civil War game and visit with our grown up girls!!!
Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever!!

WAITING....

Each day I was waiting for signs of the tummy bug to show up in Rick or myself. I would look at food and think oh if I eat this and then get sick it will not be pleasant. Even the dog threw up.
Monday the kids had Veteran's Day off. I had to work and I also had their teacher conferences. Abby's teacher was at a loss as to what to say. She is reading 143 words in 40-something seconds where the average for 2nd grade is 90 or 93 words in one minute. She asked me if we should double up on her homework or give her special assignments to keep her engaged. She also said one week at the end of the day when it was chaos and the kids were loud and crazy Abby came up to her and tapped her on the arm and just quietly told her a bible verse. She said it instantly calmed her. It made me realize how truly special this little girl is and some days I just take it all for granted. What a gift she is.
Aidan is plugging along in Kindergarten. His teacher said he is right on track and loves to help her. We've been having him read to us at night and he's really coming along. He is such a sweet little thing. I'm just relishing this age right now.
Abby moved up to Level 3 in gymnastics so that changes our schedule to Friday nights where it's Rick's work day so I'll have to bring Aidan and keep him occupied for 1.5 hours. eeks.
It's been a relatively calm week. Much needed before the Thanksgiving week chaos of decorating that will ensue. Rick has to once again work on Thanksgiving Day. I'm a bit sad this year because as the kids get older you want that 'tradition' but I laugh because they don't really know anything else other than on Thanksgiving Day we decorate the tree because Daddy works.
Abby's Egypt story was published yet again. This is the 2nd time too in the local newspaper. God is always at work!
Rick took today off so I could attend a brunch and wine tasting birthday party. Came home and had to quickly prepare a meal to deliver. Abby's first best friend from when they were 2 became a big sister to twins after 7 years of her parents undergoing fertility treatments. Sadly they moved after Pre-K and we just haven't been good about getting the girls together. We had a great visit and I got a double baby fix!

Birthday and Barf

Rick's Birthday was Wednesday. I took the day off so we could have a 'date.' It was short lived since the kids only had a half day of school. I also had Muffins for Mom's in Aidan's classroom first thing. We went to breakfast at our favorite place and ran some errands. He was able to hit a bucket of balls too. He picked Benihana for his birthday dinner since he gets a free meal. It was a food day for sure. He had a pretty good cold going on and that night Aidan threw up twice. The first time we didn't even make it close to anything and it went ALL. OVER. THE. BATHROOM. For the record, we have carpet in our bathroom. I don't know what we were thinking. Rick shampooed the carpet from 2 until 3am. I ended up taking another day off to stay home with the little man and found out kids were being sent home for the same bug and 2 teachers! By the end of the day Thursday, Abby said there were only 6 kids left in her class. The nice thing about an extra day off is I was able to work on cleaning house so I could actually enjoy my weekend. That was short lived however, when we went to family service at church this morning and Abby barfed ALL. OVER. THE. PEW.  I don't know what was worse, the sound of it, or the lady in the pew in front of us with the loudest gasp I've ever heard. So we've still got Man-Cold and now Round 2 of tummy bug.

November Already

Monday was gymnastics, Tuesday Abby had her 8 year check up- still rejoicing she made it on the weight chart. Girl is SKINNY. Dr assured me she is fine and she has the build of a dancer/gymnast and she is in the "petite miss" category. A little concern about her eye test so we scheduled an eye appt for her. I finally made it to Barre, Wednesday trick or treat, Friday the kids didn't have school so Rick stayed home with them since it's month end for me. Lucky ones got to go to the movies with Daddy! Friday also marked a milestone- Abby's very first sleepover. She had been packed for 2 weeks in anticipation. We took Aidan to dinner. I think he liked the one on one time. I took him out for hot chocolate this morning on a little date before we picked up sister.
 We caved and bought them some hot lunch tickets. They been asking and it's pretty expensive and not as healthy as what we make them but I have to admit I like that it will be once less thing on my plate every now and then. I seem to have caught Rick's cold or my boss's. Not feeling so great the past 2 days...