Go, Go, Goers!

This has been a really good time off of work.  I checked in a few times on things at work, and while I know I'll be super busy when I get back into the swing of things tomorrow, I'm hoping that overall, things didn't crash and burn while I was out (I'm sure it was all fine!)  If I could find a way to earn a salary and not have to worry about working, that would be really super.  If only... I had a LONG list of things on my to-do list for while I was out, and I managed to get through 98% of them.  Plus, the house is all decorated for Christmas, I only have 3 presents left to buy for Christmas, and my Christmas cards should be delivered in the next week so I can get those out the door to our family and friends.  I LOVE being so productive! Having the time off of work meant that I was able to watch G's last soccer class for this session, and I was able to cheer him on while he played and received his certificate and medal.  I'm pretty sure there's nothing ...

Last Sunday, I knocked out a big part of the Christmas shopping for this season.  Feels good to get it done!  My mom and I went to the yuuuuuge Canterbury craft show, and enjoyed a fun mom-daughter afternoon.  I'm so glad my parents have moved here - I feel so fortunate that we have the chance to see them so frequently.  Had I never moved thousands of miles away from them after I graduated from high school, I don't think I'd have this profound appreciation for now having them close.  It just took 20+ years to get to this space! We found this awesome toy bow & arrow set for G for Christmas...he will love it! (And so will Ava, and Scott, and me...!) Intertwined with the good feelings of being productive (at home and at work), we had a little bit of a negative.  G has been fighting fevers for the last 2 months or so.  He'll have an elevated temp, and then it'll be gone within a few days...no other symptoms.  Finally, we decided that eno...

This has been a rough week.  Busy, of course, with work, friends, and family...but there's been an underlying sadness.  I cried myself to sleep on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, I had to explain to my 8-year old daughter why 60.3 million Americans voted for a man who displays behavior that we have been working tirelessly at preventing in our schools.  The look on her face was one of fear and sadness. I had to explain that out of the four of us in our house, that her father may be the only one who is not negatively impacted, as he is a straight, white, Christian male.  Ava and I?  Well, we're females, and our reproductive rights might fly right out the window.  G?  He's too young to know where he is going to land with everything...all I know at this point is that he's a white male. This week, I've done a lot of reading, discussing, and thinking.  I don't generally get so heavily invested in politics, but this decision was too big to jus...

What a super busy last 216 hours! If you recall, last weekend we had two Halloween parties (FUN and FUN!), two birthday dinners for G (YUMMY and AWESOME!), pumpkin decorating/carving, and also some leaf-diving.  That led into Halloween-day festivities, and then an evening full of Trick-or-Treating around the 'hood.  On Tuesday night, G had his three-year check up (all is well, and apparently he's on the short & fat side of things.  That's a first for either of our kids!  I'm sure he'll lengthen out soon...his weight is 50% percentile, so he's not really fat...)  On Wednesday night, I went to Ava's school conference...she's doing fabulously!  Her reading level is already beyond where it needs to be at the END of 3rd grade.  She listens in class, focuses on her assignments, and plays very well with the other kids.  I specifically asked if she talks too much in class, and the answer was no, she's actually a bit reserved. Shocker!  Her teac...

On Friday, Ava asked me if we could put up our Christmas tree this weekend.  I told her that might happen the day after Thanksgiving...but not one minute before!  I explained that this weekend was already full of birthday and Halloween celebrations, and even once we're done with that, Thanksgiving is next up on the holiday docket. When I was out shopping last weekend, I saw some Christmas displays, and opted not to venture down the aisles.  No wonder January feels so blah...we've been exposed to the holiday season (including Halloween) for at least three months prior, and when it's all done, it feels like a huge void! But, I digress. We are right in the middle of the birthday and Halloween events for this weekend, so I'll be posting all of that next week.  But, I do want to wish our little G a super duper HAPPY BIRTHDAY (yesterday)!  He's three, I can't believe it!  Three was the hardest age with Ava, soooo....I guess we'll see how it goes with G....

The right decision is often not an easy one to make...Scott and I had been struggling with a decision about our oldest beagle, Darla.  For the past year, she has been afflicted with multiple medical issues, and we knew that she wouldn't make it much longer.  It felt like we had been saying that for several years, but she kept on bouncing back and recovering from whatever ailments she had.  Over the past summer, she began licking her tummy to the point where she licked off all of her fur, and her skin was rubbed raw.  She also stopped eating around that time, and had no energy.  But, amazingly, she bounced back!  Then, just over the last few weeks, she started having multiple, daily accidents inside the house.  To the point where we'd let her out, and within an hour, she was going potty right in front of us, inside the house. I'm not sure how that became my tipping point, but it hit home that this wasn't something that we could fix.  Last week, s...