I'm Back!

I have been a major slacker with this blog.  One of my goals for the new year is to do a better job of blogging.  I've been inspired by a book that I've been reading since about October.  (I've finally found some time to read over Christmas break!)

In the book, among many other motivating things, it talks about setting goals and gives advice on how to see them through.  It will be impossible for me to catch up completely, so I'll do a recap of what we've been up to since summer.

Of course we went back to school.  Our school year is going so quickly!

Annie turned 4 in October.  I always feel bad because it seems like she gets jipped on her birthday.  I always have parent-teacher conferences during the week of her birthday.  This year, we were packing for a camping trip with friends on her birthday.  But, we still found time to celebrate her day and make it special.

I ordered a birthday cake for her, and the order was lost.  I learned of this at 3:30 that afternoon, so I did what every mom would do.  I ran to the local grocery store and bought one out of the case.  I never told the kids, and they never knew otherwise.  Annie loved her princess cake...and the princesses on the cake served as bath time entertainment for a good month.

Money inside birthday cards always generates excitement!

Captured the excitement of new shoes!

I don't know why I love this picture so much.  Her little pig tails, dark brown eyes, and little smile?  She is cute, if I do say so myself.

When we came back from camping, there was a gift in our mailbox from Steve, Lindsey & Scarlett!

Our camping trip was wet, but unseasonably warm.  The temperature was in the 90s on Saturday afternoon.  We lucked out when the storm came through, and hunkered down in the cabins that Gwen, Cheryl and Kelly rented.  (I wouldn't have wanted to be in our camper when the storm came through.  It was super windy!)

The kids did their share of pumpkin painting this year.  I think we painted pumpkins on 3 different occasions!  So fun!

Huggy Bear put in a jumping pillow this year.  The moms and kids both took their turns jumping.

Old friends are the best.  What a fun weekend!

Just like last year, we went to the pumpkin patch as part of Annie's celebration.  The kids remembered Lincoln Ridge from last year, and they were excited to check it out again!  Adam and I agreed as we were driving home that next year we'll have to check out something new.

For us, the month of October & November were less than great.  We had a six week stretch of bad luck.  We had hoped for a 10 year anniversary get-away in mid October to Florida to visit Elissa.  It's a good thing we didn't go.  Elissa's son was in the hospital while she was 9 months pregnant.  There was a hurricane in northern Florida which would've wrecked our travels a bit. 

Here, Adam spent 3 days in the hospital with an infection in his intestines.  Instead of packing for a trip, I spent the week juggling schedules, visiting him in the hospital, trying to be a single parent, and still make it to work on time.  Exhausting!  Several weeks later, the main power that feeds our house (including the transformer) was damaged in a freak of nature.  We spent a Friday evening in the dark, dealing with scared kiddos, and working with the power company to temporarily restore our power.  Ultimately, we had to replace the main electric to the house.  As a result of the power surge, our hot water heater was fried.  No pun intended.  We were without hot water for a day or two until Adam could install a new one.  A few days later, our water softener went out, which also required replacement by my handy husband.  Meanwhile, our backyard was completely dug up (by my relentless husband) because of a septic failing to properly drain.  After about 3 weeks of on-and-off digging by hand, he decided he was in over his head and needed to borrow a backhoe to expedite the troubleshooting and repair.  After a day or two off work, plenty of ruined shoes and clothes, and working in the rain and dark, I am happy to report he was successful in fixing it.  (We caught the attention of our neighbors, for sure!)  In between all of this, Adam had another flare-up of his infection and the water line to our refrigerator was leaking for who-knows-how-long.  In November, the lift pump in our basement went out.  One morning before school, the toilet overflowed when Vera flushed it.  Adam spent that afternoon replacing the pump so we could do laundry (and use any water in the basement) again.  (Insert dollar signs and grumpy wife emoji.  Ha!)  Adulthood and home ownership are awesome!  Through all of this, I am super thankful for a handy (albeit relentless) husband who has the skills and time to repair all of this.  

 About the same time we had no hot water, it was Halloween.  We celebrated with a Halloween party at Grandma & Papaw's house on a Saturday evening.  

This was their self-created supper--Mummies!  Can you guess which one is Vince's?  Yep, the one in the lower right corner.  The one that has no sign of hot dog anywhere!

Gang's all here!

Typical craziness.

Christmas PJs for all from grandma & papaw.

Vera also had her 2nd grade musical in October.  She was an adorable dalmatian, which turned out to also be her Halloween costume.  

Since I have my own nice camera now, I decided to try to take some pictures for holiday cards and to update frames.  Plus, after the way October went, there was no time to think about scheduling a photo session or coordinating some outfits for a Christmas card.  So, I took the kids out to Bear's Mill on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I didn't fix my hair, wore leggings, earmuffs, and the warmest coat I own.  The Mill was opening as we arrived, and the woman working was super-friendly and generous.  They welcomed us to take photos and encouraged us to walk along the water to check things out.  So, we snapped some pictures.  (It was cold!)  And then we went on a little walk.  Despite the mud, it turned out to be the best impromptu outing.  The sun even came out for a bit!  We saw some ducks, walked along the river to the new covered bridge, and were surprised to come upon the falls.  The kids were so intrigued, and had so much fun observing.  Vince asked 174 questions about the falls, the mill, and how everything works.  We ended up going inside to have a look around and warm up.  It's a beautiful, quaint little gift shop.  I was a little embarrassed of my hairdo, but took the time to look around nonetheless.  The kids left with coloring books that told the story of the mill, and they couldn't wait to tell their dad about their adventures.  Oh, and we managed to get some cute pictures for frames and Christmas cards.  Win!