Thanksgiving Week(Nov 22-Nov 28)

Was so nice not to have to wake up for school on Monday. Kate has the whole week off so I kept Lauren home too. Here are the highlights from a week full of good food and family.

Monday: Kate had her first play date with her boyfriend Logan. Logan's mom Heather said they started out a little uncomfortable together but were in lock step by the end.
Aunt Funny and I took a Pie Making class at Central Market-was fantastic and we both are expert pie crust makers now.

Wednesday: Dan spent the afternoon with the girls while I got to spend the afternoon with LJ, his sweet mom Sam and my sweet mom too! Queenie was cooking/prepping for Thanksgiving and we were messing with LJ. Had a ball getting to hold that sweet baby and looked forward to the girls getting to see him on Thursday.

Thursday: Turkey Day = Turkey Trot Day and Queenie's good food! We started the morning with Aunt Funny and Eagle at the Turkey Trot. The girls got to spend some quality time with Aunt Funny which meant they got their faces painted.

Ready to run!

The turkeys are lined up

Thanks again Aunt Funny for the hearts(Kate) and tiger(Lauren) faces!

Thursday Night: Dinner at Queenie and Grandad's was delicious(as usual). Loved having the whole family there-including our newest member, LJ. Lots of turkey and dressing was eaten as we watched the cowboys lose another game. Stayed to watch the first half of UT-A&M but even Dan couldn't watch the end....bad year for the horns.

Saturday-Christmas decor was put up and stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Sunday-Took the girls to see Tangled with Reese and Jenn. They really liked it but LOVED the Rapunzel wig a little girl in front of us had on-Lauren of course now thinks she "needs" one...probably not going to happen.

November 14-November 21

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and both girls have already eaten their share of turkey! We also spent time with Santa(he must come see us now so he can get back to the North Pole and make all the toys of course).

Highlights:
Tuesday-Every grade at Kate's school has a ministry and for kindergarten, it is the Christmas Box. Each child is asked to fill a shoebox with toiletries and small gifts. The boxes are wrapped and delivered to poorer countries where this will be the only gift most children will receive. Kate and I worked on Monday buying some items and then wrapping the box. She was so proud and excited to take it to school on Tuesday.

Thursday-Thanksgiving Feast #1 for Lauren at her school. The kids performed six songs and we all enjoyed a pot luck lunch(Lauren most loved the fried chicken(from Chick Fil A) and desserts).
We also made our post-op visit to Dr Briggs to check Kate's ears. It was a quick and happy visit because her ears are perfect! Her hearing is back in the "normal" range and he said they look pink and healthy.

Friday-Thanksgiving Feast #2 for Lauren at her school. This time Queenie, Grandad and Dad were able to see the Thanksgiving show for the fourth year in a row(but the last time for a while).
Kate had her feast as well but it is done a little differently at her school. The kindergarteners are the Indians to the First Grade Pilgrims. Each Indian gets a Pilgrim as a partner and they play games and then "feast" together. Kate loved that her Pilgrim's name was "Ella" and was thrilled to tell me that her partner had our dog's name ( :

Ready for school!

Kate's Indian name was "Blue Petunia"(Blue because it is her favorite color, and petunia because Ms Weeden is Princess Petunia)

My two little Indians

Saturday-The girls were sad to miss the Farmer's Market this morning but excited because they got to have "breakfast with Santa" at the Christmas Affair. Titled "PJ's and Pancakes" we went early and stayed late for pictures with Santa, breakfast, the chocolate milk bar and music that got us all dancing. Aunt Funny is the bestest for going with us and it will likely be a yearly tradition.

Ready to have breakfast with Santa

Meeting Mrs Claus

Picture by the good tree

Aunt Funny it is cold out here in the forest....

LOVED the chocolate milk bar

Working on our Santa's cookie plates

Aunt Funny LOVES Children's performers

Getting their grove on

the REAL SNOW was the highlight

Santa Claus at last!

November 7-November 13th

Highlights of our week:
Sunday: Loved getting to spend the morning with Aunt Funny-we participated in Komen Race for the Cure. I recalled why I do not like to do that race anymore: it is always crowded and the signs-I cried through most of the 3.1 miles.
Thursday: Kate's class was chosen to recite at Regent's Open House for prospective parents. They did amazing!

Friday: Kate got more tubes put in her ears. We have been seeing ENT Dr Briggs after Dan/I both noticed that Kate was having trouble hearing.She was tested and found to be moderately deaf in both ears. We tried to avoid surgery with medication for a month but her ears showed no real improvement. The tubes are not the same as seen in younger children but perform the same function(keeping fluid out). He thinks her eustation tubes are not fully developed-likely a complication from being born so early.
She did great with the surgery-never showed any signs of fear. Her first words to the nurse when she woke up was "What happened?". A little stomach upset on the way home was the only thing that indicated she had just had surgery.
On the drive home all she could talk about was getting home and taking a bath without her sister. She ran upstairs as soon as we got home and turned on the water. Quickly she reappeared downstairs and said "Mom I promise I did not do anything but the water is so loud, I don't know what is wrong with the bath. I promise I just turned it on". Love her! Such a HUGE sign that those tubes where working right away and HUGE sigh of relief for me ( : The water was not any louder except to the child who had been unable to hear for a long time.

Saturday: What a great day to go to Vivo! Granny, Betsy, Nancy, Grant and Sarah all came up from Houston and we had a fun time catching up!

The gang from Houston also got to visit 1 month old LJ-so fun to have a new baby around!

November 1-November 6

Highlights of the week:

Tuesday: This was the best day of the week for Kate. Her class went on their first field trip. We drove out to Crowe's Nest farm near Manor to see dairy cows(and milk them), gorgeous gardens, hayrides, all varieties of chickens and birds(rescue), and all forms of reptiles/bugs. They spent the last few weeks studying animals and this was a way to take what they learned to another level. The kids had a ball(as did the parents).

Inside the dairy barn(where we watched them milk the cow)

Bestest Friends

Wednesday: The girls take gymnastics every Wednesday after school. They LOVE it and look forward to it every week. For some reason, today's class was a little harder on them than most....

Saturday: Nana and Bieboo came to visit for the weekend. Kate was thrilled to get to show them around her school and then out for ice cream. The girls were able to get plenty of time to play with Nana and showed her just how fun their game of "puppy" can be.

Halloween Week(Oct 25-31)

Highlights of our week:

Monday: We had a great start to Halloween week with the McMahan family. Monday night we dressed and drove over to the Tri Delt house on campus. The girls got to trick or treat up and down the halls and collected a ton of candy. They also took swings at a pinata and decorated their own cookies-lots of sugar and fun.

Hook 'em

One of the games they got to play

Trick or Treat

Lauren's Cookie-good enough to eat(which she did)

Pizza dinner for all!

NICU Buds-aren't they both gorgeous?!? 

Friday: Kate had her second time at a birthday party for a classmate and Lauren was not a part of it. This is getting to be a hard year for Lauren-this is the first time they are not in the same school and do not share friends. Halle turned 5 with a party at a bouncy house and it was fun to see how close her class has become.

Also we met the Gitre's for dinner. SO loved catching up with our old neighbors and seeing their girls. Samantha is all grown up and Jessie is acing the magnet school she attends. Rachel was Lauren's best friend and they all will be amazing babysitters very soon. How lucky were we to get to live next to them when we first moved to Austin-so miss seeing them!

Saturday: Today was no ordinary farmer's market with Halloween looming. The girls have found the way into the hearts of some of the vendors and they had treats ready for them when they got there. Every week they go by the Gundermans and today they gave the girls a bag full of treats and a pumpkin planter with a funny plant. So dear and really made the morning with Queenie and Grandad that much more special.

We also hit a local Halloween fair for more face painting!

Kate wanted a pumpkin

Lauren wanted a red snake(!?!)

Sunday: Halloween!!! It was nearly impossible to keep the girls out of their costumes most of the day. They finally were able to put them on and go outside to collect candy. Grandad helped Dad take them through our neighborhood and off to Wampton for their annual celebration.

Tinkerbell and Vidia

Grandad is ready

Ready for take off!