November 2011

We started the month off by celebrating Lilliana's second birthday. She had a colorful party at her house. On top of the good food and company, there was a bounce house in her basement. The kids had a blast running from the playroom to the bounce house and back again. Thank you to Lilly and the Kruglet's for allowing us to be a part of such a special day.

Speaking of birthdays, Scott and I both celebrated ours this month as well. Scott no longer fits into the 29-34 bracket. But hey, you are as old as you feel, right!?! That is what I keep telling myself year after year, anyway.

We had Kyla's first parent-teacher conference. Her teacher, Miss Pam, said she is doing well and making progress towards starting Kindergarten next year. Miss Pam also mentioned Kyla can be a bit stubborn. Apparently, when asked to count, Kyla only felt the need to count to six. We hope this isn't the start of what's to come down the road for her and school. On the up side, when asked which letters she recognized and knew, she pointed to 'M' and said "M is for Michigan!" That's my girl. Go Blue!!

Easton got his first haircut on the 15th. He did NOT like that. Not one little bit. He cried as if you were ripping him limb from limb. Poor little guy. He sure looked handsome afterwards though.

To further torture the kids, I took them for Christmas pictures and to see Santa at the mall. Pictures were not easy, as Easton wanted to play with all of the decorations. Thankfully, we got one (and only one) good one the kids together.

Kyla was so excited to visit Santa Claus. She couldn't wait to tell him about the 100's of things she wants for Christmas. Mainly, she wants lots of gingerbread men and women and lots of snowmen. Sounds like an easy enough request for Santa and his helpers at the North Pole.

Easton cried the whole time. He didn't care for Santa at all. In Santa's defense, he is still a Mama's boy. I bought a picture anyway. Kyla's as happy as a lark, while Easton is as terrified as a mouse being chased by a cat. It will make a good keepsake. Not to mention a fun picture to get out when Easton starts dating. In his 20's, of course.

We celebrated Thanksgiving here at home. It was a small family gathering, but nice nonetheless. Nothing beats a day worth of cooking to eat and be done in five to ten minutes. Thankfully, there was a weekends worth of leftovers for all of us. That's got to be the second best part of the holiday.

Ryder had an incident after Thanksgiving that scared us good. We ended up talking him to the animal hospital one night to be evaluated. His heart murmur has gotten worse and is causing heart failure. We have to see a cardiologist soon to get a better idea of how his heart is working and what kinds of medication to put him on. Hopefully, the medication will help and give us all a few more years with him.

We look forward to next month and everything the Christmas season will bring to us and all of you. God Bless.