Thankful

Remember all that money we spent on our master bathroom remodel last month?  We weren't planning on another big expense anytime soon, but our HVAC unit had other plans. It was a 15-year-old unit that had been repaired a few years ago. We could've tried to repair it again, but based on its age, no one recommended it. The price of these systems are really high, and we collected a few quotes before we found a reputable company that provided a reasonable price. Thankfully, it went out during one of the most temperate weeks of the year. 

Behold, our shiny new heating & cooling system!

Goodbye to a lot of our savings account!

On Veteran's Day, we took our favorite veteran and his lovely wife to dinner at Texas Roadhouse

The weather has been so pretty that Hallie and I have taken evening strolls most nights after dinner. We have a beautiful lake neighborhood near our house that we like to walk to.

Hallie's been begging Dan to camp out on our trampoline with her one night, and they finally made it happen! They had tried it once during the summer and it was just too hot. But they made it through the entire night this time, and celebrated with donuts in the morning.  Emma and I agree that we're not sleeping outside when our comfy beds are just a few steps away!

Emma's been having UTIs once a month for several months in a row, so we scheduled an ultrasound and a visit with a urologist. The urologist put her on a low dose of antibiotics and scheduled a VCUG, where her bladder was filled with contrast during an x-ray, so they could observe while her bladder filled & emptied. It was just as horrible as it sounds. They gave her some kind of "loopy juice" to sedate her and said that many people don't remember a thing after the procedure. Unfortunately, it didn't kick in fast enough, so Emma was fully cognizant during the procedure. I was able to stay with her the entire time, so now we both will always remember how traumatic it was. 

After the VCUG, that sedation medicine went into full effect, and oh boy. Emma is absolutely hilarious when she's high. She had the munchies on the way home and could hardly find her mouth, but she slowly managed to eat a bag of animal crackers that had too many "scary monkeys" in it. 

She couldn't stand on her own, much less walk, once we got home. I had to wrap her arms around my neck and frog march her into the house and flop her onto the couch. She tried to shift positions while I was in the bathroom, so she fell off the couch and just laid there, wondering why she was on the floor. I sat beside her to monitor her, and laughed until I cried listening to her talk. Some highlights were watching her discover a "butthole" on her new reindeer stuffed animal, and wondering if the beast with many faces in the book of Revelation had any ears. After a while, she decided that she felt good enough to watch TV, but she insisted that she needed to go to the other living room. She still couldn't walk, but she rolled off the couch and crawled on the floor.

This was as far as she got, and she was stuck like this until I came to rescue her.

We met with a urology surgeon a few days later, who hopes that surgery won't be necessary. He gave Emma some suggestions to help, and we'll pray that they keep her UTI-free.

We met some special friends from San Diego at the Virginia Living Museum.

Jennifer and Dan worked together at Calvary Christian Academy when we lived in San Diego, and they've kept in touch through the years. Jennifer took her two daughters, Coral and Lily, on a cross-country road trip and made a point to visit us while they were in VA.

The four girls are very close in age, and they became fast friends.

Coral and Emma are less than a year apart, and they both adore fantasy books and animals.

Hallie and Lily are about a couple of years apart, and they had the best time talking and playing together.

After the Virginia Living Museum, we ate dinner together and visited Yorktown Beach until it got dark and then our friends headed to Washington DC.

The Friday before Thanksgiving Break, StoneBridge has Christian Heritage Day, which is an on-campus event based on the Native Americans and early Settlers. The students dress like Pilgrims or Native Americans and visit several activity stations.

There was a small petting farm

Knot tying

Apple roasting

and canoe making

Hallie and her friend, Glory

And with her friend, Fiona

In the meantime, Dan and Emma were filling Operation Christmas Child boxes

It's a good service project, but Emma's looking forward to being able to help at Christian Heritage Day when she's in high school.

We stayed in town for Thanksgiving break, and joined Dan's parents, my parents, and Dan's cousin, Jon, and his family for Thanksgiving dinner. 

We took the girls to see Zootopia 2 after it released over Thanksgiving weekend.

And here's a miraculous picture of Emma and Hallie getting along with each other. Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Fun

Our master bathroom remodel went very smoothly, but there were of course a couple of hiccups along the way. One rainy day, the contractor discovered a minor roof leak that we had to have repaired. We've had several roof leaks over our bedroom area as a result of an enormous oak tree with heavy branches that used to hang over the house. One of our first decisions after buying our home 10 years ago was to cut that tree down to protect the roof and avoid having to rake all its leaves in the fall. We're thankful that the contractor found the leak before it got worse!

The culprit was this nail poking through the shingles.

They built a beautiful tile shower for us, but installed the showerhead at a height appropriate for a 6-foot-tall person, not an average woman. If I stretched as far as I could, I could barely brush it with my fingertips, so I wouldn't be able to safely change the setting in a slippery shower.  We asked them to lower it a few inches and were concerned that it would require a lot of work, but they corrected it quickly.

At the end of almost 3 weeks, we had a gorgeous new master bathroom. Enjoy the before & after photos!

 

  

 

   

  

 

My favorite part is that we now have a bathroom door to shut! Cynthia also suggested moving the closet entrance to the bedroom wall, which has made it more accessible.

Hallie had the opportunity to lead chapel with her class at school, and she and one of her best friends, Fiona, wore their matching dresses.

StoneBridge has an annual Grandparents' Day and Emma sang in the middle school Chorus for the special event

Hallie's class sang, also, and Hallie had a solo part! Sadly, both Dan's parents and my parents got sick and weren't able to make it to Grandparents' Day. Everyone was disappointed, but especially Hallie, since grandparents are able to visit the elementary students' classrooms after chapel. I left work a few hours early, picked the girls up and took them shopping at the school book fair and bought them lunch to help cheer them up.

Speaking of grandparents, my dad had a medical procedure scheduled one day and I volunteered to drop he & my mom off at the hospital and pick them up afterwards. Instead of putting my dad's clothes and belongings in a locker or his recovery room, the nurse bagged them and asked my mom (who has Alzheimer's) to hold onto them in the waiting area. When I arrived to pick up my parents, no one had any idea where my dad's clothes were, because my mom had walked all over the hospital wing and had left the bag behind or hidden them somewhere safe. For nearly an hour, she and I visited the lost & found and security, searched every possible spot, and asked every available employee. We finally gave up hope and returned to my dad, who was reconciling himself to riding home clothed in as many hospital gowns as the hospital would give him.  But the nurse called security one last time and someone had just turned in his missing clothes! Hallelujah!  In summary, I should have stayed with my mom, we've learned our lesson, and we have a new plan moving forward.  

We had lots of birthday celebrations in October! Hallie attended her friend, Sophia's, pool party on one of the last warm days of the year.

Sophia's family lives on hundreds of acres of land, and her dad gave the kids ATV rides. Their dog kept risking her life by running in front of the 4-wheeler.

At the end of the party, there was a piñata full of candy. Hallie got creative and used her crocs to scoop up as much as she could carry.

Emma and Hallie were both invited to Emma's friend, Diana's, laser tag birthday party. They absolutely loved running around shooting each other!

Hallie's best friend at church, Celinda, also had a September birthday, so Celinda's mom and I took the girls to a park and then to Sweet Spot for a belated celebration.

They both ordered enormous sundaes and couldn't quite finish them. 

Our niece, Naomi, celebrated her birthday with an escape room experience with the Jester cousins

They had to solve riddles and follow instructions in several fairytale themed rooms

It was a good teambuilding exercise, and they had lots of fun

They successfully escaped! Happy birthday to Naomi!

One of Hallie's 4th grade projects was to write a biography book report and create a "bottle buddy" of the person. She chose Sacagawea for her project. 

She even strapped Sacagawea's baby, Pomp, to her bottle buddy's back. Sacagawea had carried Pomp on her back during the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

I got to attend Hallie's field trip to Colonial Williamsburg

The class was divided into small groups, and each group had to visit a historical building and learn about several trades during the field trip. Our group chose to visit the courthouse, and the four girls got to enact the different roles in court.

We visited several shops to learn about colonial trades. Hallie's favorite was the apothecary.

They couldn't have cared less about this colonial gentleman, but they adored his lovely horse.

They also enjoyed playing in the hedge maze at the Governor's Palace.

We visited the jail, where they locked all the parents into jail cells. 

The weekend before Halloween, we visited Virginia Beach Town Center where they gave out free cotton candy, and the stores passed out candy to kids in costume. 

That evening, I took Hallie to another Trunk or Treat at a church in our neighborhood. She got a cute balloon dog.

She played several Bible-themed games, including "bobbing for apples" at the Garden of Eden. Don't eat the forbidden fruit, Hallie!!

The girls have been begging us to take them to our local Cat Cafe on a "Kittenpalooza" weekend. Once a month, they have over a dozen kittens that they keep in a separate room from the older cats.

Love ...

True Love

On Halloween day, several employees at my office dressed up in costume.

That evening, we drove to Williamsburg for pizza and trick-or-treating with the Jester family.

Hallie dressed as a lynx this year. 

Emma dressed as a dragon.

Our nieces Miriam and Naomi dressed as video game characters from Dandy's World

Aaron was a mysterious man with candy.

Micah dressed as Miles, a character from one of his favorite books, The Candy Factory.

And Josiah wore this.

Both the girls scored an incredible amount of candy

Emma doesn't even like candy. But she does like to collect and organize it.