Lazy Saturday

Yesterday we helped the Robinson cousins with some tree trimming and cookie baking and then went out to dinner for some delicious Indian food. 

Thanksgiving 2014

Great food and great company! Still recovering this morning LOL. Boatload of pictures below -- happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It's a Bird, it's a Plane....

It's Caroline! For some reason she was pretending to fly this morning when I dropped her off at school ;)

Kid Free Weekend / Dueling Dinners

Joel and I arranged for babysitter extraordinaire Sharon to watch the kids from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. We stayed in town and enjoyed a day of shopping at the outlets on Saturday and "dueling dinners" -- we ate dinner Friday and Saturday nights at the restaurants widely believed to be the two best in Charlotte, Barrington's and Fig Tree. Both dinners were delicious. Joel says he liked Barrington's better, and I am having a tough time deciding. I had a delicious fish special at Barrington's and Elk chops at Fig Tree that were just as good. I will say that I think I enjoyed the salad and the sides that accompanied the Barrington's entree better.  Both restaurants has great wine lists as well. I would happily return to either one the next time we have a special occasion. 

Bedtime Stories

Rainy Monday

Had a good and productive weekend -- hair cuts for Joel and Ben, Costco, grocery shopping, lots of laundry, dance class, Hebrew school, a movie and dinner Saturday night (took the kids to see Big Hero 6 which we all enjoyed), and a visit from Papa yesterday afternoon. Today is cold, gray and rainy. Caroline was swallowed by the umbrella on the way into school this morning -- and I couldn't help but laugh when she innocently asked me , "Mommy would you like to get under the umbrella with me?"

TGIF / Friday Update

Retrieved Ben and a pile of stinky laundry a little while ago from the 5th grade camping trip to Camp Thunderbird, where he had been since Wednesday morning. He pronounced the trip, which included rock-wall climbing, zip lining, a dance, and candle-making among other activities, to have been "awesome".

Also got the results of Caroline's blood work from last week, which was not as encouraging as hoped-- her antibody levels which had been at 19 last time, are now at 33. Wrong direction :( Clinically she seems fine though and is growing and not having diarrhea / complaining of any stomach issues. So we aren't sure if she got some accidental exposure recently (at Disney perhaps since we ate out a lot), or what. Despite the doctor's assessment last week that she doesn't need to be seen for a year, I think we are going to bring her back again in 6 months to check the labs again, and concentrate on making sure we keep her cross-contamination risk at home as low as possible.

Fall

Checkers Game

Joel took Becca and Charlie on a J Tribes outing to a minor league hockey game last night. Ben was supposed to go but was so tired from not sleeping at his friend's sleepover party the night before that he fell asleep around 3 and could not be woken up to go to the game! Lucky cousin Charlie happily took his place. I finally was successful in waking Ben up around 7:45 last night. He was sorry to have missed the hockey game but acknowledged that he had been in no condition to go. Joel reported that the kids had fun and were extremely well behaved. 

A Caroline Post

Happy Caroline, because she got the all-clear from the GI doctor today to ditch the 6 month follow ups and only come back once a year now :) 

Concerned Caroline, sat and talked softly to Clara yesterday after Clara came home from her surgery:

Pretty Caroline! Finally got a decent 8x10 of her up on the wall--took just under 3 years to accomplish ;)

How is it only Wednesday?

Caroline went back to school this morning after missing 6 days for vacation and another 2 being sick. She did not go back happily either; she went kicking and screaming the whole way. Not really because she didn't want to go to school I think, but she was extremely cranky from the get-go this morning and rapidly declined from there :(

I finally got her to school and then picked Clara up from the vet. Her surgery went well and she just needs 4 weeks of recovery this time not 12 like for the last time. However her leg is going to be very sore for the next couple of weeks and she is hopping on three legs for now and not toe-touching at all. Fingers crossed that after she heals from this she will be good as new!

Off to a Rocky Start

This week is off to a rocky start, with Caroline coming down with croup pretty much as soon as we got home from vacation and requiring a 4 AM dose of steroids Monday morning at the children's hospital emergency room. She has had one more subsequent dose of steroids, but hopefully will not need another one because let me tell you, the steroids are causing her to be a cranky monster!! This morning she asked me for a cup of milk and I said, "In a minute," to which she replied: "No Mommy, I am not going to play these games with you! I want a cup of milk NOW!"

In other news Clara had surgery this morning to repair her torn meniscus, which went well and she is resting at the vet's now. I will pick her up tomorrow morning. On the way back from dropping her off for her surgery this morning, Caroline and I stopped at the polls-- it's election day! Here is Caroline showing off her "I voted" stickers.

Home!

Finally home from an exhausting but fun week! We spent nearly 10 hours on the road yesterday including stops, and got home a little after 8 last night. The extra hour thanks to the time change was appreciated this morning, not really for the extra sleep but so I had an extra hour for laundry, unpacking, making the grocery list etc. Laundry is not quite done yet and neither is the week's worth of homework Ben is trying to cram all into one day. Ugh!

Halloween Disney Style