November!

Well, the last day of my favorite month has come upon us, sadly.  It was a really fun month with beautiful weather and lots of good times.  We started the month out right with the beautiful feast day of All Saints, and then had a nice and busy weekend with Anna's tennis lesson, family photo session with the super talented Ms. Karen (who also happens to be our wonderful neighbor), a gymnastics birthday party for Anna, and taking care of Lily and Nina's rabbit on Saturday, then a fun lunch with Grandma and Grandpa F. and another photo session for Erin for ballet on Sunday! 





Erin is going to audition for a 2-week summer intensive ballet camp next year and needed to get photos taken.  The following week, Bob had a combo trip to Boston and Toronto and saw a little bit of snow while he was up north!  We girls had a busy but routine week with school and the usual activities, plus my book club on Monday night.  Erin had a sick day on Thursday, but was back to feeling like herself pretty quickly.

That weekend, we had a great time with family hiking/fishing at Bass Lake on Saturday, and Grandma A. came up to visit on Sunday!  We put her right to work moving furniture for the painting project!  We also all enjoyed a really good steak dinner at the Angus Barn, thanks to Ms. Karen who treated us for caring for her cats and plants while she was out of town in October.  They had their Christmas decorations up there, so we really enjoyed that as well.  Monday, Bob had a day trip to New York, then was home Tuesday and then spent the rest of the week in San Francisco.  I had fun at a neighborhood ladies' night at a sign painting place in Fuquay, and otherwise we had the usual activities.  The painters arrived on Friday and worked that day, Saturday, and the following Monday painting most all of the downstairs (minus the dining room and office, plus both stairwells and upstairs hallway.  It looks so much cleaner and is really wonderful!  After a long debate, we went with a light gray (Agreeable Gray) that the painter recommended.  It was lighter than the decorator suggested, but we (admittedly Gina) didn't want to go too dark in such a large area.  It is subtle, but definitely a change for the better.  They also patched all the holes in the walls and window trim, so we are starting with a clean slate...almost like a new house!

Finley was less than thrilled with the painters invading his house, and the timing was not good with two of the three days that they were here being rainy, but it worked out fine.  He got lots of car time and we camped out in the bonus room when we were home.  I went to a day-long autism seminar in Durham on Saturday and learned a lot, and Bob left Sunday afternoon for a week in San Diego.  After he left, Erin and I took Finley for a hike at Crowder park and Anna went to play with Enzo and Luke.

The week of the 18th was otherwise fairly uneventful...Erin's music class cantored at school mass that Thursday and did a wonderful job!  Anna and Nina earned some money in their spare time after school, selling 3 kinds of trail mix:



We had a busy weekend with having dog friend Ruby over for 3 days, Ms. Mona's 90th birthday party, lots of light fixture changing out, Erin had Olivia's sleepover party, and Anna got to play with neighbor friend Caitlin while we went out for happy hour with Caitlin's parents and Ms. Kate.  Having Ruby over kept Finley very busy! 



Sunday, Anna went to play at her friend Caroline's house after church and we all did some yard work.

The last week of the month was a short one with just two days of school.  Then we had our first-ever Thanksgiving at home with just the four of us because my family was in Indiana and Pam and John were heading to the beach.  We had a great time fixing our favorite foods (determined by a Google Form) and cooking together! 





Friday, we avoided the stores but instead got started on Christmas decorations since Thanksgiving was so late this year.  We got a tree and also played in the backyard and had a fire in the fire pit.  Saturday, Bob set up the nativity at church and we girls ventured to Walmart and painted some pottery.  Then, we finished decorating and had a yummy pizza dinner at home and are currently hoping the Wolfpack can manage to beat Carolina - while we have no hope for a bowl this year, we are hoping to keep UNC away from one by beating them tonight.



In between the regular school, dance, piano, dog walking, chores, errands, carpool, tennis, work trips, appointments, homework, volunteering, meetings, and everything else that comes up, we have slowly been trying to get the house back in order post-painting and work on redecorating.  We did order a new rug for the living room, and I've been busy trying to sell off or give away the old stuff.  It's never easy to know what to do!

That was November!  It was, as always, a gorgeous month with lots of family fun.  Now we have a jam-packed few weeks until Christmas...maybe the condensed season will be a good thing...or, will it just make it crazier?!?

Erin is 11!!

Happy birthday to our sweet, wonderful Erin Michelle!  She is truly our pride and joy - she works so hard every day to do her very best, and we are made better people by being around her.  She had an extended birthday celebration, beginning on her actual birthday, which was a day off for grades 4-8 for a teacher workday.  Fun fact about Erin:  every day since first grade (maybe before), she's either had a field trip, a weekend, or a day off on her birthday!  What are the odds of that?! 





So, on her actual birthday, she had a fun mini party with friends Olivia, Vera, and Enzo coming over from 11-3.  They did some string art, decorated aprons, decorated and ate cupcakes, played inside and outside, ate tacos for lunch, and did a little dancing and watched some of Leap. 









Then, the 4 of us went to the Olive Garden, her new favorite restaurant, for dinner.



So, that was Wednesday.  Saturday, she, Anna, and Bob went to Concord for modified Uncle Camping due to the rain.  They had a blast camping in the garage at the Summer house!  Sunday after church, everyone else came over and we had a fun pizza party lunch, cupcakes for her, Chris, Cooper, and Maria's birthdays, and lots of playing outside after the rain stopped.  We also had mini trick or treating, and Finley got to meet Olive for lots of puppy playtime!

Her last birthday celebration was this past Sunday, when we got to see Grandma and Grandpa F. for lunch and celebrate Erin's and Grandma's birthdays!  So much fun!





So, Erin is now 11.  She will have her checkup in December, so we'll have to wait for that update.  She is really wonderful.  She continues to love playing school, but has also branched out to include other interests as well.  She recently purchased a "kidney table" from neighbor friend Ella and loves having her class sit there work on things.  This year, she is Ms. Megan the ELA teacher (shhh, don't tell her that she is practicing reading while she plays!).

Ballet is also still one of her favorite things.  She has said that she always feels happier after going to ballet class.  She is planning to audition in January for a summer intensive camp in Raleigh, which will be a new 2-week experience of full-day camps for her.  She also wants to try out for a ballet-based dance theater performance in January-March at her dance school.  Ballet is not for everyone, but Erin really seems to enjoy the quiet gracefulness of it, and she is always working to improve her positions and moves.

This year is her 4th year studying piano with the wonderful Ms. Margaret.  The lesson book (2B) she has now has gotten more difficult, but she keeps at it and doesn't get too frustrated.  She is considering participating in a regional piano event in March where she would memorize 2 pieces and perform them for judges.  Though that may conflict with the ballet thing; we will see what happens.

Erin has several good friends at school and has really become more confident with talking to other kids and raising her hand in class.  She has such a great personality - mostly serious, but also very silly at times.  She always tries her best and is so very disciplined about her work.  She is extremely faithful to her friends and family and is still super serious about her Catholic faith, as well.  This year, she started serving at Mass as an altar server, and she loves it!  In true Erin fashion, she has taken to making sure she can see the servers when she isn't "on duty" and watches to make sure they do everything right.

She continues to be our human calendar and calculator, which really comes in handy a lot!  She has become such a great helper and also is so much more independent this year.   She has become really great at showing empathy and noticing when someone might need help or if something isn't right...this excludes the dog, though...she and Finley are not close...but she does enjoy walking him with me, and she will offer to feed him or put him in his crate.

Erin has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years.  It really blows my mind to think about how far she has come and what all she has accomplished.  She is truly amazing, and she's done it all on her own without us pushing her.  She makes us proud every day, and we can't wait to see what the next year brings her!

October!

Well, October is always very busy, and this one did not disappoint!  It started out like summer and ended like summer, but I am happy to report that November has been much cooler and more fall-like.  The first week of the month, the girls finished up their standardized testing, we had a fun play date here with Jimmy and Danny on the 1st, Anna had her friend Fiona over to play on the 2nd, and we finished the week with the annual pet blessing at school.  This year, we had a pet to take, and he loved it (but he was super hot and tired afterward!).



Anna had a fun day on Saturday with a tennis lesson and a roller skating party for Sarah’s birthday, and Sunday she had friend Gerald over to play.  I also had a friend over - Ms. Emily came to give an interior design consultation!  We got lots of ideas and help and are well on our way to making some changes.

Next week, Bob went to Boston and Atlanta in a combo trip.  I got to work in the cafeteria on Monday and also hosted the neighborhood book club that evening.  Tuesday and Wednesday were the exciting HVAC replacement days, which went fine and kept Finley very busy.

 
Friday was observation week at dance, and I loved seeing both classes in action!



We all enjoyed having neighbor dog friend Ruby over for the weekend.  She gives us hope that some dogs can be calm.



Saturday was cultural day - Anna went to friend Addie’s house for a movie outing and sleepover, I went to dinner and my mom friend Jenny’s play, and Erin and Bob had dinner at the Olive Garden and then enjoyed seeing Charlotte’s Web at Middle Creek High School.  There was culture for everyone (except Finley)!  The 13th was the first pancake breakfast of the school year at church.

The following week, Bob had another combo trip to New York and to Boston...and got to drive between them on Wednesday, when he reported pretty fall foliage in New England.  We ladies had a fairly calm week otherwise.  I hosted the school mom book club here on Friday and did a shrimp boil which seemed to go over well.  Saturday, we watched some Wolfpack football, Gerald came to play, and Anna got a haircut.

The next week was Erin’s 11th birthday week!!!  The kids were off school on Wednesday, her actual birthday, for a teacher workday.  She had friends Olivia, Vera, and Enzo over to play, eat lunch, do crafts, and decorate cupcakes.



Then we had a family dinner at Olive Garden!  She also got to cantor at school mass the next day with her music group, and she did a great job!



That Saturday, we had the first annual memorial 5K in our neighborhood for Mr. Tom and another neighbor who died this year.  Erin and I kept time, and Bob and Anna participated.



After that, Bob and the girls went camping at Ansley’s house with all the cousins and uncles!  They had planned to go to Morrow Mountain, but it rained.  They had lots of fun and still did camping activities like hiking and fishing, campfire, and made yummy camping food.  Everyone else met up with them there on Sunday for a pizza birthday lunch extravaganza!  So much fun!



The kids were off again on Monday and Tuesday for teacher conferences, which was a nice little break.  We did the usual other activities, helped watch Laney and Joey on Tuesday, and Bob went to dinner with old friend Josh.  Wednesday, Anna went to Old Salem with the fourth grade, and I got to go as well!  It was such a fun day, even though it rained a little bit.



We carved pumpkins that night.



Thursday was Halloween, and it rained again (!), but not until after trick or treating.  We had a very fun time with our neighbor friends!



So, that was October!  It was very busy but lots of fun.  We are all excited to be getting closer to Christmas, and I personally am excited for my favorite month of November coming up next!