My favorite month is over! So sad...it was a good one, or as good as possible considering the circumstances (Covid). The good news coming out of this month is that 2-3 companies have promising vaccines in production/testing and are awaiting final approval to distribute them. In fact, I saw today that the UK will begin distributing theirs within a week. The bad news is that it will be awhile before healthy non-essential employees get them. Also bad news is that "the numbers" are going up, though rate of fatalities isn't increasing as quickly. So, we shall see. It's really confusing and hard to know what to believe in the news...we hear that there are 4 million cases, yet we still only know 3 people locally (two of them are husband and wife) who had it...and we know a lot of people!
Anyway - November. The kids had off the 2nd-3rd for virtual parent-teacher conferences (due to time constraints, we were not contacted to have one, which is good news!). I enjoyed going to book club on the 2nd at friend Kate's new house. Then, the school was closed for cleaning on Wednesday the 4th after being used as a polling site. We closed on our refinance on the 2nd - one good thing out of this is low interest rates! Erin had her first consultation at the orthodontist on the 4th, and after getting some pictures, they said that her 12-year molars have not come in enough to start any kind of treatment. We will go back next summer and see how things are looking. I am still somewhat skeptical of if she really needs it, but we might see what the regular dentist says in December and possibly get a second opinion in the spring.
Anna played futsal each Friday in November (except for the day after Thanksgiving). At first, she wasn't sure about it because it is more fast-paced than outdoor soccer, but she now says she might like it even more than outdoor! It looks like they are working hard on skills that will be helpful in the spring. Erin continued ballet and piano in person and all is going well (with masks, of course). I am swimming in Covid-19 health declaration forms between school and activities! We invested in a forehead thermometer, and it has been worth every penny.
Anyway, the weekend of the 7th-8th was fairly low-key with the usual cooking for Bob (they are up to 36 weeks and over 17,500 meals served!). The next week was fairly routine, including a used uniform sale at school on the evening of the 10th. We had a fun afternoon crafting on Saturday the 14th after some morning yard work.
On the 15th, we had the honor and pleasure of being baby Sawyer's godparents at his baptism! It was at the beautiful cathedral, and we had a fun and yummy lunch after at Amy and Erik's house. Sawyer is so sweet!
The 16th and 17th were fine, and then Anna woke up on the 18th with a low-grade fever and runny nose. Here we go! Any other year, that would be no problem at all. However, this year is 2020. Both kids had to stay home until they both got a negative Covid test. They were none too pleased about getting the test, but we did get both negative results the following day. Erin went back to school on Friday, and Anna did on Monday due to still being congested. I can't imagine that wearing a mask would be too comfortable with a runny nose! Thankfully, they were able to keep up with school virtually.
Anna had fun at friend Sofia's painting party on the 21st while Erin and I helped prepare tortillas with Bob's cooking crew. Then we had a fun shopping outing before picking Anna up. Erin was back to altar serving on the 22nd, and she did a great job with her first time on "bells"! We had a short school week the following week, with the kids getting out at 11:30am on Tuesday. Sarah hung out with us that afternoon, which was fun!
Bob was off Wednesday-Monday, same as the kids, and it was great to have that time off to get house stuff done since he is normally busy either working or cooking the meals on the weekends. We went Wednesday and got Anna a new mattress (and they disposed of her old one); he and Anna also spent some time building new roof trusses for the nativity at church. Erin and I took Finley on a hike, as well. Thursday, we had a great family day at home, complete with the "traditional" beef tips, spaetzle, green beans, apple pie, and ice cream sandwich pie for our Thanksgiving feast! Yum!
Friday, Bob and Anna did more construction work and picked up our Christmas tree while Erin, Finley, and I did some house work and started baking for the weekend's meals. Saturday was some yard work and chores, then Sunday was our fun trip to Concord for Thanksgiving! We had so much fun and loved all the yummy food. We had fun playing family kickball, too! Monday was Christmas decorating day, and it is not quite finished, but almost! Finley is still interested in the tree, but can be redirected so far (it's only been decorated for less than a day).
So, that was November. It was a beautiful month weather-wise, though we did have a bunch of rain in the middle of the month that probably messed up our fall foliage a little bit. We enjoyed a fairly successful Wolfpack football season, which ends this coming Saturday. All things considered, it was a pretty good month. Now begins the Christmas fun!
