Two Months of Fascinating Happenings...

Yea, not so fascinating. Boring actually which is why I haven't really felt inspired to write about anything. Let's see what's happened since I last wrote back in early September.

After his shower one day Scott noticed that there was water dripping onto our kitchen table. Right above the table is the boys bathroom. Upon further investigation, H discovered that the tiles were easily moved above the tub and he suspected a problem. Sure enough, there was water behind there and it had soaked into the wood. Thankfully the wood wasn't rotten but he had to pull all the tiles and the tub out! Yikes!

He also found these! Carpenter ant infestation! We had not seen any signs of these in this bathroom!

Here's what things looked like just before the tub removal.

And after things were all cleaned up! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures during the progress of the rebuilding but here is the after.

He even added a new fan and two really nice lights! The only light before was from the old fan but it's really bright in there now! All in all it took about a month of weekends, maybe a little more, to finish the remodel. It was about 1/4 the price of what we would have had to pay if we had to have professionals install it and I think it's probably a much better job. Howard is nothing if not a perfectionist. He had to make some adjustments and tweaks but the finished product is beautiful. He decided not to do shower doors as we had in the past but used one of those bowed curtain rods and we got a nice fancy curtain out of the deal.

This was one of our last hummers of the summer. He was either really young or really cold as he never moved, no matter how close I got and he seemed to be looking right at me!

The end of the summer brought the last of the flowers and a Saturday spent canning some tomatoes for those Winter-time chili dinners.

In September I went back to school and began the beginning of a very busy year. We also began our Leader in Me program which has brought added responsibilities since I'm on the Leadership Committee. I've also taken on the Leader in Me Parent Night plans which will be held in January sometime. In late September Tyler started subbing as a special ed para and in no time was asked to come in for an interview for a permanent position. He's done very well and they love him at his school. They love him so much that he's been nominated for an Employee Recognition award. We will be heading to the Board Office in a couple weeks to help him celebrate! He and I have been sharing a car for the past 3 months. This usually means him dropping me off and then picking me up at the end of the day. Last weekend he was finally able to buy his own car which should have solved all our problems but, of course, something else cropped up. Here's his beautiful new Jeep!

In October I traveled to Virginia to visit Amber and family for a long weekend. The plan was changed somewhat when Amber decided this would be a good time to come visit us since I would be there to help with the girls. This would be baby Berit's first time flying and Amber's first time travelling with both girls. Let's just say we learned a lot, but more on that later. While I was there we enjoyed our weekend and part of the weekend we travelled to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch which was about an hour away. Here's a little sample of all the fun we had.

On the flight back to Michigan we learned that Berit is a trooper. She cried when we first got on the plane but quickly stopped and was a happy girl after that. We also learned that Amber needs to wear a nursing friendly shirt. We also learned that no matter what she says, Quinn should always go to the bathroom before we get on a plane. About 10 minutes before we were scheduled to land, after the seatbelt sign came on and during our approach, Quinn announced, quite loudly, that SHE HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! We were pretty sure she could hold it and kept talking her into it but then the plane started circling the airport, several times. At one point we stuffed some diapers under her and said if you have to go just go. She was able to hold it and as soon as she was able, once the plane had mostly stopped, Amber jumped out of her seat, handed me the baby, grabbed Quinn and pushed her way to the back of the plane and to the bathroom.

So once back in Michigan we had some introductions! The boys hadn't met Berit yet and Grandpa needed a little bonding time with his girls!

We decided to go to a pumpkin patch but it was very chilly!! It was all we could do to stay there because we were freezing. Amber and Berit ended up spending their time inside the store where it was warm. Even though it was cold Quinn didn't let that slow her down!

All too soon the week was over and they had to go back home. Amber said the trip home was much more uneventful!

Soon after that Halloween rolled along. Before she left Quinn helped Grandpa carve the Jack-O-Lanterns. This is what she ordered. This one is scared.

Because this one scared it!!

I love that girl!!

In November the Juncos arrived.

The snow arrived soon after. It's been a chilly November. And it's almost over! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it will just be the 4 of us. It will be nice to have Tyler home. I can't even remember the last time he spent Thanksgiving with us. We have a quiet day planned. I'm cooking a turkey breast and all the trimmings and I'm hoping it won't be too cold to go for a walk some time during the day.

As I was saying about the cars, almost the minute we got Tyler's car problems solved, we found out that Scott's car needed several thousand dollars worth of repairs. Since he was hoping to upgrade in the next month or so anyway, he decided to move up his timetable and has been working for the last week or so to get a deal on a car. Apparently today is the day he will get it! I hope it stays light enough so that I can get a picture!!

It didn't. It was dark when he got home but here is a picture he took while at the dealer. Our little sweetie is 4 months old now but I don't have a picture to share yet. I do have her 3 month picture though. She is such a doll. She's so happy and easy going.

And she is so photogenic. Amber takes so many good pictures of her. Here's a sampling.

The dogs are good. Zoe seems to be over all her health concerns. No accidents in the house in the last couple months so that's a good thing.

Bowling started in September. We all started with pretty high averages. Mine was up at 148. It's since gone up to 150! That's a hard average to keep and I'm sure I'll be coming down soon. Last week we were in 2nd place but we took 4 points so we could be up in first by now. Next time we bowl the first place team and we hear they are "ringers". They all have very high averages and the ladies on the team where an intimidating "boot" over their shoes to keep their sliding shoe in good shape! Judy and I said we were going to make sure we had some boots by next time so they know we mean business!! Cross your fingers!

I think that is all the news worth reporting. Christmas is right around the corner, of course. We've decided to do a Secret Santa this year so the 6 of us drew names and will only buy for one person. At least that's how it's supposed to work. Tyler is dating a really nice girl named Jessica that he met at work. She doesn't work there any more but got a new job in her field which is wonderful for her. Scott loves his new job. Much of what he does he can't really talk about right now. Hopefully when the campaigns launch we will get to know more about it. I will be turning my key to the garden in soon. I've decided not to do a garden next year. I'm hoping H will build me a raised bed on the south side of the house and I will plant a few things in there in the spring. That's the plan anyway.

Hopefully those crickets will stop chirping now. UMMMkay??