Great Weekend

Hi All--I am back. I am keeping busy and I don't see that changing any time soon, since there is so much to do and so little time before Brian and Christine (and the ever adorable Michelle) arrive here. So, don't expect to hear much from me, but know that all is fine---I will, of course, be sure to let you know if things are not fine. A case of no news is good news, eh?

We had a great Thanksgiving Day, with a call from the Walters, a chance to talk to Brian and Christine, and even a few baby words from Michelle! We can hardly wait to see them again!

Yesterday was a relaxing day for the most part. I got a good bit of laundry done---a lot of it things that need to be checked and dealt with---things that Anne needs to decide what to do with. I have a bag of things for charity already, and imagine that some of these things will go into another bag that will go out on Wednesday. Nice timing they came up with!

We were thrilled to death that the Aggies beat Texas yesterday. Mike saw an early part of the game and we watched the very end. He worries about jinxing them. Fortunately, they played well yesterday and won! I very well remember the feeling in the stadium, in 1979 (??), when Mike and I were there for this very match up and the Aggies won. It is just amazing, the good cheer, excitement, etc, when the Ags beat Texas. If it wasn't in 79, it was another year when we were in Bryan and happened to both be at the game together--but that does make it most likely that it was in '79!

Well, I had best go, I have to check on how Mount is doing again Wheaton today! Take care and I will try to jot at least a few lines now and then!

Yikes

Yes, that is the word for it, yikes! I hadn't realized that I hadn't blogged in so long. All I can say is that there is really nothing new, and I have been busy. Not with anything fun and exciting, of course, or there would have been something to blog about.

We carry on with the usual activities. I take Anne to pt and doc appts. If she doesn't do it, I will go ahead and update the brain blog soon. Things move slowly, of course, especially with Anne and any type of healing. Nothing ever moves quickly for her.

I have plenty to get ready here at the house, as it does look like Brian, Christine, and Michelle, will be able to come for a pre-Christmas visit. Brian figured that a visit earlier in the month would be easier to get leave for, and travel would likely not be as bad. I think they are planning to leave Abilene on the 9th! I have tons of baby proofing to do, and have to figure out if the tree will go up right before they get here, or if they want to help decorate. It will be really interesting to see how the kitties react to Michelle! I don't think they have ever seen a littlie before. Fortunately, they are both good about taking off if they feel scared, and only attack if there are no options. We will be sure to keep an eye on Michelle till we see that she understands not to corner them--considering her age, that will mean any time the kitties are around, we will keep an eye on her. hahah!

The weather has been great, but we have a real cooling trend here right now. It only made it into the 70's yesterday, and today it is only to get into the 60's, and that will be the case most of the week. It is only 62 right now, at 11.30 a.m. It is bright and sunny out though, and it usually feels at least a little bit warmer than it really is. Actually, the forecast highs are for Orlando, and our highs here are to be a little bit higher, but not hugely so, of course! I'm a whimp, I know it, and I had the heat on yesterday morning---it was cold in the house! It didn't run long, but enough to take the chill off.

Well, I am totally out of news, so I will go for now and will try to do better over the coming days. However, that might not work out, since there is still plenty of baby proofing to do, among other things! Take care all, I do think about you all the time, even if I don't email and/or blog as much as I would like!

Back Again

Sorry, no photos this time. I will get organized and get some on some time. Mike has started up a new photo thing on Brian's hummmm, what do you call it? On Brian's green bug thing. As you can see, there are gaps in my becoming more techno savvy. I am sure Mike, Anne and Brian will be laughing their heads off on reading that I have any thought of being at all techno savvy, but I am learning some and am not as totally inept was I once was! Anyway, I was going to say, I imagine that Mike will send out info about the new photo site so you all can go see the pics.

Anyway, we are back to lovely weather here. I see that AOL and the weather channel (as on Mike's blog) are not in sync about the temp, one says 78 and the other says 80 degrees. Either way, it is nice out and the sun is shining. Can't ask for much more than that, can we? The snow birds are returning already. I guess it has just been too cold in some of those more northern climes for them. It is still a bit early for them to be showing up here. I think the majority never used to head this way till after Thanksgiving? We don't really mind them, but they do make things more congested and we sure see the traffic increase when they are here. Can't blame them for wanting the nicer weather. (although I tend to think one should take the good and the bad, the warm and the hot, the cold and the mild/hot) But that is just me, eh?

I think we are pretty well rested after our journey to Texas. It still seems kind of odd to think that we were there and are back home already. I will say, I really loved the non-stop flight deal. It is sure the way to go, when possible. The trips through security weren't too bad, even with Anne's growth hormone, which could not go through the x-ray machines, and had to be hand checked. We were very glad to have the letter from the doc. Anne's ankle brace made for some problems. Orlando handled it well, just using the wand to scan and letting her through. Houston was more of a problem, and the gal insisted on patting her down. Sure, she looks like a terrorist, doesn't she???????? Seems especially stupid when one can see at a glance that the brace has numberous metal eyelets that the laces go through. Oh well.

There isn't much else going on here, just the usual routine once again of pt and doc appts. Anne sees her endocrinologist on Thursday. She had her MRI of her knee, and her bone scan (checking on the osteopenia) this past Thursday. It will be too soon, I think, for there to be any improvement of the osteopenia due to the growth hormone, but it will be interesting to see if it had gotten any worse in the past year.

Well, I had best go. Oh, I am happy to report that Mount continues their winning streak in football. They played John Carroll yesterday and the game was a little close for comfort at times, but Mount did prevail. My little bit of superstition, I always wear a Mount Union shirt on Saturdays when they play. I know it really doesn't make any difference, but.......

A Wonderous Vacation

I see it has been too long since I blogged last. So much time was spent on appts, and preparing for the secret vacation.

You see, a plan was put into place to go spend Mike's parents' 61st anniversary with them--without letting them know ahead of time. We ended up with almost the whole family there and it was great! There were so many good things about it all, it makes quite a list.

We were really thankful to be able to be there for the folks' anniversary!

It was our first trip to Lufkin since 2001. We had seen Mom and Dad since then, as they had been to Ohio and to Florida to see us. However, we hadn't seen Jo's son Russ, and his family since our last trip to Lufkin. It was great to see them again and their little girl, Skyler!

We were thrilled to see Brian, Christine, and Michelle again! Mike and Anne hadn't ever seen Michelle at all, and she was only about 1 week old when I left Germany. Needless to say, she has changed a lot! She is sweet and adorable, and very good natured. Here is one of my favorite photos of the ones taken in TX, of Anne and Michelle.




I realized in looking through the photos we took, that there are mostly photos of Michelle, and not much else. Occasionally there is an adult, and sometimes Skyler is in the photo, but I find that I really missed the boat on the photo taking, and so did all the rest who grabbed up the camera now and then to take a photo! Oh well. Brian gave us CD's of photos, and there should be some better selections in among those photos! All the group photos are on the CD too.

In addition to the great fun of getting to see everyone, I think Anne and I agree that the other benefit of the trip was a chance to get away from our usual routine of pt and doc appts. It was nice to be able to almost forget about it all for a few days, and just enjoy being with family.

I am sure I will show more photos here later on, once I have a better chance to go through them all, etc.

In local news, it started to rain Tuesday night---after we got home, after the trick or treating, etc. It rained most of the night and into Wednesday morning. We had 3 inches of rain in the rain gauge. Quite a good haul! I am sure the lawn and the butterfly garden were really happy to have it! The butterfly garden is still doing well. The plants are all doing well, and Mike is making progress at getting the passion vine to climb the arch. I didn't see any butterflies when I was out, but it was early evening--maybe they were resting----haha.

Well, that is it for now, take care and I will try to be better about blogging again!