Then there is this one, who recently got her health back. You'd hardly know that she has pneumonia in this photo. Yup, the poor girl had a nasty cough and fever that stuck around for eight days! A doctors visit on day three led us all to believe that she had a virus, but on day eight, some crackling was heard in the upper left lobe of her lungs. Through it all, Cal kept her sense of humor and spunk.
And while we are on the subject, we are sooooo very thankful for our pediatrician, Dr. Parker. Whether making time to see us at the end of a busy day or coming in to the office on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon because he is concerned about Cally, he's always patient and kind. And Cally loves her visits with him!
I'm thankful to have this beautiful house that we can call our own. If you look carefully at this photo, you can see John on the roof taking on the role of "Chimney Sweep".
This guy, who celebrated his birthday the other day (he says he's now closer to 60 than 30), really is something to be thankful for. If he's not playing handyman around our house, he's inspiring college students, being a devoted father, or challenging people to be better.
To celebrate his birthday this year, we took a quick trip up to Montreal. The kids were incredible from being patient for sit down meals where service is a lot slower than it is south of the border to being flexible about sleeping. I'm not going to lie, the four of us in one hotel room isn't all that fun at this stage, when it comes to sleeping, but "no pain, no gain".
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| bundled in the Phil & Teds double stroller |
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| checking out the view from the "high rise" |
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| kicking it at the Biodome |
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| Checking out the subarctic |
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| loving the penguins |
I'm thankful for hikes with friends:
And thankful that UVM won their first hockey game of the season while we were there to witness it:
I think their win might have had something to do with our little kitty who was fired up to get her face professionally painted in a pre-game alumni event. Check out the transformation:
I'm thankful for our first snow:
and Thankful for incredible friends with whom we've shared this special holiday for the past four years........Ten adults, eight children (two more in utero), five inches of snow to sled upon, and lots of incredible food made for an excellent gathering. I felt like I was on vacation. The older kids swept my kids up as soon as we arrived, other mothers were thrilled to hold and hug them, and we all had a very fun time.
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| H took a little of everything! |
I'm really thankful that I've had this week off with my family. It's been such a treat to sleep until 7:00, hang out in bed as long as we want, eat a long lazy breakfast, get things done around the house, and celebrate all that we have in our lives.
