September and October Little Things

The last few months have been full of dog drama!  Back in April, Maggie started limping on her back leg.  After several months of it not improving, I finally decided to take her to the vet to get an X-ray and found out she needed to have TPLO surgery.  This is basically the same thing as a torn ACL surgery for humans.  To prepare for her surgery, we borrowed a dog crate from a friend.  Holland and the triplets thought it was fun to play in it!

Eden thought it was fun to play in the crate too!

Maggie had surgery on a Thursday and had to spend the night at the vet's office.  We picked her up on Friday afternoon and she was pretty pitiful!  

Luckily she had her best human to support her during her recovery!

There were a lot of things Maggie hated after the surgery.  She hated the cone and she hated the crate.  We tried to put some blankets and pillows in the crate to make it more comfortable but then one day we came home to this:

We decided not to put pillow in the crate anymore!

She had to wear the cone for two weeks and we were ALL excited when she was finally able to take it off.  

Mrs. Glover is always good about sending pictures to show us what the kids are doing at school.  Lily always looks like she's having fun during math and science class!

Lily had to make a carnival game to share with her class.  She came up with a ping pong drop game that is similar to PLINKO.  They usually get to share their games with the whole school but because of COVID they only got to share it with their classmates this year.

Lily and Trinity had a playdate and got to enjoy painting together.

Sweet cousins

Parker was asked to play "Taps" during the announcements on Veteran's Day. He was nervous but did a great job!

Parker's friend, Cole, had a birthday and invited him to go kayaking in Glen Rose.  They had a great time and it was a fun, new experience for Parker!

September and October were full of ups and downs.  Between Maggie's surgery and me testing positive for COVID, we weren't sad to see October come to an end.  Hopefully November will be less eventful for our family and we will all stay well as we go into the holiday season.

Halloween 2020

Halloween looked a little different this year but the kids still had fun trick or treating with the cousins.  Most of the neighbors sat outside in their driveways to hand out candy and we had a lot fewer neighbors participate than in years past.  

Our costumes were pretty simple this year- a cat, cheetah, and basketball player.  Emily's kids were much more creative- Addison was a Zoom call (business on the top, pajamas on the bottom!) and Ryan was "Jake from State Farm".  

Emily and I went as twins again!  

We didn't get to trick or treat with Holland and the triplets but I had to include a picture because they were just so cute!

 

Pumpkin Patch 2020

Once we were finally out of quarantine, the cousins were able to come for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  As expected, pictures with 3 two year olds was a little tricky, but we finally got one with everyone looking!  Maybe next year will be easier!

Luckily getting a picture with the oldest 6 is a piece of cake!

Holland wanted a picture with the big kids!

The Browns

The Rowlands

The Harsheys

The "bigs"

The "middles"

The "littles"

The girls

The boys

They're never too old to take a picture with Granna!

The triplets were much happier when they weren't being forced to sit still and take a picture!

Overall, it was a successful trip to the pumpkin patch! Hopefully it will get easier every year!

Happy 10th Birthday, Lily!

The last day of our COVID quarantine was Lily's 10th birthday.  She was devastated that she couldn't see her friends on her birthday so we tried really hard to make her day extra special.  We started the day with presents.

Long before I knew we would be in quarantine on her birthday, I had booked a yard sign and it turned out to be such a fun surprise for Lily!

Drive-by birthday parades have become popular during the pandemic.  Since kids can't have normal birthday parties, they have a parade where their friends drive by and wish them a happy birthday from their cars.  They aren't my favorite thing but since Lily couldn't celebrate with any of her friends at school, I knew this would be the only way for her to see them on her birthday.  I secretly texted their parents and told them about the parade and they all agreed to drive by after school. 

Jery was going out of town so they stopped by on their way and wished Lily a happy birthday from a distance.

After school, lots of her friends surprised her and drove by with cute signs and a few gifts.  She was so excited to see them, especially after being out of school for two weeks.  Our drive-by birthday parade was definitely a success!

The Wickliffes- Ashley, Rayn, and Blaine

The Mahaffeys- Hazel, MaryEllen, and Jacob

Granna and Holland

The Greens- Ellie and Kristen

The Bishops- Joni, Harper and Leighton

Miss Brenda

The Tennisons- Amy, Carter, and Ellie

The Bordens- Georgina and Trinity

I wasn't able to get to the store for a birthday cake, but the Bishops brought her some Halloween cookies so we stuck a candle in them and used them for her special birthday treat!

Once we were finally able to have a family birthday dinner with the cousins, Lily still didn't want a cake and instead chose ice cream sundaes for her treat.

It wasn't what she had originally planned, but I think we succeeded in making Lily's 10th birthday fun and memorable!