Catching up and much to be thankful for

We've had a great couple of weeks.  So much to be thankful for!

A week ago yesterday we had a visit from Nana and Papa Brown.  They have the most adorable and precious little foster girl right now - we'll call her "Honey".  Nana and Papa were in town for a hockey scrimmage.  We begged and pleaded to take care of "Honey". Okay, we didn't have to beg and plead at all.  But we were so honored.  We picked up "Honey" at the rink in Moorhead.  After a couple of quick errands, we got to our place.  Carson and Grace couldn't wait to show her all sorts of things.  She and Grace hit it off playing with Grace's dollhouse.  Grace quickly got a taste of sharing and perhaps what Carson might experience when Grace wants in on some of his action.  It was quite interesting!  We reminded Grace several times that she needed to share and that her toys were going to stay here.

Within a few minutes of arrival, I quickly realized that I had a nickname.  I had been calling "Honey" just that: "Honey".  It didn't take long before that is how she called my attention "Honey, Honey, Honey!".  It was adorable.

Carson hung around for a bit, but I think there was just too much girl power for him.  He found his way to the Wii in the family room in the basement. 

Honey and Grace helped me make apple crisp.  They were good helpers (and cute too)!. 

The girls continued to play.  We read some books, played some games (duck, duck, goose is quite interesting with two little girls) and had some silly times too.

Honey was an absolute delight.  Which is pretty incredible considering all this little girl has experienced in her brief few years of life.  I could have easily found myself falling head over heals in love with her and wanted her as one of our own.  It was hard to resist, but I knew we have our hands quite full with our two peanuts.  I can just tell she has so much love to give. 

Nana, Papa and Grammy joined us for a late lunch/early supper.  Good food and conversation.  Nana and Papa stayed for a bit but got on the road before it was too late.  We all hope we get to see them again soon.  We also pray for the perfect forever family for Honey.

Grace only had school last Monday and Carson was on vaca as of Tuesday afternoon.  Poor kids!

On Wednesday morning both kids had cardiology appts with Dr. Baker.  He comes from Minneapolis to Fargo.  He shared he'll likely be cutting down some of his trips but will likely be up a few times a year.  Both kids had AWESOME appointments.  Their hearts both sounded wonderful to Dr. Baker.  Both kids with have echos next year and if all is great, Grace will be discharged from cardiology care.  Carson will likely go down to appts. every other year at that point.  As always, it was wonderful to see Dr. Baker.  We truly love him and are so thankful for his role in our kids' lives.

We had Grace's parent-teacher conference on Wednesday afternoon.  Grace had a wonderful report.  She has made outstanding progress since she joined the school in May.  She is happy and truly enjoys school.  Her pre-academics are coming along well and she loves her friends.  She needs to work on using her words when she wants something, but all that she is doing is age appropriate.  We couldn't have been happier with her report.  We are so thankful we found a Montessori school for her - it is an excellent match for her with caring teachers.

We had a busy couple of days getting ready for Thanksgiving.  We hosted this year and had a little smaller crowd due to weather conditions.  We were happy to have everyone safe though!  As always, yummy food and good to see family!

We made a quick trip to Mandan on Friday.  Papa Chip and Loni recently bought a place north of Mandan.  They are still working on some remodeling and updates but it was fun to see where they are at.  They are about six miles north of Mandan in a quiet area (only 6 other houses near them).  They have several acres along the river and lots of trees.  It'll be nice to have them just a couple of hours away!  We stayed the night and came home yesterday - were were gone just a bit over 24 hours.  Quick trip, but nice to see their new place.

We worked on getting the house decorated for Christmas last night and this morning.  Grace was an awesome helper (who wouldn't be equipped with a Santa hat!).  This afternoon we dropped Grace off at Grammy's house and the three of us went to the Moscow Ballet's "The Nutcracker" at NDSU.  The music, costumes and performance were all incredible.  Carson acted like he wasn't too excited, but we know he liked it.  Afterwards we ate supper at Space Aliens.  Guess who picked that?!?  Not Trav or I.  Carson scored a whoppee cushion with his tokens.  Such a treasure.

We want to give some prayers of thanks for Nana Kitch feeling better.  She has had a lot of pain the past few weeks - thankfully she is finding some relief.  We pray she continues to feel better each day!

Back to school and work for all of us tomorrow.  I took Wednesday and Friday off from work last week but the days flew by.  It'll be good to get back in a routine again too.

Hopefully more to come later this week!