Year in Review: September-December

September

I visited my grandma in the hospital and cried for hours because she didn't know who I was and it broke my heart to see her in that state of mind. We had fun with some strong air blowing tubes. The kids made lots of funny faces while blowing their hair around.

We went to the State Fair and the kids loved the petting zoo. That's where I fell in love with a puppy and tried giving Mike my own puppy eyes to get it. My car froze up several times on the way to Sioux Falls giving us zero cold air when we really wanted it.
I played with a snapping turtle with my bare foot, not knowing it was a snapping turtle. I was thankful it didn't bite me when I learned how dumb I was for doing that. Volleyball season was under way and the girls were so excited. My cousin got his thumb ripped off in a farm accident, but had it successfully reattached. We had lots of sick kids and I had lots of crabby days.

October

Jayden decided he really hated taking medicine. We attended a wedding. The kids ate lots of chocolate at the wedding. We pulled bushes out of our landscaping and trimmed the tops of the hedges.

I dealt with pilot cars on a daily basis and became so annoyed with them I started taking their picture. We all went to the Hobo Day parade and met up with my cousin and her family and my mom and Craig. It was really cold. The kids ended up getting their picture in the paper.

I made Taco Soup for the first time and it was delicious. I then posted the recipe with pictures on my blog at friends' request. The kids all went to the doctor. Two kids ended up getting glasses, but Joseph lost his within a week and never found them again. Devin had evidence of eating chocolate.

We got new bedroom furniture and a new king size bed. The kids were very sick with the flu and only 3 kids went trick or treating on Halloween. Jayden ended up getting an infection in the scar from his central line causing a late night emergency room trip.

November

I tried finding making my blog private, but ran into many issues with that. I found myself sitting on the toilet and blogging one too many times. We celebrated Joseph's birthday.

On very short notice, I decided to tear the carpet out of Devin's room because it had a terrible odor to it. That ended up being quite the project. Mike spent many days and hours in the field helping his dad on the farm.

Jayden started pooping in the tub on a daily basis and usually it was when Mike wasn't home, so I had to deal with it. I found myself mesmerized by the mirrored landscape.

I found out my employer received an expansion grant which means I have a good chance of getting to Brookings to work. We fell in love with Stewie at the Brookings Humane Society and brought him home as another member of the family.

We hung Christmas lights outside and cleaned the yard up. The kids picked apples up off the ground for hours. I went shopping with Mike on Black Friday, then came down with a terrible cold for the next 3 weeks. We celebrated Thanksgiving with family in Arlington.

December

We went to the kids Christmas programs. We got stuck in Dairy Queen parking lot in a rut. We made several batches of cookies to find them flatter than pancakes.

Shawndra, Devin, and Mike all had birthdays within a few days of each other. We had cake to celebrate all birthdays.

We had a huge snowstorm blizzard over Christmas causing Mike to work 12-15 hour days. Several celebrations were postponed. I made soup with my dad for the first time. I continue to wait on the dreaded phone call of my grandma's passing. I find out I am coming to Brookings to work for sure, starting in February.