Starting Christmas

We broke from tradition a bit this year and decided to decorate our house after we got home from celebrating Thanksgiving with our families. We usually do it before we leave for Thanksgiving, but life has been a bit unpredictable lately so we just didn't get it done.

So, on Saturday night, we put on "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and got to work.

Marie took a big interest in decorating the tree this year. She even insisted on wearing either her swimsuit or her Halloween costume for the occasion...we settled on the costume.

We let Marie place most of the ornaments on the tree - leaving them just where she placed them. It may not be our most symmetrical tree we have ever decorated, but it is the most memorable now.

I was really excited to get our tree skirt out this year. At the end of Christmas last year, I purchased an inexpensive red felt tree skirt and some paint. All of us, including Charlie, put our hand prints on the tree skirt to decorate. Now, with each addition, we will add a new hand print. It turned out great and it makes our tree seem so much more special this year.


Marie also got to help Andy put up some lights outside. It was pretty cold so she wasn't as into it as expected, but she loves looking at all the lights!

Thanksgiving Part Two

Our 2nd Thanksgiving was held in Spencer with the Mueting side. It was a large group this year was meant more competition in turkey bowling. Marie enjoyed all the attention and the turkey. She especially had fun with her Aunt Liz and Aunt Katie during bath time. I am not sure who was laughing the hardest or who was the most wet, but I know the floor did get a good cleaning from all that splashing.

On Friday the whole family watched the big game at Papa's party. Marie showed her support for the Huskers by doing all sorts of dancing to the band and yelling, "Go Big Red" on command.

Marie also helped decorate for Christmas at Papa & Grammy's house. She took her jobs very seriously until the Legos came out, then she decided that was much more important.
Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving Holiday.
Now we are looking forward to Christmas!

Thanksgiving Part One

This past weekend was a busy one. It started on Thursday with a drive to Spencer to drop Marie off with Grammy and Papa for the night. From there, Andy & I traveled to Sioux City where we arrived just in time for dinner with a few of the residents from the Family Medicine program. Friday was a full day of interviews and tours of the Sioux City Residency. I wish I could say that we had our mind made up but I think now we are even more torn and confused by all the options.

Friday night we headed to Sheldon where Marie had been spending the afternoon with Grandma Nel. Saturday was full of cooking and napping as we prepped for the Van Beek Thanksgiving. It was nice to have separate weekends planned for Thanksgiving because it really gave us a chance to relax and not rush through 2 dinners and family get-togethers.

Marie was exhausted on the trip home from all her adventures with her cousins. Here they were having a tea party. She stays so busy with the kids and pets at my mom's house.
Unfortunately, we all continue to be a little under the weather right now. Marie is a little sick with a cold/cough and Andy has a mixture of laryngitis and bronchitis.

We hope to catch up on a little sleep before we pack up again for our next Thanksgiving trip!

Time for Hot Cocoa

We were all feeling a bit chilly and under the weather this weekend so we decided to have a weekend of cuddling, movie-watching, napping, and of course, sipping hot cocoa.


This was Marie's first cup of Gramma K's homemade mix - a milestone in my side of the family.
Marie loved stirring her "coffee" and was certain that it needed to be stirred as often as possible.
I am sure we will be mixing up another batch soon!

First Snow

So at 5:00 this morning I scared awake and looked at our alarm clock to see that it was not working. We had been of power for who knows how long and we had a nice layer of white sloppy snow on the ground.

Marie loved using the flashlight to eat her cereal and insisted that she be the one to hold it for everyone.

Andy thought 6:00 a.m. was the perfect time to get out and play in the snow so he and Marie built the first snowman of of the season. I am sure Marie will be sad to see it melting away today as the temp is supposed to rise above 40.

**Charlie News**
I picked up Charlie from the vet yesterday afternoon. His surgery was on Monday and went very well. Now we have to keep him very still as much as possible so the healing can begin. He can only go outside to the bathroom for short trips and always on a leash. Eventually we can increase the walks to 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then finally at 8 weeks he can be at normal activity.

It will be interesting, but I can tell that he is still in some pain so he is pretty low key at this point. Marie was so excited to have him back home. When she got home from school she just laid down by him and gave him kisses.

**Andy News**
Monday was also Andy's interview at a hospital in Des Moines. Once again it was more of a recruiting session to get Andy to pick them. The interview went very well which will just make our decision even more difficult. We are so thankful for the way the interviews are going and are looking forward to our next one in Sioux City.

Jumping in the Leaves

With the chilly wind came a leaf-covered lawn.

It only made sense to rake a big pile and jump in! Marie was loving it and it inspired our poor Charlie to get a little more frisky as well resulting in me being tackled while Andy tried to take pictures of it all. The kids got him back by tackling him as well while I got to snap the picture.

Charlie Update

For those of you interested in our other child, Charlie, we had our consult with the surgeon on Wednesday. We have scheduled the surgery for Monday, November 7th. All of us were concerned with the amount of pressure he is applying to his left leg which has already had 2 surgeries so we agreed we needed the surgery to occur as soon as possible.

It looks like we will be doing the more invasive procedure because of the faster recovery time. It will allow Charlie to apply more pressure to both hind legs faster, thus, relieving his back left leg from all that weight.

We will have to keep him on very short leash walks once he is able to use his back right leg which won't be easy. We are also going to look into water therapy at our boarding facility where they have a therapy pool and underwater treadmill available to use in the winter. Charlie is being so good even though we know he is frustrated and in pain. Marie keeps giving him extra kisses and always warns us to be careful around his leg.
***
Also, Andy had his first interview yesterday in Mason City. He was pleasantly surprised with the package they were offering including housing for a much reduced rate that is within walking distance to the hospital. The town was busy and full of fun activities as well.

We were very thankful for some information and it actually made us feel more secure in our future...they even mentioned finding me a job!