Thankful

 We have a lot to be Thankful for.  Harper has had small bilateral groin masses since birth that we have long assumed to be hernias (pediatric surgeon agreed).  I have been putting off surgery for these hernias for years and we finally decided to go ahead and do it.  The surgery was with my favorite CRNA, a lovely pediatric surgeon and in my favorite OR.  It was very scary to go through surgery on the other side for me at least.  Harper had no fear or worries at all.  Unfortunately, there were no hernias during her diagnostic laparoscopy which means they are likely cysts of the canal of Nuck.  I think we are just going to let these be.  Harper did well in surgery and was her normal self an hour later.  We are thankful for her health and the wonderful team who made her feel like a VIP.

      

I was so anxious about Harper's surgery that I changed out our stair light fixtures the night before. 

    

   

     

      

Brave little girlie!

     

    

      

I had a seventy-two hour call over the days surrounding Thanksgiving.  It was a crazy shift with one code, one rapid response many healthy babies.  The nurses invited me to their Thanksgiving feast.  I am so thankful to work with such wonderful people. 

       

I decorated the Christmas tree for our call room.  This little tree brings me joy when I am stuck at the hospital! 

       

Alex's parents held Thanksgiving for my family this year.  I am so thankful my kids could spend Thanksgiving with family.  Also check out Nanna and Grandad's new beautiful kitchen!!! 

    

    

    

    

     

   

Alex took the kids ice skating with friends Friday night at the White Water Center.

     

My girlie ice skating three days post an abdominal laparoscopy. 

         

We are thankful for such good friends!

      

I got home Saturday morning and slept for five hours.  Alex was able to attend Catherine's horse competition.  We are thankful to have the Schneiders so close to us now in Matthews!

    

After I woke up, we went to get our Christmas tree.  We have been going to the same place for years.

    

       

      

    

    

We always get too tall!  The star won't even fit on it this year.

          

All of the outdoor lights are finished!

     

This will be my favorite view in the house for the next few weeks.

       

    

         

I am thankful it is now my favorite time of year!!

    

The kids always play with ornaments while I am decorating.  It is their tradition. 

        

      

Nanna and Grandad held the second annual Christmas tea party at their house for Harper and her best friend, Amelia. 

    

So beautiful!

     

    

    

    

    

Party, Protest, Party, Party

We can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving!  We squished a lot of fun into this past week.

     

Nanna and Grandad often take Harper to Scouts on Monday nights.  This past Monday, they went out to dinner afterwards.  Harper was lucky to have some one-on-one grandparent time.

        

We went to the Panther's Stadium Christmas Tree Lighting event Tuesday night.  It was packed!

    

    

     

The tree is from Elkin, North Carolina and has forty thousand lights!

    

     

     

After the lighting, we were able to go inside the stadium for festive activities. 

     

You could decorate cookies and gingerbread houses, make ornaments and write letters to Santa.

   

   

    

      

After the picture, Ethan leaned in to Santa and told him what he wanted.  It was so cute.

         

     

    

    

     

     

    

    

     

          

We wanted to go to the anti-ICE protest at Manolo's bakery Friday night so we made signs in preparation.  The kids picked the sayings they wanted on their signs.

       

Harper's class had a Friendsgiving party Friday afternoon that I was able to go to.  It was cute!

       

Harper threw up on the way home from school so she was unable to go to the protest, sadly.  Ethan and I went and ran into my friend!  Michele and Dave also came to the protest.  We showed up early and there were already tons of people.

       

Ethan did an amazing job holding up his sign and blowing his whistle.  Everyone thought he was so cute.

     

      

    

     

          

There were hundreds of people lining the streets.  The cars driving by would honk in agreement.  It was amazing watching the community come together!

      

     

     

I found us in many posts online. 

         

We all headed to Fitz's birthday party Saturday morning in South Carolina.

     

    

      

The kids designed Lego minifigures and cars to race.

    

   

    

    

     

Fitz's car!

   

Evie's car!

     

    

    

Harper's car!

        

Harper had the most wins over all the heats!

      

Harper and I had to leave early to go to her end of season soccer party.

     

    

       

Harper's coach made a nice speech about her and gave her the "Unsung Hero" award for always challenging the other team, taking the ball and turning it around.  There were many games that they kept Harper in the entire game!

       

         

         

Next, we headed to Griffin's apartment to celebrate Uncle John's birthday.  John and Michele had driven down to Charlotte to go to a comedy show for John's birthday.  It was great to see everybody!

    

     

           

        

We did have to leave the celebration early to go back to South Carolina for Christmas mini golf with Kate and Sean.

     

We went here last year and loved it so we made sure to schedule it again this year.  Last year it was twenty degrees.  This year it was sixty and a million times better!

    

    

    

    

   

        

Eighteen holes with four crazy kids is pure chaos, but we had a blast.

      

   

    

    

    

    

     

    

    

     

    

    

    

    

     

    

    

    

    

    

I spy Evie!

    

I spy Harper!

    

    

    

    

     

   

     

        

    

    

     

    

     

Harper wanted a lot of photos.

    

    

    

        

   

   

   

    

        

Many balls went into the water.

    

    

          

    

After we got home, the kids lit lanterns they had picked up at a firework store in South Carolina.

     

They went so high!!

   

     

     

On Sunday, Harper went with Amelia and her mom to the Renaissance Festival.  The rest of us stayed around the house and did chores, luminary preparation and lounged.