Thanksgiving to Christmas?!
Wow, I knew the late fall was going to be busy, but I didn't realize that after Thanksgiving, I'd look up and it would already be Christmas just around the corner!
Halloween was good, Owen dressed up as a Star Wars Jedi, using some of my clothes to make the tunic/leggings, and big overcoat. We even got a few people at our place for trick or treating, which doesn't always happen.
Most weekends since then have been pretty similar, our usual Tim Horton's breakfast followed by groceries, though a few weekends were different. There was the school Book Fair one weekend in November, which was a good time. There was a Lego Robotics workshop for Owen one weekend, which he enjoyed, and we signed him up for another one in January. Mack's band had a few shows, lost a drummer, auditioned other ones, almost broke up, then made up, and selected a new drummer. Very dramatic fall for them!
We had a birthday party for Owen a few weeks ago - yes, very late, but it took us a while to get organized after the school year started (is what I tell myself! LOL!). It was at a place that has rock climbing, but the kids room has these auto-belaying harnesses which make it easy for kids to climb up tall obstacles and walls by themselves, and then just jump off to float down. I didn't get to participate (too busy picking up pizza for the kids to eat when they were done), but Mack did, and had a good time. Owen managed to get himself too high on one obstacle, and needed to be coached down. He had been tearful while being "stuck", but immediately recovered and kept going to other climbing walls - he even went back to the same obstacle and did it again, so we were proud of him for persevering! There were 6 boys total (including Owen) and it was a good size group. I think everyone had a good time.
Work has been busy for both Mack and I. For me, we hired a new Executive Director for my organization, which meant a bit of churn in terms of priorities and decisions. But the new boss has been here for 3 weeks, and I adore her. She's exactly the right mix of supportive, decisive, trusting, and intelligent. Example: on her third day, she was going through the budget with me. She looked at the spreadsheet, thought for a minute, and then asked a question about the most important line item in the budget - she immediately saw what the problem was, and zero'ed in on it. Quick as a whip. Love it.
My big job for the last few months has been the budget. I worked on it intermittently through August and September, then hardcore in October and November. Lots of work, many hours, lots of consultation, meetings, questions, phone calls, etc. The budget gets reviewed by two committees, and it passed the first committee a week or so ago, then the Board passed it this week. Big relief. I can now focus on closing our accounting system for year-end, which is December 31st.
Mack is busy at work, and is kind of doing the work of a team lead/manager, rather than actually coding or programming. He seems to enjoy that, though as "performance review" time comes around, he realizes that there are some aspects of being a manager that he doesn't like - and I completely agree, I'm the same. Dealing with code, or debits and credits is fine - dealing with people is hard! :-)
School is going well for Owen, though there have been a few small issues. One is that he's telling people we're moving to Halifax at Christmas time - I've got parents emailing me telling me that their son is going to miss Owen. I'm like, "What?!" Sigh. So, we're going to have to talk to him about that tonight!
We got his report card, and he got good grades in most things. But when Mack went to talk to the teachers, they told Mack that Owen talks too much. He's still getting his work done, but others near him aren't getting their work done. They were going to make some changes, and I hope it helps. We find the same thing sometimes at home - he's just got a story in him, and it has to come out, regardless of the fact that we're walking out his bedroom door after turning out his light at bedtime - he's still chatting away. I love his curiosity and passion and creativity - I think it's just a question of focusing it and directing it, rather than squashing it!
We all got our flu shots last weekend - knock on wood, we've all been healthy enough this fall (ie, no colds) that we could all get the shot. Owen was sad/upset as we arrived at the drug store, but we talked to him about how it's OK to be scared, but that there's really nothing to be scared of, it's a 1 second pinch, and will keep you from getting really sick. He was calm and not upset from then on, and got his shot like a trooper.
We've been busy the last few weeks planning for our holiday in Halifax, which we're all looking forward to (though maybe no one more than Owen, who thinks we're going to stay there! LOL!). We're probably going to be doing more gift cards and gifts of experiences rather than tangible goods. Since we're flying, this makes more sense in terms of luggage constraints, not to mention that we just don't need much stuff! Should be a good time.
Our cats are still hanging in there, not too different from before. We've gotten a new medicine for them, a liquid which we can just squeeze into their mouth with a syringe, which seems to be going fine - the getting the medicine into them, I mean. Not too much difference in terms of their health/problems, but I don't mind - as long as they're comfortable and happy, I'll take it - and they are. We've actually stopped giving them the IV fluids, as one of them was getting kind of "puffy", and I worried that the fluid was building up in her, and would cause more problems.
I guess that's it for an update for me ... long time coming, but hopefully this update finds you well, and ready for Christmas in whatever form it takes for you!
Halloween was good, Owen dressed up as a Star Wars Jedi, using some of my clothes to make the tunic/leggings, and big overcoat. We even got a few people at our place for trick or treating, which doesn't always happen.
Most weekends since then have been pretty similar, our usual Tim Horton's breakfast followed by groceries, though a few weekends were different. There was the school Book Fair one weekend in November, which was a good time. There was a Lego Robotics workshop for Owen one weekend, which he enjoyed, and we signed him up for another one in January. Mack's band had a few shows, lost a drummer, auditioned other ones, almost broke up, then made up, and selected a new drummer. Very dramatic fall for them!
We had a birthday party for Owen a few weeks ago - yes, very late, but it took us a while to get organized after the school year started (is what I tell myself! LOL!). It was at a place that has rock climbing, but the kids room has these auto-belaying harnesses which make it easy for kids to climb up tall obstacles and walls by themselves, and then just jump off to float down. I didn't get to participate (too busy picking up pizza for the kids to eat when they were done), but Mack did, and had a good time. Owen managed to get himself too high on one obstacle, and needed to be coached down. He had been tearful while being "stuck", but immediately recovered and kept going to other climbing walls - he even went back to the same obstacle and did it again, so we were proud of him for persevering! There were 6 boys total (including Owen) and it was a good size group. I think everyone had a good time.
Work has been busy for both Mack and I. For me, we hired a new Executive Director for my organization, which meant a bit of churn in terms of priorities and decisions. But the new boss has been here for 3 weeks, and I adore her. She's exactly the right mix of supportive, decisive, trusting, and intelligent. Example: on her third day, she was going through the budget with me. She looked at the spreadsheet, thought for a minute, and then asked a question about the most important line item in the budget - she immediately saw what the problem was, and zero'ed in on it. Quick as a whip. Love it.
My big job for the last few months has been the budget. I worked on it intermittently through August and September, then hardcore in October and November. Lots of work, many hours, lots of consultation, meetings, questions, phone calls, etc. The budget gets reviewed by two committees, and it passed the first committee a week or so ago, then the Board passed it this week. Big relief. I can now focus on closing our accounting system for year-end, which is December 31st.
Mack is busy at work, and is kind of doing the work of a team lead/manager, rather than actually coding or programming. He seems to enjoy that, though as "performance review" time comes around, he realizes that there are some aspects of being a manager that he doesn't like - and I completely agree, I'm the same. Dealing with code, or debits and credits is fine - dealing with people is hard! :-)
School is going well for Owen, though there have been a few small issues. One is that he's telling people we're moving to Halifax at Christmas time - I've got parents emailing me telling me that their son is going to miss Owen. I'm like, "What?!" Sigh. So, we're going to have to talk to him about that tonight!
We got his report card, and he got good grades in most things. But when Mack went to talk to the teachers, they told Mack that Owen talks too much. He's still getting his work done, but others near him aren't getting their work done. They were going to make some changes, and I hope it helps. We find the same thing sometimes at home - he's just got a story in him, and it has to come out, regardless of the fact that we're walking out his bedroom door after turning out his light at bedtime - he's still chatting away. I love his curiosity and passion and creativity - I think it's just a question of focusing it and directing it, rather than squashing it!
We all got our flu shots last weekend - knock on wood, we've all been healthy enough this fall (ie, no colds) that we could all get the shot. Owen was sad/upset as we arrived at the drug store, but we talked to him about how it's OK to be scared, but that there's really nothing to be scared of, it's a 1 second pinch, and will keep you from getting really sick. He was calm and not upset from then on, and got his shot like a trooper.
We've been busy the last few weeks planning for our holiday in Halifax, which we're all looking forward to (though maybe no one more than Owen, who thinks we're going to stay there! LOL!). We're probably going to be doing more gift cards and gifts of experiences rather than tangible goods. Since we're flying, this makes more sense in terms of luggage constraints, not to mention that we just don't need much stuff! Should be a good time.
Our cats are still hanging in there, not too different from before. We've gotten a new medicine for them, a liquid which we can just squeeze into their mouth with a syringe, which seems to be going fine - the getting the medicine into them, I mean. Not too much difference in terms of their health/problems, but I don't mind - as long as they're comfortable and happy, I'll take it - and they are. We've actually stopped giving them the IV fluids, as one of them was getting kind of "puffy", and I worried that the fluid was building up in her, and would cause more problems.
I guess that's it for an update for me ... long time coming, but hopefully this update finds you well, and ready for Christmas in whatever form it takes for you!