Nice or Nasty November

It's been a nasty Fall for sicknesses–for all of us. We just can't seem to keep the bugs at bay! And how many viruses does a pint size Carice have to endure? She had a head cold in September, one in October and now one in November. Not to mention nasty Croup found its way into her little body about the middle of the month. Yucky. She didn't receive any meds from her doctor for it though, and seemed to make it through the nights okay, which is when it's to be at its worse. Cali healthfully escaped all the cold viruses, but unfortunately not Croup. And I think she was in a little denial about it all as she tried to hold in her coughs! (No, I'm not sick!) Not fun. At one point, I opened the back door and a window another day hoping to clear the germs from the air. Do we dare have hope that winter will be better? Bring on Dapper, Dazzling, December! (Are there any 'D' words that go with health??) hee hee hee

At the beginning of the month, Cali and I had *Girls Night* We went to the Southtown Mall to mainly share a cookie together. We (I) looked at clothes for her a little bit (she wasn't really diggin' that) but wanted to ride on the escalator. And ride on the escalator. And ride on the escalator. ;) On the way home we did a drive-thru run at McD's and got a rootbeer and a milkshake. Okay, I confess, it was me who ordered the milkshake. Yum! November 15 was the day we marked on the calendar for Cali being officially 'dye-free'. Just within a fews days we noticed a pretty significant change in her demeanor. She was much more calm. She seemed to play more. Happier, even? And when she would have a 'crazy moment' perhaps it didn't seem to last as long?? Rick and I couldn't believe our eyes. Is this really real? Were we making this up? She may have not eaten anything artificially colored some days prior to the 15th, so the data may be a little skewed, but this was nice! She was nice! So, we've kept it up. And we aren't going back, either. I've heard that this dye elimination can be dubbed an 'allergy', an 'intolerance', and I think another term I read was a 'sensitivity'. I don't really know what to call it for her, but whichever it is, eliminating them seems to be working very, very well. Life is so much better and nicer for everyone...especially Cali. For the most part, now no more nasty 'bees' buzzing in her already energentic little body. We did move her to the morning class at Gymboree where there are more children enrolled. She likes class and made a fun friend, Piper. I forgotten Cali has out-grown Gymboree somewhat now that we have been there, but oh well...it's a nice place to play sometimes when we are able to go. (no sick kids allowed). And Little Sis is signed up for open gym days so they both get to go together for that.

Carice and Cali have been having 'orange juice parties' or as Cali pronounces it 'pearty'. This basically envolves a sippy cup (matching, of course) with orange juice there-in, a CapriSun straw stuck in the sippy lid which is then placed on a gray Rubbermaid stool used as a table. *phew* Sometimes the girls sit opposite each other and its really kinda cute ;) But as you can see Cali still hates pictures, so this is a picture of the o.j. all by its lonesome with Carice doin' her thing in her picture. But its at least one nice thing they do together...well, sometimes it works our nicely. Sisters!! Siblings!! Kids!! AAhhh!

Carice has now mastered walking with two princess shoes on and is learning to color with crayons. She loves to put things in a container and then dump it all out again. And you can see from this picture, she figured out what Q-tips are for! The silly goose! She's just a cutie with her delicate spider leg-like eyelashes and her little two-tooth grin. There are almost 4 teeth completely through the gum on top but you can't see them at all in daily interaction with her! :) All in good time. Can't believe she is growing up so big and fast. I'm working on making a nice printed photo book to give to my mom for Christmas of her visit here when Carice was born. I wanted to do it last year, of course, with it being a nice scrapbook look, but I am doing it through Apple. It is so much easier and nicer. Apple does everything with such simple elegance. I know my mom will really like it.

We had a nice traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Rick's mom's house-turkey lurkey and all the trimmings! Thanks everyone for all your hard cooking work on our behalf! And I was to celebrate going out to dinner for my birthday a few days prior to turkey day, but that was the day I took Carice to the doctor, so I opted to go another night. Yes, I'm 25 again. Isn't that nice? :) Jus' kiddin'....My sweet hubby of 11 years bought me a beautiful leather set of Scriptures for my birthday, complete with my name engraved on the front cover. The Scriptures I had before were from Seminary, if you can believe that! Old! The cover of my triple was completely ripped off, along with a few first pages, I think. I'm hoping it's still in a box in our nasty garage (yes, it needs a good cleanin') somewhere as I need to remark my new ones to match my old. Yea! I've been wanting a new set for a few years now and I am so happy and thankful to have them. They will last me the rest of my life ;) Thanks, Love! And a huge thanks to all my wonderful, stupendous family members for showering me with all my other lovely and useful birthday gifts! You're the best!

And last, but certainly not least, Rick has good news to report, he was promoted to a lead at work! Or so we thought. There was confusion as to if he actually was a lead because of some things that transpired, but now after the dust has cleared, he is considered a 'lead in training'. Either way... nice job, honey! Not bad for only being there since June!

Happy December :)