November

Here's a quick run-down of November via pictures.

We got a new TV! Josh is usually pretty frugal and likes to stick to a budget, which I am totally okay with (he keeps me on track, too!). Sometimes, though, he'll really surprise me by wanting to buy something out of the blue. He came to me and said he thought we should get a Blu-ray player as our family Christmas present, and not get anything else for each other (Josh & myself). He said he knew I wanted one so he thought we should get one. I told him that I thought it was kind of silly to get a Blu-ray player when we didn't have an HD TV and our DVD player works fine. Then he said, "Well, let's get a TV, too, then." I was very surprised by this but after talking about it, we decided to research what we wanted. We set a budget and found the one we liked. Josh wanted one that had "apps" already installed and one that had good quality resolution because we aren't planning on buying another one any time soon. Black Friday was coming up so we thought we'd get one during those sales. We couldn't find one that was going to be on sale that fit our qualifications, though. We decided to go to Costco to look at them, find one we would be willing to pay full-price for, and then go on Black Friday and hope it was on sale. We found one we liked for a good price but since there were only 2 in the whole store, decided to get it then. Josh took myself and the kids home because we hadn't thought to bring the truck, and went back to get it. He ended up buying a different one for the same price than we had originally planned on, but I don't remember why he switched it. While at Costco we picked out one that looked about the size we wanted. When Josh mounted it on our wall, though, we realized that we definitely could've gone with the smaller size because it looks HUGE on our wall. It was really nice having the cash to pay for it that wasn't earmarked already for something else. I love being financially responsible (most of the time)! :)  We never did end up buying a Blu-ray player, though...

I decided to introduce my kids to the wonder that is fort-building. They weren't as impressed or excited as I thought they would be, but they still had fun. Maybe they need to be a bit older...

Steven coloring in the fort

Steven showing off his turkey he colored in honor of Thanksgiving

Trying on my boots...

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we were coming inside from church. Sofia was throwing a bit of a fit, and Josh didn't want to wait, so he took her upstairs just holding on to one arm. By the time they got up the stairs, she was crying quite a bit. She started holding her arm and never really stopped crying. We finally got her settled down a bit and put her down for her nap. I started getting worried and decided that if her arm still seemed to be bothering her by the time she woke up, that I would take her into InstaCare. Her arm still seemed to bother her when she got up so I took her in. I explained what happened and the doctor said that she probably had what's called "nurse-maid's elbow" or one of the bones in her lower arm was dislocted from the elbow joint. The doctor tried to put it back into place but it would budge. She ended up having 2 different x-rays done, but nothing was broken (thank goodness!). At that point, all they could do was splint it. They told me to take her into her normal pediatrician in the morning and see if he could pop it back into place. Even though it didn't look swollen, sometimes the muscles and ligaments around the joints get too swollen to let it go back in to place. She seemed a lot better after they put the splint on and her arm couldn't move any more. The next morning, I took her in to see her pediatrician and he popped it back in pretty easily. I could actually hear the pop as it went back in. (Gross!) By the end of the day, she was acting as if nothing had happened. I'm so glad it ended up okay!

In the car on the way home from InstaCare 

Oh, and that was the night we were having a combined birthday party for Josh & I at his parents. She felt a lot better at this point, though, thank goodness.

Josh & I turned a combined age of 55 this year. I LOVE this cake that my mother-in-law makes! :)