So even though there may not be any readers out there anymore, it's okay! Maybe I can recruit you back, mom and Aunt Joy! (the only ones I know who ever really read this!)
Okay so let's begin. We ended last time in August, when school began for the girls. Well, since their school year is over now, I can tell you that they both did great in school! Sophie is too smart for her own good. She's cocky about it :) She can read at a 2nd grade level, and writes awesome, and is just all around book smart. She can add and subtract like nobody's business, in her head, mind you. And not just single digit numbers. Oh no. She's good. And I'm bragging :) But seriously, she knows she's smart, and that leads to pride...she doesn't like being taught at home, she thinks she knows everything already!
Sienna is also smart, but not as quick to pick things up as Sophie. She just doesn't care about being academically gifted like her sister. She's all about love, and fairness, and being happy. What a hippie. Just kidding! But yes, she is the more affectionate, caring, sensitive one. She had a great year at school too. And this coming fall, she'll be going to her last year of preschool, 5 days a week in the mornings.
So, back to the chronological happenings, last september Cory got some sort of poison oak/ivy on his legs really bad. It was bad. His knee was all swollen and crusty and oozing and yellow and red and all kinds of gross. He got antibiotics and steroids and creams and such, and it slowly healed.
We also did a home project in September, we painted a garage wall and added a little mudroom area for shoes, wet clothes and such. It was fun. Slowly, we are getting our house improved and updated because we have plans to sell it next year.
Also, my mom came down to visit us for a week. We love it when Gramma is here! She is so good with the girls. We had planned on taking her to Myrtle Beach, but back at home in Canada, my dad fell and ended up in the hospital...twice. So mom had to go home early to care for him, and we went to North Myrtle Beach, sadly, without her. The girls had a blast in the ocean and the pools, and we went to Barefoot Landing which is a little shopping district.
When we arrived home from the beach it was Cory's birthday! He turned old, I can't even remember the number anymore. We got him some sushi, picked up a surprise cake on the way home from the beach, and he opened gifts.
Other important news in September, The Walking Dead season 4 came out on Netflix, so I binge-watched it. We don't have cable so I have to wait for it to come out on Netflix.
October showed up and the leaves on the gazillion trees in our yard started to fall. I mean, blankets of leaves. This is one reason we want to move. Constant yard maintenance. Blecch. We went to the Dixie Classic Fair--and spent a TON of money just to go on the ferris wheel and eat food and do a couple games. I did eat fried oreos, so that made it all worth it!
We had General Conference that month and we hiked Pilot Mountain that weekend, with the dog. The girls are older now, and are able to hike so much better, without the constant complaints, and rides on daddy's shoulders. Because Ebola was in the United States in October, it motivated me to get my 72-hour preparedness kit done. If you need motivation to get prepared, Ebola will do it, folks!
Of course, October can't go by without a trip to the local pumpkin patch, and other Halloween/Fall activities, like crafts, carving pumpkins, and going to a corn maze. The corn maze place had a bounce house, giant jumping pillow, a corn box (like a sand box, but with corn, obviously), and a train ride. We also attended Trunk or Treat at our church and went to Sienna's Fall Festival at her preschool, and Sophie's Fall Festival at HER school. It was my dad's birthday too, so we called my mom, but my dad was still in the hospital, ever since he fell in September.
We also had family photos taken in October by a friend from church. She did a great job! We never really get family photos done, except for when we are at a Quinlan family reunion.
Then it was Halloween, the girls went around the neighborhood and acquired a copious amount of candy, from which we stole all the best chocolate! Can you guess what they dressed up as? I bet you'll never figure it out.
In November, I finished my application for the PhD program at NC State. Spoiler alert, it is now July as I write this, and I STILL have not received a response. Apparently no decision has yet been made on my application. WHAT! !!?? Anyway, also in November, we went roller skating as a reward for Sophie's excellent first report card.
Then, the big thing in November was our trip to DISNEY!! My first trip there since I was about 14. The girls' first time, of course. We drove there, taking 2 days, staying overnight in Georgia somewhere. Arrived in Orlando and met Rog and GQ at our hotel. We stayed at the All-Star Movies resort. The room was small, but it adjoined with Rog and GQ's which helped. Plus, they had all sorts of giant statues of movie characters from Toy Story, Dalmations, etc. We went to Magic Kingdom twice, Monday and Wednesday. On Monday, we went on a bunch of rides and saw a few characters like Jasmine and Aladdin, and Ariel. It rained a lot and we got quite wet!
That Wednesday was Sophie's 6th birthday! We decorated the hotel room for when she woke and we had bought a cake and brought presents with us. We waited 2 hours to see Anna and Elsa that day, along with Tinkerbell, Cinderella and Rapunzel. We watched the Festival of Fantasy parade and ate at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Wednesday evening she opened her presents and ate cake.
Tuesday we went to Animal Kingdom and went on Expedition Everest 3 times (Sophie included), and the Kilamunjaro Safari. The girls played at Dino World playground and then we ate at T-rex, a restaurant in downtown disney. Thursday we went to Hollywood studios and rode the Tower of Terror...Sophie went on it 6 times! She's a thrill seeker, that one. We did some more rides, and the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Friday Grammie and Grampie took the girls for the day (yippee!) and they went to playgrounds and the pool. Cory and I got to go to Universal Studios to the Harry Potter land! We saw both parks and rode the Hogwart's Express in between. We rode the roller coasters, went on the awesome Forbidden Journey ride, and looked around all the cool stores. We drank butter beer and pumpkin juice and bought chocolate frogs. We did ALOT of walking. I was exhausted! Then we took the weekend to drive home. It was a great trip.
Then I got the call Wednesday December 3rd that my dad had passed away. So we decided that I would go up alone since we didn't have the time to drive up, and we couldn't afford to all fly up there after just going to Disney, but Cory did get a couple bereavement days so he stayed home with the girls for 3 days while I flew up to Canada for the funeral. I met my brother Adam and his fiancee Jodi at the airport and we all drove together to my mom's house. We made some poster boards with pictures of my dad and our family that night and the next morning we went to the funeral. It was a good funeral, but very weird to see my dad in the casket. I lost it during the funeral service while a old family friend was speaking, but I composed myself. Jason spoke and said some really nice things. I did get to see a lot of family and friends I haven't seen in years. That was nice. The next couple days we hung out as a family, we went to a Nativity musical celebration, watched movies, went through my dad's stuff in his room, and of course, I ate poutine every day :) Man, I miss poutine.
Finally, Christmas came! Sophie was awake at 5am of course. Sienna was sick on Christmas morning and threw up twice. Then she was alright. The girls got a bunch of presents of course. Then the next day, whatever bug Sienna had, I caught, and I was throwing up for 2 days.
On New Years Eve we had a little celebration, Sienna went to bed normal time but Sophie stayed up till 10pm. She got to open a bag every hour, with surprises in it like noise makers, props for pictures, minute to win it games, etc. We had fondue.
Whew. So that was long. My next post will recap the first 6 months of 2015!! How is time flying so fast???
