A Glimpse at Life

Here are a few of the interesting, sweet, and humorous things going on in the lives of each Vanneste.

Quinn talks a LOT right now. And is starting to say more and more words that the rest of us can actually decipher (as opposed to the 30 seconds of babble and the expectant look that has you hoping she maybe asked for a cup ...). She says "Fiona" now, only it comes out "Nona." That's not accurate. She says "Bug Bug," she shrieks "Nona" and the shriek is usually followed by her enticing Fiona into a rousing game of chase. Or wrestling. Or stroller wars. When she takes time to concentrate, she knows that "Nona" is not right and very deliberately focuses on her tongue action to say "No-la-la-la-na." When she sees a picture of herself, she will point and say "Key" (Quinny). And when we sing "If you're happy and you know it," she says "ha-choo" for "hooray."

Fiona is trying to figure out this Thanksgiving gig. Halloween was easy. Costumes. Candy. Trick or treating. Tangible concepts. Christmas ... Jesus' birthday party. Santa. Got it! Thankfulness ... hmmm. This morning on the way to day care, out of the blue, she said to me, "Mama, I am thankful for you and Daddy and Quinny and Yogi. And my grandmas ... And my grandpas." I told her that I was thankful for her and daddy and Quinny and Yogi and grandmas and grandpas too. Then she said to me (and I melted), "Mama, you are in my heart." At dinner tonight, she was digging the chicken that Mike grilled and asked for more. After Mike brought her more, she said to me, "I'm thankful for more chicken." It's fun to see where her head goes in this thankfulness exploration - and to have conversations about how blessed we are.

Mike has had a busy month. He had his second ear infection of the year (what!?!?), which was no fun. Luckily, he recognized the signs this time and got on meds before his ear drum ruptured. That's a good choice as the recovery time is significantly reduced. He had a successful weekend up north at the hunting shack and ended up with two deer. That's all I know. If you want more specifics, you'll have to ask him yourself. He also spent many. MANY. nights working on my laptop to stop the endless stream of blue screens. It was an angst-filled process that resulted in a few fineable words (usually after bedtime) ... but my laptop is currently working. Hooray!

While the laptop was in the "ER," I was forced to relocate to the basement desktop computer to do things like the checkbook. It's cold down there. And the monitor is REALLY bright and the dimness adjuster thing doesn't work anymore. So I had to put my sunglasses on to not get a migraine. Mike just sat there and laughed at me as I complained my way through the weekly bill session. I have no idea where the girls get their whining and dramatic tendencies. It's clearly Mike ...

Yogi continues to be the best. We were a bit concerned about his hips this summer as he seemed to have alot of stiffness after active days. Mike brought him in for his annual physical last weekend and the vet was very pleased with his range of motion in his hips and didn't see anything to be concerned about. Yogi, like the rest of us tall folks here, seems to just not be getting younger. We'll try to keep him as active as possible to keep those hips in good shape. Maybe he can join "Key" and "Nona" in chase, and wrestling, and stroller wars.