Yikes! It is November!

But I am glad it isn't October any more. October was a rough month. As you well know, it was the month that Natalie had the H1N1, Selah died and Joey was very sick. Yet there were good things that happened in October too. We made our annual trip to Southern Supreme who host an Open House every year where you get to taste their yummy treats. Two weekends ago we went to the Black Walnut Festival which turned out to be a disappointment as they did not have any black walnuts for sale or children's activities as they had advertised. But we decided to take a trip to Pilot Mountain and it turned out that we timed it well as the colors were really pretty. Last weekend we went to Fayetteville and spent the weekend with my wonderful friends, the Boyles. We had a great time and it was also neat to catch up with some friends I have not seen in years. Natalie had a blast even though she was quite worn out by time we came home.
Another thing that happened in October was the arrival of Pippi. My good friend and co-worker found a kitten in her yard about 3 days after Selah passed away. I was not sure that I wanted another cat so soon. (She has dogs and couldn't keep her.) This was also at the time when Joey was so sick. The vet suggested that I wait 2 weeks until I took her so Joey could adjust. So my mom kept her and I slowly transitioned her to living with us.
She is a sweet kitten, but she is also a terror! The "boys" have adjusted to living with her and Joey definitely is more playful with her around.
This past week I also got some good news about Natalie. Last April she was screened for kindergarten. At that time she was showing a year delay in language skills. So earlier this month I asked her teacher for her to be tested in her language skills. They agreed and retested her with the same test from April with the understanding that is she still showed a significant delay, then they would do in depth formal testing. Well, it turns out that in April Natalie was at 3 years 10 months and now 7 months later she is at 5 years 4 months which is her chronological age. Whew!! All those days of repeating, working and going over and over things has definitely paid off. It also shows me her ability to learn when there are opportunities and encouragement to learn.
This weekend we have stayed home and it has been glorious getting the yard done, the house cleaned and maybe just maybe some time to do a little reading.