Part One: Random Posts from Previous Months---Quincy's 2nd Birthday

It's been a busy couple of months. Quincy was diagnosed with round 1 of Pneumonia at the end of October and that put a damper on her 2nd birthday. However, at least she recuperated enough to do Halloween in the 'hood at our old neighbor's (Andy, Jenny, and Tess) house. But......a couple of weeks after Halloween, she became sick, yet again. This time she was diagnosed with Chicken Pox (yes, she has had her Varicella vaccination). Three days after the initial diagnosis we took her back to the doctor's office as she was getting sicker and sicker, but oddly enough, her pox hadn't progressed passed the initial batch. Her fever kept going up to 103-ish and even though we were alternating Tylenol/Motrin it wasn't working. She became SUPER dehydrated so she was admitted to Scottish Rite Children's Hospital. She was put on an IV drip and we were told that she did NOT have the Chicken Pox but, rather, had RSV that turned into double pneumonia; the initial rash was just some viral-related rash at the onset of her illness and was completely unrelated to the Chicken Pox. Three days later, they discharged little Quincy from the hospital as good as new. All in all, in spite of the horrible circumstance in which we we there, Scottish Rite was a wonderful place to stay.....they take care of the whole family, not just the children. I did not have to leave Quincy's room for even one minute the whole time we were there. They truly take care of everything so the parent's don't have anything else to worry about (such as food or laundry) and can concentrate on their child's needs.

Quincy's 2nd Birthday:
It took us awhile, but we finally found a doll that didn't have blonde hair and big, round, blue eyes. Quincy has named her "Cho-Cho" and carries her almost everywhere (see this year's Chirstmas card for verification....).

Love at first sight.....

After breakfast, we took her to a local children's imagination playground and let the Birthday Girl paint and play with lots of fun stuff....

This year's cake: Hello Kitty, of course (and I made it!!!).

She actually blew out the candles on her own.....even with pneumonia, the girl's got a good set of lungs!

One more birthday gift to open....a GREAT felt puzzle from her BFF, Lucy!!!

Part Two: Random Posts from Previous Months----Halloween

Halloween with Tess! Quincy was a Wood Fairy (or something cute and purple). Tess was Flamingo!

Quincy and Tess......on their way to find cavities.

A bag full of (seven pieces) of goodies! Time to make the loonnngggg drive home to the 'burbs!

Quincy Gets Pneumonia, Part 1

The weekend before Halloween (and Quincy's B'day) we were out and about the entire weekend. Saturday night we took Quincy to "Boo at the Zoo". On this night, they shut down the animal exhibits at the zoo and turn it in to a fun, family-friendly evening filled with trick-or-treating, train rides, and lots of scary stuff. Prior to leaving, Quincy had a cough, which she had for the previous two weeks, but she wasn't running a fever so we thought it would be okay to go. We were wrong. Sunday evening she did not have a good sleep and ended up throwing up she was coughing so hard. Monday she woke up with a fever so I took her to the doctor's office. They did their exam, took a couple of chest x-rays, and announced Quincy has pneumonia! The last time I took her to the doctor for an extended cough, I was told it is just a cold and the cough will eventually go away. Huh. After a week of antiobiotics and rest, she is now healthy and back to normal....

Quincy Gets Pneumonia, Part 2

The day after Boo at the Zoo we spent the whole day at Cagle's Dairy where we went for a hay ride, got to pet the goats and calfs, got lost in a corn-maze, and then spent an hour (!) jumping on the inflatables. Oh! And we got to see how they get milk out of a cow----it's not by a Danish women in pig-tails. In spite of the fact that it was a beautiful 75 degrees out, in retrospect this might not have been the best thing to do as this was the night Quincy became soooo sick. But she did have a great time.....

Quincy Gets Pneumonia, Part 3

Okay....I really think this is what probably pushed her over-the-edge in sickness...but look how much fun she is having! She loves jumping on these things sooo much that Santa is getting her one for Christmas.....

Playing before Cathy's 40th Surprise B'Day party....

Last weekend was our very good friend's, Cathy, surprise B'day party. Prior to the party, the girls took her out for a surprise wine-tasting event while her husband, Dave (Tim's best-friend), prepared their house for the party upon her return (and it was truly a surprise---she had NO idea). While Dave was getting the house ready, Tim was on Quincy-duty (as I was wine-tasting and eating huge amounts of cheese---I love cheese....yummm). Dave and Cathy have a great playgound set up in the back so Quincy was able to enjoy the beautiful day outside....she especially loved the rock wall....

Random pictures from September....

We moved into our new house over a month ago and we are just now feeling settled in. All of us absolutely love, love, love the house! While we were in the rental house, Quincy never once had a good night's sleep. She cried every time she was put down for her naps and for the night. And I mean cried. Hard. However, the night we moved into the new house Quincy was right back to her old self. Now she just lays down and says night-night and then just clicks off for the night. Ahh.....happy baby.

Here we are the day we closed on our new house. Standing with us is Steve, our builder. We had such a great experience with Steve that I felt the need to have him in our first picture at our new house.
If I ever get my act together, the above picture will be the picture on our "We've moved cards". Chances are you'll get a Christmas card from us before I get around to sending out these cards...


Now that we live in the 'burbs, we are finally doing all the things we have never been able to do while we lived downtown, such as going to dinner without being acosted by indigents. The first suburban-activity on our agenda was to go to the Duluth Fall Festival, which I had yet to go to the entire 13 years I have worked at Duluth High School. As you can tell from the above picture, Quincy had fun.....she especially loved the parade!

A couple of weeks after we moved in, Quincy had her first trip to our new dentist ...which is right across the street and we will walk to from here on out. She had a great time in the waiting room....but that's where the fun ended so I am only posting the "happy Quincy at the dentist" picture....
Above is a picture from Quincy's school. With her are her school-BFF, Rebecca on the left (which is not her forever-BFF---that honor will always belong to Lucy and Kali) and her teacher, Daisy, on her right. We love (LOVE!) Daisy....she is just sooo loving and nice. Quincy always gives her a HUGE hug and kiss before she leaves every day....

Cold weather is finally upon us so we all get to go back outside without melting from the heat....

Our New House

It's ready...and we close on Friday, September 19th. We will officially move in on the 22nd. We CAN'T wait.....While we have enjoyed our rental for the summer, we are tired of living out of boxes.

The above picture is of the sitting room in the master bedroom. We have no idea what we are going to do with that much space. But we can't wait to figure it out!
Part of the kitchen looking into the family room (left) and dining room (right).
The front of the house. Typical suburban house with no character...but you can't beat the school district!
The view from the basement door into the backyard. The green area behind our house is protected and will never be developed. Yay! And...we have a blank slate to begin another landscape project...love it!