Cider Mill

So today we were determined to get out of the house. It was a gorgeous day outside and the temp was well above freezing, with a high of 40 degrees! We are expecting yucky weather tomorrow so we wanted to take advantage of the sunshine today. As we are learning in Michigan, it is important to get outside whenever the weather is good, because all too soon the weather is going to be cold and dreary.

We needed to get out of the house, but we didn't dare go to any shopping mall or retail center. Instead, we went to check out one of the local cider mills. We mainly just took a nice long walk, and stopped at the end to grab a tasty snack. I got a donut... absolutely the BEST cake donut I have ever had, and Bo had some other fruity pastry, which he said was really tasty as well. Of course they had cider, but we just grabbed some snacks to go.

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been the opportunity to spend the day with our family. We were, however, able to spend the day with some of our church family, who hosted a wonderful meal and made us feel very much at home. We enjoyed a large, leisurely lunch with about 10-15 others, and brought home some leftovers for that evening. Our contributions to the gathering were a veggie tray and a bottle of wine. This family always has the best wine... they make it themselves. We didn't do a whole lot else that day, other than taking a nice nap and watching the parade on TV. One thing I knew for certain was that I would NOT go shopping on black Friday. No way, not even if you paid me.... well ok, maybe if you paid me. Anyways, Bo decided to go in to work for a few hours on Friday morning so he could catch up from being off on Thursday, so Mallory and I got out the Christmas tree and decorations and had a nice quiet day at home. We accomplished quite a bit, and even managed to get a few things cleaned up/straightened around the house.

Brrrrr

It is official - we have experienced our first real snow showers of the season. Yesterday afternoon it started snowing, and we ended up with about 2 inches at our house. Not a lot compared to what I am sure we have to look forward to in the coming months, but it is still significant to those of us who are not from around here! It is supposed to snow a little each day this week, but during the daytime the temp. is expected to reach above freezing, allowing everything to melt and then freeze again at night.

Today I dressed Mallory in her new winter coat and hat to see how they fit. Much to Mallory's dissatisfaction, the sleeves of her coat are a bit long and prevented her from getting into stuff as usual, so she let me know pretty quickly that she was unhappy with the situation.

Updates...

Today was a fairly quiet day for us. Mallory and I went to Walmart this morning for groceries, then we came home and took a nice, leisurely afternoon nap. Bo got called in to work a little early this morning because evidently the TV that he had set up at the youth house for a group coming this morning got put away by the cleaning people either late last night or early this morning.

Mallory seems to finally be getting over her cold after about 3 weeks of the sniffles. We took her to the doctor a week ago and they verified that it was just a "cold" and could take up to a month to go away. Because of her frequent ear infections last year they preferred to not give her antiobiotics unless the sickness persisted for another two weeks. Unfortunately, I have begun to experience symptoms similar to Mallory's over the past few days... yesterday my voice was completely gone and I had a cough. Today I was able to speak much better, I just sounded hoarse. Hopefully tomorrow will be even better since I have to work in the morning!

One exciting piece of news... for those of you who don't know, Bo has been working on a book for the past few years off and on, and he is done! He has completed the editing process, and discussed his book with some of his peers who have published works themselves, and is now ready to have his book published. Earlier this week we took several pictures trying to figure out what would look best for the cover of the book. The title is "Some Call it Mercy". I am so excited for Bo as he makes the final steps in publishing his first book. He has a few other ideas for future books that he has already started on as well. He is so creative!

So I've been thinking about starting a blog for several months now, and I'm finally getting around to it. Hopefully this will make it easier to stay in touch with family and friends. :)