A better, but busy, week

Last week was a better one in our family, except maybe for Matt.  He ended up with a nasty cough that is still lingering.  Bummer.  But he has still been able to go mountain biking in the evenings once a week, in spite of the early darkness.  Biking through the woods at night would not be my choice activity, but Matt really enjoys it, as long as he has plenty of back-up lights along.

Ethan's stitches came out on Monday and the scab finally came off on Thursday or Friday.  We are just trying our best now to remember to have him wear a hat when he's outside.  The doctor said that the best way to prevent a lasting scar from this cut is to keep the new skin protected from the sun as much as possible.

Tuesday was an eventful day, although completely unrelated to the election.  Our family was invited this year to be interviewed for the Make-a-Wish-Wisconsin radioathon.  (We were asked last year, too, but Anna had already missed quite a bit of school due to doctor's appointments by December so we turned them down at the time.)  Instead of participating in the live interviews during the fund raiser hosted by Z104 on December 1-2, we were interviewed ahead of time for a pre-recorded montage.  We ended up at the radio station on the afternoon of election day.  How's that for timing? :)

Wednesday was Kate's parent-teacher conference.  Since last winter, we decided that it's easiest now for us to just bring the kids along and have them sit in the hallway with books or other activities.  Maybe not the best use of everyone's time, but it takes a lot less coordination than trying to find someone to watch them.

As we suspected, Kate is doing great in school again this year.  She does very well academically and socially.  She is continuing to grow with her confidence and potential leadership skills.  The more confidence she gains and shows, the more other kids look to her.  Looking back to her fall kindergarten conference, Miss Kate has come a long, long way.

Wednesday was also an eventful day because the field behind our yard was finally harvested!  We have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for this day to come.  My parents happened to be driving through town that day and had taken Ethan and I out to lunch.  When we got home, we recognized the sound of the tractor out back right away.  Ethan and Grandpa watched the combine and tractor for a good portion of the afternoon.

Ethan has told me more than once this week, "Grandpa knows a lot about combines."

Kate and Ethan were able to explore out in the field with a neighbor one evening last week and then we made the trek out back as a family on Saturday.

Since the farmers grew beans this year instead of corn, the stubble is much lower and so Anna can drive the go-kart from island to island.  Hooray for modified family events!

The afternoon adventure proved to be fun, as it is every year.

Other than that, we are still plugging along here.  We are trying to get geared up for the celebrations and holidays in the coming weeks, but the weather up here is making that a bit tricky.  We still haven't had a real cold snap.  I finally pulled up the peppers and trimmed back the raspberry bushes, but our broccoli plants are still producing enough side shoots to give us a meal's worth about once a week.  The grass is still green and some of the fruit trees even have leaves on them still.  Crazy Wisconsin weather!