I thought tonight I would sit down and write a post updating everyone on what we've been up to, include some pictures, the whole nine yards. Truth is though, that I'm tired and we've done a tone of stuff in the past week and a half. In my line of work at the hospital I'm responsible for getting TONS of new information out to the nurses on my units. And if anyone has been anywhere near a hospital in the past few years, or you happen to work in one, you know that nurses are busy. So when it comes to information they want the down and dirty, need to know stuff. I've gotten pretty good at the "need to know" recently. Here it is:

Over the past two weeks we have done the following:
Rounded out fun week with a trip to DelGrosso's amusement park and water park. It was extremely cold and rainy, but we still had a great time. Mental note to self though...when the lifeguards are wearing hooded sweatshirts and are draped with blankets, it's probably too cold to swim comfortably.

We continued our weekend with a trip to Sharon, PA to visit Grammy Musial and Aunt Loretta and many nieces and nephews. The highlight of the trip was meeting Grammy's new little puppy, Lily.

Before leaving for home on Sunday, we attended the Champ (Grandma Loretta's family) Reunion. It was great to see folks who we don't regularly see or keep in touch with.

Upon returning home on Sunday evening my parents came over to help us move all of our upstairs furniture to the middle of the room in preparation for the installation of new crown molding and painting. Fun times. Let me just say that we are all still sleeping in the master bedroom. I have new appreciation for my friends Dave and Kathy who have been enduring home renovations for several months now.

On Tuesday of this week we received the wonderful and very unexpected news that one of Earl's co-workers was willing to switch vacations with him. And so, on Friday we booked our trip to Disney World. We'll be leaving November 14th (my birthday) to spend a week at the Animal Kingdom and visiting Disney. I'm so excited (probably more so than anyone else) because I've always wanted to see Disney decorated for Christmas. Rumor has it that it snows every night despite the warm temperatures and there is no shortage of free hot cocoa and Christmas cookies. I can only hope my family can get me on a plane to come home! I do have to admit a slight tinge of fear since this is the first trip we've taken to Disney without an extra set of hands!

On Saturday we received another exciting piece of news via mail this time. A letter arrived at our house telling us that McKenna would be in Mrs. Jamieson's kindergarten class this coming year. How exciting...and scary all at once. The best news came today though when we found out that McKenna's friend (and our neighbor) will be in the same class. I'm not sure who was more excited, the girls or the mom's. The mom's are hoping that between two of us we might just remember when we need to send cupcakes or permission slips, etc. I'm also feeling very relieved to have finalized McKenna's before and after school care with our neighbor down the street. She's got a great in home daycare and I feel really comfortable about McKenna going to their house two days a week. Granted it will only be for an hour before and after school but I want her to be in a great place. I'm so thankful that things are coming together and I'm feeling a little more at ease with the school year quickly approaching.

And last, but probably not least....this is my last week of working full time. I can hardly believe it. It seems like forever ago that I began agonizing over my decision to go part time. I am so completely blessed that my boss has bent over backwards to make this work for me. I am also so grateful to have a wonderful new co-worker who I'm going to miss incredibly after this week. I've been orienting her since the end of May and we've had such an awesome time together. The best part is that I feel so good about leaving things in her hands for half the month.

So, there you have it, the down and dirty of what's been going on with the Mowry's. Oh, I guess I should mention poor Earl! His fun week of vacation ended and he was greeted back at the

Big G by nearly 18 hours of overtime this past week. No rest for the weary. This week is his birthday...the big 32! Glad he hits those birthday's before I do! So, if you see him around this week be sure to wish him a happy day!