Still climbing that rope at gymnastics!!

Super Bowl parties are the best!

Shovel your way to the bus stop please

Delayed opening gave Ally time to shovel out today!

Snow day

After our weekend, it was great that schools were closed on Monday and ally got a chance to enjoy the snow!  It was fun to play with Gabriel in the snow!

An unexpected weekend getaway during a blizzard

It sure wasn't what we expected to do this blizzard weekend. We have spent the last 4 days at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia because Allison has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

She had a few symptoms and so we took her to our pediatrician, who arranged for us to go straight to the hospital. Her blood glucose was pretty high when we arrived. The program at CHOP is amazing and here is Ally choosing movies to watch in the emergency room. 

This was the toughest part, getting an IV and sort of realizing what we were in for. 

They got her blood glucose under control and started teaching us what we needed to know, how to live with diabetes and what is involved. John and I were shocked when we realized we needed to stay for 3 days to learn it all, but in the end we felt we really needed all of the time and education.

Allison was a total trooper through the entire thing. Once she felt a little better she managed to make the best of it, find various play rooms and check the snow from a variety of Windows (our room only had a view of the atrium, and we were not in the bed by the window). The storm didn't start until Friday night, so Pop-Pop and Gram were able to visit on Friday, and bring us some cheer and additional clothes for our stay!

Here's a few photos of our stay:

Making the best of it in the ER. She was an amazing patient. 

I took this photo from my bed, John slept on a cot where he is sitting. Sort of like camping!

Snow view 

She made herself a privacy alcove on the couch

Looking for snow in the cafeteria

Checking out!

15 minutes after checking out, on the way home

Now it's time for us to apply what we've learned and adjust to our new normal. 

Fireplace re-do

I have wanted to convert the fireplace to gas for years, and we have finally done it! Here is the "before" picture:

 

Searching through catalogs, we found this photo. We decided we liked this "insert" and actually, we'd like the whole fireplace to look like this one:

It has taken a few months, permits, inspections, mantle order, stone order, etc, but we are thrilled with the end result:

NYE in Ocean City

Another fun New Year's Eve in ocean city with the Wheelers!

Somebody didnt get much sleep..

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