Love and Love

J surprised me recently with a lovely bouquet of flowers.  I like how he doesn't send them on the standard holidays.  These ones turned out beautifully.  When they first came they were all closed up and the green of the leaves really stood out. Now that they have bloomed the color is amazing.  It is a nice bit of sunshine in our dreary Northwest.  I will say though that this fall has been pretty dry and sunny so far.  Usually it is nonstop rain from November till January, but I swear we've had an equal amount of sunny days.

Fefe discovered the kitty was in the house last night.  She's was surprisingly gentle with him.  Usually she just grabs a handful of fur and tugs (which is why Glen usually hides out in our room when she is awake).  

Daddy and Fefe had a nice cuddle last night too.  J has decided to start running in the evenings and was a tad worn out.  I haven't been doing so well this week.  I was too lazy on Monday and  Wednesday there was a sheet of ice on the roads.  Poor little Fefe was sick most of the week with a fever, but that seemed to break yesterday.  She's still a grumpers, but that might have something to do with the molars that have been coming in over the last month. 

I had to take the van into the mechanic on Monday.  I'm having problems with the power steering and needed the oil changed again.  We rode the bus back after dropping it off and Loofa had a great time making new friends.  He was talking up a storm with the two ladies across the aisle from us.  I'm sure he charmed them quite a bit.  Riding the bus is an adventure for him.  Fefe thought it was pretty fun too and spent most of the ride back babbling.  Sadly the mechanic could not duplicate the problem so I have to take it back in again sometime when I can show them.  It was frustrating because they kept it for a day and a half and never once called me to say they were having trouble.  I feel like I'm missing a leg when I don't have my car for that long.  I usually drive the kids to and from school, but since I had no car they had to ride the bus.  Tuesday morning we missed it and I wasn't sure what to do.  I could have J come home and drive them, call on a friend early in the morning or we could ride our bikes over.  I chose the latter since it would be least intrusive on someone else.  It wasn't too bad.  Ephant and Brother B complained a bit, but by the time we got there, Ephant wanted to ride the bikes back when school was over.  Luckily the rain took that choice away.  It made me think though that it is good to do something like that here and there so they can get a sense for independence from cars and such.

Fefe is finally really walking.  It is her preferred mode of travel with the occasional speed crawl thrown in.  It was sort of nice when she was sick to cuddle with her.  She's usually all over the place so it was nice to just sit there and rock her.  I'm glad to see her up and happy again now though.

My biggest adventure this week was going to see Twilight with some friends.  I was ambivalent about it at first, but after processing it overnight I decided I did like it.  I do want to see it again, but I may just wait for it to come out on DVD.  

Well, time for me to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving Dinner at Aunt J's.  Maybe I should go on a pre-thanksgiving run.

Yep, That's My Boy

Loofa went over to a friend's house on Tuesday for a playdate.  When A's mom dropped Loofa off she said she needed to tell me something.  Apparently she caught the two of them playing in the buff.  I nearly died laughing.  I told her it was most likely my child that instigated it so I was very sorry.    We'll see if Loofa gets invited over there again.  It's not like he runs around our house naked, but it is the sort of thing he would do.  The boy has no shame.

Obligations

I feel like it has been a long time since last posted. I've been pretty busy, but not with anything really exciting. My RS calling combined with PTO led to a crazy week.

Events we have been involved in:

Funeral luncheon
School Movie Night
Helping an inactive move (Jacob's fun Saturday)
Planning December Enrichment
Birthday party
Gymnastics

Here are some pictures of our Saturday evening fun.

Loofa's Dream

Sometimes it surprises me how well Loofa remembers his dreams and then I start wondering how much he made up.  Regardless, here is our conversation this morning:

Loofa "I dreamed about a rocket."

Me "Did you get to ride on it?"

Loofa "Yes, I rode it to a store."

Me "What store was it?"

Loofa "It was the Halloween store!"

Me "What did you get?"

Loofa "I got a new Batman costume, and I wasn't even crying!"

Me "Do you usually cry in your dreams?"

Loofa "Yes, I usually do cry in my dreams."

Happy Birthday Brother B!

Our Halloween was jampacked as usual because of Brother B's birthday.  It was pretty dang tiring, but we had a lot of fun.  When we woke up I made French Toast as requested.  Then it was off to school.  At lunchtime we went to the school to have our happy meals.  I tried out J's diet of eating the kid's leftovers.  It was a pretty filling lunch :)  It was fun to see who Brother B's friends are.  Of course I think he attracted a few more than usual due to the Happy Meal.  He's still a pretty quiet kid, but seems to have quite a few friends anyway.  After lunch we ran home and I finished getting dressed in my Halloween costume.  I tried curling my hair for it, but that fell out within 1/2 hour.  Very frustrating.  Right before school ended we went back to the school with Brother B's birthday treats.  Ephant helped me wrap the presents when we got back home then everyone got in their Halloween costumes.  The kids probably hate me now because we did quite a lot of picture taking again.  I was so wrapped up in it that we spaced Ephant's piano lessons.  As soon as J got home we headed over to the church for the trunk or treat.  This was the warmest Halloween we've had in awhile so the house to house trick or treating wasn't too painful.  I think we did more of that than we've ever done.  The kids certainly got plenty of candy.  Once we got back home it was time to unwrap presents, eat pizza, play with the new toys and have some birthday brownies with ice cream.  

I don't know how Brother B will feel about it when he gets older, but I think it is really fun to have his birthday on Halloween.

His favorite presents were the Lego sets, the marshmallow shooter from Aunt Marv and the super fun card from Grandma and Grandpa W.

During the evening, Drake showed us some guitar skills while J taught him some more:

Scary Skaters

Last week we had some really nice weather so we went for a bike ride over to the skate park.  Loofa can't ride yet so we dragged along a scooter for him to play with while there.  Ephant and Brother B were having fun on the dirt hills, but Loofa couldn't take the scooter there.  He got tired of waiting so I told him he could head on over to the skate park.  I was a little nervous because it was quite full, but I figured he needed to see for himself.  He did figure it out and when he came back after about a minute he said:  

(somewhat inaudible) "I think those people want to beat me up" 

and then (audible) "I think those people want to kill me.".  

I guess he got a little scared.

October 31st

Here's our Halloween costumes:

Indiana Jones:

Hannah Montana:

Batman:

The Traditional Cow (all 4 of our kids have worn this costume):

Domo the Pumpkin

The results previously promised.  We ended up carving them Thursday night right before Halloween.  Ephant's was a copy of Domo at Target.  There is a D & O on one side and M & O on the other.  We just carved Loofa's out because he was jealous of the Ephant's and Brother B's and then he drew on the rest of it.  I love the look on Loofa's face in the second picture.

I Give Up

I keep waiting for Fefe to take the big leap and walk on a regular basis.  She's been taking steps for a month now, but doesn't seem interested in moving beyond that so I finally decided to put up this video.  The first section of the video is mostly silliness and the second half is more serious effort.