Giving Thanks and Hello Christmas

Grace and I started our Thanksgiving at the Ronald McDonald house helping set up for a Thanksgiving feast. It was a great way to start the day.Then it was home to finish cooking...then to have dinner with our friends the Hatches and Bylunds.Nice pic, eh? But the only one I have of the turkey. Danny and I have started a tradition of brining our turkey. We try a different recipe every year and have met with success...it was really yummy!As usual, I was too busy for many pictures so this is all there is!
Good food and good company...and soooo many blessings for which to be grateful...what more could we ask for?

And as tradition stands, the day after Thanksgiving was our day to welcome the Christmas season.
We're ready for Santa!

Smarty pants Jess

Sunday, on our way home from church, Jesse was telling us about what his class had done for sharing time in Primary. He said that the lesson was on how to make our homes more holy and that he held up a little truck. I asked him what the truck symbolized, completely expecting him to say "What does that mean?" Well, he didn't skip a beat and said "Do you mean what does that represent?" Well, yes that is exactly what I meant! These little people are often a lot smarter than I give them credit. They keep me on my toes, for sure!
BTW- the truck "represented" helping to pick up your toys and sharing them. He then proceeded to tease Grace mercilessly all the way home...Does that help make our home holier???

A lesson in global economics

Jesse and Grace are becoming very aware that everything (or most things) are made in China. They are constantly looking for the labels on all of our products and then enthusiastically proclaiming their origin. They were shocked this morning when they discovered that James' binky was "Made in Germany"! When Grace made this discovery, Jesse had to see it for himself before he would believe it. Anyway, I didn't realize how common this occurrence was in our home until this afternoon. While we were waiting in the car to pick up the big kids from school and listening to the radio, Dylan exclaims: "I know this song...it was Made in China!" It was cause for a good laugh. He says the funniest things! He's catching on. I used to think that Spanish was the language to learn...I think I'm going to have my kids learn Chinese!

**side note: after dropping the kids off at piano, Dylan says "I not going to suck my thumb anymore cause I going to be a big boy." That lasted all of 5 seconds when he recanted with "but I am still a little boy!" and popped his thumb back into his mouth! Funny boy!**

That guy is "sick"?

Yesterday at the park the following exchange took place:

Jesse: That skateboarder is "sick"
Me: He's sick?
J: You know like he has good moves, he rocks, he's wicked!
M: Can't you just say cool?
Has "cool" become outdated? Is "sick" the "bad" of today? I don't like that kind of talk coming out of my kid!I told him that I don't like him talking that way.Am I right to say so?
Or should I just let it be?How do you feel about this topic?

*pics from a beautiful fall afternoon at our neighborhood park. I love the view of the mountains from this park.

I need a plan...

for my life. It is spiraling out of control. The problem is...I'm not a planner. Where do I start? How do I get control before my life is over? Anyone wanna come help me get a life? Or at least a plan for this life that is upon me whether I like it or not?

~~crickets chirping~~

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel!

Along the Turqoise Trail

This past Saturday we decided to take advantage of the 70 degree weather and head outside. We went exploring to a little historic town called Cerrillos. It is on the Turqoise Trail which was the main thoroughfare from Albuquerque to Santa Fe before the interstates were built. Anyway, we were expecting a quaint, charming little town, but it was pretty run down. I could tell that it was a cute little place "back in the day"! There was a really cool place to go hiking that had some old mine shafts from the late 1800's, so we enjoyed our hike. There were quite a few horses and riders that passed us on the trail and every time they did, Dylan had to call out "hello cowboy!" whether they were male or female. It was really cute. We enjoyed the weather and just being outside with our little family.

And we also got to see a Jesus tree...now how many of you can say that!?!

Side by side

Here is a picture of Jesse and James to see the difference in size. I think Jesse is a month or so younger than James in this picture.

9 Months

James is 9 months old!

Stats:
14 lbs 12 oz (still below the 5th percentile) I told him that at this rate, he'll never get to sit in a forward-facing car seat!
26 1/2" long (dropped to the 10th percentile from the 25-50th)

Dr is still a little concerned because now he has dropped in his length percentile. He is still not very interested in eating anything besides nursing. He will snack a bit on things that I am eating, but will not eat a "meal"! He does really like ice cream, though (just like mom!) That would certainly fatten him up! We are being referred to a dietitian...that should be fun!

Besides the eating thing, he is a healthy, happy little guy. He is army-crawling all over the place, (none of my other kids did that and I think it is too cute!) and can get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. Traditional crawling is just around the corner. We are being retrained to keep things off the floor...slowly! He just started sitting up unassisted this last week and cut his second tooth. He has discovered the joy of hearing himself scream, shriek and squeal and does it quite a bit. He also loves to say dadadada! Why is it never mamamama? The kids still pretty much adore him although they are not too happy with him when he chews up their things that they leave on the floor. They get upset with him and I remind them that it is their own fault for leaving it on the floor. They are learning! We just love our little James!
Just one more pic:

Starting him early! (Just in case you are concerned, he just loves the bottles...honest!)

Halloween 2009

Let the festivities begin...

Wednesday night dressed up for the Trunk or Treat:Carving Jack o'Lanterns:The kids loved pulling out the guts! Better them than me! The kids each designed their own pumpkins (Dylan had help from his own designer aka: Jesse) and Danny did the cutting. The finished product:Notice how Grace's has eyelashes. Jesse went for the traditional look. Jesse helped Dylan by drawing different shapes and letting him pick which ones he wanted. I just love it when they get along...I have to cherish it...it doesn't happen often enough!

We had our friends the Hatches and the Tates over for trick or treating and fun. The Motley crew!Halloween down...Bring on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years!

Random side note:
I was out doing some shopping Saturday morning and came home to find Jesse pulling James around in a laundry basket while Danny was in the shower. He had a jump rope tied around the basket and he kept walking around and when I asked him why, he said that if he stopped James would wake up and cry...it was so cute.What a good brother! And what a sweet baby!