Happy Black Friday!

Hope you spend these special days with the ones you love. We didn't buy anything, but we celebrate in our way.
We'd like to celebrate Cyber-Monday, but we don't even have bluetooth headsets, let alone any of the more impressive cyborg implants. Maybe we'll attach some laser pointers to our glasses.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a great day with family...


And ate lots of these...
because we sure did!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Swinging

There are few things these cats love more than swinging. They were lucky to have Daddy home today. Lots of swing time.

This one loves to swing too; she just doesn't show it. I didn't want her to feel left out though.

Unwanted visitor

This evening I was still sitting at the dinner table while Caleb and Emily were playing together in their room. Then they made an entrance back into the living room. Like this. I don't know how Emily ropes Caleb into things like this.
We were lucky Joseph had the camera close at hand.
Emily wears those heels better than I do.

Later in the evening Joseph went grocery shopping. I heard the car get back - yeah, we've been enjoying 80-degree weather lately - and went out to help bring in groceries only to be stopped in my tracks by a possum. It was sitting just outside the front door and froze as I rushed out to join it. I immediately ran inside to call Joseph on his phone, but saw him out the kitchen window before the call connected. So I jumped up on the kitchen counter and yelled a warning down to him. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated the commotion - everyone leaves their windows open at this time of year. Luckily, he heard me and managed to scare the possum off after throwing several sticks at it and making as much noise as he could. The silly thing didn't even really run away. It just ran across to the neighbor's little balcony. Good enough for us though. We were able to get our groceries in and close the door.
Possums are really nasty little (big) things. They look like overgrown rats with mangy fur.

Cabbages and Kings

It's been a slow month for blogging. I think this is a new record for fewest posts in a month! I have been keeping busy with routine things, so nothing much to say today.

We went to the ward Thanksgiving dinner last week. This is an ambitious undertaking by our ward, I must say! They provided turkey and rolls for the couple hundred people who showed up, and ward members brought sides and pies. The kids had a blast, of course. We have such a great group of kids Emily's age. She is very outnumbered by boys, but she loves them anyway. In the pictures below they were lining up at the door, then one of them would yell, "Ready, set... go!" and they would all take off across the room to the other side. Then they would collapse on top of each other, pick themselves up while laughing themselves silly, and head back to the door to start it all over again. It never got old. I love three-year-olds!














A little while ago Emily asked if she could play outside if she stayed close. I said okay and stayed inside with the younger two while she went outside. I checked on her through the window periodically, and always saw this:
She looked so sad and lonely that I was worried about her. She kept assuring me that she was just taking care of her fire. She sat like that until I called her in.

Since she started taking ballet, Emily has been doing cute, weird dance moves sporadically throughout the day. Here she was doing her chick-a-dee dance, flapping her wings and singing under her breath, very intently. It was just so bizarre looking that I had to take a picture.

I love that Emily and Caleb are buddies. They squabble and fight a lot, but really do love each other. After asking me several times to read her a book, Emily sat down on the couch with it and proceeded to read it to Caleb. It was so cute to see them both poring over this book (it was a toddler look-and-find).

Caleb got a monster sweater recently, and I put it on him for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It was so funny to see him grab the front of his shirt, pull it toward Emily, and growl at her. She would scream and run and he would chase her around the apartment while laughing hysterically. They're just taking a break together in this picture. No hard feelings for trying to eat you with my sweater, right sister?














Caleb loves Elinor. And he has a huge head. Not much else to say about this picture.

Practicing diapering one of Emily's dolls.

My kid collection. Maybe one day I'll get a good picture of all three of them! Hopefully with a better backdrop than our old carpet.

We went to a tree lighting on Friday and that was pretty crazy and crowded but fun. I loved this picture of Joseph and the kids because it shows all of their attitudes so well. Joseph is excited and enthusiastic and ready to help the kids have a good time and get excited about Christmas. Emily is cold and tired and wants nothing more than to go to bed. Caleb is just doing his own thing, oblivious to and unconcerned with what we have planned. And the baby... what baby? Oh yeah. I almost forgot about her because she is always tucked away in a corner while I attend to more pressing (and rambunctious) demands.

Here's the big tree. A couple of seconds after I took this picture a big chunk of the base of the tree was pushed out like a hidden door and two workers crawled out. That was a surprise! It definitely confused and astounded our half asleep Emily!

Sorry about this super long post. You could probably tell that it was the result of my clearing the pictures off the camera and my phone. We are looking forward to spending time with family during the coming holidays and so excited to experience it all with our three crazy kids.

Family Matters

First, the baby:

Dressed up for church in Cousin Holly's hand-me-down.
The smile looked cute on the camera screen, but is kinda freaky here.

What is going on? Who is this guy?

Thanks for all the toys, sister.
Can you tell how excited I am to be holding them?


Oh wait, no. I like them now.

Can I go to sleep yet?


Thanks.

We love our little Elinor. Her hair stands up like that on its own, I promise. It will not lay flat. Elinor is getting so chubby and is starting to sleep better at night. Caleb loves to sit by her bouncer to give her kisses and sing to her when she is sad. It's really cute. Caleb understands crying and crying but not getting the attention you feel you deserve.

Caleb and Emily still have their share of fun. In fact, I'm afraid Miss Elinor spends a lot of her time sitting in her bouncer in the corner while I tend to the louder kids' needs.

I though it was cute how they were sitting so close to each other
in the middle of this already pretty small love seat.


Emily breastfeeding her "tiny little baby doll"
(she doesn't give real names, but she has specific titles for each doll that she owns).

"That big baby doll" being burped by a diva in a princess dress.

Cute pouty-lipped Caleb. I love this little boy!

Ready for ballet class. Doesn't the pink dog just complete the look?
I think the surly brother on the side helps too.

Sorry - not too much going on. Just living our lives, enjoying the weather, and getting used to having Elinor as part of our family.

Are you smart enough to be a citizen?

Here are the questions I was asked on Thursday:

The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?

In what month do we vote for president?

Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?

Who is the "Father of Our Country"?

Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900's.


I was given a booklet that contained 100 questions that they would pull my questions from. I had to answer six out of ten questions to pass this part of the test. I was lucky the guy asked me easy ones (though I was prepared to answer any of the 100).
My oath ceremony will be in December and I will start the new year as a citizen of the United States!






Answers:
435 in the House
elected for 2 years
vote for president in Nov.
Chief Justice John Roberts
Father of Country: George Washington
WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam, Persian

Test questions found here.

Groundbreaking Street Fair

Today Joseph's department held a party celebrating the groundbreaking of their new building. It was a fun little fair featuring a bunch of carnival-type games, free barbecue, popcorn, and cotton candy, and a giant blow up castle for the kids. Emily and Caleb had a great time. Elinor slept the whole time.
Kids are kind of a novelty on campus here (so different from BYU!) so we had all kinds of people stopping to comment on the kids' costumes.

When we were stopped here eating some popcorn, I had three UT students taking pictures of the kids on their phones and one yearbook photographer next to them. It was pretty funny.

Here Emily was taking it easy while Caleb, Elinor, and I were in line for cotton candy. One of the Yahoo people asked to take Emily's picture for some promotional thing... I didn't really listen to her whole explanation. Emily and Caleb liked the idea of cotton candy and I think they liked carrying it around, but they wouldn't eat it. I guess it was too much like cotton and not enough like candy.

A Family Outing

Yesterday we went to San Antonio for my citizenship interview. They asked me a few questions about America's history, evaluated my English speaking and writing skills, and sent us on our way. Things went smoothly - we were only there for a total of about 30 minutes and then we had the rest of the day to spend in San Antonio.

It is amazing the entertainment a few big concrete slabs and some soft grass can provide for a couple of toddlers. This was just outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building.

To infinity and beyond!

Our reckless little boy. He has no fear.

While Elinor and I were inside Joseph took Emily and Caleb to the skating rink next door.
It was Emily's first time on skates and Joseph and I were both amazed at how quickly she caught on, how fearless and perseverant she was, and how she just never got frustrated. She's a good kid.

Caleb entertained himself the whole time at this drinking fountain. We were lucky it wasn't a very crowded place.

We headed to the temple next and were lucky to run into some friends from the ward who took some pictures for us.

A picture with the whole family is a rare treat.

On the way to the temple Emily made us all sing "I Love to See the Temple" over and over again until I told her we were done. Emily and Caleb have never been to the temple before, so it was fun to walk around with them. I got separated from the family for a minute and when I found them Emily came up to me and said, "Momma, I love the temple. It makes me so happy to come here. It is Heavenly Father's house." She's a sweetie. I'm so glad she is the big sister Caleb and Elinor will have to look up to and emulate.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward held its trunk or treat yesterday, since Halloween is on a Sunday this year. It was a good turn out and the kids had lots of fun. Joseph was good enough to take them around while Elinor and I sat around handing out candy. They went as Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach. Emily looks super grumpy, but really she was so excited to finally get to "go to Halloween" and wear her costume. She was very gracious about wearing a home-made, kind of thrown together dress. I love that she's young enough to not worry if something isn't perfect (like the wand and the wings).

Pictures were kind of hard to take while we were there - I'm pretty sure I had three trick-or-treaters waiting for candy and a family about to cross in front of the camera here.

Here's the group at home. Caleb did have eyebrows and a mustache at one time, but pretty much mangled his makeup on the car ride to church.