November

In November we had some good outside play time. The boys loved to play in the fallen leaves. Austin was fascinated with the crunching sound they made when he walked on them. Carter's big birthday gift from us was a scooter so we put it to good use before it got too cold outside. Enjoy the photos..

Playing Cars

Here they're scratching their backs on the tree like Baloo the bear on Jungle Book. (I think Carter's seen that movie once about a year ago but he remembers that part)

That's about it for November. Somewhere in there we had Thanksgiving but I didn't get any pictures. The main participants this year were us, the stomach flu (both boys had it), and work (for Zach). If you ask me it was a little crowded.

October

Yes, you read the title right, it says October. As in, October 2009. I am that far behind and going to try to catch up. So hold on tight because here we go....


One day Carter said he wanted a pear. I, of course, said yes and finished whatever it was I was doing and then headed into the kitchen to get him one. I found him there taking big bites out of a whole pear he'd pulled off the counter. Austin wanted a pear too and refused to let me cut it up so I sat them both up to the table and let them go to town. You can see the end result below.
This is the remains of Austin's pear. That half chewed wad is the core that I made Austin spit out when I heard him say, "crunchy!" while making a slightly confused face as if to say, "The rest of my pear didn't do this?"
Here's Carter's pear. This kid is a focused eater. Where he starts biting is where he continues to bite until he can't go any further. Usually when he gets to the end of his initial starting place, say with a sandwich, he will then start the same process in a new area. However, with the pear he hit the stem and a little of the core and decided he didn't want to do that anymore. At this point he announced he was finished and would not believe me when I said there was still pear to eat.

Happy Birthday Carter!!

On October 27th Carter turned 4. He was so excited that it was finally his birthday. He'd been asking me every day if it was his birthday yet because it was October and that's when his birthday is. He loved opening his presents and was very excited to get a snake cake. He's such a smart and funny little guy. We're so glad that he's ours!!

*About seven or eight months earlier Carter saw a picture of a snake cake in one of my cookbooks and decided that he wanted one for his next birthday. This kid does not forget. He even knew which cookbook it was in.

HALLOWEEN

In October we also had Halloween (obviously). Here are the kids all dressed up. Carter is Dash from The Incredibles and Austin is a dragon. They had a blast collecting their treats.


Well, there you have it. Our October in a nutshell.

Yeah, good eyes!!

As the boys and I drive in the car they are always pointing out things. Usually it's trucks, trains, construction equipment, buses, airplanes and things like that. Sometimes they'll say they saw a truck of some sort but I can't see one anywhere so I'll ask them where it is. They can always point it out way ahead of us on the road or on a sign somewhere. My typical response upon finding the said machine they're pointing out is, "Yeah, good eyes!". Austin has now picked up this phrase. However, he hasn't quit figured out when to use it correctly so he uses it all the time. A few examples we've had lately...

After lunch today I told Austin, "Let's get you washed up and then you can play for two minutes before nap time." Austin's response..."Yeah, good eyes!"

Last night Zach said, "Let's eat dinner!" Austin's response, "Yeah, good eyes!"

So right now it seems Austin thinks it's the phrase to use whenever you agree with something. It makes me laugh! I mean, who wouldn't laugh when any time you make a comment or suggestion you're met with the response, "Yeah, good eyes!" HiLaRiOuS!!

psh....

After a long day playing out in the snow we were having dinner with Zach's family. Carter was being difficult due to any or all of the following things: 1) it's day 15 of our vacation right after a big Christmas vacation, 2) we are seriously out of our schedule/routine, 3)we have been having way too much fun to take naps most days. Anyway, on with the story. Towards the end of the meal the adults had mostly finished and were trying to coerce Carter to eat when Jen, Zach's sister, asked Carter in all seriousness..."Carter, do you ever tell your mom thank you for taking such good care of you?" To which Carter replied, without hesitation, "Psh" followed by a look of confusion. He could not figure out why we were all laughing.

BINK!!

So, last night Zach put together a puzzle of the Chicago skyline. Carter loves to look at it so it's sitting out still put together. As I was getting some things done I heard Austin saying, "Clean it up? Clean it up?" When I turned around I found him taking apart one edge of the puzzle. Here is the dialogue that followed...

Me: "No, we're not going to clean it up right now. Please don't touch it." Said as I started to reassemble the edge Austin wanted to "clean up"

Austin: "Help you?"

Me: "No, I'll do it. Thank you. Please don't touch."

Austin: With his little pointer finger extended he reached over and touched the puzzle "BINK! Bink! Touch it mommy!" All said with a mischievous smile.

What a character!


P.S. Just as I finished this post I looked over to see Austin helping his little plastic preying mantis attack the previously mentioned puzzle edge.

Picture Post

I thought I'd post a bunch of pictures for the Grandparents. Enjoy!!

My two little fish

For some reason they like to climb in the laundry basket together.

We left Austin alone with a rice krispie treat and this is what we returned to.

One day Carter wanted "just a big piece of lettuce" instead of a salad. He got it.

I love when they play together like this.

Long overdue

So, this post has been a long time coming. Way back at the beginning of August we moved out of our apartment in Hyde Park (south of the city) and into a house on the north side of Chicago. For those of you who don't know, I hate moving. Putting everything we own into boxes just to haul them somewhere else and have to unload all of those boxes and find somewhere to put all of our stuff.... How do we have so much stuff!!! Then there's the cleaning, oh the cleaning. You think, "It won't take too long. The place will be empty. It will be a snap." and 24 hours later you're finally finished and every rag you own is dirty and you've gone through a whole Costco pack of Clorox wipes. The worst thing about this move was that the place we moved into was dirty. The fridge had spills from the previous tenants and a black film from the factory. I got to do another complete clean before I could put things away. YUCK!! Thank goodness that's all over and done with.


We love our little home. We're just renting but it's ours for now. There's a fenced in yard with a little swing set mere steps from our front door. It's so nice to have that kind of access outside. We spend a lot of time here...


There's been a lot of this going on...

*The pictures were taken earlier in the year*

Zach finished up his clerkship for Judge Easterbrook in August and started work at Kirkland and Ellis here at the beginning of September. He's been busy but it's not been bad. That's all going to change here in the next little bit as the trial date for his case gets closer.

Carter started preschool in September. He goes every day from 8:00 until 10:45. We love it. He loves going to school and doing fun things with his friends and teachers and I love having some time to run errands with only one kid. It's been so fun to have him come home and tell me about what he did at school. I think it's my favorite when he sings me the song they learned in music. I love how much he enjoys school. He's doing great!

Austin is a jabber box and a sponge. He just takes everything in and is constantly surprising me with what he knows. For example, last night as part of Family Home Evening we were playing Duck, Duck, Goose!. In the course of the game Carter got bumped and started crying. Austin had been busy running circles around us and hadn't seen Carter get hurt, only that he was crying. Austin went over to him with concerned eyes and said, "Happened? What....happened? What...happened....Carters?" (He adds an s to most names, except mommy) It was so sweet. He's never said or done that before but he's seen Zach and I do that. A total sponge!

I'm in the Primary Presidency in our new ward. Between that, chasing the boys and cleaning our house I stay pretty busy. All in all we're doing really well.

If you ever find yourself in our neck of the woods please stop by, we'd love to see you!!