Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving. Paul is working today, all day, and so we won't be celebrating until tomorrow. Two other friends and their families will be joining us too. I am making the turkey (gasp!) and a few other things, and I am actually looking forward to it. We'll see how everything turns out. 6 adults and 10 kids, sounds like a par-tay!  This year we are thankful for:

Paul (needs to fill these in later, but I assume he is thankful mostly for family, and probably not very thankful for things having to do with his residency, other than the fact that he has a job, that's something to be thankful for)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Jessie
1. Paul and his hard work and dedication, even in the hardest times.
2. The big kids and their growth and health and sense of wonder.
3. Solace and his amazing ability to bring a sense of completion to our family.
4. Living in Texas although we don't yet know the reason why we're here, we feel have been brought here on purpose.
5. Laughter, life is full of craziness, might as well enjoy it, right?

Matix
1. Having a huge turkey
2. Making a silly turkey face (??)
3. Having grapes for Thanksgiving
4. Having lots of people over for Thanksgiving tomorrow
5. Our sweet mommy being good to us (he really said this, I almost cried)

Hawken
1. Having my birthday party
2. Going shopping with mom and buying new presents (you can tell what he is focused on...)
3. Drinking juice with daddy
4. Playing with mommy
5. Taking pictures of Solace

Lullaby
1. playing with mommy
2. playing outside
3. singing songs
4. "dis baby, baby Solit" (This baby, baby Solace)
5. "I wan new baby dolls me, pease?" (I want new baby dolls for me please) - she lost interest in listing things she is thankful for...

Solace (according to Matix and Hawk)
1. I think he's thankful for Thanksgiving
2. He's thankful for mommy's milk (He's going to love this when he's older, right?)
3. His paci
4. Balls
5. Lullaby

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family near and far. We hope you enjoy it and count the many blessings in each of your lives. We love you all.

chocolate factory

We took the preschoolers on a field trip to a local chocolate factory, Kegg's Candies. Hawken was nervous at first because he is a little afraid of Willy Wonka. I told him that he wouldn't be there, and he felt better about it.  When we got there the lady explained how they made chocolate from cocoa beans.

Apparently white chocolate is made from the fatty part of the bean only, so it's the worst for you... who knew? We watched through the glass as the chocolates we individually dipped to give them a solid bottom, then later they would be hand stamped and packaged. It's a long process, but cool to learn about.

After the tour, we got to taste test all of the chocolates. That was everyone's favorite part. And their chocolate was SO good.

We had to "pay" $5 for the tour for anyone 4 and older (so I paid $10 for Matix and myself), but at the end we were given two $5 vouchers toward chocolate. Smart right? We happily ran around their shop picking out our favorites. The kids picked dark chocolate turkeys and ate them on our way home. It was just chocolate in the shape of turkeys, FYI. :)

messy girl

When she is left alone and asked to do something, trouble happens. Every single time. I asked that she brush her teeth. She can get the toothpaste on her brush alone and brush her own teeth fairly well, I have watched her do it.  Then I will help at the end to make sure she got everything clean.  This day, I asked her to do it alone. What was I thinking? I came up after a couple minutes and rather than brushing her teeth, she was washing her hands, and arms, and hair and face, and dress, and shirt, and the sink and the counter and the cabinets... Everything was SUPER soapy.

Awesome Lullaby. :) You are not to be trusted.

Sunday

I was getting things ready on Sunday in the kitchen and miss Lullaby read Solace a book, lay her baby down next to him and wanted to play a game on my phone. She said it would help Solace to sleep, and apparently it did. Look at him just passed OUT. I love how soundly babies can sleep.

happy

Matix is so much like his dad. Always cheerful and happy and trying to make everyone around him laugh.  I have my phone connected to my computer so all the pictures from my phone automatically pop up on my computer. I love when I turn it on and see things like this:

So even long after that silly Matix man has fallen asleep, I get a giggle from him. He makes every room bright and cheerful.  His laugh is contagious and so perfect it's almost palpable.

He is very inclusive of Hawken and wants to be with him all the time.  They are best friends for sure and take good care of each other.  I love watching their bond get tighter and tighter.  Although they fight a lot, they mostly get along and they always have fun.

my busy boy

Hawkers Bawkers is so much fun to watch. He is creative and expressive and his mind is going at a million miles an hour. He loves to play and gets bored easily if I don't have every minute of his day filled with things to do. He made this "person tower" and went on for 20 minutes explaining how he moved and why he was made of blocks and his name and his family's names and on and on and on.

He is fascinating to observe. And he loves the attention he gets.  His new thing is this smile. No teeth, and usually looking to the side. He calls it his "other smile", as in I ask him to smile and he does a regular, with teeth smile, then he'll say, "Now how about a picture with Hawken's other smile, like this."

He almost always talks about himself in the third person, which I rarely correct, because I love it and I know soon enough he won't say it.  He used to call Lucky Charms "yucky charms" which I also loved, and miss, now that he knows the correct way to say it.  Hawky you are growing up too fast.

getting bigger

Miss Lullaby is starting to show off some skills lately. I haven't been working with her on numbers or colors or anything like that, but she went and learned them anyway. She counted to 26 a few weeks ago. 26. That's really good! She did skip 14 and 20, but impressive.  She knows most of her colors, and surprises me constantly by requesting things by their attributes, "I wan da tiny lellow one peese"  A couple days ago, she drew people for the first time. This is a picture of mommy and Lullaby, according to her. Very primitive still, but it was her first attempt. I love it.  See the heads/bodies and our longs legs.

Yesterday morning the kids woke up and got them selves breakfast. I was laying in my room with the baby, listening to their conversations. They are getting so big.  I came out to join them and noticed something funny. Do you see what's wrong in this picture?

My NON-potty trained baby, at some point during the night or morning, took off her own diaper, found some of Matix's underpants, and put them on.  She kept them dry all day too.  Sweet girl. She just wants to do everything her brothers can do. She is doing better and better everyday with the potty training thing, but I'm going really easy with her. I can't be in two places at once and so very often, when she decides she has to go, I have a hungry baby attached to me. So, she will learn at a slower pace, and we are both okay with that.

perfection

This little guy of ours is melting our hearts. He is the most perfect baby around. He is the sweetest happiest little thing. We love him so much. He has found his hands and has them in his mouth a lot of the time. He makes faces and coos and laughs. He is perfect.  Love you baby Solace.

thankful

I love the spirit of November.  That thankful, think of others, be grateful for blessings, spirit.  We are so incredibly thankful for these kids.  Paul and I talk frequently about where we should move after Texas, and what we should do. It's so fun looking forward to all the adventures we are planning on having, but right now is the best part of my life. I can't imagine anything more amazing than this.

the birthday boy!

Paul was scheduled to work on his birthday, so we celebrated a few days early. We made his favorite, brownies, and tacos for dinner as per his request. The kids had a great idea about putting designs on the top of the brownies, using cookie cutters and powdered sugar, it turned out interestingly, but they were happy with it.

The kids (and I) made him a photo book, and he got lots of cards and a package from our families.  He opened all his gifts and cards and loved them all.  Matix was the photographer part of the evening.

The next day (still before his actual b-day) he got a package from my sister Robin. She also sent gifts for all of us too! Yay! The boys stole this shirt after Paul posed with it, and haven't let Paul wear it because they think it's too cool.

Then a couple days later, on his actual birthday, they decided to give him a half day off, which was nice, but I had already planned to throw a baby shower for a friend. So I didn't get to hang out with him on his half day, but at least he got to spend some time with the kids.  Then yesterday, I FINALLY got around to baking him this tasty treat, pumpkin dream cake. Recipe here. It is REALLY good. Thick, and sweet, and oh so good. We each ate way too much last night.

Thirty-one looks good on you hubby. I feel so lucky to have known and loved you the last 9 birthdays of yours. You continue to surprise and impress me, by just being yourself. You are amazing. Happy birthday, to my favorite person. Ever.