A lately list

I'll have Jared flesh this out for me later, but here's a brief list of what is going on over here:

• Solei is in all-day kindergarten.  She has a fantastic teacher despite sending several people scrambling at her school (and another local elementary) to keep her challenged.  She's also doing great on the violin and piano at home. 
• Forster is in preschool 2 mornings a week.  He's getting so verbal and it's thrilling to hear the contents of his amazing brain!  I think we have another genius on our hands (ulp!).
• Reva is 25 weeks pregnant with a man-child.
• Jared commutes all the way to Madison for work now.
• Thanksgiving is next week (how did that happen??) and we are going to have a minimum of 12 people here for dinner.  Minimum.  I've nominated Nana and Jared to do all the cooking.
• My parents are in China teaching English for the year and you can read about their adventures here.  Whenever I think about how dull my life has become, I think of my mom and the adventures she has had as her children grew up and Dad started dragging her around the world.  It's heartening!

#3 previews

These were from a month ago when I was 20 weeks along.  Check out Skeletor there!!

 The name has a ring to it, right?  And here's another body part:

 Baby!

 More baby!

FHE

I really can't believe Jared taught Forster how to play Uno!  It's hysterical, as is this video above where Forster started bursting out the chorus to Nephi's Courage.



He is also obsessed with the Reverse card.  Again, I am astounded Jared taught him how to play!

PSA

I'm so thankful for a husband who sees the good in others.  Optimism is contagious!

Thanks

I am thankful for Skype.  I get to see my parents all the way in China!

I am thankful for sweatpants and sweatshirts.  Hugs from soft little boys in them are the best.

I am thankful for cameras and editing software.

I am thankful for carseats and cars.

I am thankful for the internet and how it answers my random questions.

I am thankful for cheese.

I am thankful for smartphones.

I am thankful for libraries and the books that engage and answer Solei's questions.

I am thankful for people willing to serve in nurseries and Primaries.

I am thankful for temple and the peace it brings to my family.

I am thankful for the Sunday bags Nana made.  Forster makes a big ruckus, but Solei sits so reverently and munches on pretzels while devouring the Bible story book Nana put in hers.  I've had to wrangle them solo during Sacrament for a year now and I'm so thankful for the order the bags give us!

I am thankful for carpets and living rooms for kids to wrestle and play on.

I am thankful for music to play and to listen to.

I am thankful for good people who love my children.

I am thankful for an eternal marriage and a partner who makes eternity look sweet.

I am thankful for November and the reminder it gives me to give thanks!

They never. ever. stop.

This is how Forster spends a good portion of his time - running into things... usually us. 

Created with cinemagr.am

And let's not leave Solei out, who spends her time making awesome dance moves like this:  

Created with cinemagr.am

More potty talk

I'm too pooped to find pictures for a post today (ha!).  The potty training is going pretty darn well.  My main goal with taking a few days to really focus on it was to get Forster aware of what was going on, and give him a few victories.  We're not anywhere near done yet, but he has already wildly surpassed my expectations!

Again, he continues to amaze me with what he is capable of.  He's still so young in some ways - compared to a Solei and how verbal and ahead she always is, it's kind of nice to have a little one stay little for a while longer.  It was at about this age I taught Solei how to read, and Forster is actually grasping a lot of the concepts, so I'm moving ahead with teaching him, too.  Of course, she was just desperate to learn so fast that she didn't need my help very much, but Forster is just happy to read as long as it means I'll snuggle him in the process and he can earn Smarties.  I'm a little nervous that teaching him how to use the potty and read at the same time will give him massive amounts of cavities :)

Boy time

I think Forster has been ready for potty training for a while, but I wasn't yet.  I blocked off yesterday and today for starting the process and one delightful side effect is a lot of time spent with a very appreciative and affectionate little boy.  He's been doing great and understands the concept really well now, but he's mostly just aware of all the attention he has been getting and is eating it up with a spoon.  

His vocabulary has been really blossoming lately as well.   I love all of our conversations!  There are still a few things he is unclear on, such as his gender, but we'll get there eventually.  (I hope!)

We took a walk today and tried again to talk to him about how he'll be a big brother soon, but I still don't think it's clicking for him.  Which is fine, because it really hasn't clicked for me yet either - we just need to get through the holiday season first and then I'll think about it!

I'm so happy to have this little boy in our family!

Name this fetus

So I'm 24 weeks along, which doesn't seem like all that far because I don't think the absolute-ness of this new baby will hit me until after the holidays.  But since we know we're having a boy we really should be throwing some names around.  The last two were so hard to find that I'm not all that anxious to go name digging this time around.  Any suggestions?  We like names that don't hit very high on the popularity charts - and my favorite source for that is this website.  Apparently "Reva" peaked at 385 in the 1920s!

Carving it up

We got invited to a fabulous pumpkin carving party last month.  And of course I documented it.

 

This last one was Jared's picture, and I think I like it best of all.  I need to take another picture of what the pumpkin looks like now.  I'm kind of hoping it'll eventually disappear!

Birthday festivities for our Sunshine

I think we failed to mention that Solei had a BIRTHDAY last month, maybe because yet again I went overboard and it took us a while to recover from the insanity.  But when you have a kid like Solei, how can you NOT go a little over the top??

She requested a pajama party theme, so the first thing we did was make the ultimate blanket fort (with a parachute...  just a liiitle cheating)

 She was thrilled!

 Then, of course, I had to drag her outside and take a kajillion pictures of her.  She's usually kind enough to comply.

 Since I'm not much of a cook, none of us feels very strongly about cake, and Solei adores doughnuts, we improvised a very successful birthday treat.  Who doesn't love doughnut holes??

 We had story time, scripture and prayer in the fort that night.

 The next day was the party!  One crazy idea I had was to hot glue barrettes onto bows, because what little girl doesn't like to feel like a present?  It was a good idea until the bows kept falling off and distraught little girls kept begging for repairs.

 Before the storm...

 I didn't want to leave anyone out so I invited everyone.  So.  much. screaming.   Remind me to scale that part back next year?

 Dinner was decorating your own pancakes.

 The activity was making your own bedtime snack necklaces.

 Hi, Daddy!

 The girls decorated their own cupcakes, too.  Anyone sense a theme?

 We survived!

Whew!  It was insane, but as always, totally worth it.  We're so thankful for such a fabulous 6 year old!!

Pumpkin patch with my li'l punkin

I got a chance to go to a pumpkin patch just with Forster a few weeks ago and it was a blast.  I love how excited he gets by just about anything!

Who could resist taking a picture by this sign??

Once he got a pumpkin, all he wanted to do was get right back on the wagon and run back and forth.  It was pulled by a giant tractor and he was in heaven!

Oh, the giggles!  The missed photo-ops because he refused to stay still!!  But any day spent with a snuggly Forster is fabulous no matter what.  I'm just lucky I caught a few moments on film :)