Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Kansas this year. The main bummer, though, was that we were all looking forward to seeing the Grahams in from Texas. Unfortunately, a bit of illness held them back. Maybe next time. We spent lunch with the Robinsons at Barbara & Stu's house. Everyone from Patrick's family was basically there other than Jeff & Charlene. Our niece Sarah & her family weren't able to be here, but they're living in Virginia now and she is due to have her baby girl in just a few short weeks. For dinner, we gathered at our house with Grandma Donna, Grandpa Jerry, and the Lee family. It was a nice gathering. Plenty of good food and even better company all day. The kids had a great time, too; just missed their TX cousins!

It was really nice that Grandma & Grandpa were able to stay at our house on Thursday night. The kids were very excited they got to see them more. Leah & Jacob helped me clean the bathrooms last week prior to their arrival and tonight, she had a cute conclusion to the weekend. At bedtime, she was cleaning and cleaning in the boys' bathroom. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm cleaning the bathrooms so that Grandma Donna and Grandpa Jerry will be able to come back and stay here." Very sweet.

Happy Belated Halloween!

So these are pretty late, but my time seems to escape me quickly in the evenings...better late than never. We had: Leyton & Nathaniel as Star Wars Clone Troopers, Jacob as Commander Cody (another clone trooper), Leah as the beautiful Princess Leia, and Anne as a somewhat unhappy for pictures Ewok/lion. Fun was had by all.

Anne's Personality

Well, Anne has shown us a taste of what her personality is like for quite some time now, but lately she's kicked it up a notch. She is priceless. She understands so much of what we say, that truly, you can carry on a conversation with her. She DEFINITELY can identify what she wants. Easy to tell when she brings you a cup or gets one and holds it up by the fridge water dispenser that she can't reach. Or, she'll point to the "candy cabinet" in hopes for goodies (or a calcium bear vitamin, for that matter, in it's cabinet). Lots of yes/no answers when you ask her questions. This morning, before he left, Patrick said, "Well, I guess I better..." and before he said go, she was waving to him. She's a hoot. My other favorite thing is that she does this adorable shoulder shrug with a happy little shrieky sound and you can usually get her to do it on demand and with a huge grin.

I did cut her hair last week, just to even it out and such. I'll post a picture of that soon. She was too busy to stop and actually pose, so I had to catch her on the go. We sure enjoy seeing her grow and change! These 16 months have been fast!

Beautiful work

Here are a couple school papers Leyton & Nathaniel brought home recently. Leyton has planned the Thanksgiving celebration, and Nathaniel tells about what he's enjoying these days (the cut-off word is "bike"). Great work, boys! They are doing great at school and really enjoying it. I miss them when they are there, but see they are happy children and I always love the daily updates when I pick them up.