Her First Swing

or, "The Happy Kick."

More swinging pictures coming soon!

4 Classic Games for $4.95

If you have nieces, nephews, or other kids on your Christmas list, click here to find out how to give them four great, classic games for $4.95 after rebate. They'll enjoy them just as much as if you had paid full price! (And I'm not hinting for gifts for my own kids. We're covered! :) )

Go Huskers!

Jonathan thought that this was how he and Grace should pose to show their support. He's wearing his jersey from Uncle Bill and Aunt Connie.

Airing Her Opinion

The Best Day of Jonathan's Month

is the day that his Lego Club Jr. magazine comes in the mail.

He has to read it, cover to cover, immediately. Kind of like Jeff with his Backpacker magazine!

I asked Jonathan if he wanted to watch a video this morning (which is a special treat around here,) and he said that he wanted to read his Lego magazine first. I tried to get a picture of him with his nose buried in it, and he turned around the other direction. He told me, "I just wanted some alone time."

Goodbye Baby Seat, Hello Shopping Cart

Grace's New Buddy

Kinsley, born 8 days ago, 5 lbs., 2 oz. Isn't she precious?

(Those hands holding Grace's feet are Kinsley's grandma's hands.)

The End of an Era...

and the beginning of another.

Halloween

Here's what we looked like this year! Old friends of ours invited us to a party, and we had a really nice time. Half an hour before we left, we (the grownups) decided to dress up. Jeff went as a chaotic camper. You should have seen all the gear hanging off of his pack. (It was pretty funny since his packing style for camping is anything but chaotic.) I had my mom's Raggedy Ann costume that she made for herself when I was five or so, and I wore it to be a rag doll.

Two or three years ago, I found this race car driver costume on clearance after Halloween at Gymboree. I said to myself, "Jonathan is always going to like cars." So I knew he'd love to wear it someday when he got big. It was a little too long, so I hemmed it up for this year. Jeff borrowed the helmet, which Jonathan thought was amazing.

Grace was a pumpkin and wore the hat that Jonathan wore when he was a baby. I should note that my sister, who LOVES Halloween, did not approve of the costume. She thought I needed to bedazzle it. I don't feel strongly about Halloween and did not worry about it. (She also does not think that Grace wears hair bows often enough.) Sorry, sis! Grace wore the only costume that cost any money this year: $3 for the orange shirt and $1 for the leggings. (Jonathan's shirt and pants from his babyhood were too big for her.) I thought she looked cute, despite the lack of glitter.

When we got home from our party, Jeff and Jonathan did just a few minutes of trick-or-treating on our street while I put Grace to bed. The weather was perfect, and it was a really fun evening.

Where Did October Go?

I think I completely missed the month of October. Jeff's busy season ended, and then we prepared for, took, and recovered from our trip. I blinked and it was Halloween, and here we are in November.

The holidays are busy for everyone, but adding Jonathan's birthday (and mine) to December makes it a particularly busy month for our family. I try to start thinking about his party a few weeks beforehand so I'm mentally prepared. We'll do a very small family party for him again this year. Jonathan and I were talking about his party, and he told me that he wanted a white cake with blue frosting since the cake is for a boy, and blue is a boy color. He said he wants brown frosting letters that say "Jonathan's Birthday Party" on them. He also wants chocolate chip cookies and chocolate ice cream. (Last year, he told me for months and months that he just wanted pumpkin pie for his birthday. I guess that's the difference between four and five!) He told me I could wrap streamers around the railing and use whatever color I wanted!

Jeff and I are going to borrow/steal an idea from Ava's parents: we are going to suggest on the party invitation that our guests who want to bring a gift bring a children's book to donate to Jonathan's future elementary school's library instead. I talked to Jonathan about this today, and he got really excited about it. He hadn't realized that schools have libraries just for kids, and he thought that bringing books as gifts for the library would be a great idea.

I can hardly believe he's almost five, but I'm not going to get ahead of myself-I'm just going to enjoy four for now. The weather is beautiful, and Jeff planted a winter garden yesterday. We're hoping for some winter veggies this year, and we'll try not to let them get away from us like the zucchini did!