Busy Bee's

It is pretty busy around here. We bought our new car and promptly had low tire pressure in one of the tires just two days later. Thankfully all it seems to need is some air...but we are watching it. How annoying!

Jon and I have been racing around town gathering our needed items for the kitchen demo happening in less than two weeks. Cabinets are ordered and being built, sink is sitting in our garage waiting to be installed, countertops are ordered, paint is bought, and all we have left is to pick out our faucet and order our floors (which we already have chosen).

Today we had the attic sprayed with insulation and are hoping that makes a difference in our 1930's era home.

Christmas cards are ordered, christmas ornaments are bought and waiting for our tree in three weeks time, and I can't wait to begin playing Christmas music. All I have left for Christmas is buying Jon and Kate's gifts and some stocking stuffers. We are trucking right along.

Toyota Sienna

We are hours away from our new car. We have decided on a Toyota Sienna for its lower price, 3.9% APR, and options of AWD. The Honda Odyssey put up a fair fight and I will mourn its abundant storage and potential eighth seat...but the Toyota is very similar to my Lexus and I think, personally is more attractive than the Odyssey. What a tough decision but our growing family needs more room and we need to make a decision now.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween, spent at Leah and Thom's home. We drove down about 5pm and enjoyed a roast dinner with them and then went out trick or treating. Georgia and Theo made a haul, but Theo ended up only lasting for one "lap" around their subdivision. Grandma Bonnie (dressed as a zebra) joined us for the trick or treating portion as well.

After trick or treating and putting the kids to bed at 9pm, the grown ups rented The Proposal and chatted. We all slept in the bonus room and Georgia did great, sleeping through the night. Theo did wake up howling three different times, which kind of stunk...but we are use to it.

We woke in the AM to Thom making waffles, egg and potato scramble, and sausage links. The adults played a game of Scrabble (congrats Thom) while the kids played with the doll house and My Little Pony's.

After breakfast, Leah and Thom so generously offered to watch the kids while Jon and I did some minivan shopping. We narrowed it down between the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna. Now to determine if we want/need the 8th seat of the Odyssey...and if the extra road noise of the Honda cancels its slight edge.

Isn't it wonderful having friends who are so generous with their time and home? We are very fortunate and feel like we just came back from vacation :)

Georgia's Last Swimming Lesson

For the past two months, Jon has been taking Georgia to parent-tot swim lessons at the Greenlake Pool. They enjoy this activity and Jon says Georgia is one of the "advanced" in her class. She isn't afraid to put her head under water, blow bubbles, jump off the side, or kick her legs and float. This picture was taken at her last class because at age three (two weeks and counting) she begins a preschool class without the comfort of her parent...and Jon will begin taking Theo to parent-tot lessons at the same time.

Theo's First Haircut

After numerous comments from most about how Theo was growing a mullet (which I would reply, "But they are his baby curls, I can't cut them off) I took him to get his first cut. He wasn't pleased and spent the entire 15 minutes crying and sobbing. He could have cared less about the fire engine seat, bucket of toy cars, or the candy sucker. He wanted out of that seat and away from that stranger messing with his hair.

Jon thinks his hair looks great and promptly proclaimed him, "handsome." I am still getting use to it and missing those baby curls in back.

Our Pumpkins

The rule in our home is that you can buy any pumpkin you want...as long as you can carry it. Kate takes full advantage of this and bought the biggest pumpkin she could carry. Georgia preferred the small ones (but still big for her) and picked out hers and Theo's.

Katherine designed her pumpkin, complete with Angelina Jolie lips and hair. Georgia chose a heart shape, after I asked her if she wanted a face or a heart. We carved Theo's complete with minimal teeth (he is still missing his eye teeth) and Georgia drew hair on top when no one was looking.

During carving I served hot apple cider, pumpkin pie, and Granny Smith apples with caramel dipping sauce. We quickly roasted and devoured three batches of pumpkin seeds (salt, olive oil, and garlic powder) before the night ended. Ghostbusters was on in the background, but no one bothered to watch.

Georgia and Theo had an excellent time and were big helps. Georgia wanted to carve the pumpkins herself and helped scoop out the insides. Theo spent the evening transferring pumpkin membranes and seeds from one bowl to another...and back again. He really, really, likes to sort. Kate thinks she is growing up because she didn't think carving was as fun as it was in the past.

Check out our holiday card sneak peak...

Jessica Hamlin, of Jessica Hamlin Photography took our Christmas card pictures this year. We shot them this weekend in Lincoln Park and the kids did okay...well, okay as three kids can do. Theo only smiled when I flashed my big belly at him, Kate did her part by pasting on a smile and looking beautiful, and Georgia was our REALLY tough one. For some reason she became super shy and didn't want to smile or pose at all.

Anywho, here is a SNEAK PEEK (click on the words).

Baby Names

Brace yourselves...here are some of our contenders...

Girls: Mabel, Mae (Jon doesn't like), Penelope, Marion, Clementine, Beatrice (Jon hates)
Boys: Sullivan, Truman (Jon's suggestion), Sebastian

We are open to suggestions. We prefer "older" names and ideally, with three syllables (I feel it goes best with a two syllable last name).

Leah's Family in Disneyland

To celebrate Hollie's 16th birthday (she is 6 weeks older than Katherine) Leah took her family to Disneyland for five days.

Theo and G with Animals

Georgia LOVES animals. Any kind. She really wants to hold an owl right now (since she saw one on TV being held) and enjoys picking up bugs, spiders, and petting any dog she sees. Here she is petting an Alpaca at the South 47 farm. Those are Theo's fingers trying to feed a chicken...which he was able to do after I got change and bought some animal feed. The chickens were so tame that they didn't bite or peck at all unless you had food. Unfortunately my camera died before I could get the actual animal feeding shots, but you probably get the idea.