You’ll just have to hold your drink, because I can’t find my coasters.
Solvei and Nels are now big enough to reach on top of the tables. If you don’t want them to get it, it has to be at the back or center of the table. They love to get my set of coasters down from the sofa table and carry them around. They are the best toy in the house right now so they are never where they belong. I think one has disappeared under the stove.
Do a little Dance…
Happy Thanksgiving!
It was really easy for us this year. We didn’t have anywhere to go and just hung out at home all day. Most of the day was pretty much the same as any other day. Got up and ate breakfast, played with the kids till lunch time, after lunch all the kids took a nap, and I did the rest of the cooking while they slept. I made the pies (2 pumpkin and 1 chocolate) and the 12 layer Jell-o yesterday, so they were already done. Since it is only us and we didn’t need a large turkey, I got a turkey breast instead. Put the turkey in to cook around 11 while the kids were playing. All the rest of the food was easy stuff cause I didn’t feel much like doing everything from scratch this year – Costco special heat and serve potatoes (the gravy came with the turkey), Le Roule Cranberry Cheese with crackers, Sister Schubert’s Parker House Rolls, and Stove Top Stuffing. Super easy but still delicious and it was all done just after nap time. I know we’re weird, we actually ate Thanksgiving dinner almost at dinner time. Even better the kids actually ate with minimal arguing. Hope everyone else had as good a day as we did.
We found the best snack food ever….Chester’s Puffcorn – Cheese flavored. I think I could eat a whole bag by myself (I haven’t yet). I found them at a local store then they disappeared. They were so good I looked them up online to see where I can get them. In the search I found this article, which pretty much sums it up. Snackin on Chester’s Puffcorn
The point of sharing this new found devotion, is to explain what the kids are eating for this installment. I got out a bowl of the Puffcorn for me to share with Solvei and Nels. After the food was gone they both tried to lick the empty bowl.=P
I have saved all of the clothes from when Saedi and Gavin were little. It is nice to not have to get anything new for the babies, and it’s so much fun to pull out clothes and remember how cute they were. I have had to make a few of them more weather appropriate, though. I just went out and got a bunch of undershirts, tights, and leggings to make the clothes in this size warmer for “winter” since Saedi was in this size during the summer.
This outfit looked so cute on Saedi but I like it even better with the leggings I found, she looks more like Raggedy Ann with the striped legs.
This is also the first time I have attempted pigtails with Solvei because her hair is finally long enough. So cute!
She loves her hoodie too. Nate showed her how to put her hands in her pockets and now she always does it. She even tries to find pockets in clothes that don’t have them.
This is what the tooth fairy brought when she came for Saedi’s first tooth.
When we were sitting down to breakfast this morning, Saedi told me that she might be able to sing the “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” song this year.
The other afternoon, as Gavin and I were just finishing lunch, Gavin looked out the back door and said, “Look Mom, the sun is starting to go down!” I thought it was way too early, after all it was only 1:30 in the afternoon. But when I looked out the window he was right, the sun was already half way down in the sky. There is just not enough daylight now that it’s getting to be winter. It’s strange to have it be completely dark outside when I’m making dinner. I know it’s always been that way, but it’s just one of those times when it feels different because you see it from a different frame of mind.
I have a weakness for kids books. Every month Saedi brings home a book order form from school and I can’t resist. Nate gives me a hard time but I don’t feel too bad about it because Saedi reads just like Nate. She can read fast and always wants more books. She always tells me, “I can’t help it, I just like reading!” It’s not a bad thing, I’m quite proud of her, and I want her to have good material so that only makes it easier for me to buy more books. Before I placed another book order, I decided to make a list of what we had already so I wouldn’t run the risk of buying books we already had. Granted I could only work on it between interruptions, but it took me two days to get it done! Now that I am finished, I can say with absolute certainty that we have SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX!?!?! children’s books. Let me state that again, six hundred and thirty-six CHILDREN’s books. That number doesn’t even include the books from mine and Nate’s bookshelves. Oh, and I DID just place another order ;).
Solvei is the only one of my children to develop a real affinity for a binkie. Saedi took one until she was about 6 months and then was done, Gavin really only ever used them as chew toys, and Nels likes his at sleep time but usually could care less during the day. Solvei on the other hand, always wants hers. If she doesn’t have one it’s not for long, she will usually go find one. We have five of the kind she likes (we bought enough for Solvei and Nels, but Nels ended up preferring a different kind). One of the funniest things to watch is when she finds two of them. She keeps one in her mouth and carries the other one around, constantly changing between the two.
So what’s better than two binkies at the same time?
Nels LOVES his blanket. He loves to go to bed because he gets to cuddle his blanket. He loves to get in the car because there is another blanket we keep in there. Everything is right with the world when he has a binkie, a blankie and a Mommy or Daddy.
When we put him to bed we lay him down and then spread the blanket out over him. He has started to grab the corner of the blanket and rub his face with it, then put it up to his nose and sniff it. Such a funny boy!
You know how you can blow raspberries into a baby’s belly and make them laugh? This morning Nels discovered he can do that into the kitchen table and get the same noise. I started laughing at him so Solvei had to try it too.
Speaking of bellies, Solvei new nickname is “Belly.” She finds comfort in some weird places. She gets a lot of comfort from rubbing her ear that sticks out, or when you rub it. Recently she has been comforting herself by rubbing her belly button. So all the time she has her shirt pulled up and her finger in her belly button.
Happy Happy Birthday, my Gavin little boy,
you’re not so very little, because today you’re four!
I wanted to do something he would enjoy so we went to story time at the library. Not too exciting but he loves going. When we were leaving he wanted to play in the trees and insisted that I come and see.
Nate came home early from work and that was special for him too. After Saedi got home from school we all piled into the car and went to the store so Gavin could pick out a toy with birthday money from Gpa Gene. It’s fun to watch what he gets excited about because it’s usually really simple things. We had Wendy’s for dinner (which he kept calling Aunt Wendy’s) at his request but he still didn’t want to eat it – there was Spiderman cake and presents to be had!
So Gavin got a bath and Solvei and Nels got put to bed (it was now bedtime) before we even got to the presents.
The festivities ended on a good note. He very much enjoyed what he got, using words like “Awesome,” “Wow!” and “Cool.”
I just have to mention his reaction when opening the book from Gma Lori and Gpa Larry. He loves books so of course he opened it as soon as it was unwrapped. He was looking through it when Saedi told him it was bedtime stories and did he want her to read a little bit of it to him. He said, “Not right now! It will put me to sleep!”
On to the other milestone that I mentioned. So as not to be outdone by her brother on HIS birthday, in the midst of the bathing and the putting babies to bed, Saedi finally pulled out her first loose tooth tonight. The Tooth Fairy is now on it’s way. She even wrote a letter to go with her tooth. She is getting so big.
And just so I don’t leave them out, here are some pictures of Solvei and Nels. Nels actually, cheesily, posed for his picture as soon as I got out the camera, giving me a great big smile.
Gavin has been telling me for months that he wants to be a ghost. He’s even been practicing the sound they make.
Saedi decided last Halloween, when she got fangs as a prize from her teacher, that she wanted to be a vampire for this Halloween. Since she was going to be something scary Gavin wanted to follow suit, so ghost it is.
We got Saedi’s costume from the Halloween Store at the mall and Gavin’s would be super easy so I put it off to do after we got back from our trip. That didn’t leave me much time but it was only white fabric with eye holes in it. I ended up getting to the fabric store this morning and I spent naptime making his costume so it would be done for tonight.
We didn’t get costumes for Solvei and Nels but the ones from last year still fit (just barely).
So Saedi and Gavin went out trick-or-treating with Nate,
while Solvei and Nels helped me give out candy.
We ran out of candy pretty early, but it worked out okay because it made no pressure to get the kids to bed on time. All in all a pretty good holiday.
wadmanclan
Wadman Clan 
