Sarah's Stats

I took Sarah in for her 4 year old check up.  She was so cute.  My favorite part was when the doctor was quizzing her on what is more healthy for her body...

Dr.:  What is healthier, french fries or carrots?

Sarah:  Carrots 

Me: (Whew!)

Dr.:  What is healthier, (something healthier) or nuggets.

Sarah (confidently):  Nuggets

Me:  (oops!)

Dr.:  Hmmm, Let's ask this another way...What is healthier, salmon or nuggets?

Me:  You know Sarah, the pink fish?

Sarah (confidently):  Nuggets.

Me:  (ugh!)  Sarah, tell the doctor why you think nuggets are healthy?

Sarah:  They have protein!

Me:  (Semi redeemed myself?)

We are all about trying to get Libby to eat proteins.  That is our only health standard at most meals.  Guess we need to be a tad more discriminating.

Sarah's stats:  Percentages like none of our kids have ever had before!

Height:  41 3/4"   90%  (woohoo!)

Weight:  42 lbs.  90%  (double woohoo!)

BMI 169  85%

She is such a healthy kid!

Because I Said So...

We are super lucky to have Ken Jennings in our ward.  He invited Libby and some of her friends to be in a trailer for his new book.  It looks like a fun read!

Adorable Men

On the steps of the North Seattle Stake center, a building near and dear to my heart.

Ben was trying VERY VERY hard to get into the girls bubble bath.

Today for church.  He wore the tie all day.  He was super excited about it.

Today I said, "What is your name?"  I swear he said, "Ben"  

Rainy Days

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw one set of shoes lined up for each member of our family during a majorly rainy week.  Notice, everyone has boots except Derek, who has flip flops.

Thankful for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving crew (Rachel is taking the picture)

 This was an AWESOME Thanksgiving.  It started the Sunday before because Auntie Ray Ray came to town.  The girls were so excited for her to get here.  They wanted to call her about every five minutes.  Sarah called and said things like, "Hurry Auntie Ray Ray, I don't want you to starve!"  Libby called and said things like, "If you don't get here in 45 minutes, you are fired and you have to drive all the way back to Florida!"
When she got here, they told her joke after joke.  Libby was still honing her skills with the knock knock jokes.  She kept forgetting to wait for Rachel to say "Boo Who?" and just saying the whole thing.  Then, after Libby told an actual joke, like "Who likes debates? say who....Da fishes!" Sarah would follow up with things like "Who likes bananas?  say who....monkeys!"  It was hysterical.
Anyway, we had a blast with Auntie Ray Ray.  We will be forever thankful to the Forgotten Carols for giving her a work layover in Seattle for 4 days.  Anyway, here are some of the main events.

I organized a Turkey Trot at my gym.  These 2 amazing pilgrims ran it with me!

Libby had a rough time being cold.  Maybe because she was sipping a cold smoothie and maybe because she left her coat in the car.

Maren and the cheater (Libby convinced Rachel to cheat and cut off 2 different chunks of the route)

Libby was in LOVE with the pies.  She actually ate about 4 pieces.  Amazing.  

Please bless the...

Sarah has been into saying some funny things in her prayers lately.  My personal favorite has come up a few times in her blessing on the food.  "Please bless the food, and the drinks, and everything, and the toothpicks."
No idea where that came from.  We don't usually eat toothpicks for dinner, but our toothpicks are the most blessed in the whole world.

Ben's Skills

Ben is getting pretty good at lots of things.  If I say let's go, he gets shoes and a jacket and heads to the door.  He can sort of feed himself with a spoon.  If I say, "Ben, where are your ears," he points to his eyes, or nose, or mouth.  Then if I say, "Where are your eyes," he points to his ears, or nose, or mouth.  So he is definitely getting the concept.  He has a few animal sounds besides the dragon that occasionally come out.  He does a great punching sound, in face he does great sound effects all around.  He says, "yeah" and if you ask him to say please, he smiles the most amazing smile.  But seriously, outside of those and the essentials, "bye bye", "mom," and "dad," there is still no more language.  Could it be because he has become a binkie addict?  But he is so adorable.  So adorable.  And he throws his own clothes in the laundry.  I guess he has one thing over his sisters ;)

Libby's Little Lies

Libby is becoming quite the little liar.  It is a phase, right?  It is little things, like I say, "Did you put on clean panties?" after an accident.  She says "Yes!"  Then a few minutes later I see her dancing around clearly wearing no panties.
Just now I sent her into the bathroom to go potty (she is constantly potty dancing these days--holding it until the last second).  She walked right in, flushed and came back.  She said, "Did you hear me flush?"  "Yes, I said, but you didn't have enough time to possibly go before you came back."  She just stood there, not knowing how to respond.  She finally said, "But I really didn't have to go!"
A couple of days ago I put a humidifier in their room because Sarah has a cold.  Libby had a fit about the vapor smell when she went to bed.  In the morning it was unplugged.  I said, "Libby, did you unplug the vaporizer?"  She thought for a quick second and then said, "will you be mad at me if I did?"  Oh that girl!

She had to take a bath this morning because she wet the bed last night after another lie--she told me she would go to the bathroom on her way to bed.  But anyway, I straightened her hair since I hadn't done it in awhile.  It is getting longer, thicker (a little), and darker.

Libby signs the Pledge of Allegiance

Libby's elementary school puts on an annual Veteran's Day assembly.  This year the Eagle Singers (love the name--the school mascot is the Eagle) and the kindergarten classes learned a song that includes the Pledge and learned sign language to go with it.  My favorite part is probably watching Libby rock out (it is subtle, but you can see she has a lot of me in her) to the instrumental parts.  Also, it is clear that most of the kindergarteners aren't quite capable of signing and singing at the same time (Libby included).
It was a nice assembly.  I even shed a tear or two.  One class recited the "Flanders Field" poem which always gets me.  I am truly thankful for the men and women who have given their lives to keep our country a place where we can have a hotly contested election and there are no tanks rolling in the next day.  I worry, after this last election, particularly in WA about the sanity of our voting masses, but still...
CW Eagle Singers do the Pledge

Halloween

This year was a wild Halloween.  There was a lot of build up because my friend from the gym Sharon wanted to do a flash mob in downtown Edmonds.  She asked me to do the choreography.  This meant that I led a couple of practices and was pretty stressed out about making it come together.  I was especially worried about the weather.  My prayers were heard (and the prayers of lots of other dancers, I am sure). The rain stopped, people were there to dance, people were there to watch, the music was loud enough to hear, and people filmed it and put it on youtube so I could see it (and pass along to you!).  It was a great night. If you are looking for me in the flash mob video, I am front and center, but you only get to see a few glimpses of me.  In fact, I looked at all the videos that have been posted so far, I am not in any of them :)  I brought my own camera, but it was dead when we got there.  If you watch the flash mob tutorial, that is where you can see me I guess.  

Flash Mob Tutorial

Sarahisms

Sarah just called me into the bathroom where she was sitting on the throne.  I figured she wanted me to wipe her.  But she said, "Mom, what I really wanted to say, is I love you...(hugs and kisses me)..Can I watch a movie?"

Last night as I was cutting her nails she was telling me all about how her big toe on one foot is the mommy toe and the big toe on the other foot is the daddy toe.  But they don't know each other, so they are going to go on some dates.  It was a really long story and kind of hard to follow, but that is about the jist of the story I think.

Christmas Pics

One of our good friends in the ward here volunteered to take our Christmas family pics.  It was super fun, and I think the pictures turned out great.  Here are a couple of teasers.  You will have to wait for the Christmas card to see the rest. 

Thanks to all who donated!

Libby earned enough money by walking laps for her walk-a-thon at school that she got to put a pie in the principal's face.  He took 21 of these in a row.  What a great sport!

Manic Parenting

In just about the span of 5 minutes, I went from adoring parent to frustrated parent.  The swings happen so fast!

Adorable, right after the bath

Less adorable, right after I found him dipping his binkie into the flour bin , eating flour and spreading it all over the floor. I was right there in the kitchen doing dishes.  I remember this stage. Dreading what is going to happen when I put the Christmas tree up.