Oh, Give Thanks

For the past couple weeks we have been discussing the things we are grateful for at the dinner table every night.  Here are a few of the things we have come up with:

Scott: “my sweetums” (usually refers to Andrew and Susanna, but in this instance he specifically noted that it also included me), bicycles, extended family, health, Jesus Christ

Me: the love of my life (Scott of course), the changing of the seasons, “my sweetums” (yes we used the same cheesey word, but I was just referring to my kids), food, temples

Susanna: my baby brother, “my family” (her small plastic one pictured at right—if you look closely you might notice that the mother is feeding the baby) , pomegranate seeds, blocks, eyes

Have you seen the Mormon Messages made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?  They’re wonderful, and here’s a Thanksgiving flavored one that I like.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of tender turkey, flavorful stuffing, lots of laughter, and, especially, that you are surrounded by people you love.

p.s. Artwork by Susanna.  Okay, I cut out the pieces, but she applied the glue and chose the position (and the number of eyes).

The Zoo with Two

Everything went really well on our first trip to the zoo as a three-some (and Andrew’s first trip ever).  I don’t usually take any cameras because it is easier without, but I wish I’d gotten a stll photograph of the outfit Susanna chose to wear and a video of the singing siamangs.  I hope I get one of the latter before we leave Seattle (Susanna has already changed out of the former).

Here are some stats:

Approximate number of pounds of children I lugged up the long hill to the zoo entrance: 55

Number of dollars I saved by taking that walk instead of parking in the zoo’s lot and walking right in: 5

Number of times the one-year-old gorilla jumped right at Susanna through the viewing window: 3

The number of families I watched come and go at the table next to us while we ate lunch: 3

Number of animals Andrew saw: 0

Number of times I dropped a blanket on Susanna’s imaginary sister: 2

Number of jumping jacks we did before getting back in the car: 10

As you might have guessed, my favorite animal today was the siamang; Susanna’s was the gorilla “especially the baby one.”

Happy Halloween!

Since Andrew was born, Susanna has considered herself to be goldilocks, and the rest of us to be bears.  Of course this has something to do with her hair, but I actually think it has more to do with Scott’s habit of chasing her and growling like a bear (the story goes a little differently at our home).  Whatever the source of the idea, we have been Goldilocks and the Three Bears for a while now, so it was an obvious choice for Susanna for a Halloween costume.  Scott and I went to a Halloween party with some friends (no kids allowed), and we decided not to be Mommy and Daddy bear for that; we came up with the costumes below as an alternative.