Familia Nuttall

Nuttall Family Pics: Logan Square 2008

2008-12-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

Our good friend Laura Nash took some great family pics for us in October that I'm finally getting around to posting! The Logan Square fountains are just a couple blocks from our apartment and in the summer the kids had fun walking around in the water. The fountains have been turned off for winter now, but the kids can still run around and play where the water used to be.

Leaf Power

2008-12-19T12:39:00.000-08:00

Fun at the fountain

2008-12-19T12:36:00.000-08:00

Logan Square Family Pics

2008-12-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

We like to boogie

2008-12-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

Last day of music class this semester with Mr. John--good times.

Short week

2008-12-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

Dec. 15-21, 2008
Monday, Monday. Lately on Monday mornings we’ve been going to the Please Touch Museum and it’s a good time to go because there are no school groups then. Levi loves running over to the rocket ship section and looking for the Buzz Lightyear toy that they have hanging from the ceiling. Today there was a new airplane exhibit for older kids and Isaac thought it was amazing because he could pedal with his feet and go up and down on an airplane ride (it’s just like the one at Chucky Cheese in Houston)

The boys also really enjoy playing in the art room at the museum and getting to paint with paint brushes to their heart’s content. Isaac has finally moved on from painting rainbows and now his new thing is apple trees. Levi is into swirling together as many colors as possible and getting really messy.

This was the last week of music classes with Mr. John through WKC. It’s been a fun distraction on Monday afternoons. Isaac really gets a kick out of dancing with the colors and playing instruments. Levi usually likes running around to the music, but he fell asleep on the way to class and I had to wake him up so he was Mr. Grumpapotomus the whole time.

On Tuesday morning Kim McKay came over and we swapped cribs—she’s going to lend us a bedside portacrib that we can use for the new baby and we’re lending her our bigger portacrib that she can use with her baby who is now about 8 months old.

The boys wanted to make Christmas cookies to give to their friends this week and I like cooking with them because its good language practice—we’ll say the ingredients in English and Spanish and then their favorite song to sing while they mix it up is “bate bate chocolate”

Miraculously Isaac is not afraid of the beater anymore. He’ll climb up on the chair and help turn on the beater and then stand there for a while to mix things up.

Levi will just sit with a pile of books around him and “read”—its so fun to watch him turn the pages and repeat phrases that he knows from the stories.

Wednesday morning I drove all of my boys to the airport to send them off to Utah for a few days. I can’t travel because I’m 35 weeks pregnant, but I really needed a break and my cousin Lori gave me the idea of having James take the boys on a trip without me. I miss them a ton, but it will be very nice to “nest,” rest, and get ready for the baby.

Santa and Cookies

2008-12-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

Sugar week

2008-12-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

Dec. 8-Dec. 14, 2008

We went to an LDSSA Christmas party on Monday night over at the Sorenson’s house and it was a great turn out. One of the single guys dressed up as Santa Claus and came down to the playroom and divvied out candy canes to all of the kids. Isaac and Levi were in heaven.

For the last day of ASL/Spanish class, the moms in the class got together and gave me a $50 gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles. That was really cool of them. I’ll miss doing the class next semester, but I’m sure I’ll also be pretty overwhelmed with baby number three.

Levi has learned the word “borrow” from Isaac and today when we visited Collin, he wanted to “borrow” Collin’s toy car—“can I borrow this Collin?” It amazes me how clearly he asks for things now.

The boys watch Toy Story 2 in Spanish so now they can say “Al infinito, y mas alla!”—gotta love those super hero phrases.

Wednesday morning the boys were beside themselves with excitement because it was the big day of Jordan’s birthday party. They had fun making gingerbread houses, eating pizza and playing with all of their toys.

It was rainy and cold on Thursday morning but we braved the weather to go check out Isaac’s elementary school for next year. It’s supposed to be one of the best public elementary schools in the city. I was really hoping he would get into a really cool Spanish immersion charter school called Independence Charter but we didn’t do so hot in the lottery—I called yesterday and they told me that we were number 250 on the waiting list. Ay caramba. I guess there are a lot of people trying to get into that school.

Isaac asked me tonight why there are so many different Santa Clauses. . .he’s starting to catch on pretty quick. I told him that Santa needs a lot of helpers and he was half way satisfied with that answer. Then he wanted to know if he could call Santa on my cell phone and ask for a snowboard for Christmas.

Levi is getting good at his colors in Spanish—when he says “azul” it makes me laugh because he sticks his lips out and its pretty cute.

Saturday we had a big Wharton Kids Club Christmas party at our place and the Nash’s. We started things out down here with cookie decorating and crafts for the kids and then after an hour everyone shifted upstairs for pics with Santa and Marina’s Russian gift on a rope game. Amazingly, it worked out great and there were no major mishaps. Isaac poured half of the bottle of sprinkles on one of his sugar cookies and both of the boys were on a major sugar high most of the night.

Ahwww. . .

2008-12-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

Meet Mr. Peacock

2008-12-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

Isaac and Levi have a new buddy at the zoo that they have dubbed "Mr. Peacock." The boys really wanted him to come home with us, but before I had to explain why he couldn't, Mr. Peacock made it easy on me and flew over the fence to chat with the Giant Galapagos Tortoises.

Zoo time

2008-12-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

I love this pic with Isaac on one side and the squirrel on the other. Mostly, I'm amazed that the squirrel is actually in the pic because he was moving pretty fast.

The tiger looked like he wanted to play ball with the boys. . .

Levi's nose meets a green marker

2008-12-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Dec. 1-Dec.7, 2008
The book of the week has definitely been Max and Ruby’s ABC’s. Both of the boys love it because its not your standard ABC book—it uses the alphabet letters to tell the story of Max’s ants escaping from the ant farm and how Max and Ruby try everything to escape the ants. Its actually pretty funny.

We went to the Please Touch Muesum on Monday morning with Kim and Carrie and their boys and if was fun—except for when I briefly lost both boys in the Alice in Wonderland section. There are so many mazes and dividers over there that its hard to see where they are.
Isaac wanted to write a letter to Santa Claus so he wrote out all of the letters of Santa’s name and then I helped him make a list of what he wanted which included:
1. a watering can for a beanstalk
2. magic powder to make the beanstalk grow
3. a pretend gumball machine from Target
4. a new Max and Ruby dvd
5. a new Spanish storybook
6. new paints for painting
7. that’s enough

Thanks to James coming up with the idea of eating string cheese on a fork, the boys now both insist on eating string cheese with a fork and calling it “silly cheese”

Levi loves to eat bananas and green peppers whole. He does not like it if I cut them and hey—who can complain if that’s what he’s eating. Isaac on the other hand has decided he’s allergic to the smell of vegetables and it drives me nuts.

Wednesday morning Rachel Jackson invited us over to celebrate Maggie’s birthday and the kids had a blast decorating and eating Christmas cookies. There was also pizza and veggies and Isaac kept saying, “mom, this is the best party ever!” The boys actually woke up super early and wanted to go over to the party right after breakfast, but I took them on a detour to the Please Touch Museum. I’m SO glad that it opens at 9 o’clock instead of 10 like everywhere else. It’s really nice to have a place to take the kids early in the morning when we just need to get out. Today they spent most of the time in the art room and Isaac and Levi painted and mixed colors with cue tips.

Levi has discovered whip cream and he can’t get enough of the stuff.

For Spanish class on Thursday we did Kool-aid playdough and practiced the names of shapes in Spanish. We also did the caminar song and Levi and Isaac had fun dancing with Shrey. I taught everyone the Corre Caballo song and Levi kept asking for “mas caballo”—I think we probably did it about 5 times.

For book club we discussed The Book Thief and it was a pretty amazing book—I didn’t actually finish it yet, but it is told in one of the most creative formats I’ve ever read (the narrarator is death). It’s also a great book for learning about World War II history. Mostly it was fun just to have a girls night out and have James put the boys to bed.

The boys have been rocking out with their homemade band instruments lately. They look so cut playing instruments together. Their favorite song right now is “You got a friend in me” from the Toy Story soundtrack. Isaac tries to sing along with the lyrics, but it’s funny to hear what his version of the words are sometimes. For example, instead of “You’ve got problems and I’ve got ‘em too,” Isaac will say—“You’ve got problems and I gotta toot.”

Friday morning –the boys insisted on going to the zoo even though it was a pretty chilly day. We had the whole place to ourselves except for the school groups that were there. Luckily the crocodile/reptile house was warm and cozy and so was the treehouse so we spent most of our time in those to places. There was also a peacock wandering around outide that the boys befriended and dubbed “Mr. Peacock.” Isaac really wanted to take him home with us.

Isaac is still intent on getting a little sister. When I reminded him that he was getting another little brother he said, “but mom, where’s the door in your tummy so that a sister can get in there too.”

I took Isaac to his first “drop off” b-day party on Saturday. It was really weird to drop him off at a party and not have to stick around to watch him. It was a Transformer theme party for one of the kids, Griffin, in his preschool class and he had a blast.

The boys started spontaneously playing Ring Around the Rosie with each other on Sunday night during bath time. It was uncontrollably cute. It is so fun to see them playing together more now and really communicating with each other.

Major food break through with Isaac—I’m being more strict about making him try new things and finish his food even if he says he doesn’t like it. Tonight I made a chicken/rice dish for the boys and Isaac didn’t want it but I told him he couldn’t have anything else to eat until he finished his small bowl. After 2 hours he finally finished it, but not without ALOT of whining.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T18:38:00.000-08:00

Nov.24-Nov.30, 2008
Cold Monday—lots of role playing games with the boys. We only made it out of the apartment for music class and by that time the boys were very ready to get out and run around. We left early and I let them collect sticks for a while in front of the boy scout building. The boys both wanted to wear their superman outfits to class.

Isaac has fully entered the “WHY” stage, except for most of the time he says “how” instead of “why.” He’ll say things like “how is it that we don’t have a swimming pool on our roof” And “how did I not want to be reverent in church?”

Levi surprises me everyday with how well he understands and communicates. After getting home from playing with his friend Jordan today he said, “mom, I want Buzz lighyear shoes like Jordan. We need to go shopping for Buzz Lightyear shoes. He cracks me up.

I had my OB appointment on Tuesday morning and she said everything looks good. I had partial placenta previa on my first ultrasound, but the ultrasound they did on Friday showed that everything was okay now. The baby’s weight is fiftieth percentile and there’s plently of fluid in the womb. I also passed my glucose test, Dr. Prilou did say that since my iron count was low in my last blood test, I need to start taking an iron supplement in addition to my prenatal vitamin.

Isaac really loves elevators. Today he wanted to go over to the Central Library just so that he could push the letter “R” for roof. We went up there, but all of the doors to get out on the roof were locked. Isaac loves asking people what floor they’re going to and pushing the button for them.

Levi is obsessed with popcorn, but he’ll still eat lots of other good foods like cucumbers, asparagus, baby tomatoes, and carrots. I really wish that Isaac would eat vegetables like Levi!! Isaac drives me crazy with his eating habits and I know that I’m part of the problem because I’ve let him get away with it.

Isaac seems very sensitive to my moods now and if I’m not smiling he’ll say, “mom, how is your mouth feeling?”—its kind of his subtle hint that I need to remember to smile.

Levi’s new favorite game is “momma cave.” He really enjoys pretending that the bed spread on Isaac’s bed is a cave and then getting tickled inside the “cave.”

We found the Toy Story 2 music soundtrack at the library and the boys love listening to track number four over and over and pretending to fly around the house like Buzz Lightyear. I really need to take a short video clip of it because it looks really funny to see them running all over the place with their hands stretched out in front of them.

Isaac wanted to know this week where the baby will come out of me. He wanted to know if the baby was coming out of my mouth—well not exactly. . .I remember when I was a kid I thought that babies came out of the belly button.

Thanksgiving!! We had a very nice Thanksgiving celebration with the Millers and the Hollingshaus family over at Edgewater Apartments. We had the big turkey dinner over there potluck style and then everybody came over to our place for games and dessert. Isaac and Levi had a blast playing with Jackson and Jordan. Isaac actually ate some of the turkey which was a total miracle. He also ate almost a pint of strawberries from the fruit salad. Levi was too distracted with the Buzz Lightyear toys to even think about eating.

Isaac asked me tonight why his friend Jackson had to go far away in May. He overhead John talking about his job offer in San Francisco and how they’ll be moving. It’s hard because Isaac’s really starting to understand things like people moving and not coming back. He kept saying, “I just want Jackson to stay here in Philadelphia with me!” It’s going to be really difficult for Isaac to lose a good friend. I’m really glad that he’s got Levi though and at least he has the security of knowing that they’ll stick together because they’re brothers.

Isaac and Levi and VERY excited about Christmas. Isaac is the most excited because he loves the idea of Santa Claus bringing presents. He can now say in Spanish “quiero ir al polo norte”

The boys woke up Sunday morning and decided that they wanted to pretend to be the Wiggles. Isaac was Greg, Levi was Anthony, I was Murray, and James was Jeff. It was hilarious because Isaac kept up pretty well with the Australian accent. He also insisted on wearing yellow to church so he could be in Greg colors. We compromised with a yellow t-shirt under a blue sweater.
I love my boys.

Vacuum Power

2008-11-30T18:31:00.000-08:00

Newsflash: Isaac has overcome his fear of vacuums and beaters. Unbelievable. This week he actually asked if he could help me vacuum and then he wanted to help use the beater to make cookies. This is major progress for him—he used to run from the room when he even heard the word vacuum or beater and he would shut the door to avoid the sound. I’m not sure what changed things for him—but I am very grateful to see this change in him. Es un milagro.

More fire station pics

2008-11-30T18:25:00.000-08:00

Firestation frenzy

2008-11-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

Nov. 17-Nov.23, 2008
Monday morning we headed over to Target to pick up a b-day present for our Chilean amigos. Matias and Pepita are having a joint b-day party on Saturday since their birthdays are so close together. I just had to grab a couple of things quickly since lingering in the toy section with my boys is a ticket to the land of meltdowns.

Mr. John the music teacher gave the kids cds at the end of class and Isaac and Levi can’t get enough of listening to it.

I went to Isaac’s preschool on Tuesday to teach a lesson at the end of class. All of the kids get to have their parent come in and teach something with them once during the year. I let Isaac show off his Spanish skills and we taught los numeros y los colores. We also did a fun treasure hunt at the end and I let Isaac find the “galletas” to share with all of his classmates.

Wednesday morning we went over to a local firestation for a fire house tour and the boys really got a kick out of that. The firefighters let them try out the firehose and pretend to drive the firetrucks. Levi kept saying, “there’s no fire” and then looking up at me for reassurance. He wasn’t sure why were were talking so much about fire and getting out the fire hoses when he couldn’t see any fire. Isaac was very excited about getting to climb up in the fire truck and pretending to drive it. He was hoping that the firefighters would let him take the truck for a spin around Philly.

Jackson and Jordan came over Wednesday night while Carrie went to a meeting and Isaac and Levi were in heaven with their buddies over. They wanted to do playdough and then take a bath together. Isaac is always disappointed when they can’t spend the night.
Thursday was just a long cold day. Isaac had school, but afterwards it was too cold and dark to go out again.
Friday morning we woke up to SNOW! It was snowing outside and I had to go to a doctor’s appointment. Isaac kept trying to catch the snowflakes on his tongue when we were walking outside.

We found Toy Story 2 at the library and Levi has become even more obsessed with Buzz and Woody. He really loves pretending to be Buzz Lightyear and jumping of the bed or bureau while yelling “To infinity and beyond!!!”

Saturday was a morning shopping marathon at Aldis and then I let the kids play and eat at Chickfilae and Ikea. They had a lot of fun a the Matias and Pepita fiesta and had chance to practice a lot of great words like “pastel” “regalo” “globo” and “juguetes.”

We had a Sunday afternoon Thanksgiving potluck at the Huntsman building for the Wharton Kids Club. Isaac and Levi started a game of red light green light with the other kids and they totally wore themselves out running back and forth in the lobby.

Superboys

2008-11-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

Isaac and Levi both love snacking on frozen yogurt tubes after they're done leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

bubbles. . .las burbujas

2008-11-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

The boys love taking bubble baths now. We got some Dora strawberry scented bubble bath and they love playing with the bubbles.

Petite Rouge

2008-11-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

Nov.10-Nov.16, 2008
Jessica Larson took care of the boys Monday morning while I went to the dentist—the boys absolutely love the chance to get to play with other people’s toys. Charlton has a Woody toy the Isaac really wanted to take home and Levi wanted to leave with a handful of cars. My kids would make great shoplifters.

Levi can say sentences now like, “there’s something in my eye” and “fix it mom” and “are you tired?” he always amazes me with his ability to communicate. I also got him to say “gracias por la manzana” when Laura gave him an apple when we stopped by her apartment on Tuesday.

I read Isaac the story of Petite Rouge that my brother gave me and Isaac was very interested in the part where Petite Rouge gives the alligator hot sauce. Isaac has chapping around is mouth from biting his lip and being out in the cold and after reading the hot sauce part of the story he his convinced that I gave him hot sauce because he says his mouth burns like the alligator’s.

They put the Christmas tree up in our building and both of the boys think it looks magical. Isaac asked if it was Christmas Eve yet. I told him we had to wait for Thanksgiving first and he got pretty upset about that and said, “no I don’t want Thanksgiving—just Christmas!!”

Isaac: “Mom, remember in far away time when you stepped on my foot.”—I thought it was interesting that he came up with the term “far away time” to describe “a long time ago”

Levi must be going through a growth spurt because he’s been pounding a lot of food lately.

Friday morning I took the boys in for their first visit to the pediatrician here to get their flu shots and for Levi’s 2 year old check up. I was pleasantly surprised with their new pediatrician. She seems really thorough and it was nice to have a doctor that didn’t just rush in and out of the room.

James took the boys to the Children’s Museum on Saturday and when he was putting away some of the pretend food at the marketplace he heard a parent screaming, “whose child is this!!!” Apparently, Levi had a sharing crisis with a little girl and he ended up biting her arm and leaving teeth marks—not good. James felt pretty bad about it. Its tough with Levi because for the most part he plays really well with other kids, but he will bite when he gets really frustrated.

Saturday afternoon here was a last beautiful breath of summer. It was in the mid-sixties and I took the boys on a long walk down the Schukill River Trail. Isaac wanted to explore a spooky forest so we went off the trail in a couple of places to go “exploring” and crunch through the fall leaves. I really wish that I would have remembered to bring the camera because it was the last glorious day of fall and I didn’t get any pics of all of the natural beauty here. At least we’ll be here for one more autumn season. We went past the art musueum for the first time and over to a place called waterworks that has some nice lookouts over the river and a place where you can feed the ducks. There were a few wedding parties going on and Isaac asked me if we were in “wedding land.”

Levi can finish the words when we say a prayer in Spanish and his new favorite Spanish word is “tiburones.” He and Isaac love pretending to be crocodiles and sharks.

Reading Stories with Momma

2008-11-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

Nov. 3- Nov. 10, 2008
Monday, Monday—Carrie had a doctor’s appointment so I watched Jackson and Jordan in the morning at our place. The boys had a ball dancing to the animal, freeze, and elephant songs. After music class we walked over to our Chilean friend’s apartment because the weather was actually pretty nice. Their kids were watching the Cars movie and Levi was enthralled.

Levi has become a much better eater now that he’s totally off of the milk bottle. He also poops a lot more too. . .

The other day Isaac said, “We have three houses—one in Houston, one in Arizona, and one in Philadelphia—we live all over the world mom!” I reminded him that we’d also lived in San Diego, but he looked at me like that was over the top.

Wednesday morning I was supposed to go to a Book Club to discuss A Long Way Gone—but I woke up late and I could not get momentum with the boys to get out the door. I still hadn’t quite finished the book so I let the boys play around the house while I finished reading it and WOW is it ever a powerful book. It’s about a boy soldier who lives through horrific cycles of war in Sierra Leone and it’s a very well written memoir. It’s shocking to think that so many kids have had to live through such chaos. It really turns your world upside down and makes you realize the priceless nature of the safety and comfort that most of us have in this country.

Carrie took care of the boys Thursday morning so that I could go on a school tour of the Independence Charter School over on 16th and Lombard Street. It’s a school that offers a Spanish immersion program so it would be a great opportunity for Isaac. The spots are filled by the lottery system though so it looks like he’d have a one in five chance of getting in.

Spanish class today (Thursday) was a bit chaotic but the kids liked the new cocodrilo song and pretending to be astronauts and blast off to the moon. Isaac actually came up with the astronaut game and all of the kids love it.

Our Chilean amigos came over on Friday morning and Isaac learned how to say “tenemos que tomar turnos” from Mattias.
Saturday afternoon James took the boys to a kids haircutting salon to get official hair cuts since my attempts at trimming were not keeping up with their hair growth. They both look a lot better—Levi looks so much more grown up!

Isaac will say sweet things out of the blue now like, “I think I love you momma” and “you look pretty momma”

The fall leaves here are incredibly GORGEOUS right now. All of the trees seems to have changed colors over night and there is a glorious canopy of yellows, oranges, and reds all over Philadelphia. The most beautiful spot I’ve been to so far is the park over by Isaac’s preschool. I took Levi to play there on Tuesday and we thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors.

Conversations with Isaac lately are hilarious. He said, “Mom, I want the baby to come out of your tummy. You must swallow a shovel so that the baby can dig his way out of your tummy okay?”
I told Isaac on Sunday that he was going to have two little brothers soon.
Isaac, “no mom, I want three little brothers.”
Me, “really, and how many sisters do you want?
Isaac, “one hundred!!”

Converstaion in Spanish with Isaac:
Isaac, “mama, tu eres muy alta!”
Me, “si, y tu eres bajo.”
Isaac, “y tu eres arriba tambien mama”
Me, “tu eres chistoso Isaac”

Levi’s Spanish is more receptive than productive right now, but he keeps up just fine—especially when our Chilean friends come over. He loves saying “Buenos Dias” and “Adios”

Isaac is all about counting all the way to one hundred these days. He especially likes counting to one hundred with the parachute during Spanish class which can also be kind of annoying when everyone else would prefer to stop at ten.

Levi is the ultimate energizer bunny. He gets such a kick out of rough housing with James. James and the boys have invented a new game called “zip, zip” where the boys come running and then leap into James’ arms and then he tosses them on the bed so that they bounce really high.

Tiger and pirate smiles

2008-11-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

Wearing the big shoes

2008-11-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

Levi still loves wearing his tiger hat and he especially loves trying to walk around in James' shoes.

Trunk or Treat at the church

2008-11-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought Halloween was over. . .our church had a kids "trunk or treat" activity on the day after Halloween so the kids got to dress up one more time and loved it.

Trick or Treating on Halloween

2008-11-09T18:43:00.000-08:00

We took the boys trick or treating to the town houses around our apartment building. Needless to say, they think Halloween is the coolest holiday ever.

Halloween Party at Isaac's school

2008-11-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

Isaac's preschool had a Halloween party on Wednesday and I helped out with the morning activities.

Here's the update on weekly craziness. . .

Oct.27-Nov 2, 2008
Isaac really enjoys the music class that we go to on Mondays. There’s a song about animals waking up in the morning and Mr. John always asks Isaac what animal he wants to sing about and he says “a dragon!”

Isaac always insists on pushing the Basement or Sub-basement button in the elevator. He also likes pushing other numbers when he can get away with it too.

The weather was miserable outside on Tuesday—the world series game even got postponed in the middle of the game because of the constant rain. I was surprised that 3 moms actually made it to Spanish class. It was small but we had a good time learning the playtime ASL/Spanish vocab.

Wednesday morning I took the boys to the Please Touch museum and they had a blast. We discovered the playdough/painting room and they were in heaven.

Thursday was a Halloween party at Isaac’s school and I volunteered at their mini “carnival.” A few of the mom’s set up stations like cookie decorating, mask making, stories, etc. I had the kids play a basketball game and read a Halloween story with them. It was fun to see Isaac interacting with the other kids in his preschool class. The teacher brought some dry ice and poured root beer on it inside a plastic black cauldron for the kids and they all thought that was magical. At the end when all of the mom’s came to pick everyone up, the kids sang a couple of cute Halloween songs. I was impressed at how well Isaac knew the words! He was a very cute pirate.

Thursday afternoon I took the kids over to campus and we helped out at the bake sale that Mandy and I organized for Kids Club. James distracted the kids so I could try to sell what was left of the cookies, muffins, etc. I was amazed to do the finally tally and realize that we had raised over a thousand dollars!!! $1055 to be exact. Last year they made $500 so we doubled expectations. Pretty cool. And then the Phillies won the world series early Thursday night—definitely a day for celebration.

Friday was kind of a rough day—I think I was feeling grumpy from lack of sleep and a long week of not seeing that much of James. We muddled through the morning—usually our Chilean friends come over, but with the craziness in the streets due to the Phillies parade, it didn’t work out. The afternoon got better when I took the kids over to the science museum. We discovered a new section we hadn’t seen before called Sir Isaac Newton’s workshop.

Our ward had a trunk or treat party on Saturday so the boys got to indulge in the Halloween festivities at least one more time. Before the dishing out of the candy though there was a get together inside with chili, corn muffins and fruit. The boys ran around the church and Levi got a hold of two corn muffins and managed to distribute the crumbs in an artistic pattern through the building hallways. Needless to say I spent a good chunk of time vaccuming it all up.

On Sunday I helped teach the 10 and 11 year old girls in primary. As part of the lesson I asked them what they would do to get ready if Jesus was coming to their house. A couple of them gave basic answers like clean their rooms and be nice to their brothers and sisters, but one of the girls said, “Well, the first thing I would do is make popcorn. Then I would get out some candy—but not too much candy because Jesus wouldn’t like that. Then I would find some good movies to watch with him.”

Levi is all about participating in Isaac’s role playing games these days. He’ll say “I’m Buzz Lightyear and your Woody and Isaac is T-Rex.” He also likes to be baby Jaguar and have me be Diego.