New address

Confession: I have been cheating on this blog.

I added our October pictures to a Shutterfly share site and really liked it. I can add more photos a lot faster than I could on the blog. And I can still write about our adventures and caption the pictures. So I think this might be a better fit for me right now (I am a little busy, you know!).

The new web address is http://chaosissleeping.shutterfly.com/. You can also sign up as a member if you would like to receive an email when there is new content.

Thanks for keeping up with our family. Hope to see you there!

One Happy Momma

Aaron asked Elliott to read him one of his favorite books, The Gruffalo. And he did! They were so sweet sitting close and reading together. My heart is so happy!

The King of All Wild Things Turns 3

We celebrated Aaron's 3rd birthday with a "Where the Wild Things Are" party for friends and family. After inviting everyone to join us for a Wild Rumpus, we set to work decorating and planning games that fit with the theme of Aaron's favorite book. The kids (all 13 of them) got gold crowns and listened to the audio recording while Matt turned the pages of the book. After the story, they made Wild Thing faces on paper plates with googly eyes, yarn, colored macaroni, construction paper shapes, and markers. We had some little artists among us! We played Pin the Tail on Max, and then they were free from organized activities to jump in the bouncy house and play in the yard. Of course there was cake and ice cream, and then Aaron opened many wonderful gifts. He is having a great time this week playing with all of his new toys!

Notable Quotes

Aaron while driving to church: "Mom, can you move that sun?"
Elliott to Aaron while driving home from church: "There's no W in Elliott."

A few more of Aaron's special words:
grass is grasshopper
basket is basketball
hot fudge sundae is hot fundae (I think he may be on to something there.)

Elliott was playing with the Batman and Luke Skywalker figures yesterday. They were going to the local art museum to see the paintings.

And, finally, at the grocery store the other day, Elliott examined at least 3 cartons of eggs for cracks before he found one for us to purchase. He was so sweet looking them over so carefully. (They did not all have cracks...they just didn't pass his inspection.)

I know these sayings are probably only funny and memorable to me, so thanks for sticking with me!

Nose

God must really be looking out for my nose. It's not a particularly attractive or special nose. Sometimes seasonal allergies attack it. More often though it is one of my children. Elliott's knee just connected with my nose as he launched himself to the other side of our pillow fort (or pillow fork as Aaron calls it). By my calculation that is 46 pounds of Elliott landing and pushing off my nose. And it hurts! This happens to me pretty often. You would think I would learn to protect my face from flying boys, or at least get one of those nose guards like the NBA players wear. Now that would be attractive!

Do other moms have this problem?

Money

Elliott and I were discussing a quick trip to Target this afternoon. He wanted to know if he could look at Lego's so I told him to get his wallet and we'll see how much money he has. And then just to have a little fun, I said maybe he could buy himself some fall clothes. His reply: "Oh no no no no."

Hall Monitor

After our morning lessons one day this week, Elliott finished his work and went to play. Aaron stood up in his chair and shouted "Elliott, get back in your chair! We're doing seat work!"