Happy Thanksgiving!

Gabriel can turn just about anything into a spaceship. Here he is with apples flying around.
We love Ephraim's beautiful hazel eyes (dark grey/blue and brown) and his funny faces.
It's hard to resist kissing our kids!
We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to my parent's house, first time in a long time. On Friday we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at home with some friends. Now we're playing Christmas songs and putting up Christmas lights (Ephraim is fascinated by them and Gabriel remembers them well). We need to finish our Christmas gifts--we're making some and buying some. We were laughing that this will be our 10th Christmas together and Paul has only had a job for 2 of them! Somehow we always make it work.

Adventures at Home

Ephraim loves pulling hair. He makes this sharp "aaaaaah" noise as he goes to attack Gabriel's head. Today he discovered dad's hairy arm. He enjoyed pulling those hairs (and tried to grab some to put in his mouth). He said "aaaaaaw-ow" while he was doing it. We realized that since I say "owwwww" every time he pulls my hair, he must have learned that that is the word for hair.

Gabriel has been sick all week. It started with a running nose and flashed into a fever. It's been nice to have him at a lower energy level and we love the extra snuggles, but it's sad to see him so out of sorts. Today he put himself down for a nap (second day in a row).
After watching "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball" (a great book turned into a great movie), we got hungry for burgers. Paul made a quick trip to In-n-Out for three burgers. Ironically I think Ephraim ate more of the third burger than Gabriel did! Gabriel was still recovering from his nap and Ephraim will eat anything he can get his fingers on. I was giving him little pieces of the bun and he couldn't get enough. He was never really into the pureed foods, perhaps we just need to skip ahead.

Thunder and lightning storm tonight. Gabriel really enjoyed watching out the window with all the lights off.

Conversations with a 3-Year-Old

(scene: Gabriel asking dad for something)
G: Please, please, please, please... (to the tune of "The Imperial March" from Star Wars)

(scene: Night, mom is emptying the garbage and Gabriel is told to stay inside.)
Dad: Gabriel, stay inside.
G: I want to go outside.
Dad: It's dangerous outside at night.
G: You mean there's badguys?
Dad: That and cars might not see you and hit you.
G: I'll fight them with my sword.
Dad: No, the cars would win.
G: (pause) Let's go outside, dad! (goes to grab his shoes, obviously eager for a swordfight)

(scene: Gabriel is pushing on the table that the TV sits on)
Dad: Stop doing that, it might break the TV.
G: Is that our TV?
Dad: Yes, don't break the TV.
G: It's our TV?
Dad: Yes, don't break the TV.
(repeated several times)

Reading

Not much is new with us. We love being spoiled with having dad home all the time. Paul gets to escape behind the closed door of the office for several hours a day during the week, but we've been eating meals as a family again and playing lots of games together. We're also trying to think of inexpensive day trips we can do to take advantage of our time.

Gabriel is growing up so fast. He surprises us with how manic and moody he is though. He's happy one minute, crying the next second, and fake laughing loudly the next. I hope it's just a 3 thing. He rarely has an accident now and goes to bed without a diaper (which has worked so far...putting on a diaper every night was confusing him and he was dry almost every morning anyway). Also, Gabriel can say the prayer over the meal without any assistance now.

Ephraim is growing up too fast! He loves chasing his brother and tries to do what he does. Tonight, Ephraim walked by himself using the walking toy. He still has trouble getting his feet firmly planted flat but his preferred position is standing. Gabriel walked at 10 1/2 months, I hope Ephraim doesn't walk sooner than that! Also, Paul was reading a baby book to Ephraim. When they got to the page with a bib (a word we use often), Paul said Ephraim turned away from the book, crawled over to the couch, and grabbed one of the clean bibs off of it. He made the connection, so smart! We agree we need to start being more aggressive in teaching him sign language now.

Halloween 2010

Paul worked for hours on Friday making this awesome Jango Fett costume for Gabriel. Paul had a great time getting creative with cardboard and colored duct tape and Gabriel has been having fun blasting around the room.
We went to the church's Trunk-or-Treat. This year they had carnival games for the first time. There was bean bag toss, a balance beam, penny drop, gourd bowling (yes!), and a hay ride! We went inside for a quick dinner and then back outside when it got dark for trick-or-treating to everyone's car trunks. Gabriel was enthusiastic and so cute. We left early since it was already after bedtime and both kids (okay, and parents too) were getting worn out.
Yay, photo booth. Gabriel dressed as Jango Fett. Paul wore the R2D2 hat I had started for him years ago. Ephraim was my sun (pun intended) and I was the sunset (since he was in the front pack the whole time).
I found matching shirts the other day and the boys wore them to church. I tried taking lots of pictures to get a good shot but Gabriel was having trouble smiling and Ephraim couldn't stop smiling and playing peek-a-boo with me. By the way, that is Ephraim's favorite game. He was raising his arms to hide his eyes from people as I walked around last night, trying to get them to play with him.
I forgot to mention that both boys are in the same room now. I think this is the 4th night or so. I start putting Gabriel to bed around 7pm. Then Ephraim falls asleep sometime between 8pm and 9:30pm, and I creep in there and put him in his crib. This works out great because now the office is free for Paul to work (search for a job!!) at any time and he doesn't have to leave when Ephraim naps or goes to bed.

Ephraim discovered his reflection (reminds us of Gabriel's reflection in our old kitchen door window).
A friend of mine gave Gabriel a pumpkin and a Paint the Pumpkin set. Here he is practicing on the paper before painting the pumpkin. (Mommy wants to carve the pumpkin still.)
Paul is making an awesome costume for Gabriel. I hope to get pictures of it when it is finished.

Gabriel's Alphabet

Gabriel loves singing. He'll sing the opening song from the Wall-E movie, Twinkle-twinkle, and almost any song he's heard a few times when prompted. Here is a song he learned from a website we visit called Starfall.com (linked to video if you want to compare). It helped him learn his alphabet phonics. He used to just sing A through H, so when he sang the whole thing for me this afternoon with the hand signs, I had to grab the camera and ask him to do it again.