Fantastic Four: Ummm. Well...

I have no excuse for not blogging lately.
We're here. We're all together. We're more or less settled in a routine. My house is not spectacularly clean. Christmas shopping is not done. We own only one home now. We haven't been setting any land speed records getting much of anything done.
We HAVE been going to library a lot lately. We got the kids in their jammies and went to story time tonight at 6:30. It was pretty cool. There were probably 10 or so kids there with their parents. Whenever we have gone to any events at the library, there always is an ASL interpreter working with the kids. This struck me as a bit funny. Until I realized that the Maryland School for the Deaf is in Frederick. And looking around at the kids at the library, I realized that many of the kids that were signing were hearing (probably 50/50). Maybe we can pick up some ASL so we can use it if we need it.
Sam, Caroline and I are busy reading the Rose books before bed every night. I have been busy trying to keep up with Caroline's other reading (mostly American Girl Books) and learning about Maryland History. We have also been doing some crafts. Jim and I have both been making a concerted effort to exercise more. I'm wearing my pedometer again - though struggling to get to 10,000 steps a day. Working at home, I have more time in general -but less time for me. Exactly the opposite of when I was working. Who would have thought? We do go to the mall to walk (in Sam's words, "Remember, Mama - malls are for exercise NOT for buying.") - but it has been a lot tougher with all the Christmas shoppers. It IS nice to get up early and walk around the neighborhood (18 degrees somehow feels so much warmer in Maryland than it did in Worcester) - that can be tough, though - especially on days when Jim leaves for work at 6.
But we're figuring it out. We're meeting people. Fr Jim talked to me at church about starting a Mom's Club to meet once a week. I'm not sure I'm up to that yet - but would really, really like to get more involved.
Sam is getting super-psyched for his birthday. He is still whiny and having some behavior issues, especially when things don't happen in the sequence that he THINKS they should. I don't think it's quite as bad as it was, though. He loves to do his "homework" as Caroline does hers. Today he wrote his name (Samuel W. - using both capital and small letters) and numbers (up to 12)! He also drew a picture of himself as a dinosaur. I was impressed. I think he may be starting to read - however he won't do it when you ask him to. But he can pick up a DVD or a book that he hasn't seen before and pick out a word or two. When we're trying to do some rest time during the day, I got in the habit of reading "Anne of Green Gables" out loud to him (it would put him to sleep quickly). But now he's into it - so I will have to switch to a more boring book.
We went to Wegmans today and Sam picked out the design for his birthday cupcakes. We are having over two neighbor families ( with five extra kids under the age of 7) for spaghetti and cupcakes on Friday. Looking at my house right now, I think I must have been nuts - because I am going to have to scrub this place like a mad woman to get ready. But, I don't think it can be as bad as staging our old house - so I'm just going to try to roll with the punches.

Nate is talking more and more. Much of his communication is still signing and grunting / pointing and growling "Mine!". He is now saying "banana" (not just nana), "poop", "butt paste", "diaper" (sense a theme?), "Uh-oh", "toot"and "up". Not exactly a huge vocabulary - but it's getting there. He is fascinated with the toilet. He can flush it himself now (if anything is missing, I check the toilet first). He asks to sit on the toilet and will occasionally pee when sitting (though he sooo wants to stand to go like this brother - he just can't get those mechanics yet).

My photography skills have been put to little use recently. The kids take my camera and then I can't find it. I can always tell when Nate has it because he runs around yelling "Teese! Teese! Teese!" (cheese). The other two are a bit more clandestine about it - the only evidence they leave is pictures of their faces or feet or cat - evidenced here:

Occasionally, we will get the kids to take some good pictures.

We went to Weggies today and hung out with the train (and the graham cracker displays) - we were also surprised by finding a fire truck in the parking lot. It's the little things, I tell you. Sure does keep it interesting...