November in Kansas

With all the pictures I take of the boys, every once in a while I get a winner. This has got to be one of my all-time favorite pictures of Grant. He looks like a model. The pose, everything. Anyway, this was probably one of the last really good weather days in Kansas. This was a couple days before Thanksgiving, when we got our first big storm of the season, just a precursor to the big old ice storm that came just 2 weeks later. Anyway, Grant and I were playing in the garden and he kept bringing me a shovelful of dirt saying it was flour, or sugar or brown sugar or something and wanting me to eat it. We'd been making cookies together on Sunday afternoons for about 3 weeks in a row and it's still one of his favorite things to do with mom. Although his interest now is mostly all about the 'tasting' part once everything's mixed up in the bowl. Another favorite hobby is still singing. Here he is with his version of 'I Am a Child of God'. Jacob is growing so fast. He's putting on the weight a lot faster than Grant did. He outweighs him at every checkup. Look at those thighs!! He is a really happy baby though, which we're very grateful for. He loves to be in the same room with us. Very social. We don't even have to be interacting with him. He just wants to be near the action. Grant shows him his toys and how they work and runs around and stuff. Jacob just watches him, craning his head to try to see.

Jared was cleaning up his dirt bike boots after a fairly messy ride and Grant wanted to try them on. He said they were cowboy boots. He thinks he's Woody (from Toy Story) in these boots.

This was a picture of Jacob when Jared was playing peek-a-boo with him, trying to get him to smile for the camera.Here's our annual Thanksgiving picture. Notice the bags under everyone's eyes. We all got sick with colds this week and weren't sleeping very well. Grant's latest trick in watching movies was to move his riding toys right up close so he could stand on them and watch the tv. Makes me nervous.

Jared started building a model train set in the basement and this was the first night it was actually ready to test run around the track. Since then, Jared's taken it all apart and re-designed his layout. We'll get some pictures up of this once it's done. It's a good winter hobby. Grant loved it!! He learned how to run the train faster and slower.