Autumn

The season is upon us (and has been for awhile). We had tornado warnings today, but, alas, no tornado. I feel cheated. We're keeping busy for sure. AJ got home from school today and told his mom he wanted to write a letter to Santa. I share this, directly as dictated, with very little suggestion:

Dear Santa,
I want Blitzwing and Sideswipe. I want a daddy and a baby robot dog. And I want a Power Ranger movie. Also a Pillow Pet, I chink (think) a frog one. And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with a Ninja Turtle truck to put them in to keep them safe. And I want Mudflap and Skids. That's it, that's all I want.
Thank you Santa for those presents if you can. I'll be at Oregon with Grandpa and Grandma and Robert, and I hope Robert gets a Power Ranger costume and I hope we get a game about robots. And I hope Robert gets a movie about robots. And I hope that Izzie gets a toy and a paper to chew, and some shoes, like a grown-up. And I hope that Izzie gets a helmet I chink (think), so she doesn't bonk her head. Yup, that's it. I'm sending you a Christmas sticker.
From, AJ

That kid is funny. Sure love him though. He has been advancing so fast in the last couple of months, thinking and expressing really deep thoughts at times. On the other hand, he is SO full of energy. I thought he was gonna break his Grandpa this last week with all the climbing on his head, etc. Good thing Grandpa is tough. AJ started preschool a few weeks ago and really loves it. I got to attend "back to school" night last week. Wow, that really took me back - all the little desks, artsy things, and such. AJ is growing up way too fast.

Izzie is growing fast. She's definitely got a personality all her own. She often sings herself to sleep. (She is generally a great sleeper - especially compared to AJ at this age.) She isn't walking yet, but she can get around just fine and she pulls herself up to standing lickety-split.

We went to a nearby farm/amusement park thing the other day and had some fun. There was a hay ride complete with everything you can think of - aliens, simpsons, live trolls, witches, a train whistle.... There were lots of slides and a big haystack-castle (boy, that REALLY took me back). We had fun and took a few hundred pictures (which you will note are not posted here - alas, the time....)

A couple of months ago we had the opportunity to visit my parents in Copenhagen, Denmark as they were finishing up their last week serving as missionaries for the LDS church. It was a great visit. We saw castles and old churches, rode the ferry to Sweden, and best of all visited with the folks. Back for about seven weeks, we've just about re-adjusted to the time difference.

Janet is doing great. She looks fabulous, and is. She's been building our family Halloween costumes tirelessly, and they are really something. We'll have to put up some pictures after this weekend. We just learned that our landlord wishes to sell the home, so we'll be looking for new digs soon. Not looking forward to moving.