November Notes

This past weekend we decided it was time for Jon and I to take a trip to the temple. Since the Raleigh temple is so small, it's by appointment only. We sent Jon up early Saturday morning for the 8:30 a.m. session, then the kids and I drove up and met him for lunch around 10:45 a.m. It was a BEAUTIFUL day-- and now I'm just kicking myself for not getting some pictures of the fall foilage. It is INSANE!! The colors here are like nothing I've ever seen before-- and we thought Pennsylvania was an autumn paradise. The leaves are SO much more vibrant, and there are trees EVERYWHERE-- our back yard is basically up against a forest, so needless to say we are loving the scenery and not missing the desert so much.:)

Anyway, Raleigh was a perfect destination since Lucy's 5th birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and the only Toys R Us for miles and miles happened to be right around the temple. We did some shopping, and then I made it to the 1:30 p.m. session while Jon took the kids home. It was so nice to be in the temple, admire the beautiful drive there and back, and get chocolate peppermint milkshakes from Chick-fil-A for a job well done on the way home.:)

As for this little guy, he is getting such a hilarious personality.

*For example, he kept telling Jon that Santa Claus was a pirate. We couldn't figure what he was talking about until one day in the car he heard something about Santa on the radio and said, "Yo Ho Ho!!" Close enough, Zach.:)

*He also speaks a little bit like Yoda-- reversing the order of things. So if he doesn't want something he says, "Bath tub Zachy don't want!" or "Play outside Zachy go!" I'm not really sure how to get him to say things in the right order, but it's pretty cute for now.

*He gets SUPER mad if you call him anything but his name-- no sweetie, no pumpkin, no honey. He is kind of obsessed with names in fact-- he started calling me "Sawa" instead of mommy as if all the sudden he realized nobody but he and Lucy called me Mommy. One time at the gym one of the babysitters saw him come in and said, "Oh! My angel is here!" And Zach gave her a dirty look and said, "I angel not! I Zach!" Too true.:)

*He has kind of a disturbing shoe/foot fetish. I'm not really sure how it started, but for the past few weeks anytime he gets dirt or sand on his shoes he immediately takes them off and licks the bottom clean.... Yeah. It is totally disgusting and freaks Lucy and I out! But no amount of begging, pleading, shouting, dissuades the young fellow. He says it's "really nummy."

This week I decided the kids and I deserved lunch at Panera, where they both LOVE the broccoli cheddar soup. If you compare the state of his shirt in the picture before this versus this one, you can see how successful he is with the spoon. We had all the old folks in stitches watching as he ate his soup.

And here's a pic of our almost 5 year old Luce!! She is maturing so much lately it's kind of like I wake up to a new little girl every morning, who knows something new, and can't wait to be out and about and see her friends at school. We are sharing a beach house with my brother and his family at Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving, and every time we drive by the lake near our house she freaks out that, "There's the beach mom! They're here!" We can't wait to finally see some Carolina beach!!