Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd shoot off a quick email to let everyone know what we're up to. Last night Joel and Eli had fun making a gingerbread house. Joel came home from school the other day saying that he wanted to make a gingerbread house and we finally got around to doing it. Joel really got into it which was great to see. I remember the first time I made a gingerbread house with Joel I really had to cajole, beg and plead with him to even stick a couple of pieces of candy on. He just wasn't interested. So I loved watching him really participate. As soon as it was finished Joel said, "let's eat it now!" We told him he had to wait until after Christmas.

Kelly and Joel have really gotten into this stupid Japanese show on tv called "Ninja Warrior". I don't know if you've seen it? Contestants have to go through these difficult obstacle courses, there are four stages, in order to be called a true ninja warrior. Very, very few make it all the way. Anyway Kelly made the boys their own ninja warrior course in the basement and they LOVE it. Ours is of course a little different from those seen on tv, but Joel is so proud when he makes it through the course and he loves when Kelly does the play by play as he goes through it. I did the "course" once myself and showed myself exactly how out of shape I am.

Kelly's course starts out with "Super Sommersault Carpet of the United States of America" -- Joel added the last part. Next is the spider walk bucket jump. Followed by the balance beam of doom and the gruesome gut slide. Then there is the trampoline of terror and the tunnel of torture. The last obstace is the risky rock climb. Feel free to come over and try it out yourself.

Cara contines to mostly eat and sleep, but she is having more time when she's just awake looking around. Many days she has a three to five hour kind of fussy time which is fine except when it's in the middle of the night. She really likes the pacifier which I think is a blessing.

Our home teachers brought us dinner over tonight (pizza) which I thought was pretty impressive for the male of the species. They also brought a sleeper and little jacket for Cara as well as some newborn diapers. They also brought a couple of other wrapped presents which Kelly said we have to wait until Christmas to open.

Eli contines to be adorable as ever. I just can't get over how cute that kid is. I know he's mine so I'm probably biased, but you just don't see kids as cute as him that often. Mom taught him his colors so he's very into naming the colors of everything. Today I got him up from his nap when he was half asleep and the first thing he did was grab his shirt and say "white shirt" and then grab mine and say "pink shirt". He can't really pronounce his r sounds that well so the way he says "shirt" sounds really cute.

I am loving having Kelly home. I wish he could always be home, but unfortunately somebody has to work so we can pay the bills. Dadgummit!

All for now,

Amy