Oh how the days go by...

So I realized that I haven't posted since the day before Halloween. Just been a little busy I guess. Brian and I got to attend two funerals in November, the first one was in Portland for my Step-dad, Keith, who passed away while scuba diving in Hawaii. The second was for Brian's grandfather in Emmet (near Boise) who mercifully passed away of old age. The funerals were exactly one week apart, so we just stayed in Boise for a week on our way back from Portland.

The semester is almost over and Brian is all caught up on his homework from being gone(thank goodness) and only has one final project left. We are excited for a break over Christmas. Speaking of which, we are just planning on hanging out here for the Holidays. We're keeping it low-key and limiting our spending on gifts. While this is in part an economical decision, it is also just as much a square footage decision. We've decided that we need to scale things down and not keep adding to the clutter around our house. We already have way more stuff than we have room for, and yet we can't seem to live without any of it...even though we've lived without it before, I'm sure. So, just in case anyone was planning on giving us a life-size statue of themselves for Christmas, please return said item and replace the gift with something preferably smaller than a bread box.

Sam is really getting to be quite the climber. His favorite thing to climb is our coffee table. Since this item was bought for $5 at a yard sale, I have decided that it isn't worth fighting him to keep him off. I have also decided that it is likely one of the safest things in our living room for him to climb since it sits in the middle of the floor and if he were to fall off the only thing he is likely to his is the floor itself. Besides, he looks so darn cute standing on the top of the table stamping his feet and peering over the edge. Today he discovered where mom keeps his cloth diapers and proceeded to pull all of the diapers out of the diaper holder and throw them over the baby gate and into the kitchen. Thank goodness it was only half full. He is definitely all boy and he LOVES to make a mess. He managed to get into the Vaseline a month or so ago and he rubbed it not only all over himself but all over the rocking chair, changing tables, walls, and door of his bedroom. About two weeks later he and his friend Tristan(whom I babysit several days a week)discovered the baking soda that I keep in his room to keep it smelling fresh(er...). From the looks of them it was apparent that Sam first tried eating it, decided it was yucky, passed it on to Tristan who tried eating it, decided it was yucky, but that it was fun to dump out and play in. I'm just grateful that they didn't discover the Vaseline and baking soda at the same time...I can only imagine the mess and it makes me shudder.

As for Sam's Christmas, we plan on taking him to see Santa at the library next Tuesday if Santa isn't at our ward party this weekend. And what does Sam want for Christmas this year? Bear in the Big Blue House DVDs, Leap Frog My Pal Scout, and the talking Leap Frog Alphabet Refrigerator Magnets.