Star Dust

We went to the Florida Hospital gala on Sunday night, and a funny thing happened. Jennifer Hudson was the performer, and she was very engaging (that's not the funny part! :)). She came down into the audience and would talk to people, take pictures with them, and at one point she was walking around the room singing one of her songs. During that portion of the evening, we realized that she was actually over in our part of the room (we were watching on the big screen projectors at the front of the room as the room is so big that it is hard to see what is going on) - when she walked right over to our table! She put her hand on Karis' shoulder, and sang into his eyes for a few seconds before moving on! We all had cameras but none of us thought to grab them and take a picture before she walked on. It was really funny! Karis joked later that Amy should be careful when they were sleeping that night, not to "taint his shoulder, as he had star dust on it" Ha ha ha.

Happy Thanksgiving! We're looking forward to Hicks' coming this morning - we'll have some very fun memories over the next few days!

Super Flosser

Zachary will never believe that he used to do this, so it is going to become part of "history" by being mentioned in the blog as proof! Our nightly routine has for a while now included brushing our teeth AND after brushing his teeth, we also floss his teeth! He loves to floss his teeth (although it is Mommy doing the flossing), so she calls him the "Super Flosser" - hopefully this habit will continue into the future so that there are no cavities! Our next dental visit is in December, so we hope to have another perfect check-up.

This has been a quiet week - our big event is actually on Sunday night when Mommy and Daddy are going to the Florida Hospital gala! The guest this year is Jennifer Hudson - we know who she is, but as usual being non-music people, we don't know any of her music! :) But, it is always fun to get dressed up and go out to the black-tie event.

Kaleb seems to have been holding back his ability to talk because he seems to be coming out with lots of new words this week. He seems to try them on for size for a day or so, and then he's done with that word - it is hard to get him to say the word again the next day!

We are excited to have the Hicks' family joining us for Thanksgiving - coming down from Indiana and staying until next Tuesday. Erick, Kayley and Leah will have grown so big since the last time that we saw them! We have a packed agenda while they're here, so we might not have a blog update next week, but we wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Phrase of the week: Zachary has become very complimentary of his parents (we'll see if it lasts when he's a teenager!) and after prayer this week, he very seriously said to Karis "Daddy, you're very nice - you're a good person." Of course, when he's being disciplined his opinion is a little different of his parents! :) Kaleb's new words this week "shoes", and "dog." We're still not 100% that he's actually mastered "Dad" but there was once that Amy thought that maybe he'd managed that word - Daddy is anxiously awaiting! :)

Zachary and Kaleb cuddling for a few short minutes

The new favorite past-time - shredding paper!

Fun in the tub

Kaleb discovered a very cute person's reflection for him to talk to! :)

Mommy's a fan of Zachary's new favorite play activity - washing the glass doors! We hope this one sticks around for a while!

Kaleb trying on the snowsuit (thank you Ebay) that we bought for our Christmas trip to Canada (although there isn't ANY snow there yet - we're crossing our fingers that there is some when we get there for the boys!)

Petting Zoo!

This week, we went to the Green Meadows Petting Zoo - the boys had gone before with Jennifer, but Amy and Karis had never been. We went with a large group from church, so there were lots of kids for the boys to play with. The petting zoo has tons of different animals that the kids can pet (turkeys, sheep, goats, ducks etc), plus they get the opportunity to hold baby chicks/ducks, catch chickens, milk a cow, ride a horse! Along the way, there is also a train ride, and a hay ride. We were very impressed by all of the fun things to do, and the 'tour' took about 2-3 hours. The weather was perfect, so we were very pleased. The craziest thing that we learned about the animals is that if a turkey looks up in the rain, it can actually drown! Who knew!

We rented a wagon to pull Kaleb around in for the day, although he was only in it for a very short time as the older boys ended up wanting to pull it around all day! Ah well, they had fun!

Zachary and Cole holding baby ducks

Kaleb is afraid of the animals, so this was the closest that he'd get to the baby chick that "Auntie" Lisa was holding. We hope that he outgrows this fear!

Zachary having a delighted moment with a sheep

Thank you Daddy for catching the chicken!

Zachary holding a chicken

Petting a turkey

Riding a horse (We tried Kaleb as well, but it was a bit traumatic for the poor child and he was crying!)

Phrase of the week: Zachary was very intent on doing something in his room with Amy one day (can't remember exactly what) and it didn't go as planned. Zachary muttered under his breath "Oh, for heaven's stakes!" Ha ha - too cute, and of course it is so precious when it is an actual phrase that is slightly blundered! Kaleb has potentially added a word to his vocabulary of 1 (Mama) - "what?" Jennifer said that he's been saying it constantly this week, and Amy was finally able to confirm that she heard him say it as well!