A little update...

1.  I'm often asked by those who read my blog (so you may be wondering too) if Evelyn is still acting supernatural.  No.  She's not.  It was really just that night.  She was probably half asleep and dreaming of butterflies and pigs and scary ghost girls.  She is still spunky and sweet.  Oh, and I'm thinking about changing her middle name!  Do any of you have experience with name changing?  Today, Evelyn was holding Jude for a second.  When he didn't want her anymore she sighed and said, "I wish I had a little baby just like yours."

2.  Max is loving Kindergarten.  He wants to move to Idaho (or California or Florida...Disney).  He is convinced that a Thanksgiving tradition is staying in jammies all day.  He mysteriously "forgets" a lot of obvious consequences to actions (Such as having to pick up when something is dumped out.)  Just today, a friend of mine returned some maternity clothes she was borrowing.  He dumped them in the living room.  When I asked him to pick them up, he threw a fit about forgetting that that was the rule for dumping things out.  He really is such a smart, clever (and somewhat conniving) little guy.

3.  Funny story...mostly for my records:
    Max was playing with his friend Hannah the other day.  They were ninjas, which meant that they ran around yelling, "yee-ah" "woo-ah" while kicking.  I was asking them what ninjas do besides kick and this is how the conversation proceeded:
Max: We make really bad choices.
Me: Like what?
Max: We eat things that are really bad for our bodies.
Hannah:  (to me) You are DEFINITELY not a ninja!  (I'm flattered.)
Hannah:  We drink coffee.  And tea.
Max: And we drink poison...and alcohol.  And we eat drugs.
Hannah: What are drugs?
Max:  They are little black dots and they make people make really bad choices and go to jail.  And even kids can go to jail.  Mommy, what's that jail called that kids go to?
Me: ?? uh...juvie...??
Max:  No...

And that was about it.  We moved on from ninjas.
I love 5 year olds.  Especially when you get the right ones together and they say smart/hilarious things.

4.  Jude has now taken 3 big trips with me totaling 8 flights.  He travels really well and I'm happy that the family has met him.

In September, we flew to Salt Lake to attend Derek and Kendra's wedding.  (Derek is Jason's little brother and the last one on both sides to be married.)  It was a beautiful wedding and they are a beautiful couple.

In October, my Grandpa Vince (my dad's dad) passed away.  His funeral was in Logan and was really nice.  Even though he was almost 94 and I haven't seen him much in the last few years, I was really sad to lose such a "constant" in my life.  He was strong and healthy up until the end and I really miss him.  Tracie and I sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the funeral and it sounded so lovely when we practiced before the funeral.  When the time came, the simplicity and emotion overtook us and we didn't really make it through.  But it was sweet.

Grandpa, Grandma Della, and baby Evelyn.

Then just last week Jude and I flew to Twin Falls because my sister, Julie, was going to have her fifth baby.  I meant to go and help her since she has been there to help me during or after each of my births.  I flew in on November 10th, he was "due" on the 11th, I left on the 15th, and he was born on the 16th (just hours after I arrived in Indiana!)  Such luck!  I'm so happy to have another sweet little nephew.  They named him William Beck Schnoor and will call him Beck.  Isn't that great?!  He has blonde hair and light-ish eyes.  The rest of her kids had dark hair as babies and dark brown eyes.

Julie is pretty much my hero when it comes to child-bearing.  If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have had the courage to birth naturally, but because of her I do.  If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have stuck it out when the pain of breastfeeding was overwhelming, but because of her I did.  She was due on 11-11-11, the day mothers all over the world were signing up for their babies to be born.  She could have made it happen, but she chose to let her body and her baby come when they were ready and I'm very proud of her.  Baby Beck completes her family of seven and he is such a lucky boy to have come into her family.

5.  Jude is now 6 months old.  He is starting to eat a little bit.  He has the desire to eat more than is physically possible for him...with no teeth and such...but he likes to gnaw on things.  He is trying to crawl and can pull himself onto his knees and rock.  Maybe by Christmas?  The stairs in our house are wood and are awfully narrow and steep, so I'm actually not looking forward to it.  But it will be fun to see him get where he wants to go.  He was a little big (for his age) a couple of months ago, but now he's turning out to be our thinnest baby.  Probably because he never stops jumping.  He is very sweet and very mellow.  His reflux is easing up a bit.  His hair is growing back a bit.  He melts my heart a bit...okay...a lot.  Tracie and Scarlett came to Twin Falls with us as well and it is so fun to have the twin cousins together.  We try to coordinate their clothes and if one messes an outfit, they both have to change.  Can you imagine all of the matching outfits you'd go through with real twins?!?!  Scarlett is very sweet and always so poised.  If Scarlett cries, Jude looks at her like, "what are you fussing about?"  and if Jude cries, Scarlett cries.

Sorry to those of you I didn't see in Twin Falls.  We had an agenda (which mostly turned into eating way too much), but my family celebrated Thanksgiving, and we tried to persuade that baby to come...and we will be back in just a few weeks for Christmas!!!

6.  What do you think about pixie cuts?  Like Emma Watson or Audrey Hepburn?  I toy with the idea every now and then but I just don't think I can pull it off.  Would I look like a little boy or would I look tres chic?  The line is fine.