SaraGrace has had a birthday since I last wrote--how can she be FOUR already? That morning, she came downstairs in a Chinese silk dress, several sizes too big, and announced that she would be the wearing it in honor of her 'happy birthday.' She actually wore it all day, which is remarkable since she normally has more wardrobe changes per day than a Hollywood starlet. She celebrated in true SaraGrace style--big smiles and lots of exitement (aka: drama).
Jeff and I recently stumbled onto a TV show called "John and Kate plus Eight." It follows a real family who has eight children, a set of twins and a set of septuplets. Jeff says he loves to watch this show to see chaos in other people's homes. haha The father is Korean and the children all look Asian, which makes the show much more endearing to us. We noticed that the TV crew only seems to tape the family getting ready to go on an outing--as well as getting ready for the outing. We crack up at this because we mostly stay HOME because taking the kids anywhere is such an undertaking--partly because it is hard to keep track of everyone and we are constantly counting heads. However, we did feel a bit inspired to take them somewhere once in a while.
We live in a small town that has a Christmas event in early November. They have a Christmas walk and all the little shops are open, and the shop windows are decorated for Christmas. At 7PM, they light all the trees lining the main street. It's a fun event that we missed last year because we were just home from China and totally jet-lagged. So off we went to this year's event. We counted down out loud with the other townsfolk for the 7PM lighting, and walked around looking at the Christmas displays. We finished up with some wonderful hot chocolate at the Daily Grind and then one more peek at the Doll Cottage before heading home. Our big boys opted not to come and poor little Jordan had to stay home because he was sick. I had forgotten what a novelty our family is when we all go out together. Too funny to hear the comments of some people whose depth perception is a bit off and think we don't hear them. "Why look at that, Martha...they have two sets of twins and a baby boy." HUH??!!
Jake's first time in winter clothes, which make him as wide as he is tall. 
"Mmmmm...Yummy hot chocolate"We were on a roll, so later that weekend when Ryan asked all of us to go bowling, we thought we'd give it a try while the little boys were napping. Taylor stayed home to babysit and we all headed over to the bowling alley where they were having a smoke-free day. What a hoot! The girls had their own bumper lane and they actually did pretty well. SaraGrace was the queen of spares because somehow, she always managed to hit those few remaining pins and knock them over. She would then jump up and down squealing, "YAY!!! YAY!!!" There was a teenage girl next to us who told her boyfriend to make sure he watched her when she 'bowled." Jeff and Ryan were slightly mortified at our girlish enthusiasm, but we girls had fun jumping up and down and cheering for each other.
Now all the kids have colds so I guess we will stay home for awhile and not share the gift of germs with anyone.
