catching up.

[I'm behind. I'm aware. This is why my children don't have baby books. Because I cannot even keep up with an online version of a baby book....

Also, because baby books seem silly to me. This is in large part due to the fact that babies don't hold the same level of fantastical magic over me that they do for most people, especially those that are maternally inclined. I much prefer a talking child. I've said this before and I'll say it again - the babies in my house are lucky to have Paul around. Someone to like them. (we all know i actually do like my babies - i just don't go koo koo for coco puffs about them, like i'm apt to do about a witty two year old...)

and now to the business of actually catching up]

We are in full-time fall mode. I thrive in this season. I want to actually dance. The other day, before house was awake, I went on a walk. I actually caught myself skipping down Kings Highway, a very populated street in Fondren. (please don't think I regularly get up and walk before the house gets up...I don't...I am, actually, often the last to roll out of bed - usually because all other four Forsters are demanding that I do)

We do a lot of outside time - sometimes at the park, sometimes the zoo, sometimes the science museum trails, but a lot of the time, just in our little old back yard.

I get to pull out old fall favorite meals - chili, red beans and rice, chicken pot pie, roast. And we all know that food is what matters most.

And it's even been cold enough for hot chocolate, hot tea, sweatshirts and sleeping in real pajamas.

The leaves have really been falling - which is awesome for the kids and me to play in, but terrible for Paul and his mowing, but, you know, life is hard for all of us at some point.

Things I'd like to write in depth about, but supper is calling:

1) Our thanksgiving menu plans - i'm thinking of taking pictures and actually food-blogging all the way through the holiday (I do the entire dinner from scratch, pretty much alone, every year - it is my fourth baby and minds very well)

2) Our friends, Alexander's and Josh's, recent nuptials at the beach - i promise to write and post pictures. Definitely beautiful - and pretty much perfect.

3) The recent loss of a dear friend's mother to cancer. What this means for our view of God's providence and how incredibly hard it is to live that out in the face of things that seem only to be terrible.

4) Adventures in Christmas Shopping at the Forsters (I found little men!!)

5) Pink, painted, naked bums of Eason.

6) Eason as a turkey at his Thanksgiving Feast.

7) My tone deaf daughter and how thrilled she makes my soul. Especially when she sings.

8) How the way in which you dole out an apple as a snack to your children indicates almost exactly what kind of parent you are...

9) The church calendar and how incredibly valuable it can be to family and church life.



But - alas - shrimp and potato soup to concoct before we head to the fondren district for shopping (ha), wine-ing, snacking, fighting with a boy or two to keep them in the stroller -


(Don't you wish someone would paint your bum pink? Just once before you die? I mean, really, what are the chances?)