Updates

This is my favorite picture of all 4 kids that we have taken so far.  Or, more accurately, that I have SEEN so far.  I am hoping the professional pictures that we froze our asses off in last weekend will ultimately be better.  But if they're not, look for one of these on our Chrismukkah card.

Harry's fall soccer season has come to a close, which is great because it has started to be way too cold for me to enjoy soccer.  Also, hockey has started, with 2 practices in the evenings and games on Sunday-- there's travel, even, on the horizon for the season.  Yikes!  He is also working on some enrichment homework for school, and he used my camera to take pictures of our neighborhood for a project-- adorable.  He and Jack were very serious about getting pictures at sunset and sunrise, as well as during the day.  Harry was invited to the girl he is in lurve with's birthday party today, and he spent a half an hour at Target finding the perfect barbie for her and another 15 minutes staring into his closet looking for the perfect outfit.  TOO CUTE.

Jack is learning so much so quickly in kindergarten, and he is taking such quiet pride in his work.  He loves writing the alphabet, and he is so excited to come home and sing the songs he has learned in school.  For a couple of weeks at the beginning of the year, he was sure he was going to be an artist when he grows up-- that's how much he adores his art teacher.  But then he decided he wanted to be a pastry chef after we made our Halloween cookies.  On Friday night, the boys and I watched the first Indiana Jones movie while Ben went out, and Jack changed his career path again: stuntman.  Sounds about right.  He also started hockey again (only once a week), and he is ridiculously cute in all of his pads.  Today while Ben and Harry were at the rink, Jack laid on the couch while I baked brownies and cleaned the kitchen.  He took his shirt off, got a blanket out of the ottoman storage basket, and ate brownie batter out of mixing bowls (I made 2 batches-- one from scratch and one from a box so Ben could do a blind taste test to see if he really does like Betty better -- he does) while watching half of the first season of ANT Farm on Netflix.  He can work the Apple TV like a pro.

Cooper and I started taking a Kindermusik class, and we both really like it.  But exactly 3 days after his first class, Cooper came down with a horrible something.  I think it's probably a Justavirus, but we are going to have to take him to the doctor tomorrow because he's had a 103+ fever for 3 days.  Yuck.  But he listens to his Kindermusik CD every morning and plays his sand blocks so seriously that we will absolutely go back to that cesspool.  Cooper has started using the potty a few times a day (not using it actually-- just sitting on it and using lots of toilet paper to wipe himself) and insisting on a fresh diaper when he is wet.  So we might soon be dragging our sweet baby girl into every damn public restroom in town if our sweet baby boy keeps this up.  Ugh.

Yesterday when the two of them were putting away laundry, I heard Ben say to Dorothy, "Oh baby, you make everything better." And she does.  She's a dream come true, this sweet baby.