I'm really frustrated with Xanga since I haven't been getting ANY email notifications of the subscriptions I'm subscribed too. I feel like I'm being left out of the loop when I don't think to check it now and then.
The other day we received our first snowfall, and it was so beautiful! I took the kids outside to play and they were thrilled. After a while, my hands were hurting b/c they were so cold, and I figured my kids would be cold too, but they didn't want to have anything to do with going back inside.  Yesterday Jane wanted to go back out and play in the snow. It was FREEZING outside, so I let her go out on the porch barefoot with no coat on for a minute, hoping that she would realize how cold it was and want to stay inside. Nope. She wanted to go down the steps and start playing. Do kids not register how awful the cold feels?
This Sat is a Halloween party at our church. Uriah's going to be Darth Vader, and Jane, Princess Leah. I never thought dressing them up would be this fun. Sam is learning web design and is doing really well at it. Hopefully in the next year he will be able to quit his job at UFirst and just do webdesign. We were thinking about downsizing our house a while ago, but we've decided to do whatever we can to just bring in more income so we can stay here. We love this house, and our neighbors, and moving would be so much work! Not to mention a huge expense in itself!
I used to think Baby Einstein was kooky (and sometimes disturbing!) but I have to admit Jane has learned so much from those shows! She repeats everything they say, and is now imitating the sign language, which is more than what I know. I'm pretty impressed. Jane can mumble the whole alphabet! She says all the syllables on beat, and gets most of the letters right :) She's can count to 8 in Spanish, which I didn't know about until I overheard her doing it the other day.
Anthony and Caylin are coming home in December to spend Christmas here, and then off again to Ecuador. Anthony hiked some snow-covered volcano with guess who? Some guys from Acts 29- the missions org from Mars Hill. Anthony and Caylin's org is hooking up with the Mars Hill I guess, and they got to hang out with Marky D's buddies for a week.
I say this every year, but I think the US should really adopt Candadian Thanksgiving. It's like we can't start getting ready for Christmas till like a month after the Canadians do. And then it's insane. I liked having Thanksgiving with the Canadians. In the FALL TIME instead the beginning of winter. Anyway. Jane's asking for a 'caca' which is a cracker. But ironically it means 'poop' in spanish. Time to get on with my day.
Here's some photos for fun...

I just decided to get on Xanga and throw on some new pix. Lo and behold there were tons of new entries that I didn't know about! Usually I get notices in my email whenever someone posts something new. But lately I don't think I've been getting any :( 

So I'll just quickly update, and post some pix. Things are picking up here for me since I'm beginning our moms group again doing the newsletter and some other leadership stuff. It's fun. It's work. But it's worth it. I've been listening to Mark Driscoll almost every day. I feel like I'm learning so much from his sermons. Every one seems so practical. My particular favorites are the ones on Biblical femininity and masculinity. Those have straightened out knots of confusion in my mind about gender roles. Lately, we've also been convinced that we need to get out of debt. We've been listening to Dave Ramsey on this issue a lot, and now realize that we need to make some big changes in the way we handle our money. This probably means that we'll need to downsize. I am so grateful to have been able to live in such a nice house as this, but it's not worth it if it kills us. Jane's to that stage where she's starting to say words that I didn't teach her. Yesterday at the farm she pointed out a goose. I didn't teach her that word. I guess she learned it from an app on my iphone. Today she told Uriah to sit down. I always tell her to do that-- but in Spanish. I was surprised she knew how to say it in English so well. Uriah said his first sentnce today: "Bye, Papi!" So cute! He is such a goofy and sweet boy. Jane is constantly assuming a teacher role over him, and tries to teach him words. The way she talks to him sounds exactly like the way I talk to them. It's adorable.