Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Our budding artist

Daniel drew this yesterday:


When I asked him what it was, he said "it's me!" Not bad; I think I can see the resemblance. I didn't know he was doing self-portraits. He's no Rembrandt (yet), but I think most people agree that Rembrandt wasn't much to look at. In any case, both the picture and Daniel are pretty cute!

Joshua lost his two front teeth last week while he was eating lunch. I have always loved his smile but now it is especially endearing. Add the slight lisp and you've got one smitten mom!

yay!

I started a yoga class a few weeks ago and am loving it! This is big news for me as I have really been wanting to start yoga again but did not think I would be able to until after the baby was born and I'd had a chance to recover. Fortunately one of the (many) rec centers here offers a class that fits with my schedule perfectly -- we get Joshua off on the school bus then Daniel and I head over to the rec center where he gets to play and I get to go to my class (twice a week). I called the rec center inquiring about prenatal yoga and was told that while they do not offer a specific prenatal class, there was an instructor who was a big advocate of yoga during pregnancy and who would love to help me in her class. Score! I come out of class feeling great and am hard pressed to think of a better way to start my day.

Local Friends

When we moved here, I knew I would miss the animals that lived near us in San Diego. There were rabbits that would come eat grass in the evenings right next to our building, and when we put out a bird feeder small birds with various rainbow-colored chest feathers would come to eat. Not that I wanted rabbits in our backyard here - they'd eat our garden!

Thankfully, my fears were unfounded; there's plenty of wildlife around! There are lots of insects, and for the first month and a half at least one fly came in our house every time we opened the door. I have become adept at hunting them down, and use our small, flexible but substantial DVR manual as my weapon of choice. Because of the insects, we get lots of animals that feed on them, including lots of spiders. In addition, both Daniel and Leslie have encountered small silvery-gray snakes in our backyard, and one evening as I was sweeping the deck I found this individual tucked between the deck and siding of our house:


I bet beneath the deck is a damp place well protected from predators, but I never guessed I'd run across amphibians in my own yard. Now if I can just see one of those snakes...