Welcome to December!

Do you ever get so busy doing 'stuff' that random things-like blogging-just seem to fall through the cracks? Well, that pretty well describes the last few weeks here. We've been running here and there and doing this and that and I don't even know where all the time has gone. So, I'll try and get the highlights, and that will have to do for now.

Joe's been busy doing all kinds of YM related things. In the past week or so they've logged about 6 hours of presidency meeting (or more) and then there's all the other stuff he has to do to get ready for these meetings... He's also getting close to the end of the semester, as classes end on Wednesday and finals finish on the 12th. This means he has lots and lots of homework to do, as well as papers to grade and other research projects to work on. For example he spent hours the week of Thanksgiving writing a grant with a couple other people, only to find out a few days later that they wouldn't even be able to apply for it since only one application/university would be considered and a guy in the engineering dpt. got it instead. I guess it's what you'd call 'a good experience' but still...

Karen started nursery last week and has done smashingly well. I stayed with her for the first hour her first week because they needed another adult in the room, and she had a great time. All week she's been talking about going to church and playing with her friends. Also in the past couple of weeks we've said bye-bye to the bottle. While she was never really addicted to her bottle, she really enjoyed getting her milk that way and no other way. It's been a bit of an adventure trying to get her to take it from a cup, but in all she's doing really well with that. A few weeks/months ago I blogged about how you know it's time to do certain things...well Karen has decided independant of what I want that she wants to use the potty. So, we're trying to start potty training, even though it's really quite early. We started Tuesday afternoon and while she's not yet a pro, or really even to the pull-up stage yet she is improving. Today was the first time I had to change a poopy diaper all week, for instance. She loves going potty like mom and dad, and eventually I think she'll get it down, if we take it slowly.

As for me, with these two busy bodies in the house I don't have much time for anything else. Now that the ward has gotten a little more organized and such we've started having RS activities like playgroup and book club, so I can get out of the routine a little bit. I'm also playing the piano for choir currently, although my abilities are diminishing the closer I get to delivery. Hopefully I'll still be able to do something when we get to the Christmas program, but who knows, maybe my toe coordination will increase as my finger coordination decreases and I'll play that way... although can you really imagine me playing the piano in front of the congregation with my toes while only 6 weeks from delivery? That would be a Christmas program for the history books, I'm sure.

Well, as that last thought indicates, It's time for me to be asleep. So I think I'll end by saying that I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and are gearing up for a great Christmas and New Year celebrations. I was going to put some cute pictures of Karen up, but I think it'll have to wait since I can already hear Joe snoring in bed behind me. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow...but that's what I said last time.