What are we up to, you ask?

Danny is a little parrot, and tries to repeat almost everything Johnny says and many things we say. I am amazed by how much he says. Johnny only had a few words in his vocabulary at this time. He loves it when we sing songs especially the ones with actions. He tries so hard to copy our actions.
Danny is our crazy little monkey. He is so full of energy every minute he is awake and can find trouble better than any child I know. He has mastered climbing on the table, up the cupboards, up the 5 foot high cargo net at the playground and the up back fence (to see the deer and cat on the other side). He also loves to help with the laundry and dishes. He unfolds and unloads faster than we can keep up!
He is growing like a weed as well and can wear a lot of the 2t clothes Johnny was wearing not long ago. He is about twice the size of all the other little kids his age at playgroup. I am not sure if that is just because they are all real small or if he is just really big, or maybe it is a balance somewhere in the middle.

Johhny loves to read. He can often be found reading a book to himself. Usually it is a book we have read enough that he can look at the pictures and remember the story, he then repeats as much of the story as he can remember. He also loves to sing. He is starting to sing a lot of the songs by himself. The alphabet song, Book of Mormon stories, and Popcorn popping are among his favorites.
Johnny is doing so well with his potty training. He still needs some reminding but is well on his way. He is staying dry all night long, which I wasn’t expecting yet. We tried to get him into preschool this fall but considering he is just starting potty training we decided it would be better to wait. But I am not too worried, he already knows his ABC’s inside and out and sings the song, and he can count almost to 20 (he tends to skip 14 and calls 15 five-teen). We are trying to work more on helping him recognize his full name, not just Johnny, on paper.
Johnny just had his tonsils and adenoids taken out. He has been snoring really bad and it was starting to cause him to have sleep apnea. It was a REALLY long week for all of us during his recovery. But we are glad to report that he is eating again and his pants are starting to fit again. Best of all there is only a mild purring noise coming from his room lately and even that is gradually getting more quiet as he continues to heal.

Tom is looking into taking the GRE test and then applying for a Master’s program to begin next May or Aug. He will take the GRE in the first part of November. Cross your fingers for us that he does well. He was just released from Webolos leader and primary teacher and put into the Young men’s presidency. He is excited for the new calling but slightly saddened to be leaving the Webolos as they were just starting to grow on him.

I am still working at the library a couple of days a week and trying to keep up with two crazy busy little boys. I have found a love for the books I am surrounded by at work and can often be found bringing far too many home! It can be a challenge to read with my busy role of mom but I enjoy the escape reading provides. I have been having fun trying to decide what to do with the 300 (plus or minus a few) tomatoes that we got out of our garden. I will try to get another entry with more about all that, pictures included up soon. We are also going to try making Crabapple jelly today!