This was a Halloween costume that Scarlet made. She said she was a "present". She asked Greg for scissors, snuck away, cut a hole in the bottom and put it on Brighton, just like this- with the handles over his arms- saying it was a costume she made for him. We were blown away by the whole thing. Not only were we blown away by the concept- but that she knew how to make it happen- and then went ahead and did it. I just thought it was so amazing on so many levels. We couldn't stop talking about it.

Scarlet has just been growing by leaps and bounds in every possible way. She's always been very considerate and had great understanding for her age- but it continues to surprise us. We cut out 80% of our tv watching and the kids are suddenly forced to play a LOT more. It's really blown me away, the things they both come up with. She is SO CREATIVE. I don't even know where her ideas come from. She not only plays doctor- but SURGEON. She'll cut open her dolls and pull out "ants and worms", flick them away and sew them back up. Where did that come from? It's been so fun to see them play. Their minds are just expanding. I don't know if it just comes down to the tv hogging their time and creativity, and suddenly that's available to them now- but their minds have just been exploding with creativity and comprehension. It's been blowing Greg and I away. Her artistic skills are also increasing. She is drawing and painting pictures that actually make sense! The one in the middle is of Grandma Arnold. She's on the sand, next to the water and beside her is a flower. I mean brilliant! I may be getting a little over excited- but I don't care. I think it's incredible! And I LOVE watching her mind  and seeing her thoughts on paper.

She has also been really progressing physically. She is constantly crawling on the couch back, climbing all kinds of barriers. She climbed on the counter and stealthily opened the cupboard to reach a VERY HIGH shelf to get me vanilla. I kept wanting to tell her to stop, but just decided to trust in her capabilities and she was fine. She's really becoming independent. She was always lagging behind Brighton physically and suddenly she's caught up and surpassed him. Really crazy, but really great!

She's always talking about when she has kids. She can't wait to be a mom. She also tells me she'll let her kids do all the things I never let her do. And she always tells me with a lot of attitude. "No you can't watch Little Ponies, Scarlet," I say, in which she responds with a fierce glare in her eyes, "Well, when MY kids ask for tv I'll LET THEM!" And she just stands there, her eyes all defiant. It always kinda makes me laugh inside. She really wants to read. I ordered some books and was really excited to teach her, but it's more difficult to teach than I expected. Also, I just have taken a MAJOR break from our preschool- not that it was too regular of a thing to begin with.

Brighton has been GROWING. Overnight his baggy clothes fit just right. It's amazing. Especially that it happened right here in Bishkek, where he's always struggled to grow. He's constantly playing pirates and it's adorable. He always tells me I'm Captain Hook and he's Jake. Or he's Peter Pan and Scarlet is Tinker Bell. His latest thrill is throwing all the couch cushions on the floor and making an "island". We fish and fight sharks and shoot cannons with bean bags at "Buckey" the pirate ship.

His vocabulary has just exploded the last 5 months and keeps on going. He says and understands EVERYTHING now and I love the things he says. Complete sentences and funny sayings like "oh dear!" He worships Scarlet and does EVERYTHING she does. It is really sweet to watch. He always wants to be with her. When he wakes up in the morning or from a nap- the first thing he asks for is Scarlet. I love the way he says her name. He usually drops the S and just says, "carlet", but it sounds more like "garlet." It's cute. He LOVES to jump on the couch, when the cushions are off and there's much more SPRING to the bounce. This poor guy has been through a LOT the last 5 months. We were homelesss for 3 whole months. Dad was completely gone for 1 of them, and I really think he thought he got abandoned. Dad returns, and a short 3 days later- a baby is born and of course, life will never be the same. Then we move back, all the while MOM has never been so stressed out in his entire life and is NOT acting like herself (yelling, not available). So much has happened and I keep realizing more and more how it's been affecting him and I feel really bad about it. It makes me realize what a good boy he's been, despite it all. Suddenly I realize it's been too much, so I've wayyyyy eased up on expectations and just been focusing on loving him and spending more one on one time with him and all the struggles we've been having the last 5 months have gotten sooooooo much better. SO much better, and I think it will just continue that way now.

Marius is amazing. Happy and sweet and a little gift to the family. We all love him! It's been really sweet. He's almost 5 months now, wow! I feel like I really know him now. Of course you feel close to your kid the moment they're born, but it' more than that now. I know him. We have a relationship. He's so cute and small. He's probably the last one, and I gotta say- I've really been enjoying it all. I look in the mirror at his little body when I'm holding him and I just think he's so adorable and I love it and think at the same time that I'm really content to let this be the last time.

Greg's squeezed in a little more rock climbing before the snow set in.

Greg's doing really well. He's actually been practicing a lot of parkour. He loves it. He doesn't do anything crazy, like big jumps or flips- he just does a lot of the techniques around the house. Like instead of walking up the stairs like a normal person, he will literally climb up the railings like a monkey- or crawl down on all fours, facing forward. It is crazy. I always feel like I have a wild animal in the house, because suddenly this thing on all fours moves out of the corner of my eye. I'm always laughing when I see him, but I love it at the same time. I like his ambition and drive to try new things. It's also REALLY gotten him in shape! Man! Whenever we're walking places, I can always see his eyes wandering, looking at what he can climb on or walk/balance on in an unusual way. He's also started doing upside down pushups (doing a hand stand against the wall and doing pushups at the same time). I gotta say, I especially like when he does this. It looks pretty amazing and makes me think I married Superman. We've both been really getting in shape. It's exciting, because it feels a lot more natural, this time around. Less like a chore and just more like a positive habit. So it feels like it's going to last, instead of just being a short phase. I suppose we have other things that have sort of cinched the deal that this is to stay. I seriously get depressed if I don't work out. Like I get grumpy and sad if I go too many days without exercise. It started after Marius was born. Working out has literally become a necessity for me, or I would have to get a prescription for an antidepressant or something. But if I work out, all those emotions smooth out and I seem to be just fine. So for me, I absolutely have to. Whether this lasts forever- I don't know. It's never been this way before. But it's this way for now, and it's good for me anyway, so that's what I'm doing. Greg has been having issues for awhile with high blood pressure. When he works out, it comes down.  If he doesn't, it goes up to a level where he'd probably need to get on medication to get it back down to normal levels! Can you believe this? It's crazy. He's been dealing with it our whole marriage (its genetic)! We didn't really realize what a problem it WAS until the last few years. Before we always thought the blood pressure readings were wrong- we thought they were high because he rode his bike to the doctor, or was stressed about a test that day or SOMETHING. But after years of these high levels, we started to think, "Hmmm . . . maybe this is what is actually HAPPENING." And yep, it is. It's been so frustrating because the doctors always say, "Just don't eat a lot of sweets, red meat, processed food and work out." And Greg never knows what to say except, "I AM doing all those things!!!" Honestly, we don't know anyone else that eats as well as he does and he exercises pretty consistently. So we've decided to just fine tune it a bit more and not drop the ball about working out. 

These are some of the Carson Family. They moved here a few months ago and are also LDS. They are awesome and their kids are angels. It's so great to have them here at church. Really.

We spent an evening at Erkindik Park before it snowed. I remember when these swings used to freak me out so much (because they're so open). But now both my kids swing in them and it's no big deal.

Last year Brighton was only 1 so I had to really hover while he swung.

He has not been about the picture taking lately. He's also been constantly wiping away our kisses. Almost like it's a reflex now. He'll even say, "No! No kisses!" Brighton is so sweet though. He is ALWAYS telling us that he loves us. All the time. We love it.

It was a really pretty day. Man. Getting out is just so much easier than it used to be. I wonder if so much of my pain last year was just being pregnant. It made EVERYTHING hard. I never wanted to go anywhere, it just didn't seem worth the effort. I'm constantly surprised by how easy everything suddenly is.

The cool thing about IRON swing sets is you can just hop right on. Though maybe that's why they're broken half the time.

Little Marius. He used to just fall asleep in the wraps. No more!!! He hasn't been able to fall asleep the last 3 outings or more. It's official- nap time has to be at home, or at least in a crib. That makes leaving the house MUCH more restricted- but honestly I don't mind. I sort of like the excuse to stay home. Things go so much smoother when we only leave for a quick hour per day or less. More than that seems to just drain us all and the rest of the day goes haywire. But a short outing doesn't seem to mess up the rest of the day.

My good friend, Eike, had a bunch of friends over for a special German holiday. It's tradition to make lanterns, and walk down the street singing songs about Saint Martin. I was really excited to sing the songs, but being all in German- it turned out to be a lot more difficult than expected! I felt a little funny walking down the street in a crowd of singing lanterns- but at the same time I thought it was such a cool tradition and was so glad they kept doing it, even in Bishkek. Greg helped Scarlet and Brighton make lanterns while I held Marius and ate 4 pieces of cake. I was really hoping that no one noticed.

The green one was Brighton's.

Things are good. I recently read Simplicity Parenting and it pretty much changed my life forever! It made me gut our entire house of all the crap we don't use. OK, maybe not crap- just the stuff we have too much of. The house is so much less cluttered and now I actually use what I have because I SEE IT THERE. We got rid of SOOOO many toys and have changed how the kids and I do things around the house. I always have tried to turn the tv off more, but now it's actually happening. I just see things very differently now and home life is sooooo much more peaceful. I feel soooooo much happier, and therefore, so do the kids. Life is happier and I am happy about it.