The 5 Cranes: It is time.

So it's October...tomorrow. Summer has flown by and we had a blast. But, we'll just leave it at that and spare the time consuming task of writing from my "pregnant & challenged" mind. On to the updates...

1. Yes, that did say "pregnant & challenged." Crane Baby #2 is coming the beginning of February. This pregnancy started out as a roller coaster, but things have thankfully slowed down. Now it's more like an "It's a Small World" type ride. Around 8 weeks we had a little scare which involved blood. More blood than you want to see when you're pregnant. After an ultrasound, our doctor discovered that I had started out with twins, but one had never really started to develop and that's where the blood was coming from. The other baby was perfect. Healthy and growing. Beautiful. My doctor wanted to do another ultrasound on my next visit, so we were able to find out a little early the answer to "The Big Question"- a boy! We're thrilled and so excited to have one of each. Ellie doesn't quite understand all the hype, but last night she was snuggling with me and rubbing my belly. She'll be a wonderful big sister!

2. Guess who is potty trained? Well, that one should be obvious. Hopefully. Ellie has been successfully using the potty for 2 weeks. She is so good about telling us when she needs to go- verbally and physically. She gets so excited. It's cute. But it was definitely not a picnic. 4 days of her running around practically naked, followed by another 4 days with just panties on, finally led to the joyful day where we donned the pants and called it a success. Stickers and M&M's did it for this kid. Good job, Ellie!

Our ghetto child

And that's Betsy the Giraffe

3. Fall is here! Fall is hands-down my favorite season of all. The trees are beautiful, the air is crisp and cool, soups and delicious delicacies filled with pumpkin find their way in to our kitchen. It's just wonderful! This fall we've whipped out our decor a tad early, but we've been enjoying it. We're still pondering what Ellie will be for Halloween. We've had some super amazing meals, tried lots of new recipes, and I just found more that will be gracing us with their presence soon. Aw yes. Fall is very good to us!

4. I recently was switched from teaching the 4-5 year old class at Church to the 9-12 year old class. Yeah, big age group. The differences between these two classes is huge! But I'm learning that bribery with fruit snacks works for any age. Yesterday I taught about the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. I told the class how a posse of angry men came and attacked Carthage Jail. One of the girls in my class said, "Oh, is that what they called them back then?" I said, "No, they still use that word today." She looked at me and said, "I think we call them homies today, not a posse." I tried so hard not to laugh, but I'm not sure I made it. Got to love those kids.

5. Danny has decided to run a half marathon with his cousin, Phil. He's been doing so well with his training. We have a nice running track close to our apartment so we've been going there a lot. Ellie and I walk, Danny runs. He got up to 6 miles, but then his knees started giving him problems. He's been icing them and bought some knee braces. Hopefully he gets back up to speed soon. Anyway, because he couldn't run this weekend, we went on a walk down the Ogden River Trail. It was beautiful!