Christmas is coming...!!!!

Christmas is coming and I have a HUGE list of wants for Seth. Poor guy, he has no idea he wants so many toys. This could be a problem. On a different note, Seth is now eight months old and decided to celebrate by clapping and crawling this past week. I think he also starting having tantrums yesterday, so I'm not sure I'm super happy about his sudden self discovery. Besides the tantrums though, everything is great!!! Seth is one super baby and we love him so much. He messes with Brandon and me a lot, which is hilarious. Brandon's not one to be bested at anything, so it's funny to see him being tricked by an eight month old. We play peek a boo and Seth goes crazy! He still loves any telephone that works and anything remotely related to technology. I would be worried about this, but I think all babies are like that. So, we'll see.
I'm working on food storage and Emergency Preparedness right now. I canned tomatoes for the first time and am still super proud of myself (I did it almost a month ago...). I have some time to learn more skills and I'm really grateful that I can finally focus on these things that I've always wanted to do but haven't given any time to (sewing, cooking, studying).
We are doing some signing with Seth and it's been really fun. He doesn't sign back yet but he does acknowledge the signs (unless he's hungry--then he's just mad) so we're hoping to relieve some future frustration there. Seth is also eating solids now and loves EVERYTHING! Everything that's straight baby food that is. Brandon gave him some mashed potatoes the other day and that didn't go down so well. We now know that Seth can vomit pretty well...and to wait on the mashed potatoes.
Halloween was great and so was my Birthday. Thanks to everyone who made it such a special day, especially Brandon and Seth. We went to the Scarlet Pimpernel and it was amazing!
That same week we took my brother, Joe, to the MTC. He is going to Brazil but is still waiting on his visa, so he reported to Provo. We had his last meal at JDawgs--he loved it. And then we dropped him off. (Note: Mom's birthday was the same day. I think it was hard for her but also a great present to have him report for missionary service on her birthday.)