Happy Birthday, Nanny!

Here is a little message for you on your special day. Sorry we couldn't spend it with you, but maybe this will make you feel like we are there! We love you!

ps. Eli blew that kiss all on his own (i didn't tell him to at all!)

Pullen Park Playdate

Last week, I took the boys on a playdate at the park with our friends Ms. Candace & Mia Tate. We had a picnic (where none of the kids really wanted to eat!) & then went to play on the equipment & ride some rides. I was finally able to convince Jackson to ride the train (last time it was a no-go because it was "too loud.") & they also got to ride the boats. We had a great time & it was nice to catch up with Candace & see how much Mia Tate has grown!

Isn't this a sweet picture? He loves being a helper! And he is getting to the age that he really likes to help "little" kids.

Taking a boat ride...
Waiting for the train...

On the train...
Can you tell what is going on here? Eli is having a toddler moment- not wanting to share & Mia Tate is wondering what his deal is! Meanwhile Jackson is oblivious!
Enjoying having the space rocket to himself...
Eli still loves the swings. He pure giggles out loud while he swings- it is quite cute!
We took home this rock as a souvenir- only because Eli wouldn't leave it behind!

Red, White, & Blue

As it turns out, Jackson learns things all the time that i have absolutely NO IDEA he knows. In the car 2 days ago, he busted out in a song that i had heard before, but never from him. When he finished up, i said, "Jackson, that was great! Where did you learn that?" He told me at school- that they sing it everyday. Who knew?! I literally ask this child every day that i pick him up, "What did you do today?" And he most always says, "I don't remember" or "went on the playground." So the song was an exciting look into his days there. So, of course, i video-ed him singing it for you all to hear!!! (did you expect any less?)


Cute, huh?!

And, Aunt Becca told me after bible class tonight that Eli is now doing all the motions to "The wise man built his house upon the rock" (she is teaching his class). It took bribery (aka food) to get him to do it for me before bed tonight, but my camera battery is dead, so no go on the video. BUT, stay tuned..... i will try again of course! I am going to try to get Jackson singing "Little Me" on video too if he will. He learned this last year at school & it is one of his favorites to sing (other than "Blue Skies & Rainbows!") It is so sweet to listen to him sing... he always seems to have a song in his heart!

Backyardigan's Party

Friday night we had Eli's birthday party... kind of spur of the moment due to "hurricane" hanna. Even though the hurricane turned out to be a joke of sorts, they were forecasting it to do some damage, so i didn't want to take that lightly & moved the party from Saturday afternoon at the park (which ended up being beautiful) to Friday night at Mema's (when it was nice & rainy!) Eli was thrilled with his birthday cake - which was the most impressive Pablo (from the Backyardigans) in a star. I loved it so much i had a hard time cutting it! Many thanks to our friend Andrea, from church, for making it. She is so talented! (it kind of makes me want to take a cake decorating class, but really... where would i fit that in??)

Eli's first look at his special cake...To say that he wasn't too sure why we were all singing to him... was an understatement!

Blowing out the candles... Eli not only enjoyed looking at the cake, but he enjoyed EATING it too! He took his sweet time & even after everyone else was up from the table, he was still sitting there working on his!

When it came time to open presents, he was excited & engaged with each one. In fact we had to nudge him along to open a new one, because he would want to sit & hold/inspect the current one. And speaking of presents, we now officially own anything & everything that has a backyardigan on it! Seriously! He got 2 backyardigan balls, 3 DVDs, 2 books, a watch, a stuffed pablo character, a lunchbox, a color wonder tablet & a mini doodle pro! He also recieved some new clothes & sidewalk chalk, tadoodles markers, a fun snappy sounds book, bristle blocks (a real hit with Jackson too!) & some money that we already used yesterday at stride rite to get new tennis shoes (thanks Gma & Papa Evans!)When we got home from the party, Nanny was waiting for us. She wasn't able to make it in time for the party since it was moved to Friday evening, but decided to spend the weekend with us as originally planned anyway. (Hurricane Hanna didn't scare her! Ha!) Eli was thrilled to show her each & every gift he got & then he got to open one more, Nanny's gift!

Thanks to everone who made his day special & for being patient with the changing of the party last minute! We had a great time!

They say it's my birthday....

Our baby boy is not a baby anymore! Oh, no! I can't believe Eli is two years old today. When i had to wake him up this morning (to get Jackson off to speech before the first day of preschool), i was giving him kisses all over & I told him, "This time 2 years ago, mommy was giving you your first sugars ever!" He just snuggled into my neck & giggled. I actually teared up! It is still amazing to me that time goes so fast with these little ones & that in the blink of an eye, they are a year older. When Jackson was this age, I was already preggers with Eli which BLOWS my mind! That seems like a lifetime ago in some ways, but then again, it seems like yesterday. I hope time will slow down & that we will be able to savor every moment we get with our precious boys. Here is the birthday boy today..... Can't you just hear him saying "cheese" with his little tongue out?!

If i get more pics today & have a chance to post them, then there is a slight chance that i will! But considering i am starting a new bible class tonight at 7pm, i can't be held to that! We are having celebratory pizza night & are making homemade pizzas (the kids favorite) in Eli's honor tonight & he already got one present today! Aunt Becca bought him (& gave it to him in the store) a Backyardigan's ball. It is both his favorite things rolled into one (the backyard gang & balls!) He was so excited, he TRIED to take it to bed for his nap, but i had to convince him to leave it next to the bed! And since he has been napping, the mailman delivered a box with his name on it from Aunt Debbie.... Hmmmm.... What could be in there? We will have to open it tonight!

First Day of Preschool

This morning, Jackson started a new class at Preschool. I can already tell that i am going to love his new teacher, Mrs. White. She is so cute & so sweet! (And it helped that the first thing she said to me when i picked him up today was, "You have a sweet boy!") I can already tell a big difference in the classroom this year vs last year. There are 15 kids in his class (vs 8 last year) & 2 teachers (an assistant, Mrs. Hensley) vs. 1 teacher last year. The classroom is set up with centers & just seems more like Kindergarten to be honest. When we went to open house last week, i teared up when i walked in because it was just a flash of what is to come next year. Mrs. White used to teach 2nd grade before she became a mommy & now she teaches pre-k so she can be home when her kids are home in the afternoons. So i feel like Jackson is in excellent hands & that she knows what he needs to learn before REALLY starting school next fall. Here are some pics from this morning.....

Eli really wanted to help carry something, so we let him carry the lunchbox.
Jackson & Mrs. White after the day was over....
Apparently, they talked about the story, The Kissing Hand. If you have never read it.... it is a tear jerker if you are sending your kid off to school! But it is a sweet story! Here is his raccoon mask from the story.....

More Camping!

We went camping again with Jeremy & Marie (& Kaleb) for the labor day holiday weekend. Boy are we worn out! We left EARLY friday morning (in fact, Randy said, "7:30?!" when we said we were leaving that early!) & came home monday afternoon. If you can believe it, i only took a handful of pictures because we were basically spending our time between the camper to snack & the pool to swim & then back to the camper to potty! The kids seriously wanted to eat all weekend but i guess swimming does that to you! We met new friends while we were there all the way from Ohio! They had kids very close to our kids ages (a 5 year old, nathan & a 21 month old, hayden). Jackson & Nathan played together a lot at the pool. Kristen (their mommy) & I found out how much we had in common - which was astounding! And their daddy even plays the mandolin! Seriously, how many people do YOU know that play the mandolin? Or can even really appreciate the ability to play one? But seriously, i was pretty bummed that they live in Ohio, because if this family lived in our neighborhood, they would be such close friends- i just know it! But onto the (few) camping photos....

The big boys got to ride Kaleb's new double seater power wheels (truck) a little- but i have to be honest, it was a source of stress (on many levels) so they did more packing & unpacking the bed of the truck than anything (after they about ran into the neighbor's REALLY nice "big rig.")

We also tend to break a lot of rules/routines when we camp (which to those of you who really know me, know this isn't easy for me). Eli slept with daddy for naps instead of his pack & play a few afternoons.... { on a tanget here, this was mainly because last weekend we took Eli's pacifier for the second time. Do you remember how the first time went? Well, it was bad enough that he got it back! So, this time, we didn't give in, which meant that we have been doing all we can to survive. Since we were also inflicting this horror onto others during this trip, one of us either laid beside him while he fell asleep in the pack & play, or we held him to get him to sleep for EACH nap & at bedtime! I feared coming back home after all that, but i am thinking maybe it helped because when i came into the hallway tonight, i said "RANDY!? Is Eli in the bed?!" because he wasn't crying (aka: screaming to the point of dry heaving) like he had EVERY night since last weekend! Soooooo...... maybe we are on the upside of this whole pacifier thing!}

Other breaks in routine included:

Jackson & Kaleb only took ONE nap the entire trip (this was a biggie for me! i know you are all proud of my flexibility here!) & so this meant they were EXHAUSTED at bedtime..... but even so, we didn't just throw them in their beds, we let them cuddle up together on the converted bed to "watch" a movie (which of course means the were snoring before the opening credits were over).

And Eli got to ride bikes with Daddy (with no helmet- thus the broken rule! GASP!) BUt he had a blast & Daddy held on REALLY tight!

Eli also got to see plenty of dogs over the weekend which was thrilling for him. He still calls them a "horth" (horse) though even though he KNOWS it is a dog - but that isn't in his vocab yet. He would, however say "uff uff" when i said, "what does a dog say?" Our next door camper had a dog, tyler, that was huge (really a understatement) so it didn't really bother me that Eli kept calling him a horse, because he practically was!
While we were at the pool, Eli's mission was to keep up with the large torpedo. He would throw it & expect EVERYONE to fetch it for him. (Because he refuses to get his head or face wet).

On our last day there, Jackson really got courageous & decided he could in fact swim! He has been swimming underwater all summer, but never in water that he couldn't touch bottom in. And he wasn't willing to let go in order to swim above water at all, even in shallow water. After MUCH jumping in to an adult (mainly aunt marie!) in the deep end we realized that he was practically swimming over to the ladder on his own.
And so, after only a few practices, he did this:

I can't believe it! This water was 3 ft, which was over his head & he was so proud! (Which of course, WE were so proud too!) I just hate that he did this on the LAST day of the LAST pool trip of the summer! Next year we will be starting from scratch! I guess we will have to show him the video to prove he did it!

We had a nice time camping but we have lots to look forward to this week, also. Jackson starts his 4 year old preschool class tomorrow morning & it is also Eli's birthday! Saturday we will have a party for him at the park, so he & i have lots of errands to run this week while Jackson is off learning things!

You've Got Mail!

Today, a small brown package arrived in the mail for Eli. Any guesses why?

My baby boy is going to be 2 on tuesday! I really can't believe he is seriously turning two (despite all the attitude that has been displayed here recently!) He got his first birthday package from Peto & Uncle Ed & it was a hit! It was a nice little book that plays music to the matching page... he even took it to bed with him for his nap. Thanks Peto & Uncle Ed! We love you!

Our Newest Big Thing around here....

.... is breakfast smoothies! After our beach vacation (& a lovely recipe from a magazine Peto gave me) I busted out the 'ole blender! There is no going back because the kids LOVE them & they also LOVE that they get to use their souvenir cups that Aunt Becca brought them back from the Blue Bell ice cream factory in Texas. And guess who else loves them? ME! I love them because i make healthy well rounded breakfasts that they will eat, well technically drink, & have a great start to their day. (And lets face it, i can put things in there that are good for them that they wouldn't necessarily try- like a spoonful of cottage cheese!) They have liked them all, but so far the overall favorite is the original one i tried from the magazine which is a blend of 1 c. vanilla yogurt, 1 banana, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, & milk to thin it out for them. I also added a few ice cubes to make it chilly & once i added a few squirts of sugar free chocolate syrup (only the first time when Jackson was pretty skeptical!). I have also made a strawberry/blueberry blend (which i think was really Eli's fav.) , & a banana/peach/orange one (which had the cottage cheese in addition to the yogurt & i taste tested it & it was GOOD, you couldn't even taste the cottage cheese- the whole thing tasted like a creamsicle!) IT is really fun for me to experiment & to see how much they like them. And they look forward to it. In fact, last night, i got all the cups, blender, etc laid out for this morning since i had to work & Eli wanted one right then! I had to explain he could have one in the morning & he nodded & moved on!

Don't let his face fool you, he was lovin it. This was early morning just before church on Sunday... and he is like his Daddy in the morning (a bear sometimes).....

MMMMmmmmmm...................

Baby Aedon isn't a "baby" anymore!

Mommy's best friend, Theresa had a birthday party for "baby Aedon" (as Jackson likes to call him) because he is officially ONE! Happy Birthday big boy! We had a great time at the party & the kids really enjoyed the food! Here are some pics from the event, thanks to TRW for sending them to us!

Chatting with the birthday boy:Joining in the bubble fun outside:

Explaining to Eli outside that we can't squeeze the baby frog- we have to be GENTLE!

Digging into the cupcakes:

Hi there!

Aedon LOVED his cake, he just went right for it, FACE FIRST! So fun!