Milestones

Sharing a bit of my journal from January 7, 2009...

What a fun but bittersweet day. Aaron started standing up on his own today. He tried so hard to get into a standing position without help, and he was so proud of his accomplishment. We also went to storytime at the library today for the first time in probably a year. I was amazed at how well Elliott did, even when I had to take Aaron out (reminiscent of his big brother who was also unable to make it through the whole program). But not today. Today Elliott sat on the rug up in front and participated in all of the songs and did the hand motions to "Where is Thumbkin" and other songs that a year ago he could not do. I was thinking about how much he has changed in the past year. I remembered taking him to storytime and how my sweet little boy with the long blond hair sat on my lap, and I helped him with the hand motions. Now he is doing them on his own. The time sure does go by quickly. So I will continue to enjoy my fast-growing boys and thank God that I can stay at home with them and see all of these fun changes. And I hope that I will pay attention and not miss a minute of it.
I was sure that since I had already written this once, I wouldn't tear up this time. I was wrong. Now I must go find a tissue...

Look, Mom, no hands!

Mean Face

This is Elliott doing his "mean face." It's really more of a toothy smile accompanied by a growl. It is hilarious to see this kind-hearted child try to make a mean face!

Peppermint Stick

Elliott joined his class at school in their Christmas program this year. They sang several songs and did a couple of rhymes. Here is one of his practice sessions at home. The words are:

I took a lick of my peppermint stick
and was it ever yummy.
It used to be on my Christmas tree
but now it's in my tummy!

Fun Pictures from December

Elliott and his buddy Caleb are ready to work. The first thing Caleb does when entering our house is find the toolbelt in E's workshop. This time he brought his to share so they could both be workers.

Elliott drinking his hot chocolate and enjoying the cookies he decorated. This is before he discovered a passion for fudge, which he could be seen eating at every family function during Christmas.

Is Mom really going to let me eat this??? It has icing! And sprinkles!

We don't call him "Rock Star" for nothing!

Aunt Mandy gave Elliott his very own shaving kit complete with plastic razor and shaving cream. This was one of his favorite Christmas gifts, and he asks to "raze" almost daily. And of course after he's done you have to kiss his nice smooth cheek.

Gingerbread

Elliott and I made a gingerbread house this morning. I asked him what his favorite part was and he replied, "Eating the candy...cause I really like eating candy." He seemed to also enjoy licking the icing from the beaters. He was very patient waiting for the sides and then the roof to dry so that we could start decorating. I think we have started a new Christmas-time tradition - what fun!

Welcome Fall

We've been pretty busy lately enjoying the fall weather and playing with friends. The leaves this fall have been the most amazing colors. I imagine God painting the trees so many shades of yellow, orange and red with His giant paintbrush.

We took a long weekend in October to drive to Kansas City and visit with Matt's sister and brother-in-law. We enjoyed being with them, though we hate the circumstances of our trip. We stopped and spent a couple hours at The Magic House in Saint Louis on the way home. I would definitely recommend a trip there if you're ever in Saint Louis with young kids. Our boys had a blast.





We also went camping in October with my family. It's a lot of work to camp with 2 little ones, but it is worth it. Elliott loves to be outdoors and asked repeatedly during the summer when we could go camping again. It rained most of Friday so we loaded up the boys and headed to Opry Mills. Saturday brought fair skies and warmer temperatures so we tried out the new playground equipment and freshly dumped sand for the beach. Elliott and his cousin Savannah had great fun climbing the sand mountains. The highlight of the day for Aaron was meeting a little dog named Chloe. He is quite the animal lover. And of course we made s'mores around the campfire. What fun!



Elliott had 2 cavities filled last week with nothing but "laughing gas". What a brave boy! Now we must detox from gummy bears and the like. Aaron is still crawling everywhere. He leads with his head and frequently has bruises on his forehead from running into furniture. He really should look where he's going but this is a hard skill to teach a 13 month-old.

I really should post to my blog more often, but have recently become addicted to Facebook. I'll work on that. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures from our adventures in October!



The Pumpkin and the Handyman

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we visited the Pumpkin Patch and had a lovely time. It's hard to believe that when we went last year Aaron was only 2 or 3 weeks old! Here are some pictures from our fun day...

We look much happier than the kids here...they really did have a good time!