my little monkey and a very scary vampire bat

It's been a spooky Halloween around here! Will has been completely enthralled and terrified at the same time with all the Halloween going around. He's continually telling me "you don't need to tell me it's not real mom, I'm not scared....." yet I think he really is. He wanted to be a bat, so we did our best with limited time and resources.... Eli was a Monkey and we scored a costume 60% off at the craft store. I was slightly worried that it was going to drown him because it is a size 2T. Well, it did not drown him, in fact, it fits him perfectly with NO room to spare.... this child is huge, I'm a little worried about what we'll feed him when he's a teenager.

I LOVE the monkey. It fits him so perfectly. He is a little monkey and he looked so cute crawling around with his curly tail!
And eating his banana!
Haha! I love all our faces in this picture. Will is trying to be scary, Scott is trying to be cool, and I'm just being a sweet little kitty, and Eli doesn't really care....
Yes, he was a scary vampire bat, good job Will. He thought it was great to try to scare people.
Cute little monkey.
What a thug. Anyone who knows Scott will laugh at this, it couldn't be more opposite of his personality. I love it.
Whoa. Nice kitty. I've got really large teeth, and the pink on my nose makes it look really flarey... is that a word?
Several of our friends were dressed as monkey's also! Aren't they cute? I love it, where's Paige? Hahaha I love that we can't even see her face!

our life in boxes

Yes we are living in boxes right now. I decided that moving is a lot of work, organization, and patience. I don't mind so much the move and transition itself, I've done it enough times in my life that is keeps things exciting. What I don't like is BEING in transition, half in boxes, half in cupboards and drawers. And I'm not good at the waiting........ especially when you are down to the last few days and there are some things that just can't be done until a day or two before the big move day.

Will and Eli don't seem to mind all the boxes at all. They have lots of fun with them. I'm learning that Eli is a CLIMBER. AHHHHHHHH, I'm scared already.

Other than being in transition, things are great. We are going to miss so many things about living in Ohio. I know we will always remember our time "away." We'll cherish the things we learned and the way we grew as a family. But we look forward to what life has in store for us, and no matter what, these two kiddos keep us learning and growing everyday. They are so fun.

(Me, waiting for the Penske truck to arrive, Mpls MN, June 2009)

There's a reason I feel like my life is on repeat at the moment......

It was only 16 months ago that I was packing up our family and moving to a new state. Now we're back in gear and packing our lives away! How did we accumulate MORE stuff in only a year??

another year come and gone

Where did the year go? I can't believe a year ago we welcomed little Eli into our home and hearts. From the moment Eli was born, I knew he was mine and we loved him from that first night. I remember Scott and I huddled over his bed in the nursery. He was the only baby in there and we were the only people around. The nurse wasn't fussing over us and she just let us have our time along with him in the those very first moments of his life. I had a lot of thoughts at that moment. But mostly, it was excitement, wonder, and gratitude for the miracle of birth, life, and what we had been given. He was so big and HUNGRY. He drank a full bottle, laying there in his warming bed. His hair was thick, curly, and all over. His face was chubby and so swollen he could barely open his eyes. His body was pink and chubby, he was perfect in every way.

Even his funny faces.....

Meeting Dad for the very first time..... just seconds after delivery.
The day after he was born. Big, healthy, and straighter hair.....
Just hanging out with mom in the hospital. Getting to know each other.
Sorry, this isn't the best picture, it's from my phone. This was Halloween last year!
Forever brothers. Our sealing day.
Sweetest cheeks ever. Still perfect.
What a big helper Will has been. He loves his baby bro.
Perfect. Still.
Oh my gosh, isn't he the cutest?
Hahaha! Look at his saggy cheeks! Again, another phone pic.
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
He's got the best smile ever!
Eli, you are a gem. What a happy boy you are. You are doing all the typical one year old things, and we love you everyday. You have blessed our lives this past year, taught us a lot about love, life, learning, and growing. You tease, you play, you laugh, you snuggle, you cry for mom and dad, you get shy with strangers, you smile and melt our hearts. You are big (90% for height 70% for weight), and you have a big heart. Sometimes you try to throw tantrums, but then you decide if mom picks you up, that's all you need. We love you to bits, and we love your sweet birthmother who made such an amazing sacrifice for you, because she loves you to bits too!

Happy Birthday!

my very hungry caterpillar

When I first saw this idea, I knew I had to do it for Eli's birthday. He's always been a good eater, and I thought it only fitting that Eli get a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" cake for his first birthday! I had big plans for his caterpillar birthday, but Eli woke up sick and with all the other things going on in our lives, some things got pushed aside. :) We still had a fun party and loved celebrating our little Eli!

You can tell by his droopy little eyes he wasn't quite feeling himself. But he was still fun and happy for his party. Maybe it was the double dosage of Tylenol and Ibuprofen?
See? My hungry caterpillar......
We had lots of food from the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and Eli loved it. We also wanted to invite some friends of Eli's for his party. These babies were all born just days apart, it has been fun watching them all learn and grow together.
Although, trying to get three one year olds to sit and take a picture together is not easy! Cute little Jane thought it was awesome, she just sat so sweet and smiled. Anderson did not want to sit, and wasn't so sure about Eli going crazy all around him. See? There goes Eli!
Cute little kiddos.
And there goes Eli again.......
And this is the best one we got. Jane loves her car and could care less about those boys, Anderson thinks someone is pretty funny, and Eli is mad that we keep moving him and putting him back in the same spot.
A little family pic
Oh boy. Did Eli love his cake? Ummm yes, does that surprise you? He did not disappoint! He grabbed his extra large cupcake with both hands and shoved it in his face.

His cheeks were full of cupcake!

And he gladly accepted a drink from Dad, at this point.
Food goes in by the hand-full when Eli is eating. I'm not kidding, he eats everything in hand-fuls.
He barely even made a mess on his tray because he didn't want to miss a bite. And he ate pretty much the entire thing!
We love you Eli, and we are so blessed to have you a part of our family. It has been an amazing year and we can't wait to watch you learn and grow. We love you!!

today I'm grateful.....

......for a kind, patient, and hard-working spouse.

for two handsome little boys that I get to call mine

for sweet testimonies of kids (it was the primary program today!)

for answers to prayers

for family

for a little something called cardboard boxes......

apple orchard and pumpkin carving

We had a very Fall festive week! It started out on Monday when we took a trip to the apple orchard with Will's preschool. We had a ball! This old man is Eddy, he is the owner of Eddy's Fruit Farm. He was funny..... he didn't like the rambunctious boys picking up rocks. I know, seriously, boys pick up rocks. But every time one of them did, he got really mad. Will almost started crying once.

Here's Will, listening intently, so he knew the exact right way to pick apples, and leave the stem on. Did you know you don't pick DOWN, you pick UP? That way, the stems stay on!
He's the cutest, looking so intently.
Here was his apple of choice. He ate the whole entire thing and kept saying "mom! you should try this, it is SO good."
Of course Eli wanted in on the fun, and he also ate the entire apple. Actually he put his teeth to good use and bit off HUGE chunks of apple, giving his mother a heart-attack.... but then he would just chew them around for a minute and spit them out. He loved it though and cried and screamed when I took it away at the end.

Here's the boys in Will's class. He has a lot of fun with them. It was such a pretty day, I was loving the sunshine and all the fall colors. The trees here are amazing right now, the colors are SO bright, I love it!

After the apple orchard, we carved our pumpkins for Family Home Evening. When we started cutting the pumpkin open Will was so, so, excited. He thought it was the greatest thing he'd ever done. He said "I didn't even know you could do this to pumpkins!!" He really loved it. He liked helping me dig out all the seeds and roast them.

I asked him if I could take his picture, and he wanted to hold up his tiny chamelion in it, of course. He's a handsome boy!

We had fun, no we just need to keep the squirrels away long enough to light up our pumpkins on Halloween! It has been a great fall and I feel like we've been able to do a lot of fun things. Happy Fall Ya'll!