Three years ago today...

...and I couldn't be happier.

Oatmeal anyone?

So after many suggestions to give Eli something that will stick to a spoon (after THIS post...) we tried oatmeal today. I gotta be honest...I wasn't really trying to teach him to eat with a spoon...I was feeling kinda lazy, and didn't feel like feeding him (bad mom...) and honestly...he didn't really want to be fed. Anyway...here is the result of my laziness... Doesn't start off too bad...
'Why use a spoon, when you have your hand?!'

hmmm...

And downhill it goes...

'This feeding yourself thing is hard work!'

'But worth it!'

Notice I didn't stop him...I just took pictures of the whole thing. I think I took about 50...

'There's oatmeal where??'

'Ahh! Another use for my hands!'

'So good!'

'What?'

A washcloth, 3 wipes, a bib, and his shirt later, and he's cleaned up...

So, what did you have for breakfast today? :)

The first of many...

I'm sure I'll be seeing many more of these throughout the years:

Nothin' like a 'blanket tent' to take the evening boredom away :)

Eli had fun playing...

...but it seemed like I spent more time in the 'tent' while he played outside of it...It gave me a chance to play with my camera taking pictures in low lighting :)

This is fun!

And then a fun time of reading. He was turning the pages, just babbling away! It was pretty cute.

What a cutie!

Looking forward to many 'tents' in the future :)

Playing

After Eli woke up from his (3 hour!) nap today, we went out to the back porch to play with some toys. Eli loves being outside, and is always so happy when we go on the porch to play

I have loved watching Eli figure things out lately. He seems like suddenly he's got the hang of so many things. Yesterday he figured out how to use his magna-doodle thing. You can see him in the picture above, writing...

And then erasing.

He's so pleased with himself!

We had a little snack on the back porch-his first granola bar :)

And then back to playing!

Oh wait...that granola bar was good...I think I'll have some more...

YUM!

Hello!

Eli loves playing with bubbles too! He loves trying to pop them.

Oh...and back for some more granola bar...

And lastly, I leave you with an update on Eli's ability to walk. Not too shabby, huh? :)

A visit with baby Isaac :)

We were WAY overdue for a visit with Leilani & Isaac, so today Eli and I headed over for some baby fun :) I had wanted to go earlier, but Eli had been sick, and then we got busy...anyway, today we finally got over there. Eli spent most of the time playing, trying to walk, or trying to get to Isaac. I think he wanted to play with him. Unfortunately, I don't think Isaac is ready for that yet...
The little cutie havin' some 'tummy time'.

He holds his head up so good!

I was amazed when he did this:

then this:

Uh...yeah...that was a 5-week-old rolling over. I was pretty impressed, needless to say. He did it twice-and Leilani said he did it 3 times yesterday, so I don't think it's a fluke. I think Leilani's got a little mover on her hands...

We got some Chinese for lunch and then gave Isaac a bath. I'm terrible, though, and forgot to take the camera up for the bath (gasp! horror! I know...) In fact, I really didn't take nearly enough pictures of this little cutie. I'm just gonna have to go back and snap some more on another day!

Things here have stayed busy. Monday was the only day this week that we were able to stay home-and that was only because Eli had a rash all over him... Tuesday I had class, then I had to run some errands, so I didn't get home until after 3 (Thanks, Jenny, for the extended babysitting time!) Wednesday I had 6 mommies and 6 kiddos over for a play date. It was a LOT of fun-the kids played mainly on the back porch and had a great time. Unfortunately, though I had the camera out, I neglected to take any pictures...I'm really starting to slack...Yesterday was classes, and then I met up with a friend for a much needed 1 hour walk. I've managed to eat everything in sight lately...I gotta get exercising! And that brings us to today, which was loads of fun! I now need to sit here with my computer and organize pictures until Eli wakes up. Sleep long baby! I got a lot of pictures to go through...

Procrastinating...

Okay...so I really have no reason to post anything. Not much is going on, but I really need to work on my stuff for my classes...so, obviously, I'm avoiding it at all costs...nice, huh?

Things here are okay. Eli has had a rash for a few days now. It is finally starting to clear up. I have no idea what it was from. We were suppose to go to a friend's house today for a play date, but I decided that I should probably keep him home, in case it was a virus. SO, instead of taking him out to play, he played in the family room while I mopped the floor, dusted, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the mirrors, changed the sheets, emptied the trash, and vacuumed...loads 'o fun, huh? We had Mac 'n Cheese for lunch and now he's down for a nap. I have a student coming in 20 minutes for tutoring. Not the funnest of Monday's to this point, but not terrible either. I think we're gonna go for a walk once Eli gets up. It's beautiful out.

Church yesterday was good. Every week we do Sunday School I love it more and more. I'm getting to know the kids better, and I just LOVE them! I think teaching Sunday School is perfect for me-it has all the 'perks' of an elementary school teacher (like yesterday, I got a card from one of my kids :) ) without all the hassles (grades, discipline, etc.) I recommend SS teaching to everyone.

Okay...I think I have procrastinated long enough. I should get SOMETHING done...

Haiti

Our friends were interviewed by the local news. You can read about it here:
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/115-haiti-adoptions-halted
Keep praying! Tim is on his way now to try and bring his kids home!

Park day!

Today Eli and I met up with some friends at the park. This was a different park than we have been to, and it was super nice. We'll have to go again! My handsome little Tiger fan!

Talking nice and loud for all to hear!

The mommies brought some outdoor toys. The kiddos enjoyed playing a little golf...

...and roller skating. I brought Eli's wagon and a couple of balls to play with. Those didn't make it into the pictures, but the kids had fun with them!

Eli and Rosemary played for a while-throwing pine needles on each other... :)

Rosemary threw a few on me too :) It's good to be a kid!

I think the 'hit' of the day was the cheese puffs one of the moms brought...

This 'little' cutie is 3 1/2 months old...and 19lbs! He's super cute, and a great little baby :)

Oh...no need to worry, Eli got some cheese puffs too!

We had a great time playing. It's so much more fun hanging out with other mommies now that Eli will actually play a bit with other kids. He LOVES being outside, too, so he was great!

We got home and he went down for a nap...and is just now waking up (2 1/2 hours later). I suppose I should go get him... :)

Happy Friday to you!

A busy Wednesday

This past Wednesday Eli and I headed to the Aquarium. We met up with some friends and had a GREAT time. Eli had so much fun this time! The last time we went he was pretty little, and didn't really get out of the stroller much. But this time he was so excited to 'walk' (with my help...) up to the displays and look at the fish. He would cry every time we would move on to the next display :) I thought you'd enjoy just a few pictures from our day He loved this fish for some reason...

Ummmm...I think the fish is bigger than Eli. Kinda creepy...but Eli loved it :)

"Here fishy fishy fishy!"

Rosemary, one of the friends we met up with.

I didn't really get all that many pictures, because Eli wanted to walk (he walked almost the whole way through holding my hand!) and I was pushing the stroller too...so it was a little awkward to shoot pictures. I did take a couple of videos for your viewing entertainment :)

Edgar and I decided to go ahead and get Aquarium passes, so you'll probably be seeing lots of Aquarium pictures this year :) We had so much fun!

After we got back from the Aquarium Eli took a nap, and I tutored for 2 hours. Then Eli got up, we played a bit, and then headed for church.

Now that we are in our new church building we are finally starting up Wednesday night classes. We are looking forward to our class-we're going through the Jerry Bridges book 'The Practice of Godliness'. I think I read that book a long time ago in college...but it will be good to go through it again!

It was my 'turn', however, to hang out in the nursery, so I got to play with Eli and Creed.

Eli loves this little toy...only he really hasn't learned to share. Creed would try to play with it too, and Eli would push him away...hmmmm.

As you can see, though, Creed is a pretty good-natured kid, and didn't mind that Eli was being a bully :) We're gonna have to work on that 'sharing' thing...