Happy Birthday Uncle Eric!

Today the family got together to celebrate Eric's birthday party. His big, bad 30th birthday isn't for a couple of days, but we got together a couple days early to celebrate. Leilani made a great meal-the chicken was amazing! She used a bunch of herbs and seasonings from Israel-delicious! We had a great time hanging out and talking...and eating...

Eli and Katie thoroughly enjoyed Eric & Leilani's giant bean bag. It can actually expand to a queen size! It was so comfy!

Pretty sure Eli wanted to take his nap right there!

Birthday boy! (Side note-that's the cake I made. I cut it into a '30'. It was a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. It tasted good, but holy cow was it rich! I totally cheated on the icing, though. I just bought vanilla icing and put some peanut butter in it. It's the first time I've bought icing in quite a while...no homemade butter cream icing this time...but it did taste good!)

The happy brothers. I love getting together with all the brothers and hearing stories about the things they did as kids. They seem to love to tell on each other :)

Mommy and daddy :) They are expecting their first baby in December. Leilani looks so cute pregnant! You can't really tell in this picture...but she is showing. They have their nursery done and it's super cute. Leilani painted a couple of pictures for it-they are adorable! Only 17 weeks left until Eli has another cousin!

We had a great time today. They day just flew by-suddenly it was after 7 and we had to head home to put Eli to bed. Pretty sure we're heading to bed soon too...mommy and daddy are tired! In fact, Edgar is sitting here on the couch next to me sound asleep...I suppose I should sign off early and get to bed :)

Ahhhh...Saturday!

Today has been a good day so far. I love Saturdays. I love how Edgar is home, and we can have a nice, family day. Today we got up (Edgar got up at 6 and had to work from home for a bit...after he was done, he said he was going to have a lazy day-which is equivalent to me having a busy day...) and went for a walk. Eli and I took off at 8:50, and Edgar caught up to us which was nice. Edgar thought he was going to have to work during the walk, so we headed out and then he ran to catch us. Anyway, we walked 3.42 miles in 59 min, 58 sec. I know, I know, why don't I just say an hour...but hey, now I can say I did it in under an hour. I take what I can get...Eli decided today was the day to take a nap while we walked-way to make a liar out of me! He slept for about 1/2 hour of it, so that was his morning nap. (I just put him down at 2, and boy was he tired!) He was also pretty sweaty when we got back...so much for him not sleeping and not sweating while I walk...oh well.

We got back and got cleaned up and headed for the grocery store. We went to ALDI yesterday, but I can never get everything I need there, so we went to Publix today...and we're going to Sam's tomorrow. Hopefully we won't have to shop again for a while...Anyway, we put the groceries away and made pancakes for lunch. Eli thoroughly enjoyed them :) Then I made a cake for Uncle Eric's birthday party tomorrow. If it turns out cute, I'll post pictures...but I make no promises. It's a chocolate cake, and I haven't made chocolate in a LONG time, so hopefully I can get the frosting to cover okay.

Edgar has to work tonight (like I said...nice lazy day) so Eli and I are going to hang out...who knows, maybe we'll go welcome Jenny & the kids home tonight :) I haven't seen her cats in two days either...I wonder if they miss me...

I am currently attempting to upload a video of Eli playing...with a box :) It's really his new favorite toy. It works well-I play with the Little People toys that the box holds, and he plays with the box. We've got a good system goin' on.

Play date at Jenn's house

Today some of Eli's friends (and my friends too) got together for a little play date. We had planned on getting together to go for a swim, but it looked like a storm was moving in, so we just hung out at Jenn's house. We had a new friend join us. I met Emily and her daughter Meghan at the pediatrician's office and she was able to join us. It was fun getting to know her and her little cutie.

Creed with his eyes wide open :) He's getting so big! His smile is super cute :)

Eli and Kaz playin'

Kaz just had his 6 month appointment...and he's already 20 lbs! He's trying to overtake Eli :)

Eli was cracking me up. Every time I would pull out the camera he would make his favorite face...so here's a bunch of my little cutie :)

Day two

I did it. I actually walked two days in a row :) Yay for me! Today I walked a little farther-2.73 miles, and it took me 49 min. 17 sec. Still don't have my Mp3 player, but no dwarf songs in my head today :) It was pretty hot again, but didn't feel quite as humid. Today I attached some toys to the stroller with some 'links' so Eli had something to play with, so I think he enjoyed the walk a bit more. He stayed awake again today and had fun talking to the wind :)
My plan is to take tomorrow off (going swimming with friends) and walk with Edgar on Saturday. I'm going to walk 3 miles Saturday, and never look back :) I decided once I walk 3 miles I am going to start running a bit during the walk.
That's all. Sorry for 2 posts in a row with no pictures...I'm sure I'll put some up tomorrow after we go swimming :)
Have you noticed I use a lot of smiley faces? I almost can't write without them now... :)

It's Time...

I like it when I can call myself a runner. Right now, I'm not a runner, and I wish I was. I've run several races before I got pregnant, including 2 full marathons, but once I got pregnant, I stopped, and I can't seem to get going again. At one point after I had Eli I was almost running 3 miles, but then the race I was training for got cancelled, and so I quit. I need motivation, apparently. SO, I've decided to bug all of you with my running habits (or lack of) in hopes that it will keep me somewhat accountable. I'm going to try and blog little updates about my progress...hopefully it won't be annoying to you...if it is, just skip the entries about my ridiculously slow runs :)
Today I started. Slowly. I decided it was way too ambitious to start with a run, so I strapped Eli into the jogging stroller and we went for a walk. We walked 2.28 miles (yay for mapmyrun.com!) and it took us just over 40 minutes (I warned you that I'm slow). It went pretty well if you ignore the time. This whole summer my excuse has been that it's too hot for Eli, and that if we go for a walk early, he will fall asleep, and I didn't want to mess up his nap time. WELL, today we got out the door at 8:40, it was 83 degrees with about a zillion percent humidity. I was pretty sweaty when we got back, but I didn't die. Eli stayed awake, and he wasn't sweaty at all...so I now have no excuses. I will say I am going to need to get my MP3 player going...the whole time I was walking I had 'Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's home from work we go' in my head. Annoying...
In addition to annoying you all with my running updates, I registered for a race. Anyone wanna run with me? I'm running the 2009 Ranch Run. It's a 5K in Temple Terrace (It used to be the Strawberry Classic for all you Floridians). It's on September 19 at 8:00. I doubt I will actually be able to run a full 3 miles by then, but I am going to try, and if I have to walk part of it, I'm okay with that. My goal is to push Eli in the jogger while I run the race, but we'll see...
Anyway...that's my story :) Keep me accountable!!!

A post for Carly...and anyone else that likes cats :)

What's Eli smiling at?

Why, Miggy, of course! (Didn't catch his picture while he was actually checking Eli out)

I've been going over to Ryan and Jennifer's house the past couple of weeks while they travel the world...and have been 'taking care' of their cats. I'll be honest, however, I go in, give 'em food, clean their litter, and leave them alone. To all those cat lovers out there, God Bless you. I am not one of you...but I would never let a cat starve, so I have been feeding these cats :)

Just wanted to let Carly (and the rest of her family...) know the cats are fine. Here is Miggy chillin' on Carly's bed.

....ummmmm...?! What? Sorry...couldn't resist posting this hilarious picture of Carly's pillow...I wonder who gave that to her...

Cassidy is fine as well. He was meowing quite loudly while I shot this picture. Pretty sure he was saying "Ben, please come home!"

And good 'ol Elfy. I haven't seen him/her in a few days, so I was glad to see she made an appearance today.

That's all...just thought my traveling family would like to see their 'kids' they left at home :)

9 Months

Can you believe Eli is 9 months old? I sure can't! He's doing so great! I loves being on his feet now. Nothing makes him happier than standing up. He needs help, still, but I have a feeling he's going to be standing on his own real soon.

In other news...I HAVE MY CAMERA BACK!! YAHOO! Elliott brought it back today after work...along with the 'Little People' farm. It's been a good day! I thought about devoting an entire blog to how much I love my camera, and missed it while it was gone, but I figured that would be going to far...

Below are some pictures of Eli sucking on his big toe :) He just started doing this...and Katie wanted to try too :) Cute cousins!

*sigh* If only I was that flexible...though I promise I wouldn't put my toe in my mouth...