Ben (and Tracy's...) birthday party

I'm terribly behind in posting things...I'm sure most of you have already read Jennifer's account of Ben's party, but here is mine :) Last Saturday we headed over to Ryan and Jennifer's house to help celebrate Ben & Tracy's birthday. Eli enjoyed playing with Ben's new toys. I think he's just naturally drawn to baseball...

One of my favorite pictures from the evening...Ben had just hit Carly in the face with wrapping paper, and Carly was a bit upset. This is Jennifer 'comforting' her...

Eli attacking Miggy (yes...he's still alive...)

Some cookies I made for Tracy...

...and the cookies I made for her parents. They were leaving the next day for Israel, and this is seriously what they asked me to make them...you can read their request on the comment they left on this post :)
And last but not least I leave you with a video of Eli walking to his cousin. Enjoy!

What we've been up to...

Thought I'd update a little bit on how our week has gone. I feel like we've been busy...but I'm not completely sure what we've been doing. I guess that's how you feel with a 14 month old...Monday was a day at home. I tried all day to get the house cleaned, and finally finished all my 'tasks' by the time I went to bed. Tuesday I had my class, and then Eli and I went to an afternoon play group. It was for the kids to play, and the mommies to plan some volunteer activities. It was nice to hang out with mom's, and it's so fun watching Eli playing with other kids. He's really starting to interact with kids, which is fun for me-I can watch him play rather than have to sit by his side and help him play :)

Wednesday I got together with my friend Sasha and her son Kaeden and we headed to the Aquarium. I am so excited that we have passes-Eli has so much fun there!

I thought this picture was fun-you can see his reflection in the glass :)

'Hey, mom'

Lobster anyone?

The dive show

I've never been so glad for glass in my life...CREEPY!!!

This is a little video of Eli and Kaeden trying to 'catch' the lights. Cute kiddos!

I tutored during Eli's nap, and then was able to go to church Wednesday night...needless to say, Wednesday seemed particularly busy...but not boring!

Thursday was my class. My friend, Jenn, watched Eli, so he got to hang out with Creed while I taught. Those two really play pretty good together, and Jenn said he had fun. By the time I picked him up after class, and made a quick trip to Walmart (because Eli has chewed through all his sippy cups...) It was 1:00...and Eli had fallen asleep in the car (for the 3rd day in a row...).

Today has been okay. I've been so...well...blah for the last few days. Edgar has had the week off, and has been working SO hard getting some stuff done around the house. Him and his dad have really accomplished a lot. I feel like a bum compared to them! I cleared off the dining room table today, and felt like I had accomplished a lot...then realized, it really wasn't that much work :) Oh well...maybe I'll have more energy tomorrow :) I DID just pull some cookies out of the oven, so I'll be decorating tomorrow, which is always fun :)

SO, that's been our week. Hope you enjoyed my overview :)

A little Eli update

I haven't put anything about Eli on for a while, so I thought I'd take a second and let you know how he's doing :)

He's getting closer and closer to walking completely independently. He really can do it, but doesn't really seem to want to unless he knows there is someone to catch him...so, basically, lately Edgar & I have just been 'Eli catchers.'..

He's talking so much too. The other day we were outside, and he saw a butterfly. He was watching it, and it flew over the fence. He put his hands up and said "Whe-i-go?" It was so cute! He kept saying it over and over, and is now one of his favorite 'phrases'. Tonight he was looking through his books, and 'talked' non-stop for about 15 minutes. It was so cute. I thought about taking a video, but I was worried that if I got up and left his side he would stop doing it. I couldn't help but think that I am going to miss those times some day...

He's also getting taller. We finally adjusted the straps on his car seat tonight...they were way too small on him. He was getting so mad that he wasn't in it...so I strapped him in, and he was happy as a clam (are clams really happy?). He stayed there for a while and enjoyed playing with some toys.

He's such a fun little boy. Don't ya just wish you could spend as much time as we do with him? :)

Happy Birthday 'Caleb-face!'

I know, I know, I'm a few days late...but this is on it's way to Caleb: FINALLY! At Christmas I asked Caleb if he would like Mario cookies for his birthday, and he said 'Yes. And can you do Luigi too?' :) Of course, I do my best to oblige. So I got some Mario cookie cutters (not easy to find, mind you...) and this is what I came up with:

And why just have 1 Mario? Why not 6?

The set I had came with a Luigi cutter too...

As well as 'Koopa Troopa' (I have no idea...)

And Spiny...I had no idea these things had names...

So this is what is in that poorly wrapped box you saw at the top of the entry:

I must say...these were the most time-intensive cookies I've ever done. If I ever make them again it will either be for someone I love very much, or someone that is paying me A LOT of money :) They were fun, though, and I thought they turned out cute.

(Oh...and for those of you that don't understand the 'Caleb-face' thing...I've called Caleb 'ketchup-face' for quite a while. I don't even know where that started...apparently, though, he no longer likes it, and at Christmas we decided to switch to 'Caleb-face'...so Caleb-face it is!)

Enjoy your cookies!

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 :)