Edgar's Birthday Party...finally!

Edgar's birthday was a month ago. We finally got a chance to all get together to celebrate. We had to reschedule a couple of times-once so we could celebrate Grandpa's birthday, and once because Eli was sick. So it was good to finally celebrate. I think Edgar was getting anxious about making sure he got his cookies ;) I had a lot to do to get ready, so the kids played together :) Eli loves trying to play with Leah... ...though she plays with his toys a little differently than he does. The kids were so good all day while I got the house ready for some guests.

The first thing I did was make Edgar's 'cake'. Every year I make him a cookie cake...but he told me that he likes my cookies better than a cookie cake...so I just made a pile of cookies :) I agree...these tasted better...and I didn't have to worry about trying to cut a cookie cake :)

We had everyone over, and ate outside. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day. The weather was perfect, and it was so nice to be able to sit outside.

We had grilled chicken and rice (of course) with salad, and some homemade bread (well...from a mix that I got from the Mennonite store in Michigan. YUM!)

Edgar is 38...so he had a pile of 38 cookies, and I fit 38 candles on the 'cake'.

A little tricky to light all of those candles...

Eli was so excited to help daddy blow out the candles!

Big breath!

'Blow hard!'

They got all but one...I think Eli was mad...or still trying to blow :)

'Yay! They are all blown out!'

We all enjoyed some cookies and ice cream.

After dinner we all hung out. The kids were the entertainment, as usual :) Isaac enjoyed attacking Carly.

Uncle Ryan read to Eli...and Ben

Isaac showed off his new walking skills-he's doing so good!

Abuela gave Leah her bottle (8 1/4 oz...)

and the kids played the piano.

It was a super fun evening. We were all pooped by the end of the day. We had talked about playing a game together or something, but we were all so tired, so everyone went home....

...but not before seeing this GIANT frog outside on our porch. You can't really tell how big it is from this picture, but it was huge! (That picture is for you, Jennifer...)

A wonderful evening with family. Now I'm off to spend his birthday money...KIDDING!! :)

First Bite!

...and that's what she thought of it :) She actually did pretty good-she ate about 3 spoonfulls. A good first start!

6 Months Old!

Can you believe this happy little girl is already 6 months old? I certainly can't! She is such a good baby, it has made time fly. Some things she can do at 6 months...she can roll from back to belly...and has ONE time rolled the other way.

She can sit up on her own, though I usually have pillows around her in case she falls.

She sleeps all night, and takes 2-45 minute naps. Sometimes mommy gets lucky and she naps longer, but not usually. Especially since I have stopped swaddling her...she seems to be waking up easier. In face, the past few nights she has woken up (awaken, wok-t up? The correct grammar would be appreciated here, Leah ;)) in the middle of the night to play for about an hour. She doesn't cry, she just talks...REALLY loud. Loud enough to make me turn the monitor off. Bad mommy...

She loves to watch her brother play, and giggles so hard at him.

She just recently has grown more attached to her pacifier, but will suck on her fingers if she can't find it.

We're still going strong with cloth diapers, and uses about 7 a day.

She is still only nursing. I think tomorrow she will get rice cereal for the first time (you can be sure to see a post about that!)

She is such a content baby. She will sit and play for a long time while I get ready, or do something else. As long as she can see someone she's familiar with, she's happy. The only time she has a hard time is in the church nursery...we usually get paged at some point in the service. BUT, that's a pretty tricky time, because it's nap time, and she's tired. She also lately has not been making it through childcare while I am teaching, so the last 15 minutes of class have involved me teaching while holding (a very heavy) baby. BUT, if that's the hardest I've got it, I certainly can't complain!!

I think it's fun to compare what my two kiddos look like at the same age, so if you also think it's fun, you can see Eli at 6 months old. Can you tell they are siblings?

The Weekend

After a week of sickness we had a fairly eventful weekend. It started out with teaching Eli to share...just kidding. That kid doesn't share :) Saturday we we went looking for tile...we went to 3 different tile stores...still looking. Then we headed to a friends house. It had been a very long time since we had made over to their place. It was a nice evening...except for the fact that Eli was rather cranky. Oh well. He enjoyed getting attacked by his uncle :)

This is pretty much where Eli spent most of his time-with the very pink car track. It was a pretty cool toy-he loved it. He loved it so much, however, that he wanted to do nothing else, and threw a fit if he had to get away from it. Oh well...at least he wasn't playing with dolls, right? :)

Apparently Eliud enjoyed getting attacked...

We left relatively early because we had church the next morning. It was fun to be together and eat delicious pizza, and catch up with friends though:)

Sunday after church we went to another tile place and then to Edgar's parents house. Mom had made lasagna and then wanted to take the kids to the manatee viewing center. I had been fighting a sore throat, and had been up most of the night with kids that can't seem to sleep, so I stayed behind and laid down with Leah and we took a nap :) Everyone else went over, though. This is Eli looking for a manatee...there weren't any :( I guess the best time to see them is earlier in the year. From what Edgar said, though, Eli still had a blast running around.

Eli & his Abuelo :)

Whatta stud. (He's ready for baseball season to start!!)

The manatee gang...minus Eliud. I assume he was the one taking the picture :)

We headed for home around 5:30 and had a quiet evening at home. Busy weekend...but fun!!

Some more tutu!

While I already posted my favorite picture from our little 'photo shoot' HERE, these are some more of my favorites :) Enjoy!

Something tells me this will not be the last time we play dress-up!

If you're not sick...SWING!

After a week of sickness on Friday we decided to head to the park. Eli finally had a day without a fever-YAY! I think he was anxious to get out-though I think he LOVED the week of TV that he got :)

Eli loves the swings, as I have stated before... ...Leah seems to enjoy the swing as well. While we were there there was also a homeschool group that I ran into. The boys in the group were running around with 'light sabers' fighting off the evil in the world...reminded me of many TTS (Traveling Through Space) adventures that we had as kids. It also made me realize that one day Eli will be running around with sticks, fighting off evil, and defending the galaxy...it's funny to watch boys be boys...play hard (though a bit dangerously) and have so much fun running and yelling as hard as they can. That is coming... I was able to talk to one of the moms in the group for quite a while about the group. Who knows...maybe one day we will join...if we decide that homeschooling is the right route for our kids. We'll see...thankfully we have a couple of years before we have to make that decision :) Eli came home exhausted...he fell asleep at 12:30 and didn't wake up until 4. Apparently chasing big boys around the park is tiring. He did manage to stay up until 10:30 pm, though...crazy kid. At least he gets his sleep at some point during the day...

Playing with 'Gods'

Eli loves flanelgraph. Ever since I told him the story of Jonah using it, he wants to play with it all of the time. It's pretty funny...there is one character he says is God, and one that is Jesus. Whenever he wants to play with it he says 'I want Gods'. So maybe he thinks all of the characters are God. Who knows...but it's super cute :)

I thought I'd put a video of him playing. Inevitably in his play time, Chicka chicka boom boom enters the story...if you know the book at all (I have every word memorized...we read it a LOT) you'll recognize his story. The funny thing is, he often is putting the characters 'up the tree' as he tells the story, and then says 'Chicka chicka boom boom' as they all fall...

Enjoy my little storyteller ;)