The Pumpkin Patch & Halloween

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch! The boys and I went to the one in McCalla on Friday with our playgroup. Here are the boys on the choo choo train!
We had so much fun with Sadie, Michael, Brooks, and Knox...but we just had to go back with Daddy!
On Saturday, we enjoyed some family time in almost perfect weather (as Stephen and I call it, "a Garth Brooks day"). We had a picnic and then some fun time exploring the pumpkin patch.
The boys just loved the inflatables, or as Elijah calls them, "bouncy playgrounds." Luke is on the verge of learning to jump - he just bounces in place, but he's trying. He had a great time running around, trying to jump.
We couldn't leave without taking a picture by the pumpkin patch measuring stick...

Luke, 2010Elijah, 2010
Elijah, 2009 (goodness he's grown!)

And, of course, we had to go on a hay ride!

Then went to Grammy's church on Saturday night for their Fall Festival. The boys, once again, enjoyed playing on the bouncy playgrounds and trunk or treating. They especially loved dancing to the band that was playing. This is their cousin, Hayden, dressed so cutely as Minnie Mouse!

Halloween morning, we were all set to go to church - all we had to do was wake Luke up and put him in the car w/ breakfast...but we found Luke in no condition to be around other kids. We took him to the after hours clinic at Children's to confirm that he had croup (AGAIN!) So, we missed our 3rd Sunday in a row due to our sick little baby. Poor guy! He felt well enough to enjoy the Halloween festivities later that night though...

Our neighborhood is always pretty busy and gets really into Halloween. Elijah went up to most houses and yelled "ROAR!!! Trick or treat!" and then, after getting candy, he told everyone "Happy Halloween!" and, of course, "Thank you!"

Luke enjoyed walking around, but didn't trick or treat w/ a bag this year.
One lady at Grammy's church tried to give Luke a lollipop, and Elijah was quite insistent on telling her that he was allergic to eggs and couldn't have the lollipop. lol We got Colin to take a picture of the family before taking it to the house and handing out candy.

After we got home, Luke, poor baby, began crying at 6:45 and would not stop until after we laid him in his bed 30 min later. So unlike him. Please lift up our little guy so that he gets and stays healthy! Elijah, on the other hand, was, surprisingly, in bed by 7:45...however, he was still talking in his bed at 9:50! I think it's the latest he's ever been up (with the exception of Disney)

Trunk or Treat (among other things!)

So here is what's been going on at our house...
Stephen and his old boss and friend, Craig (who Elijah seriously thinks is the cartoon character Mr. Incredible - every time he sees a Mr. Incredible picture, he says it's Mr. Craig!) have worked hard to put up a fence at the house...

Elijah helped a little bit too...

We have made the most of playing outside now that most of the backyard is enclosed - we'll finish the gate this weekend.



Luke has become quite the climber....

The other day, he pushed Elijah's high chair over to the island, climbed on top, and tried to reach for the crackers that were on the island!
At his 15mo check up, he was 30% in height, 50% in weight, which is the norm for Luke. He is growing so big and getting more vocal everyday. You better watch out if you have a box of crackers around b/c Luke will say "cracker" as many times as it takes for you to give in and give him one (at least one).

We've been gearing up for Halloween... this was a trial run on Elijah's face paint as a lion...
(can you hear his roar?)
We had a good time at Hunter Street's Trunk or Treat! Daddy had to work a little late ;) so it was a fun little Mommy Date.

Luke was the cutest horse I've ever seen... (his cousin, Riley, comes in a very close second... I'm a little partial to my own boy!)

We found Elijah's Sunday school teachers, Mr. Mark, Mrs. Janet, Mr. Gage, and Mrs. Molly...
He hadn't seen them in 2 weeks b/c Luke had croup for 2 Sundays in a row, so he was overjoyed to see his teachers! He had been asking about them all day!

That's about it...more pictures and silly stories to share soon!

Our Cruise and Boys Updates

Stephen and I recently took our first vacation without the boys. We went on a cruise to Cozumel and Progresso, Mexico. It was the most relaxing vacation we have ever had! It was hard leaving the boys, but it was really nice to have a little husband and wife time. The boys stayed with their Grammy and Gramps (Stephen's mom and stepdad) the first 3 nights, and then went up to Huntsville with their Nanny and Poppy (my mom and dad) the last 3 nights. They seemed to have a lot of fun! But here are some highlights of our cruise...

We got to dress up for formal night... takes us back to our senior prom - same outfits, different dates... (well, Stephen actually wore a white jacket...)
Here we are by the boat in Progresso. We thought we might enjoy some authentic Mexican cuisine, but then Stephen remembered how much he enjoys having the FDA in the US and we opted to eat on the boat. =)
We had a fun shopping, finding sea shells for Elijah, and, of course, taking some silly pictures in Progresso.

We met some really fun friends that we had dinner with every night - Leila & Mark, and Tammy & Tal. Dinner was fabulous! We enjoyed our chocolate melting cake most every night. And the wait staff was so fun, entertaining us with song and dance every night.
We had fun in Cozumel...just took a taxi downtown and then enjoyed our 4 mile walk back to the boat. So relaxing!
Stephen was excited to play basketball on the cruise!

And I was super pumped to lay out! And we tried to catch a sunset on our last night...Other highlights - Stephen surprised me with a massage for my bday. (so sweet!) We had fun running on the boat, but it was SO windy! So 1/2 of the track was a cinch, and the other half was SO hard! It was a GREAT vacation and it was so nice to enjoy some time together, actually focusing on one another, rather than our boys. If you have toddlers, you know how exhausting parenthood can get, so it was a fabulous way to recharge our mommy and daddy batteries. In the past, I've always been so bummed when my vacation's over; but this time, it was so exciting coming home to our boys!!! We were SO happy to see them!!! It's nice to be back together as a family again.



So here's an update on the boys...

Luke

• is saying so many more words! Cracker, cookie, car, cup, good girl (to Sage), more, bird, ball...a lot of things are still "dat!" but he's getting there!
  
• can now open doors...
• can blow bubbles on his own
  
• is climbing a bit on furniture and chairs (Elijah size chairs). I looked over from the kitchen into the den and I see Luke, standing on top of Elijah's chair, smiling w/ his hands in the air.
• can put his hands up in the air during the "hands up song" at the library (don't know if I've mentioned this)
• knows most of his facial features and his head, hair, tummy, hands, and feet.
• has been in 18 mo clothes for a good month or so now.. which is weird considering that was what Elijah was in when I had Luke! Brings back some memories...
  

Elijah

• went into Luke's room the other night at bedtime, with his guitar, and so gently sang him a lullaby, then whispered "I love you sweet boy" and walked out
• accidentally pulled the fire alarm at church the other night when we went to a packing party for a group leaving for Africa the next morning. (We don't think he's ever noticed a fire alarm before or knew what he was actually doing). The fire dept had to come to turn it off, but had difficulties finding a key...He was so upset about it that he couldn't eat dinner, and then got sick outside! Our poor guy!
• has had difficulties taking his nap... so we've started waking him up btwn 6:15-6:45 and it has helped tremendously! (He used to wake up around 7:30/8). He still doesn't nap some days, but overall, he does. Yeah!!! (Mommy needs that time to clean!)
• is fearless! He will climb anything on the playground and jump from it. He thinks that nothing can hurt him. I've had several parents at the playgrounds comment on how gutsy he is...do I hear injury coming? =)
• can still sit and read forever. I love that.
  

• Both boys think it's funny to run from me... =)
  

The boys recently painted pumpkins...

And then Elijah drew faces and glued eyes, a nose, a mouth, and hair on the pumpkins...

This picture was taken right after we got back from a fun carnival a local church hosted at our clubhouse - Elijah called the face painting his "alabama fan".

Lots of Pictures to Share...

So we've been a bit busy these past few weeks. We've...
Helped give Sage a bath....

and got quite wet in the process!

Learned that Luke loves corn on the cob...

and he has started giving us a thumbs up when he's done eating! too cute!

Played with Uncle Jay, Aunt Beth, and Bella Grace...

We had a short but sweet playdate w/ Bella Grace, sporting her MSU gear, while Luke (& a sleeping Elijah) sported their UA gear. (Note: Bella Grace did wear her Auburn outfit the day after AU beat MSU...)

Tailgated at the Alabama/Penn State football game....

(it looks like Elijah's trying to get on our good side!)

Stephen, the boys, and my dad went to ttown & got to see some friends for a little bit as the rain came pouring down! After a little rain delay, we headed to the A-club for some dinner, and Stephen & boys headed home.

Mommy got to go to the game with Poppy...
It was such a fun game! We had a blast watching the game and it was so neat to see Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, and Nick Saban all together on the field before the game! ROLL TIDE!

Played on the playground with friends from our Sunday school class...We had a fun time at Veteran's Park with friends today... however, our lunch was cut quite short b/c of a group of bees that wanted to join in on our picnic! And if you know me, you know I freak out around bees! But we had a blast, other than that!

And how can we have an outdoor outing without Elijah dropping his shorts b/c he has to tinkle... Here he is, running to the restrooms with his shorts around his ankles... our sweet Elijah...

Finger Painting Fun/McWayne/Biting...

Elijah and Luke's Nanny and Poppy came into town a few weeks ago and took us to the McWayne Center. We had so much fun, although we were all completely exhausted after only 2 hours of playing. Here are just a few cute pics from our morning of fun!

So today, I introduced Luke to the world of finger painting... I had introduced Elijah to it when he was about 14 months old - right before Stephen came home from Africa, we made a big "welcome home" banner..so sweet! But while Elijah had kept his paci in his mouth (way back when), Luke kept spitting his paci out in hopes that Mommy would look away so he could sneak a taste of the super enticing turquoise paint. (As you can tell from the picture, he didn't like it too much!) But he was able to finger paint some flowers for a future craft project, and then he kind of painted his name. Elijah did a great job on his flowers, which he basically did all by himself, and then he decided to use a paint brush on his name. I was quite impressed!


LUKE
Luke has taken way more of an interest in books. He still likes to walk around a lot while we're reading, but lately, he's sat in our laps so much longer and has been really interested in pointing the pictures and trying to say the words. He is now forever dropping his cup in his highchair, just so he can say "uh oh!" (the 'oh' part isn't really there... it's just "uh uh..." but w/ the inflection of 'uh oh'). We started our classes at the library this week, and as I was singing the hands up song to him today, "Luke, Luke, if you're there, put your hands up in the air," he put his hands up! And he did it time and time again! So cute!


Now for the so cute, but not so cute... Elijah has been knocking Luke down and pushing him lately. And while Luke is smaller, he is not going to take it! When Elijah knocks him down, Luke has no change in his facial expression, but he just puts his hands up and opens his mouth (think godzilla) and just rams his mouth into Elijah's shoulder and stays there. I don't think he's biting down, but he's just going at him w/ all his body weight. It is SO HARD not to laugh while Elijah is freaking out that his little brother's going after him. So we've had to talk to Luke about how to respond to Elijah's behavior (and, yes, we've had to talk to Elijah about how not to push and hit)


ELIJAH
I don't know what he'll be when he grows up. He is such a smart little guy. But he has a knack for all things related to God. As early as he could talk, he could tell you that we go to church to learn about God. And if you asked him who God was, he'd say Jesus, and vis versa. Well, in the Lord's Prayer, he was saying one line wrong since day one, but we never really corrected it - "as we forgive those who have trespassed against us". Well, we corrected him maybe 2 nights in a row and he says in perfectly every time! It's the sweetest thing to hear. In church, they've been learning the verse "There is no one who does good. Not even one." Well, I said to him yesterday "There is no one who does good..." and he said "not anybody...Only God does good all the time." It looks like his sweet Sunday School teachers are getting through to him! He prayed before his nap yesterday and this is how it went... "Dear Lord. Thank you for Mommy. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for Sage. Please protect her tummy from the peanuts. Please keep daddy safe while he's driving. Please help him drive home safely. Please help him be fuccessful (successful w/ an "f") at work. Help him to trust in the Lord. Help him to trust in the Lord. Amen". I love it!


Tonight, we put Elijah in a footed, zip up pajama that we bought him. It was the first time he'd been in a onesie pj since he outgrew his 18 month clothes. He LOVED it! He was dancing around his room, dragging his rubber padded feet along the carpet, with the biggest smile on his face. Too cute!


Every night, we go into the boys' rooms to check on them when we go to sleep. We shine the light from the monitor on Elijah's face as we kiss him and tell him "I love you." Both Stephen and I try SO hard to get him to say "I love you" back in his sleep. He says it every few nights and it's so precious.



And just to show how much both the boys are growing up - we were at the playground yesterday and I said "Okay boys. If we want to play soccer, we need to head over to the tennis courts b/c it's getting late." We were at the stairs at the time. Elijah immediately walked to the tennis court gate to hold it open, as Luke walked to the stroller, grabbed the soccer ball out of the back, and walked w/ the soccer ball into the tennis courts. It was so precious!

Let's Go on a Mommy Date!

Let's go on a Mommy Date to Toy Story 3 again,

We'll watch Buzz, Woody, Rex, & Ham on the giant screen and then...We'll race along the sidewalk, I'll chase you and you'll chase me.
Side by side we'll stroll along, smiling oh so cheerfully.


Then how about some ice cream while we talk about the show?
We'll have fun being silly, until it's time to go... Our next date we'll bring Dad, and your little brother too.
But today I'll enjoy our Mommy date, with only me and you.{Love the book, "Let's go on a Mommy Date" by Karen Kingsbury (Thanks Carol!)}

Silly Stories of Our Boys

So I thought I would share some sweet stories of Elijah, followed by Luke, during my 10 minutes of down time before cleaning up...
Elijah is getting so sweet and charming. A couple times, he's looked at me, rubbed my face so sweetly, and said "You're the kindest mommy in town" (and the same to daddy). He absolutely LOVES to laugh and to make people laugh. He is his father's son...
Story #1: Elijah apparently saw someone say "Do you want a piece of me?!" maybe in Toy Story or something. So the other day, after his nap, he bowed up and said really loudly, with a smile of course, "Do you want a piece of meat?!" LOL I said, "what?!" and he repeated it over and over... You'd correct him and say "me" but he just thought it was too funny saying "meat." And if you ask him, he says "yes" like, where is it?!
Story #2: For as long as I can remember, Stephen's grabbed my cheeks w/ his hands, pushed them together to make my face look fat and chubby, and has said "Do you want some cookies?" It cracks him up. Well, Elijah, now loves to squeeze our faces and say "Do you want some cookies?...Do you want some chocolate chip cookies?...Do you want some cookies w/ sprinkles?" in this deep voice. He loves it as much as his daddy!
Story #3: He loves to run. He can run all day long. When we go for a jog or leave the pool, I usually let him run along the stroller up the hill to our home. One day, he found several sticks along the side of the sidewalk and he was picking them all up to take home. After about 5 sticks, he said "Let's leave some for the other boys and girls". too sweet
Story #4: Somebody call the zoo b/c there are animals on the loose! Elijah sees tigers, alligators, lions, etc all over the place. We will be jogging and he will yell, "Mommy, Daddy, stop! There's a tiger in the road?!" or he will frantically run downstairs b/c an alligator is coming. And if we ever really need him to listen, all we have to do is tell him there's an alligator coming and he will run as fast as he can to listen.
Story #5: Elijah hates my hair in a ponytail. I mean, hates it. It's not a big deal if I start out the day in one, but if I ever go to put my hair up, he yells, "NO! Don't! Don't put your hair in a ponytail!!!" and will tear up! It's pitiful.
Story #6: I put both of the boys' milk cups in the microwave at the same time. Well, they were spinning around on the carousel thing in the microwave and all of a sudden, Elijah said "Look! Luke's milk is chasing mine!" lol

So Luke has changed in the past 3 or 4 weeks. He has turned into a boy who knows what he wants and will not sit quietly anymore until he gets it. He points at everything and calls most thing "dat" (resembles "that") or "da" or "na" or "ma"... not so much on the words yet. Still just mama, dada, banana,... But he has some lungs boy! He will holler loudly until you hand him that cup that he's pointing at. The other morning we were doing flashcards during breakfast, and I was doing some numbers (for Elijah), and I would say "what number is this?" and Luke would say something everytime before Elijah and he was quite confident in his answers...not so much when we got to Luke's flashcards, but it was still cute.
He is walking everywhere, getting pretty fast. He loves to watch you run after him when he's just about to get in trouble - he'll crawl over to the dog bowl or the step latter in the bathroom (which he LOVES to climb) and he'll just wait until you look at him and he'll just smile at you! I took Luke to an allergist on Wednesday to have him pricked 20 times. Poor baby! During the pricking process, he was pinned down on his belly on the table, and I was holding his hands and my head was flat on the table next to his, trying to look him in the eyes the whole time to let him know it's okay. I must have looked so silly...It turns out that he's only allergic to eggs (well, of what we tested). So no cooked eggs and no products with eggs - no baked cookies, no mac n cheese, no pasta... That's going to be fun when we go to publix and pass by the free cookie in the bakery! So now we have to be pretty diligent in what we purchase and prepare for him to eat. Hopefully this will stop his little rash breakouts on his face and we'll have a perfect complexion from here on out.