Tuesday, November 18, 2008

It's the simple things! What a blessing it is to just sometimes sit back and enjoy the simple laughter of children. Tonight Mike is out with some friends and after changing a stinky diaper I just laid on the floor and watched Eli waddle away to the hallway in his onesie. (Did I mention he was carrying his fingernail clippers?). Once in the hallway he sat in the middle as an obstacle in Landon and Ella's slide the two leggos down the hall game. They laughed and laughed simply at sliding a small lego towards each other that usually was stopped by Eli. Ella was only wearing a shirt (she left the rest in the bathroom after her visit) and none of them had a care in the world. They were all just happy, playing well together and laughing a lot. I thank God for moments like that and realize that they are going to be heading to college before I know it.

Outside of that, we celebrated Pops birthday on Sunday and Uncle Nathan's birthday too! (Uncle Nathan's birthday is tomorrow). Also, here's a shout out to cousin Jennifer whose birthday is today! Landon and Ella enjoyed making the birthday cake but they didn't understand why the party was small and why there wasn't a lot of presents to open. In fact, Landon's direct comment was "there weren't a lot of people at Pops birthday". He is insistent that whenever it is someones birthday that there is a party no matter what age they are and that we should go to their party. Beave - I guess that would mean we need to come to Boston later this week but I haven't gotten our plane ticket! Anyway - they enjoyed making birthday presents for Pops and Uncle Nathan and always delight in making a card!

As for Eli - he has really taken off walking today! He has walked everyday but more so out of me trying to bribe him across the room with a snack or a hand right in front of him. However, today he just took off - walking down the hall to Ella, walking through the kitchen to me, walking the entire basement to play trains at each end. It was a lot of fun to watch and I just can't get over how fast he is growing.

Thanks be to God for the simple things and for the laughter and joy of children!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Almost halfway through the month - I can't catch my breath! November has been a lovely fall month and we have enjoyed the pretty colorful leaves and the nice cooler weather. We have been on wagon rides at least 4 days a week, jumped in leaf piles galore, gone to the zoo, collected pretty leaves, taken pictures and had several picnics.

We wrapped up the end of October with a fall festival and some trick or treating. Landon and Ella were really into it this year and specifically Ella for the candy. Every house we stopped at she would keep grabbing candy as long as they would hold the bowl out. Landon would only take two so by the time we got home there was no wonder why Ella had 3 times the candy as Landon. They are still picking out there favorites and swapping back and forth. Eli was content to ride around the neighborhood in the wagon shaking a box of "Dots" the entire way - except for the few minutes he shared a hand to holding the flashlight he got at one house. We have a great neighbor who gives out flashlights for each child!

Eli is walking more and more as the days go by. We really threw him for a loop when we put shoes on him. I am pretty lazy about boys and shoes so since he was born he probably only had shoes on once or twice so when we started putting those on him he decided it would be much easier to crawl then try to figure them out. Now he likes his shoes a lot and is starting to walk more in them.

Ella is staying busy with Candyland these days. She loves the game and Landon doesn't remember how much he loved it at that age so he's not as willing to play it as often as Ella would like. They have also come up with some new rules as we have lost a few cards over the years. If you get an ice cream cone or lollipop near the beginning of the game you don't get to move there, but instead, you have to move that card to the "middle of the stack" so you don't win too fast. Also, if Ella gets too far behind you have to watch because her 2 yellows end up turning into 4 or 5 yellows in the blink of an eye. She doesn't ever melt down if she loses but she is ready to take you on again immediately until she wins as much as she would like.

Check out this picture of Landon as Spiderman - his friend Jason was Spiderman also so maybe you can't figure out who is who!

Outside of dressing up, Landon is now on his 3rd strip for of his yellow and white belt and will soon test for his solid yellow belt in taekwando. He loves going to class and learning new moves. He has become much more physical at home constantly tackling Ella or jumping on her. For the most part she thinks it is fun but it drives me a little insane. He is still enjoying homeschool and I am having to step up my game in geography. He knows most every flag for every country in the world and often quizzes me on them and I haven't a clue. Do you know what the flag of Papa New Guinea looks like - me neither! I barely know how to say the name of the country. He also got to go to a "real live football game". He has a deep fascination with football and memorizes the scores each week so that he can give people at church a hard time if their team lost. Last weekend Mike took him to the Wake Forest vs UVa game and he had a blast. Mike said he cheered loudly and jumped up and down but I think his favorite was the popcorn and "dippin dots".

We have some nighttime coughing going on with allergies or just that time of year so sleep is precious - I better turn in!