Boys

I had no idea what it would be like to be a mommy of a boy. I love the sweet snuggles, loud giggles and his adventurous spirit. But I was not prepared for the splashing in toilets, rock eating or the shoving of fingers in cats' mouths. I had no idea I'd be googling 'how to clean graham cracker crusted hand prints of lamp shades' and I certainly didn't forsee that my bathroom would be teepeed daily. Well, when Eli's not on the search for something to destroy, he's learning some pretty cute things.

Massanutten Mountain

Ben won a free trip to Massanutten and we couldn't turn down the opportunity to escape for a couple of days. My Aunt Jill, Uncle Duane, Cousin Ed and Laura and their kids live only 20 minutes away from where we were staying so we were able to see them a little bit too. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, so you'll just have to trust me on this part of the trip. Eleanor and Lewis are close to Alison and Eli's age, so all the kids had a blast playing together. The boys were hooked on watching basketball and I really enjoyed catching up with Laura and Aunt Jill. Hopefully we'll be able to plan more trips to see eachother.

The drive up went fairly smoothly. We left right after church and I planned (I should learn not to plan on anything!) that the kids would sleep most of the trip since it would be during nap time. I think they slept all of 30 minutes, but played contently the rest of the trip. My favorite part was listening to Alison read Eli books and listening to him giggle at her.

We got to stay in a fairly nice condo. It was right by a peaceful stream and had it's own kitchen, so we were able to bring our own food for meals. Somehow they wrote down our "number of guests" wrong, so they only gave us a unit with one bedroom. The first night we tried to put the kids in living room, but that only resulted in no one sleeping. Needless to say the first night was terrible. Alison was the only one who actually slept, but that kid can sleep through anything. The second night was much better...minus Eli pulling the ice chest into the pack in play, dumping ice all over himself and his bed.

Sleep deprivation left my little guy looking like this the whole time:

Alison wasn't phased by the sleepiness for a minute. She can always find room for energy.
After we endured a morning of touring the resort and many persuasions to get us to buy a time share, we were able to relax and enjoy the mountain. We played at the park several times and went for a little walk by the springs.

They had a huge indoor water park that we had originally planned on going to, but when we realized that Alison would be just as excited about this small, free pool, we decided to save our money for a time when we'll be there for longer than 30 minutes. It was good decision. The pool was shallow enough that Alison could touch and she had a blast climbing up the ladder and jumping in over and over again.



This was Eli's first time in a pool and he beyond loved it. He had absolutely no fear or hesitation of the water.


That night we had a fabulous dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and Ben treated me to a movie of my choice.

The morning we headed back home, we made one more stop at the park. Eli loves swinging, and I love that he can swing happily while Alison runs around at all the other things...it's a good combination.


And what trip is complete without chasing some ducks?

Alison kept calling our trip "the adventure" and that it certainly was. But in the midst of Eli finding beer bottles, lost room keys and Alison jumping on the bed, begging to watch Sponge Bob, it was a refreshing time as a family. And the beauty of it all, because we have small children and opted for the free activities and brought our own food, we actually made money on the trip...now that's refreshing!

St. Patrick's Day with a little T

We started St. Patrick's Day off with reading 'Green Eggs and Ham' while eating some green eggs.

During school, Alison made a treasure box

and had a tea party.

Twirling her hair is a new favorite.

We went outside for a treasure hunt and ended up introducing the "see saw" to Eli. He loved it and I'm anxious for him to be able to really be able to play outside.

We read a book about St. Patrick's day last week, so Alison knew what the day was really about. But the memory I'll have of this year is her reaction to getting dressed this morning. I set her outfit out and I noticed her eyes start to tear up. She said, "Mommy, Miss Kelly (her art teacher) told me I'll get pinched if I wear green today." She had class this morning and knew she would see Miss Kelly shortly, thus getting the inflicted pinch. Poor girl was so confused all morning. Then we sat down for breakfast and she asked if it was flower day. It took me a minute to realize she was talking about shamrocks. And the cherry topper of the day: "Mommy, is tomorrow yellow day?"

Happy Birthday Ben!

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed Ben's birthday celebration-I hope he did too! We had some strata and coffee for breakfast and then headed to our new found favorite mall. We threw both kids in strollers and walked around the mall for hours. After lunch at California Pizza Company (which, P.S., no pizza compares to Ben's homemade) we headed home for naps.

The neighbors offered to watch the kids for awhile, so we headed to a nice, romantic, dinner out without the kiddos. I know the dinner was technically for Ben, but I think it was really more for me. It was so refreshing, and the food was amazing.

The kids were tired and we were completely stuffed by the time we got to the cake, but we still sang happy birthday.



I attempted to make a banjo cake...since I couldn't get him an actual instrument to add to his collection, I thought I could at least make a cake of it. It looked pretty good when I first constructed it, but then I made the mistake of stepping away for a minute. I came back to a paw swipe across it and a huge nose print in the middle. I'll just take this as a good lesson to learn before I make Eli's cake in a couple of weeks. Oh, and I couldn't find my candles, so the poor guy had to blow out a number one candle. He was a good sport about it and Alison loved the fact that she was able to put it in the cake all by herself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the love of my life! I'm SO thankful for you!

This is how a princess wakes up from some beauty sleep

Baby Steps

I guess when your sister does this...


It gives you confidence to do this...

Patty Cake!

I was cooking dinner and Ben was playing with the kids (Alison's pretending to be sleeping beauty and Ben is the prince)...Eli had just figured out how to clap and apparently picked up a little more than just some motor skills.

I win!

1 waterbottle=5,000 push ups


Ben and I had a friendly wager to see who could get a much coveted Y water bottle first.
You see, there's a display of Y exercise supplies at the back of the fitness room and I think I've said a million times, "that is the PERFECT running water bottle". You can just squirt some water in your mouth and keep going, instead of having to stop, unscrew the top and water always ends up everywhere.
Ben was sure he could use his "connections" to get one, but I guess being on staff trumps connections. Yep, I'm officially on staff at the Y and begin the process to be a group exercise instructor in the next couple of weeks. I've been teasing Ben that it also means I'm officially cooler than him too. I simply asked the exercise coordinator for one and she said she's pretty sure I've done 5,000 push ups over the course of time I've been there (that day alone we did 55). Funny thing is, I hate push ups.

A day in the life of Eli

Ben and I were looking back at old videos one morning, reminiscing about Alison as a baby and all the cute things she did. We quickly realized all the things we did with her that we haven't done with Eli, and I began to feel immensely guilty. Books, music, sign language, Elmo, beginning words, activities...what happened to all these things with #2? I always assumed all of our kids would have the same upbringing, but this made me realized that Eli's life so far has been completely different than Alison's. Our life is completely different and for that matter, I'm completely different. I kept wondering if this different is good or bad. Is no TV better than watching Elmo learn about his hands and feet? Are 5 books a day better than 1? Is a 10 am nap better than going to a siblings outing? I don't know how all these things will affect Eli, but I do know that I don't ever want Eli to just live in Alison's shadow.

So here's a day in life of Eli:

First, breakfast is a must. Nothing can happen until food is in the tummy.
And don't even think about giving him small bites. If it doesn't look like Alison's food, he will dump it on the floor.

Then he's off...
to find a remote

and watch the neighbor boy play basketball

and pull daddy's nice books off the bookshelf.

Then, it's time to find the tape and Hope directory in mommy's desk,

and play some piano with sister.


He eats lunch and then takes an 1.5 hour nap.
But who can sleep when there's Word Whammers to throw on the floor.

and cabinet doors to open and close.

Somewhere in his day, he finds time to push kitties around on the dining room chairs and practice his clapping and standing.

And like any good little brother, he enjoys chasing his little sister around the house.

It's time for dinner, and after the loud grunts and leg kicks for food have ceased, he's actually pretty good at feeding himself and will eat anything.

As bedtime approaches, he likes to wind down while chasing the vacuum

and pulling everything out of his dresser.

He goes to bed easily and sleeps a solid 12 hours...just enough time for mommy to clean up the house and rest up for another adventurous day.

I wish I could say I was exaggerating on this story, but everything documented happens on a daily basis-multiple times. I've picked up the alphabet that has been thrown all of the kitchen hundreds of times. This morning when I was putting the clothes back in the drawers I found a dirty diaper that had been hidden in there. I've found myself yelling, "Don't eat Cinderella's dress!" and "don't throw your sister's panties!" Life is completely different than what I expected or imagined, but I love it. I love this little boy more than anything and I love the spice he brings to this house.

11 Months!

S week

I love S week! There's so many fun things to do!

Saturday she started swim classes.

Tuesday was fun in the sun day.
We had snack, in a swimsuit and side ponytail while we watched Blue's Clues Snack Time.

Then we had a "swimming" party (the house is our pool) and sang "Mr. Sun".

And after some school work, we sang some songs.

Wednesday was snow day.
We dressed up in snow suits, hats, gloves and scarfs.


During our school work time, Alison made a snowman with cottonballs and shaving cream.


Then we had a snowball fight and made snow angels.

*And I realized why preschools are so expensive-because sometimes it's so much easier pay someone to coordinate and clean up all of these activities. I saved a big bag of packing peanuts from Christmas for this activity...it was lots of fun, but highly dangerous for babies and cats and a huge pain in the rear to clean up.

Then we made edible snowballs.


They were yummy and easy to make, but very rich and messy.


Thursday was store day:

Alison also started her new class at the Y this day. It's a gym class where she's learning the importance of exercise and nutrition. She doesn't like sweating though because "princesses don't sweat"...her teachers tried to convince her that she was just glistening.

We also learned about spheres,
(shown by the classic princess pose)

and practiced sorting using the laundry.

We read books about spring, St. Patrick's Day and snow.
Alison was able to master writing S this week-that's the only letter in her name that she's struggled with.
Verse of the week: Exodus 20:8
'Remember the Sabboth day, to keep it holy'
Bible stories: the good Samaritan, Samson, Sarah and we read some about selfishness.
We've started working on the 10 commandments and focused on #8: Don't steal.

First Bike Ride Together

I love this little face Eli makes all the time now.
We finished up R week today and I thought it would be fun to go for a ride. Last time we attempted this, Eli started screaming and then my bike tire popped. Thankfully everything today went smoothly and we all enjoyed the quick run around the neighborhood. Alison thought it was pretty cool that I let her go in her pj's. They were so dirty after lunch I just threw them in the tub and then we put pj's on for nap...and it makes my Friday night that much more relaxing.

Dinner Time

Do you enjoy dinner time?
I confess that I often dread it. I love my family and wouldn't trade the craziness for anything, but dinner time often looks like this: Eli's in between my legs, trying to walk with me as I move around the kitchen cooking, or slamming the kitchen cabinets or in his highchair screaming for food. Alison's talking...she never stops talking...and asking questions and coloring or having tea parties or playing babies, all of which usually end up in the kitchen. The cats are swarming my feet and meowing, begging for food. About the time I think I can't answer one more question or listen to one more whine or trip over one more cat, Daddy walks in the door...which leads to the "Daddy's HOME!!!" rush. Dinner eventually gets to the table and Ben and I try to have a conversation over Alison talking about her boo-boo's and Eli's screams for the food that is on our plates. Some day I'm sure I'll miss the loudness around the dinner table, but for tonight, I decided I needed a craziness break. I fed the kids early and cleaned up the kitchen while some french onion soup was simmering on the stove.
Then we locked them up!
We poured some wine, had a real conversation and enjoyed a wonderful dinner.
It lasted awhile...until Alison taught Eli to bang on the gate.

Did you like the way Alison whispered in Eli's ear? She's telling him to ask us to let them out. She knows where to go to get what she wants.

He's Got the Music in Him!

Eli beyond loves music. When he hears it, he stops whatever he's doing and starts bobbing his head.

"Hey! Where'd my music go?!"

Too Much Exercise!

I love the song Alison made up to go with her evening exercises and I love it even more that she has a love for running, even if she has to stop for beauty rests every once in awhile.