Eli's 1 Year Pictures

Ben thought it might be time to get Eli his own little chair, so we tried out Alison's princess chair to see if he liked it. You are seeing the whole 2 seconds he sat and watched Sesame Street, then he was on to bigger and better things. I don't think we'll be purchasing any more chairs in the near future.

The best smiles

 

It's a Happy, Happy Day!

We got a new table!  This is a long awaited table. Ben and I have talked and dreamed for years about this table. The house feels warmer and I can just see our family growing over the years as we sit around this table together. 

And we got a new lawn mower!  Riding lawn mowers help yard work in our huge lot look a whole lot better. Thanks to a very generous friend at church, Alison will now get "tractor" rides on a weekly basis.

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful morning of worship at church and I'm immensely thankful for several things. First, sweet friends to make my princess smile.

Our morning began nothing like I expected. Easter is my absolute favorite day of the year, so I woke up with a great big smile on my face...Alison did not. The poptart was too crumbly, the dress was too hot, the shoes were too wiggly, the curls were too hot, the fingernail polish was too smelly and the clippy was too scratchy.

Second, a slightly blurry picture to mask the animal cracker that is smeared all over Eli's white Easter shirt. I was really looking forward to a great shot of the kids, but this is what life is-not always perfect.

Tim, Abby and Alex came over for the afternoon. We munched on appetizers while prepping the big dinner and doing fun Easter activities. We gave the kids Easter baskets and went on an egg hunt.

Eli took an extra long nap and then enjoyed some snuggles with daddy while the girls were hunting for eggs.

The kids played great together all afternoon and it was nice to have some relaxing time with friends.

Of course no Easter is complete without the traditional peep taste test. Alison's made funny faces every year-this year she politely ate it, but we all knew she wanted to spit it out. Eli devoured it. He would have eaten the whole package if I let him.

I learned several lessons this year and I'm already planning for a better Easter next year. First lesson: prep food the day before and don't try new recipes. Second lesson: organize activities.
I tried a new potato casserole recipe from a friend at church. I didn't have enough sour cream, so I had to use some of our appetizer basil dip as a substitute. I got everything mixed up and realized it made a HUGE patch and then it took forever to cook, which threw off all of our other dishes. Then, I started to make the zwiebach and realized we had just ran out of yeast the night before while making pizza. So, we crossed bread off the menu and had some slightly crunchy, basil filled potatoes. Which brings me to the second lesson. I wish I thought out the day a little better. I had planned on making Easter cookies with Alison and that never happened. I had hoped to play outside with the kids and maybe play some fun games-also never happened. Dinner was much later than we anticipated and some kids never got naps.
But, through all the imperfections, I knew there was a reason for all of them. My focus for the day shouldn't be food and activities and how clean my kids are.
Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.
And that's all the matters.

Nico's Birthday Party

Nico is one of Alison's best friends and he shares Eli's birthday. We went to his birthday party that was held at a gym where Nico takes gymnastics. Alison LOVED it.
She's changing into a whole new little girl. In the last few months, she's become much more independent...too independent for this momma. At swim lessons, she doesn't want us to watch and at Nico's party, she just marched in and joined the fun. It's a transition for me to just drop her off and say "have a good time!". I'm used to being "in" the activities and perhaps a part of me misses being able to be a kid and join the fun she's having.
Nico's party was Batman themed. We sat down for cupcakes on Batman plates and Alison turned to me and said, "Momma, who is this strange man on my plate?". I'm sure Eli will teach her all about superhero's one day, but for now, she's using her Batman cape as a Little Blue Riding hood costume.

Colored Eggs

This was the first year I've attempted dying eggs with Alison and I was surprised how well she did. Last year I was too hugely pregnant to even think about projects like this, but yesterday made me realize how fun of a tradition this is.


Of course our dying kit was princess themed, but the stickers wouldn't stick to the eggs. Thankfully Alison was happy enough just putting the stickers on a piece of construction paper. We went through a lot of construction paper yesterday and I kept thinking that I really need to find a book of all pink construction paper.
We had a great time decorating, but when we were finished I wasn't sure what to do with our eggs. What are you supposed to do with dyed eggs? Using them for decoration or hunts seemed unsafe to me. I ended up just putting them back in the refrigerator and we've munched on them since then, but I still wonder: what do people do with their dyed eggs?

Eli is a bottomless pit.
An hour after breakfast he's ready for a snack.
I'm beginning to feel like he lives in this highchair.

He still has bouts of fussiness during dinner because he wants exactly what we have on our plates. Yogurt always has a calming effect...especially when you bathe in it.
Just don't tell Daddy he had Cinderella yogurt and a pink sippy cup.

And after a bath in yogurt, it's straight to a real bath.

I don't think he cares for Alison's hair style choice.

Could his top teeth possibly be FINALLY coming in?

Let's examine...

They have to come SOME time, right? After months of saying, "they're coming soon!" a glimmer of white was the excitement of the day.

Living in the forest

I love waking up in the morning to this:
I love getting up early in the morning, before everyone else is up, to enjoy the peace and quiet. I grab a cup of coffee and my bible, light a couple of candles and snuggle up in my red chair. I'll spend a few moments just looking out into the back yard and listen to the birds sing and watch the sun glisten through the trees. It's so refreshing and makes my whole day run so much smoother.

However, living in the forest has it's draw backs. Our yard is pretty much just dirt and weeds. 2 weeks ago I started to see some green peak through our leaf covered lot and I got inspired. Maybe a little too inspired. But for some reason, when I get my mind set on a project, I won't stop until it's finished. Thus, I took 2 weeks off of our "normal" routine and spent countless hours uncovering our lot. 60 bags of leaves and 2 pairs of gloves later, I was finally able to see our bushes. I know these pictures just seem normal, but there was literally feet of leaves piled up all around the house and no green could be seen in the yard.
Ben and I laid mulch, planted some flowers in hanging plants and planted some herbs and tomatoes in pots on the back porch. We had to be careful what we planted and where because the deer come out at night and eat the plants. I love that deer are so near, but I love my pretty flowers more.

If you look closely enough in the first picture you can see the massive amount of leaves still in our far back yard, behind the swing set. I'd love to clean all that up too, but my patience with leaves at this moment has run out. Maybe in a few weeks my ambition will return, but for now, I'm going to enjoy my new clean yard.

When I first started this project, Ben thought I was slightly nuts. Maybe really nuts. I've never cared a lick about yard work before. In Michigan, we had an awesome yard, complete with a beautiful strawberry garden that my dad planted for me, but I rarely spent any time outside helping Ben with the upkeep. I don't know what came over me, but all of the sudden I fell in love with it. I loved being outside. I loved getting my hands dirty and seeing the beautiful progress that was being made. I loved the time I was able to spend with Ben and the kids. The only part I don't love is coveting for a better yard. I call our neighbors "Better Homes and Garden house" because it seriously could be on the cover of that magazine. Since we're just renting it makes no sense to invest (and it would be a huge investment) in the yard, but I would LOVE to have real grass for my kids to be able to run around in. All coveting aside, the past few weeks has turned me into a whole new gardening Jen. It's made me regret all the years I've sat inside while Ben's been outside by himself working hard. I look forward to the day when we can plant another strawberry patch and vegetable garden and spend hours together planting, weeding and enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Sleepy Head

The last few days Alison has been waking up from her nap drenched in sweat. She's my little furnace and is exactly like her daddy. I love the way she drowsily fumbles out of her room and asks to take off her clothes. With her hair in complete disarray and shirt imprints all over her body, she'll snuggle up to me and just cuddle for a few quiet moments. I'm learning to love those sweet quiet moments.

Love the curls

I've heard lots of mom's say it, but I just can't get over the little curls on the back of Eli's head. They're random and unpredictable, but oh, so cute!

Happy 1st Birthday Eli!

One year ago, we welcomed Eliot James to our family.


He was instantly a blessing to our family and I absolutely love being his mommy. Maybe it was the 4 months of being up 24-7 together or perhaps it was just the millions of giggles I've heard, but I'm more in love with my son than I thought possible.

I have to admit that I was a little sad on Eli's first birthday. I have absolutely loved this past year and I'm going to miss this beautiful season of our life.

But Alison was not sad in the least. She was beyond excited to celebrate...and what better way to celebrate than decorating cupcakes in a swimsuit and rainboots (note that there were no plans for swimming on this clear, sunny day).

She wasn't jealous of all the attention and presents Eli got, but she sure did have a hard time being patient waiting for the party to start. Heaven forbid the birthday boy actually take a nap!

Isn't Eli's shirt cute? My good friend, Andrea, made it for him. Me, Andrea and my other friend Julie, all had boys within a week of eachother, so she made all the babies matching birthday shirts. Too bad we weren't in Michigan to join their joint party too!

All the grandparents were very sensitive to Alison not being left out and I began to wonder if she was actually getting more than her brother. I wanted her to learn to be selfless and just make the day about her brother...but I ended up learning that our parents really do know best and I sure was glad to have some things to let her open too!

We had a Micky Mouse themed party. I decided to make cupcakes instead of a fancy shmancy cake, because Alison barely touched her cake and I had spent a lot of time on the stinkin' thing.

I should have remembered that he is completely opposite of his sister. He devoured the cupcake...every single crumb was consumed. I think he sucked on the frosting for a good 5 minutes, just savoring the whole thing.

Ben, Alison and I got him Dino-his new walking friend. I've heard great reviews on the toy and so far it's been a favorite.

Poppy was here to visit for his birthday and did a great job helping us pick out some new boy toys...as you can see it was a hit.

While the kids took a birthday nap, Ben and I did some yard work (which has consumed my time, hence the delay on the post) and came inside to find the house entirely too hot to cook in. So we continued the celebration at a new Mexican restaurant. I wasn't too impressed, but Eli thought it was fun.

It was a low key day, nothing too exciting to rave about. I tried to savor the moments though, because I know that within the next 6 months, my baby will be gone and he'll be a whole new kid. Why does time have to go by so fast?

1 year check up:
25% for weight
75% for height
In rockstar health

One Happy Daddy

Ben is the best daddy and always seems to have the perfect touch with our kids.
I spent a lot of time with Eli yesterday trying to get him to walk, with no luck. He didn't take a single step. All of my cheers and persuasions didn't make a single difference, he still just stood there and smiled at me. Ben walks in the door from work and gets him to take 3 steps! It was the first time he's taken any unassisted steps, and it was all by the power of daddy.
Then he let Alison jam out on his new mandobird. She absolutely loved it and asked if she could play everyday with him. I'm pretty sure he was the happiest daddy around and I hope that her love for music only grows.