Pictures, pictures.

And finally, two weeks late, here are the pictures from Eli’s birthday party.  I actually didn’t get that many. (bad mommy, bad…)

 

And the onlookers. (some of them, anyway).

Uncle Daniel and Peyton  

Granny and Tessa
 

Uncle Chris and Ali 

Aunt Rachel and Ali

Pop, Nick and Mawmaw

Bob and Grey 

Zach, Sam and Tessa

A bunch of people unprepared to have their picture taken

Don’t worry, Tessa.  You’ll have your party soon.

 
What a big boy!  Here’s our annual football shot.

2 years


1 year

1 month

And, since it’s been awhile since I posted anything and it  will probably be another month or two before I get around to it again, here are a few more pictures and videos for you to enjoy.

   

We took this video a few weeks ago.  She’s off to the races now.

And that’s all I’ve got.  As always, thanks for stopping by for this thrilling blog experience ;).

Two years old…

Dear Eli,

I can't believe that you turn two years old today! In some ways it feels like you were born yesterday, and yet I now cannot imagine our life without you in it. I'll always remember the day I found out I was pregnant with you. It came as quite a shock and I didn't feel at all ready to take on the responsibility of becoming your mom. Now, not one day goes by that I don't feel completely overwhelmed by the love I have for you and how blessed we are to be your parents. It's a pure joy to watch you grow up. You're such a sponge right now and I can see you learning new things every day. Here are some of the things you are doing and saying these days that I want to be sure to remember forever:

• Some mornings if you wake up early and I'm still half asleep, I'll ask you if you want to come snuggle with me on the couch and you run up saying "nuggle!!!". I can always count on a hug and a kiss from you whenever I need one.
• Whenever you want up on our laps you say “up pease! up pease! up pease! up pease! up pease!” until your wish is granted.
• We’ve been working on manners lately, and you’ve now learned to say “tinkyou mommyyyyy” in the sweetest voice when you’re given what you requested. This just melts me and you could probably get anything you want out of me when you say that. Thankfully you don’t realize this! (yet.)
• Daddy is thrilled that it is now baseball season and you are quickly picking up on his passion for the game. Every time a baseball game is on t.v. you excitedly yell “Beeball!!!” and crawl up in daddy’s lap to watch the game. It’s so cute that it almost makes me not mind the fact that baseball has taken over our television (almost...).
• You are obsessed with all things vehicular and always point out cars and trucks and tell us who they belong to. Every time we leave to go somewhere you point out "Daddy's tut (truck)" and "Mommy's cawww (car)". This always makes me smile.
• You and Tessa are quickly becoming best friends. You recently began sharing a room and I love listening to the two of you “talking” to each other and giggling in the mornings when you first wake up. I can’t wait to see your relationship grow. I also love how you say “I sowwy Tetta” when you offend her in some way (which also often happens these days).
• You love riding on top of daddy’s shoulders and always tell us that you’re "up high daddy's sholshers" when you get to ride.
• We’re working on learning your numbers and letters. I love how you say “fesen” for “seven”, “dubadoo” for “W” and “Yi” for “Y”.
• I also love how you call crackers and tractors “tattoos” and grapefruit juice "baby juice".
• When you see that we’re getting ready to go somewhere you get so excited and exclaim “et's go! Go daddy (or mommy) go!” You also say this over and over and over and over again when you’re tired of being somewhere and are ready to get the heck outta there (mostly in Publix). I love it in the former situation. Notsomuch in the latter.

These are just a few of the things that make your daddy and me smile throughout the day. One day these things will be a distant memory. I so look forward to seeing you grow up, but please don’t get in too much of a hurry. We love you so much. Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

(birthday party pictures to come. I couldn’t get it together today, so check back!)

Family Vacation 2010

I’m not even going to attempt to make this post interesting.  I’m too exhausted and am crashing down too hard from my vacation high.  Here are the facts:

Location: Folly Beach, SC
Event: Annual Family Vacay
Objectives: Have lots of family bonding time and eat huge amounts of unhealthy food.  Check and check.
People in attendance: J.C., me, Eli, Tessa, Gramamma, Pop, Nick, Mawmaw, Chris, Rachel, and Ali

And here are the pics.

The beach had a huge tide pool that the kids played in in.  No waves, undertow, sharks or jellyfish = perfect beach baby pool.

We had one tired and super snuggly little boy on our hands after all the beach fun.

“whooooaaa!”

Walkin’ the plank.

 

The fam

 

Our little family picture looks a little different this year than it did last year (and definitely different than it did 3 years ago).  I wonder what it will look like next year???

The long awaited Grandparent blog update

I don’t have much to share, but this should buy me at least a week before hearing the question “when are you going to update your blog”.  Riiiiight??  :)

Eli is quite obsessed with his new cowboy boots that Gramamma bought for him.  I had stripped him down last night before bed and hadn’t gotten his jammies on yet.  Before I had a chance to, he found his boots and put them on (on the wrong feet, which made it even cuter in my opinion).  It was kind of warm in the house, so J.C. just put him to bed in his diaper and boots (daddies…. :)). 

Strikin’ his modeling pose.

 

Here’s a video of my sweet Tessa-girl.  She’s not doing anything spectacular, but I can’t get enough of her giggles.

And here’s one more pic for good measure.

I hate to brag, but….

I just can’t help myself.

This and That

So I’ve pretty much come to terms with the fact that this blog is going to strictly be a “please-come-oooh-and-aaah-over-my-kids” kind of space and not so much of a “come-read-my-hilarious-and-thought-provoking-commentary” kind of space (although we all know that was a stretch to begin with).  Really, the only reason I still post anything on here is that it’s as close to any form of scrapbooking or journaling that I’m ever gonna do and I need something that I can look back on one day to have some memories, ya know?  So, if you’re interested in following along, you’re more than welcome.  If not, I won’t hold it against you, because believe me, unless you’re a pretty close friend, I wouldn’t follow your blog if it were as boring and self-centered narrowly focused as this one.

Maybe one day when I have at least three whole seconds to rub together on a regular basis, then I’ll revisit the idea of actually blogging instead of just dumping pictures and videos.  Don’t hold your breath, though.

Enough self deprecation.  Moving on to the main subjects.

Tessa hangin’ out with mr. cutie pie, Grey.   Can we go ahead and arrange the marriage?  (kidding….. sort of.)

Bath time fun.  Of course Tessa’s bath seat looks like the most awesome thing in the world to Eli (kind of like the exersaucer).

I just think Tessa looks really pretty in this picture.  Please don’t tell me if you disagree.

We went to visit my friend Brooke the other day and Eli found an awesome mud puddle face-plant play in.

Our biggest news lately is that Tessa has started crawling (what???).  Slow down, Mr. Time…

And here are a couple more videos for good measure.

Is it sick that I find that video funny?  Most parents would probably rescue their baby from the overly determined toddler, but not us.  No, we video and laugh.