Sneaky Eli

Someone sneaky got into my mascara. He walked out of the bathroom totally oblivious not knowing it was all over his face. This deserves a post just for this picture. And to point out he has obviously been watching me. He actually got close to his eyes when he tried to put this on.

Our first vacation

This was the first year Landon has been off for Spring Break and me too! This is actually the first year we haven't led a GO Trip or Landon has normally had to work through Spring Break. So I was really excited and wanted us to plan to do something. So we decided to go to Chattanooga. What can you really do with a 2 year old and 5 month old that isn't stressful when traveling?! Our goal was two things: Chattanooga Aquarium and swimming. That's it. simple. We gave our self the whole day to travel, which it only takes 4 hours to get there without stopping and a whole day traveling back. No goals, no set time, just stopping when we wanted, eating snacks, and enjoying being with each other. We left Friday and stopped in Nashville, stopped to see a friend and ate lunch. Landon took me to Goodwill and I piddled around for an hour. Eli played, Madi ate, a trip to Sonic and back in the car. We actually made it to Chattanooga in the late afternoon and went swimming in the indoor hotel swimming pool. Which Eli LOVED! He has no fear of the water--And I mean no fear. His eyes were so red when he got out from jumping in face first over and over without shutting his eyes. Poor kid. He talked about it all weekend and we even went back and swam the next day. We spent Saturday at the aquarium which was so good and definitely worth going. My favorite part was seeing the sea otters and watching a man dive in and feed the fish. It was pretty great! Then we drove around Chattanooga while the kids slept in the car, ate dinner and went to bed. Sunday was pretty much the same coming back. We stopped in Franklin to see more friends Devin and Cara Maddox and their sweet little boy Duke and then headed home. 

Over all the trip was great! I was a little hesitant spending the money for a trip the kids wouldn't remember and wasn't sure we needed to spend any extra money  I had been saving but it was really worth it. Just the time away from Jackson and being together was really great. Even though Eli will not remember. I will. I will remember the sweet things he said. How excited he was to swim. His fear of the sting rays, chasing butterflies, eating lots of suckers and his love for Landon and wanting to be with him all the time! It was all so special to me. I love our family. 

Family Pictures

We recently had some family pictures made by Kristi McMurray. Here are some of my favorites! All the pictures were taken at our house.  Check out her blog at http://kristimcmurry.blogspot.com

 My mom made her dress and bonnet in this picture. 

 You can't see her dress well but the dress she has on was my mom's dress when she was a baby. 

Madilynn-4 months

Here is our sweet little Madilynn. Weighing in at only 11 lbs and 3 oz. She is a small and petite little thing but has some rolls on her as well which Eli never had. So I'm enjoying a squishy little baby. She is a quiet baby except when she cries, she still is not sleeping through the night and so far has only laughed at Eli, which I got on video! 

The Green Eyed Man

Eli was sick this last weekend so we decided to introduce him to a movie. He has seen lots of short show like Sesame Street, Thomas, Barney, etc but we haven't showed him a whole movie and thought being sick is the perfect time to introduce him. So we started with Cars and he loved it! He watched the whole thing and wanted to watch it again. Later that night Landon and I wanted to see the Disney movie Bolt and thought Eli could just watch it with us or just play while we watch it. It is a really cute movie about a dog and there is a bad guy in the movie that has one green eye and looks a little scary. While we were watching it last night I didn't think anything of the few scarier parts in the movie and we are normally watching out for these kinds of things. We tucked Eli into bed with his normal routine, juice, donkey, sing a song, pray, say i love you or ' I luf ewe' and he rolled over and was out pretty fast. He woke up about 2:00 and Landon went to check on him. This isn't too unusual and especially since he had been sick we didn't think anything of it. He just wanted us to sing a song and pray with him again which is what he normally says when he wakes up at night. He always request "Jesus loves me so'. About 30 minutes later he woke up crying again and this time I went upstairs, after I sang Jesus Loves Me and prayed with tears in his eyes he said, "mommy, yucky green eyes". I immediately knew he was talking about that scary guy in the movie and my heart just sunk. I was so sad that he was either having a bad dream or woke up with the first thought of that scary green eyed man. Then I reassured Eli and tucked him back in. I spent the next hour tossing and turning and not being able to sleep knowing that Eli did not go to bed peacefully. I think all parents desire for their kids to sleep in peace. I know I always want bed time to be a smooth, quiet, and a feeling of security for Eli when Landon and I put him down. I hope he thinks of the good things during the day and sleeps well at night. I pray for that each night for him and that Christ will make himself known to him even in his sleep. This was just a reminder that as parents we are responsible for their little eyes that affect their dreams and their hearts. I hope that we are able to help put Madilynn and Elijah to bed with clear minds so that Christ can reveal himself to them. He can't if the green eyed man is in his head. : )

Happy Birthday Eli!

Dear Elijah, Happy Birthday! You are two. This year we celebrated with a Hat party. You LOVE hats, all kinds of hats. Your favorite hat is a yellow Bob the Builder construction hat. The ironic thing is that I bought it for .50 at Goodwill and you wear it ALL day long. I made hat cupcakes and Grammie, Pops, Laurel and JJ were here to celebrate your birthday. You liked it when we sang Happy Birthday and you loved blowing out the candle but you were not interested in eating the cupcake. You really loved opening your gifts. A few things you got were some blocks, hats, a drawing set, a matching game, a tricycle and a helmet. The year from 1 to 2 was a big one developmentally. You were already saying some words and talking on your first birthday but now you are saying full sentences. You talk all the time and are very expressive. You get excited about everything. A typical day involves you waking up about 8:00, eating breakfast, normally cereal and then watching Sesame Street. You like to call it “LaLa”. Then you spend the rest of your day playing. You love it when daddy comes home and run to the door every time you think you hear him coming. You are quick to show him what you have been playing and want him to play with you. You are a sweet boy and although I do feel like I am disciplining you often you are always quick to say ‘sorry’ and give me a big hug. Your tender heart is something I pray you will never loose. This year was a big year for you as well because you became a big brother. At first it was a difficult transition but now I don’t even think you remember life without her. I can tell that you are ready for her to grow up so she can play with you. You are sweet to her and like to go up and talk to her often. We love you Eli and we have so much fun watching you grow and discover the world around you. We say a lot that you are a reminder to us of the joy that God gives us in Christ. Whenever you are around you are quick to bring a smile and laugh to everyone’s face. I think you have the gift of joy. Looking forward to year number three with you! Love, Mom and Dad

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was so fun to have a new little one during the holidays. Eli was a lot of fun this year. He was a little overwhelmed at all the gifts because he didn't know which toy to play with first. We spend Christmas Eve with my parents, Christmas morning at home, Christmas afternoon at my grandmothers and then left on the 27th to spent a week in Texas. It sounds busy and it was, but so much fun! We loved spending so much time with our families. Some of Eli's favorite toys he got was his train table, a helmet, a flashlight and a plastic tool set. He got lots of fun toys and has been very busy playing with them all. Here are a few pictures from the holidays..