Thank You Grandma!

Thank you Grandma for another cute, cute outfit! It fit perfectly! If you ever want to start taking orders, there are lots of people who would pay for some adorable, homemade garments :)

Doesn't she have the most infectious laugh/smile?!



Being silly :)



For Grandma F

Church Picnic

Today we had our church picnic at Kitty Hollow Park, which was organized by the couple below (and I'm sure all 8 of their children helped them out :) ). They did the most wonderful job in organizing what food was to be brought and who would bring it, who would be doing the cooking, cleaning, etc., and best of all, they had the most amazing field-day games setup! There were sack races and bouncing ball (the ones you sit on) races for all the kids, tug of war for the older kids and volleyball and a softball game for everyone! They had the cones and flags all set up and everything for the events. They also rented a Moonwalk (those big blow-up things that you get in and jump around in) for the kids to play in! Then, all the younger kids got a different present that was wrapped, and they each received a certificate for completing the games, and they even each got a bag of candy to take home (for Mommy to eat :) )! There were also quite a few jungle-gym and swing areas for the kids to play on. All in all, we all had a blast! I have to give them kudos--they did an amazing job!! Oh yeah--an added bonus was that the men did all the cooking, setting up, cleaning up, etc.! So we ladies were blessed to get to relax, fellowship, play games and just enjoy ourselves!!
I wasn't able to get a picture of everyone :( but here's what I did get. Click on the picture below to see the entire album.

SGC 2007 Church Picnic

Johnny Jump-Up

Elijah has really been enjoying the johnny jump-up! I thought that he might not be able to hold his head up well enough yet, but I think it has helped his neck to get stronger! He'll actually stay in there for 30 minutes to an hour before he gets tired of it!! Notice how, towards the end, he turns to look at me when I call his name :)

Party Time!

Since this past Wednesday was a fifth Wednesday in October, our care group had a games/fellowship night. We try to do this every time there's a fifth Wednesday in the month. In addition to games and fellowsip, we also had a birthday party for the sweet lady in the first picture below! She is a wonderful example of a godly wife and mother, and it was a great time getting to celebrate this special day with her and her family. And Mikaela had the best time wearing and walking around in everyone's shoes--when she got tired of one pair she would just go trade out for another :)

mom and son



sisters and friends



the guys & Elijah



giggly girls--isn't this the cutest pic?! :)



the teenage guys



decorating Mom's cake



the finished product



cake time and a sweet speech by hubby :)



posing pretty



another mom w/her cutie



the much desired birthday gift--whoo hoo!



hostess w/baby N



CM w/ Elijah



just visiting

4 Months Old!

Our sweet boy turned 4 months on Tuesday! He weighed in at 14 lbs. 10 oz. and was 24 3/4 in. long. He was in the 50th percentile for both height and weight (Eric always has to know that part :) ) He still spits up like crazy, so the doctor suggested going ahead and introducing him to some rice cereal to see if that helps him keep the milk down. So, as soon as I can get to the store, I'll get him some and try it out! If that doesn't work, she suggested putting him on some Zantac--NO!! My baby is not going to be put on unnecessary medication at 4 months old! The whole spitting up thing is way more frustrating to me (and it sometimes grosses other "holders" out :) ) than it is to him. Elijah seems to be just fine with it--he'll spit up and then look up at me and give me this huge smile :) So if the cereal doesn't work I'll just have to deal with it until he outgrows it :)

His hair sticks up higher and higher with each day :)

Hangin' Out & Sunday Morning Pics

Well, this past weekend was pretty lax. On Saturday, we went to Eric's parents' house for a little while to have lunch and so Eric could help his dad cut some boards. Then on Sunday, Mommy had a small picture shooting session before we left for church. Sorry--I just couldn't resist--who says you can't dress little boys just as cute as little girls?! After church, we hung out with friends and just took it easy.

Mikaela with her life-size doll



Elijah & Grandma A



Elijah & Pops



all my sweeties--notice Elijah's COMBED hair--it was back up w/in 10 mins :)



awww--isn't he just the sweetest, most handsome thing?!

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum, and Mikaela had an absolute blast! It was definitely right up her alley. And they even had an area for infants where Elijah got to play! I was hoping to get lots of really good pictures of my cuties, but Mikaela moves a little too fast for the really slow flash on my camera, so here's what I was able to capture :)

Mikaela being pulled up on the pulley chair



Elijah in the infant play area



put me on my back fast--I don't want to be on my tummy!



Mikaela stepping on the cylindrical mat



Mikaela weighing her veggies

Half-Eaten Apples

Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on some food, one of which was apples. After our nap Mikaela wanted a snack, so I offered her a banana. She declined and did a little whining, so I started eating the banana and continued on with some housework. A few minutes later Mikaela walked into the living room with an apple that already had little bites all the way around it--she was all smiles (and no, it hadn't been rinsed off yet). Now I know she can reach into the fruit bowl :) When she was finished with what she wanted she put the half-eaten apple back in the fruit bowl! :) When I was making dinner she was about 2 seconds away from biting into another apple that she pulled out!

yes--those are my tennis shoes :)

Picture Reading

Ok--sorry, but I just couldn't help myself. This totally makes up for all the sleepless nights :) I know that pretty much all kids picture read at some point, but Mikaela just cracks me and Eric up, so I had to share :) Right now Mikaela's favorite book is called "The True Princess." She wants to read this book practically from the time she gets up until she goes to bed (thus a number of the pages have been patched up with tape :) ). And many times we find that she sleeps with it (yes, that means she disobeyed us by getting out of bed to get it :) ) I have to catch her for her very first reading of the day in order to get the best one. So I had to video two days worth in order to catch almost all the things she will normally say when "reading." She will only let me read it to her for bedtime--any other time she wants to read it herself. And when we do read it, she's looking at my facial expressions the entire time so she can mimic them later :) If you're not familiar with the book, here are some things to listen for in each of the videos (the things in purple are what she gets out--some of the things she only did in one of the videos and then others she did in both) :)

1. Her deep voice with puckered lips represents the voice of the king.
2. Her soft voice represents the voice of the princess.
3. Towards the beginning the king is saying that the princess must be kept safe.
4. After that, it talks about the princess being worried. Then the princess asks a list of questions, the last of which is, "Who will make me laugh?"
5. On one of the pages, the princess and Nana are baking, and the princess put too much yeast in the loaf of bread, and it went POP. The princess said she need jokers to make her laugh, and Nana told her to just look in the mirror (and Mikaela is laughing with them).
6. When the king returns he goes to his palace, and the guards announce, "The princess is here!" Also, notice her point at the true princess in the back of the room.
7. When the king sees the posing princesses, he asks, "So many princesses?"
8. The first girl responds, "She has maids to do that," to the king's question to her.
9. At the end, the king picks his daughter up and hugs her, so that's why MJ is hugging herself in the second video.
10. At the very end of the second video, she says, "Read princess more--last time." :)

Hopefully that will help you catch some of the words that she says. Most of it is jibberish, but I have a feeling she has even more of it memorized than we can catch :)

Sleepless & Diaperless Nights

Well, I've been sort of "foggy" the past couple of days b/c the past few nights have been rather sleepless. Around 3 am Monday morning I woke up to, "Uhu, uhu, uhu (Mikaela half crying, half whining)--I nee chay (I need to be changed)." So I got up to see what the problem was. I figured she had just peed through her diaper again. Well, when I went to pick her up, she was sopping wet, and there was no diaper! Looking back, I thought I had heard her doing something before she went to sleep, but when I went into her room she laid back down in her bed really fast, so I just let it go. It turns out that our little sweetie-cakes decided she didn't want to wear her diaper, so she took it off and put it up on the changing table! The little mat on the floor next to her bed was sopping wet, but at least her bed was dry :) Thus she has started a trend of saying that her diaper hurts when we put it on her, and she looks pitiful enough that we've been letting her go to bed without one. I've been trying to tell her if she has to go, to get up and go in her potty which we've been putting in her room. That hasn't really worked out though--Tuesday morning she woke up at 1 am saying, "I go potty pease (which translates into, 'I WENT potty in my pants.')." That time her bed was soaked. And at 11 pm last night, she had already gone in her pants and soaked her bed again! The good thing is that she's only wetting once. After that, she's been fine until she wakes up. The bad thing is that I've had to wash her bedclothes for 2 days in a row now. So I think she may be getting a diaper tonight!!

Then, poor little Elijah had 2 nights of restless sleeping--on top of me already having dealt with Mikaela! I think one of the nights he may have just been cold--it's gotten down into the 40's and 50's the past few nights. So last night I bundled him up real good and even put a night cap on him; we bumped the heater up slightly, and he did much better :) So, I do feel a little more rested today, but it's ok if I don't sleep at night, b/c as Eric reminds me, I'm the one who gets to take naps ALL day :)

looks pretty different w/o his spiky hair huh? :)

Our Newest Family Member

My brother Matt and his wife Anna had their first baby boy, Ryan, on October 8, 2007!! Seeing as how they live in California, we haven't gotten to meet him in person yet :( So thank goodness for the internet!! Mom and baby are both doing well, and he is a good little nurser :)

Baby Ryan--born just like this (Frank's Breach)



Matt (Daddy) & Baby Ryan--awww



Matt & Ryan again :)



Matt, Anna & Ryan



Too precious!!



So sweet!!

Family Visit

This afternoon my parents, and my brother and his wife and son came to Houston to visit! First they all went to the zoo, and then they came down to Alvin to see us and have some BBQ at Joe's. It was good to get to see them again--it's been awhile since we've seen my brother and his family, so this was their first time to meet Mr. Elijah and to see our house! Evan is 15 months, and Mikaela was following him all over the place. I don't know if she was just trying to make sure he didn't play with any of her toys, or if she was really trying to play with him--I think probably the prior :) We're still working on the whole "sharing" concept with her :) She didn't get to finish her nap today, so she was kind of in a bad mood but she finally warmed up some! And Elijah just enjoyed getting to be held by everybody!

Grandma F and Elijah



Grandma F, Elijah, Evan & Mikaela



Granddaddy, Evan & Jon-Jon



Grandma F, Mikaela, Mommy & Elijah



Jon-Jon, Evan & Lindsey



Mikaela, Grandma F, Evan, Granddaddy & Elijah



Uncle Jon-Jon & Elijah

My Cutie Pies

Well, Elijah has been keeping up his trend of sleeping through the night! At around the 7 or 8-hour mark he sometimes wakes up, so I go and offer him his pacifier to see if he's really hungry or not. If he's not really hungry, he takes it and sleeps another hour or two. If he is hungry, he's gives me the most pitiful cry when he sees me start to leave :) All in all though, he's going from 8-10 hours!!! Also, Mikaela slept the entire night in her room last night!

So about an hour and a half after I fed Elijah this morning (a little after 9 am!!), I woke up hearing what I thought was Mikaela talking to Elijah in his bed! I jumped out of bed b/c I'm still worried as to what she might try when alone with him, and I found her sitting on her potty in the living room reading her "Princess" book to herself :) She had gotten up, taken off her pants and diaper, grabbed her book and sat on the potty all by herself :) I think she woke herself up b/c she had actually started going potty in her diaper (the evidence was still sitting there in the diaper), but she made herself get up and finish in the potty!!

Then she decided she wanted to have the animal crackers that I'd left on the desk, so I gave her a couple and told her not to ask me for any more (yeah right!). This time I left them on the bathroom counter. As I was making my bed, I heard her leave the living room (she walks really hard), so I called her b/c I thought she was going to her room and would wake Elijah up. She came back into the living room with the stool and said "Sool." I asked her what she needed with the stool, and she took it into the bathroom so she could get the cookies off the bathroom counter (she knows she's not supposed to climb up on the drawers :) ). Then she looked at me with her big smile that says, "You're not really mad at me, and you're going to let me have some more cookies even though you already said not to ask for any more," and kept it up until she could tell if I was really mad or if I was going to let her get away with it. Well, she definitely knows how to work me--I have a really hard time with that stinkin' cute smile she gives me. Usually I have to fight myself not to smile back at her and give in, but it was too early today, and I just couldn't do it--I broke down laughing, which made her start laughing too, and she knew she had her way! She brought me the bag and said, "Me hep (help me)," and handed me the bag to open for her. Needless to say, she got some more cookies :)

She Did It!!

We went to another park today with some friends, and Mikaela decided she could climb up the step-pole AND go down the slide all by herself! She did this multiple times, so I had to video it before she gets quirky and thinks she can't go down the slide on our next trip to the park :)

Mr. Squealer

Well, I just couldn't resist! Elijah is starting to squeal and talk a lot, and it's just sooo cute :) He's not missing any meals either :)

Who's Who??

Crazy huh?! :)