"Oh, More Snow?" Lydia said

As we walked out to the car this morning Lydia proclaimed but used of tone of questioning like "Really it snowed again!?!" So cute and then after daycare she wanted to help shovel the snow. What a great helper!! Thanks Papa and Gma for helping too :)

Ice Skating for the first time today...

Oh and Lydia likes to wear her jacket backwards these days. She was cracking people up at church because she put the hood up and walked around. Silly Girl! Eli enjoyed the ice from the sled, but obviously wanted to try skates on because he kept rolling out of the sled and crawling around. Mommy and Daddy tried on skates, but decided we need to work on some calf muscle exercises.

Winter in Minnesota

Is this an oxymoron or what!?! Lydia loves to go without some piece of clothing (shirt or pants) and then wear boots.

New Year's Resolution

Is it mud or Oreo crumbs?


Lydia may be preparing for a career in tattoo artistry. She penned this nice picture on Eli this morning. Where was your mother?!


So it is only a month late, but I have decided a good resolution for me would be continuing my journal writing about the kids each day and add in picture taking too. During the first year of Lydia and Eli's lives I wrote something on a calendar about what we did or how they were developing. Usually a month after stopping once they were 1, I miss it and with Lydia started up a notebook of memories. It dawned on me that I should be using the blog for the task. It has also been almost a month since taking a picture of the kids, hence the picture journal idea. So here we go, check back frequently to see if I am sticking to the challenge...

Shhh! Don't Tell Anyone!

Both of my children are actually sleeping! In mid-day! At the same time! No crying or screaming to get there!! WOW!

Now if you have been away from the toddler scene for a while you may be wondering what the big deal is, but we haven't had naps for Lydia in the last month without a big fit or just no naps. At daycare she sleeps for 2-3 hours, but at home she won't even go near her room and she is so good at making excuses - "I need water, I want to lay on the coach, Oh that's right I need to go potty" and on it would go till everyone was mad, crabby and dreading the long evening ahead. Yesterday I even tried to bribe her with a playdate! Didn't work and the poor neighbor girl didn't get to play :(

No idea what changed today, but there are no complaints because she went and laid down so here I am; sharing about why there is a giant smile on my face - I have supper heating in the crockpot, a load of laundry in the dryer, emails sent to people at work, and a cocktail beside me. :) Just kidding about the cocktail, but that could be fun! May the Lord grant you a glimpse of the good life!!

Happy Birthday Elijah!

It's My Birthday and I'll get messy if I want to! Elijah enjoyed his birthday celebration yesterday with family and friends. We had about 20 people crammed in the basement to open presents and eat cupcakes. Big Sister was very excited to open presents for Elijah and got much more excited than he about most of the presents especially the pajamas that Lydia gave him. It is funny how she is more excited to unwrap the presents than play with them. We are now officially Boy-a-fided with trucks, tractors, and more trucks. Our friends Thomas and Malcolm won't have to wonder where the toys for them to play with are located anymore. Although Thomas did play with the feather boa that Lydia got from Abby and Katie :) Once the toys were unwrapped and the kids had jumped several times into our ball pit we sang "Happy Birthday" and watched Elijah eat his cupcake... He was so slow at eating it that, we served everyone else and just let him enjoy. Charlie had to strip him down and put fresh clothes on for the remainder of the party.

It is hard to believe that our little man is 1 years old!! Thinking back to last year at this time...

We were concerned because he had lost a lot of weight in the hospital and were tube feeding him after getting nursed. As anyone who has met him would agree, it is obvious that he is not wasting away! The big man is now drinking cows milk and eating table food. He has transitioned well except for the sitting in the high chair skill. We are still working on getting him to sit through a meal.

Also amazing is how small he was to hold in our arms. Now he doesn't fit in my arms and doesn't sit for long anyway. Everyone tells you, "They grow so fast" but you really don't understand the truth of it until you have a little one of your own.

Big Sis has been busy this week singing "Happy Birthday to Elijah" and wondering when the party would start. She helped bake the 3 batches of cupcakes and one cake for the party, wrapped presents, and checked over Eli's scrapbook. Charlie and I got the basement all set up for the party on Fri. and locked the gate with no entry until Gma arrived. Lydia would stand at the top of the stairs and longingly look down the stairs. :) She enjoyed the friends, unwrapping a few presents, and eating our yummy cupcakes.