Heating up!

It's hot in Kansas.  And that means Swimming, Harvest and the 4th of July!

 

My little boy (not so little these days) went off the high dive!!!

 

 

Swimming lessons was a great experience for this little fish.  He loves the water and he did great!  He had the sweetest teacher and the entire pool staff was so encouraging and nurturing.  Can't wait to do this again next year.

 

Harvest has come and gone again.  It was a great year, one of the best this area has seen.  We are blessed.  It's always a great time with extended family, too.

 

 

Independence Day was a blast.  As long as Gabe had his sound proof headphones, he was loving the fireworks.  Ell was nervous and cuddled in close at all the loud noise, but I think he liked it (?)  We also got to hang with some of our besties!  All the grown ups ran the local 5K.  I think we were all happy with how we ran.  And my sweet, mild mannered running friend SNUCK UP AND PASSED ME at the last moment.  I had no idea she was right behind me so I crossed the finish line laughing.  So fun.

 

Flag Handprint shirts!

"Make a sad face"

"Make a scared face"
Lily totally won the face making contest.

Abilene, KS July 4th

 

 

 

Ell

 

 This little clown just turned 2 years old!

 

And, while my he does make my life seem a lot busier...

 

...it's never been richer.

 

 

Love you, Elvis.

 

Christmas #1

Last weekend, we had an exciting trip to MO to visit my family. 

There, we celebrated Christmas, and 3 December birthdays. 

Never a dull moment with this mix of people.

 

Missouri is so pretty.

Gabe loves his Grandma Boo Boo!

This kid could throw rocks in the water for an hour.

Uncle Luke makes their dreams come true.

 

This little guy turned 4 on Saturday!

Birthday Breakfast.  Gabe requested Bacon.

 

Cutting the cake.

The boys loved being with Uncle Luke and his "Nice cousin."  (Girlfriend.)

And, finally, this is Ell traveling to church.  He blew out of his daiper and kicked off a boot on the way. 
He's ready for church!

Day 66: More time in MO

We spent two days in Missourri visiting my mom, after her big election.  It's hard to get these boys to sit still for a cute picture.

We went to visit Grandma Aline, but she wasn't home. 

The boys had a great time playing in her yard, though.

No trip to MO is complete without some Antler Pizza.  This is the car Gabe earned from staying dry to 10 days!  I think he's got this (daytime) potty training figured out.  FINALLY!

Day 65: Oh, Elliott!

There is no pic for this, as it would not be appropriate.  However, you should know what happened in our house last night.

Ell (18 months old) goes running into the bathroom saying "I want potty!  Potty!"  And tries to climb on.  I figured I had a couple minutes, so I helped him get on the potty.  At first, nothing happened, but I could tell he was trying to poop.  I thought "No way."  And then he got wiggly so I took him down.

He immediately started squirming to climb back up.  So I put him on again, and he peed a ton, and then pooped a little.  That little stinker! 

We are NOT potty training Ell yet.  I started Gabe way too early, and I have been potty training him for 2 YEARS!  Ell seems to always have his own ideas about how things will go, and this is no different.

In related news, Gabe is really doing well.  Just in the last two weeks, he has started telling us he has to go, even at the pool and in church.  I am SO glad.  Most naps, he wakes up dry, but not during the night.  I'm totally ok with that.

Day 56: Ell is 18 months old!

Happy Half Birthday, Ell!  He sat through the entire parade in the stroller.  I think he got nervous about some of the noises and was content to be still next to Daddy the whole time.  What a good boy!

He is about 33 inches tall and nearly 25 pounds. 

6 months old.

Day 53: Goals Achieved!

I you look at this post, there were some things I wanted to work on with the boys this summer.  Check this out:

Gabe is getting better at brushing his teeth.  The dentist said that the toothpaste for kids is made so that they can swallow it.

Ell is descending the stairs just holding the railing now.

AND, since we have no street or sidewalk, Gabe does not know how to pedal anything.

Day 22: Three and a half!

On June 8, Gabe turned 3 and a half.  So, I gave him another car I had stashed away.  (His favorite thing.)  And, we measured him.  38 and a half inches tall. And just over 31 pounds. He's hardly grown at all since his 3rd birthday



6 months

.

One and a Half

Two and a Half

Three and a Half



Day 11: Park visit number one: Clay Center

We want to visit a park a week this summer.  We kicked it off with Clay Center.  The plans was to meet some of our great friends at Tasty Pastry for some doughnuts, but it's Memorial Day, so there were no doughnuts.  We went to Wendy's instead.  Did you know their small coffee is only 25cents?

One of Gabe's BEST friends.

Loves his coffee!  Just kidding!

So we went to the Clay Center Zoo.  Free and fun.  But we opted for the new park, not the older one that is near the zoo.  The new park is AMAZING!

So glad they obviously asked a music teacher about this instrument. 
Pentatonic scale.  Much easier on our ears!

Handing my husband the camera was one of my best decisions of the day. 
He's the best photographer.

Look at my angel!

One important thing I forgot to mention:  It was so cool to watch Elliott turn around and go down steps backward without being told.  He's not the fastest at it, but he does it!  We have been working so hard on this!

Skill Building

Skills I'm trying to teach my Kids:

1.  Elliott:  to eat with a spoon.  Here is documentation of our first try:

2.  Gabe:  To brush his teeth without swallowing toothpaste.  I have no idea how to make this happen.  Mommies???

3.  Gabe:  To pedal his trike.  He can do it, he's just not used to having to work to get around.  Crazy kid.

4.  Elliott:  Stairs.  He's as impatient to get down as I am to help him get this figured out.

Changes...

Kind of amazed at how these boys are changing lately. 

Elliott has changed so much in the last 2-3 weeks.  He's really turning into a toddler.  He is communicating pretty clearly.  I mean, he may not always use his words, or his signs, but you definitely won't miss what he wants!  He does a nice job signing "please" "more" and "all done".  He usually says "all done" while he's signing it.
He's REALLY good at finding food and bringing it to me so I'll let him eat it.  And eating is NO PROBLEM for Ell.  Normally, he eats a TON, but I think he's finally getting more teeth (#7 and #8) so he's been a little pickier lately. 
He's so much steadier on his feet than Gabe was.  Gabe seemed to have perpetual goose eggs on his forehead.  Ell just doesn't fall as much...yet.  He also doesn't cry much when he does fall.  He's too busy moving on to the next thing. 
I remember what I really don't like about this age is that they are in to EVERYTHING.  And Ell is pretty tall, so he can reach the tabletop, even the kitchen counters.  Sheesh.  When Gabe isn't awake, Ell is really hard to keep entertained, so he just goes around opening drawers and pulling stuff off of tables.  Drives me crazy....if that kid wasn't so cute...

Gabe is a talking machine.  I'm amazed at his ability to relay so many details when he tells stories now.  I think people think he's making stuff up, but he really remembers and can articulate all those things.  He also constantly is saying funny stuff. 
Jacob is trying to teach him to roast marshmallows, and he said "No thank you, I just want a clean white one, please."
"Mommy, you don't have any sense."
"Well, well, well....."
I wish I could remember more.  Oh yeah!  He was playing with his cars, and there's a continuous dialogue.  I hear one car say to another, "You dirty dog!" 

They are doing some major maintenance on our street this summer.  Gabe found the perfect spot to watch.  They are closing our street Monday to tear up everything and rebuild it.  Don't know where we'll put our for sale sign.  Please pray our house will sell.  Everytime I pray about it and ask God to PLEASE intervene and let it sell, I hear His small voice saying "Watch what I will do."  Ok...I'll wait for that.