Family Photos

After church this afternoon we went over to try and snap some shots of the family at the same place I took the Brueseke's photos. Eli was a little grumpy so photos of the four of us are not plentiful and we only have one where Eli's smiling, but I thought a few of the others came out pretty cute. Obviously the one family photo where Eli is smiling is our new header to the blog.

Here's the best family photo.

I played with the saturation some here--I kind of like it! Especially Eli's tie.

Can you tell Eli was REALLY tired of photos! We had only been taking them for like 3 minutes!

Little Isadora is ALWAYS happy, though.

And Eli was delighted to play on a rock. "Rock, Rock". Yes, Eli, that IS a rock.

My two boyos.

Here's one of our overworked and underpaid photographer.

Can you tell she was enthralled with my Peruvian necklace?

I am 29!! That feels so old!!

I don't know why, but I feel really old now. I think it's because it's my last year BEFORE I am old and 30!!! And, WOW, I had the best birthday ever!! First off, Dora was so excited to tell me Happy Birthday that she woke up at 3 am!! Then Whitney let me sleep in until almost 8 am!

Here are my two favorite guys on the morning of my birthday!


Eli couldn't wait to open "his" presents ("me", "ME" he kept saying over and over).


He picked out a buffalo stuffed animal for me at the ZooAmerica gift shop, and here is is showing me how a buffalo goes.

Eli and I picked up a black forest cake--yum. :-)

Oh and I am totally off my diet now. I went off it for a day, for my birthday and the cake and stuff was SO GOOD that I think I am off it for real now. :-) And see, Dora you were there.

Eli was so excited about the "nummy nummy" that he couldn't help himself! Haha.

Emma came over and brought two presents AND flowers. Eli was really excited about Nana and about the flowers! It was funny. She also got me pants (nice ones!) and a Pixar Short film collection DVD. Oh, and did I mention Disney Movie Rewards gave me a free DVD--Enchanted!

Then Emma babysat for us so we could go get dinner and go rollerskating at a real rink! It was so fun! Here are the sisters...

Don't Tell Bridget

Today is her birthday and I don't want to upset her but had to share this with y'all.

Eli had some tight pants on today so Bridget took them off then went upstairs. I was in doing work on the computer and Eli came in WITHOUT HIS DIAPER ON and a look on his face like he had just done something hilarious but wrong.

I asked him where is diaper was and he laughed and laughed. I then asked him if he peed.

"Wah" he said.

I am still searching for the wet carpet.

Don't tell bridget.

Whitney

Diet + Birthday = Ick

So I am STILL on the South Beach diet. It's been 9 days, but it feels like 90! I am just not a meat and meat and veggies kind of girl. I love carbs! I didn't realize how much I loved fruit, sugar, pasta, flour, cereal, uh oh, this list is going to get long. I am so JONESING for anything like that that I am even eating fudge pops (on the approved list if you buy the sugar free kind.) The other options for dessert were: Sugar free hard candy, sugar free gum or COCOA POWDER!! Come on!! Those are not dessert!!

Enter my dilemma. My birthday is tomorrow! I want yummy breakfast at Friendly's and if I have to eat another omelet I might kill someone. And I want a cake or a pie (or both--haha, can you tell I am feeling a bit deprived!)

I guess I am looking for some people to say, "Stick with it; a birthday is just another day." Whit and Emma are telling me to drop it!! *gasp* I haven't even come close to getting down to 130 yet!!

So whaddya think? Stick with it? Emma offered to make me a tofu/beanpod cake. MMMMM! Nothing says good like some tofu bean cake, sweetened with splenda! :-)

Eli's in a Big Boy Bed! And New Hair! And a Sailor!

Well, mom wasn't ready, but I guess Eli is in no way a baby anymore. He can climb in and out of his crib (apparently!! He did it today in front of Whit) and he REFUSES to sleep in his crib now. He has slept in his bed the last few nights (after the screaming ensued when we tried to force the crib), and today he came and ASKED me for a nap and went down on his bed without a fuss. WEIRD! I am excited and also sad. Eden, I guess you can get your crib back, soon!

Here he is--I snapped a shot as he was waking up this am.


Also, I had my hair done (more blonde and bangs) and never put up a photo--I am always taking the photos! Here it is. (Of course I have no make up on, but I take what I can get!) Also, I have already lost a few pounds--can you tell?

Finally, here's my sailor!! My mom made this outfit for Hayley, but we snatched it and doesn't Dora look cute?

Orange you Glad you didn't say Banana?

I accidentally put the kiddos both in orange today and thought it merited a photo. Eli LOVES to hold his sister on his lap, which I figure he can't do for too much longer as she grows more every day. So, here's to brothers holding sisters! :-)


I loved this shot!

Oreos Anyone?

About 4 days ago I started a new diet, because my plan to lose weight by just eating less had not borne much fruit (I have lost 2 pounds in the last 2 months! HA). I decided to try the South Beach diet. It's sort of a modified Atkins diet, but the first two weeks are harder than Atkins, I think. You can't have any carbs, just veggies and LEAN meat. Also, no real fats (a few tbls of oil or fat free cheese per day.) After the first two weeks, they lighten up a bit and let you have some fruit, and a few carbs, like whole grains and oatmeal. I have already lost two pounds, WAHOO.

BUT the point of the post is that despite my dislike of chocolate and my diet, I do not deprive my kids. Eli, who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, asked for a cookie. (An oreo.) He didn't eat it, but he played with it, leaving it on the desk. While I was on the computer, MISS GRABBY grabbed it. I looked down and saw this:

I luckily had the camera close and snapped a photo or two before yanking it away. She was on a sugar rush afterwards. Look how happy she was!

What a mess! Looks like this girl likes chocolate.

Baby Belles Book Club

WOW, my friend Tara is SO cute. She used to be a school teacher and she has put together a little group of moms with daughters in the 6-18 month range to meet and do a Baby Belles Book Club. I am so lucky to be part of it!! She does a special book each time (we meet pretty often, actually) and has given us all this neat stuff to go with it... A custom onesie, a little book with lots of tabs (including favorite books, with stickers for each one, recipes (that go with the book), theme ideas for games and such, and notes about how to pick good kids' books). She also made and gave us these cute bags!! I think my friend Molly helped with some of the sticker designs on the bags and onesies and notebooks. She does great stationary and paper related stuff.


Here are all the girls (minus one--she had left before we thought to snap some photos).

It was also getting close to lunch and naptime, so some of the ladies were a little blue.

Dora was an angel, as always. I hope this inspires you to do your own Baby Belles Book Club!! Thanks TARA! You're awesome. We had a great time!

Toothbrush Obsession

This first photo has nothing to do with the title of the post. I just liked the photo.



Now onto the stated point. Until very recently, brushing teeth at our house was not a fun event. I actually dreaded it. I am not sure what changed. I have always tried to make it fun, and act excited when it was time to brush teeth and Eli has always liked the toothpaste, but he has never wanted to have his teeth brushed. We would make it into a game (or try) and usually count ourselves lucky if we got a hit or two in. Lately, Eli has become obsessed with toothbrushes, though. He will play with it all day, and actually brushes his teeth. He likes it when I brush his teeth too, because he gets real toothpaste. (As opposed to me just putting water on it, which I do about 10 times a day.) He has several toothbrushes he carries around with him.

Dora loves them, too, apparently. She will sit and suck on a toothbrush for 30 minutes and be happy as a clam. Eli won't share his toothbrushes with her, but he will happily give her his old toddler toothbrushes to play with. I came into the family room the other day to see this:

I moved Dora up to the sofa to snap a shot or two and Eli got all excited.

Of course, by then he had cookies too.

Happy kiddo...

Eli's Two Year Photos

In all the mania, I forgot to put up photos of Eli at Two!! Here are a few. He is much harder to photograph because he won't sit still!!


I love my two boys!!!

Lounging in his chair--this is funny because we all did this growing up--I guess it was in his genes.

My GQ cutie.

I love those big blue eyes.

He loves looking out this window for bunnies.