eeewwwwwww . . . gross . . .

These were the words I uttered late this afternoon while playing with my darling children.  Picture this . . .

Eli wakes up from his afternoon nap and wants to nurse. 
He finishes and we go to get Alli up from her nap. 
Alli is putting on her shoes while I'm sitting in her rocker playing "airplane" with Eli. 
In hindsight, NOT one of my best ideas. 
Alli is taking forever getting on her shoes because she is entertained by Eli's giggles, as am I. 
We are all laughing. 
The type of laughs where your mouth is wide open. 
Any ideas where this is going???
Yes, my sweet little Eli spits up IN MY MOUTH ~ insert gagging here ~ all over my face, and in my hair!
All the while, giggling and smiling as though this is the funniest thing he's ever seen.
Alli was very amused as well.
Mommy, not so much.
My first reaction was to spit and wipe my mouth and face with the closest thing I could find . . . Alli's pajama top.
Alli didn't think that was quite as funny ~ imagine that.
I cleaned myself up as best I could while uttering "gross" over and over.
Both my kids giggled for quite some time over this one.
When G got home from work, I finally got a shower.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't the first time I've had bodily fluids on me.  I've been peed on, pooped on and spit up on by both little darlings.  But, this was the first (and I pray LAST) time it entered my mouth.

Yuck.

Eli has tooth #7!!!

His middle LEFT tooth finally popped through this morning ~ making for a much happier baby boy :)

He's been working on it for the past two days.  There was bleeding yesterday and early this morning so we knew it would be through soon and sure enough, when he woke up from his nap not long ago, the tooth was poking through!  This makes 4 on top, 3 on bottom!!!

fun with pictures

I've been playing around with pictures for Eli's upcoming baptism and think we've decided on this for his cake . . . he's such a cutie that it's just fun :)

Eli sat up by himself!!!

Although Eli has been sitting unassisted for a couple of weeks, he could never quite get in the sitting position by himself.  Don't get me wrong, he's certainly tried but without luck ;-)  Well, this afternoon, G and I were in our office with Eli.  We were each working on a project while Eli happily played on the floor.  He was sitting for quite a long time before tipping and rolling around.  Then, I looked down, and there he was, sitting up and giggling.  Yep, all by himself and both of us missed it!!!!  Fortunately, while I was changing his diaper a few minutes later, he decided to show me how good he is at it and sat up by himself during the diaper change ~ what a little stinker! :)  Our baby is growing up so quickly . . .

sunny days . . . pushing the clouds away . . .

Yesterday felt like Summer and we took full advantage by spending most of the day outside :) 

Here are some shots of the happy kiddos during our picnic . . .

Eli LOVED his first real picnic ~ he helped eat the cheerios and bread!

 Alli was having fun helping Froggy model for the camera!

I just love his scrunched little nose and lots of drool ;-) 

Alli was enthralled with our one blooming Tulip . . . not thrilled with the no touching rule! 

She actually eats these days ;-)

Scrunching his little nose with some lunch on his chin ~ I think this guy is so cute!!! 

How could you not love this little face????? 

fun fun fun :)

That sums up our weekend!

For the past couple of weeks, we have been having Friday Family Fun Night.  Usually, this means pizza and a movie ~ Alli's choice.  Well, this weekend, it was such a warm, beautiful day that we decided to grill some Fendt hot dogs.  These are from Watertown,WI and the meat shop is run by the family of my dad's best friend since Kindergarten.  We really didn't expect Alli to eat the hot dog but she shocked us by chowing down big time.  This was all that was left (and it was a huge dog!) . . .

We now want to get more Fendt dogs and summer sausage as Alli will eat both and not much other meat!!!

After dinner, we all enjoyed cookies that Alli and Barbie Gramma made earlier that day.  Since Alli insisted, we even let Eli have one.  As you can see, he loved it!

Have we mentioned that this guy LOVES food????

Here are a couple of random, pre-cookie Eli shots that I just think are cute . . .

It was so beautiful and warm on Saturday that we decided to pack a picnic and head to the zoo.  I think every other family of young children had the same idea since it was packed but still plenty fun.  Sadly, no pictures but I assure you, a great time was had by all :)  We got home in time for afternoon naps but neither kiddo was too excited by that.  By 3:30, everyone was up and ready to play some more so we went for a walk / scooter ride around the neighborhood before playing baseball and enjoying the swingset. 

It was fairly entertaining to watch G try to teach Alli how to hit ~ eventually proclaiming "you may not be ready for this yet" ;-)

As usual, the swingset was a big hit and Alli had no problem letting her baby Eli (as she calls him!) use the small swing.

One of Alli's favorite stunts these days is to "model" different "looks" for us ;-)

This gal really is a hoot!

After church today, we stayed home for naps and relaxing before heading to Barbie Gramma's for Uncle Z's birthday celebration.  Everyone had fun and Eli was all too happy to finish Alli's dinner ;-)  Seriously, he couldn't get the food quick enough and bit my finger a couple times as I was giving him the food!  He's hit the point now where he wants food he can chew far more than a puree.  This is such a new experience for us and we feel like first time parents as far as feeding is concerned :)

The rain returned for a bit today but we've enjoyed the warm sunshine so much that we are really hopeful Spring is here to stay!

Eli has tooth #6!!!

Today, Eli got another top tooth, making three on top and three on bottom.  No wonder he's been a little fussy!  The cutest part is that it is the side left tooth ~ he is still missing the middle left one so he has a little space :)  Given how swollen his gums are, I'm sure he won't have the space for long.

The simple life???

A couple of weeks ago, our Pastor asked G and I if we would be willing to share with the congregation during a Lenten service our story of how we are striving to simplify our lives.  We agreed to do this and tonight was the night.  Initially we thought we would just be sharing a quick snippit for his sermon but it turns out, we were giving the message ~ choosing the bible passage and all.

We chose the following passage from 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Most people who know us would probably say our lives are anything but simple given our somewhat ridiculous commutes for our professional lives, and we are likely to agree if that is how you define a "simple life."  Yet, in preparing for tonight's message, we realized that our view of a simple life is more of reprioritizing what is the focus of our lives.

Back in 2007, I heard the song "Two Sets of Jones" by Big Tent Revival and it struck a chord in me.

For those who are unfamiliar with the song and choose not to play the video, it is about two young married couples, one is focused on jobs and wealth, the other is focused on Christ.  I remember thinking and sharing with G that we were the "wrong" set of Jones.  We knew we had to make some changes in our lives, which led to our return to Washington and our decision to formally "invite" Christ into our marriage and our family.

Have we achieved the simple life?  No.  But we have found a sense of peace that was not previously there and we know it is a continuous journey.  We feel we have our priorities straight now and rather than focusing on things we are focused on our faith and our family.  We have far less moments of thinking "we'll be happy when fill in the blank" and are finding the joy of each day.

It's true that in simplifying one aspect of our lives (being closer to our families), we completely complicated our professional lives -- yet, somehow, it doesn't seem quite so much a chore or stress factor because we know what is important . . .

It was such a beautiful afternoon that Alli and I decided to play with sidewalk chalk while Eli napped.  Of all the things she could think of to draw, she wanted us to draw our family!

Happy 8 Month Birthday Eli Zachary!

Happy 8 Month Birthday big guy!!! 

You bring so much joy to all of us with your coy smile and constant giggles :)

Super Baby . . .

Is there any wonder why we love this little guy so much???

Seriously, he has a broken leg in a cast and he's still playful and smiling :)

Praise God!!!

We met with the pediatric orthopedic specialist this morning and learned that it is a partial fracture that completely missed the growth plate.  I was so relieved.  He was playful and charming the entire time while they put the cast on his leg.  Chatted during his x-rays, and has been rolling all over the place since we got home.  He truly is E.Z.!!!  I am one very proud and relieved Mommy right now ;-)