Decipher these...

I know what the first one says... but that second one???? It looks like a cow knocking bananas out of a tree... hmmmm. And I do make out the word "monkey".... I'll have to ask the artists when he gets home later from Kindergarten!

A little daily jibber- jabber...

Nathan: Gracie, all you ever think about is Barbies! You know you're not supposed to put anything infront of God. God should always be infront. But, you have your Barbies infront of Him....

He must have had a lesson in church about putting God first in your life! She however, was completely confused!

And here is a little jibber- jabber from Eli.... who's his favorite person? Hold on, he'll tell you...

Rockin' and Rollin'

I know it's been a VERY long time... sorry. Here's a quick update:

• Bryant: Went out and bought himself (ok, the family) a brand new 52" TV about a week before the Superbowl... only to lose all power about an hour into the game and it didn't return until long after the game was over. Ha! (I find it comical) Most recently he had Valentine's Day off from work, only to be stuck in the house with a sweet little 3 year old Valentine with the "tummy bug".

• Me: cook, clean, change diapers... this is my life. But, I will share a yummy recipe with you. I've made this twice so far and both times it is a winner: Italian Meatball Sandwich Casserole

• Nathan: Had a note sent home from school last week, his first (and better be last)... and no this is not a good behavior note. Apparently that day my child decided to talk and make "inappropriate loud noises". I believe that he knew he was gonna be in trouble when he walked very slowly to the house instead of running like usual from the bus stop after school. He did apologize the next morning to his teacher... good child. On another note he is growing so much! All of his size 5 pants are getting too short... I got him a pair of size 6 and they are great in the length but super big in the waist even with the adjustable waist tightened all the way.

• Gracie: Asked me today as I was cutting an apple for her if she could marry Elias when she got older. All that girl thinks about is getting married, having a baby and cooking. She may look like her daddy but she is a minnie ME!

• Elijah: Has 2 teeth fully through on the bottom and 2 more coming in on the top. He has just started clapping, rocking back and forth (while seated), and sleeping on his tummy. He is also fascinated with shadows! He was on an only fruit and veggie diet (and nursing too), but recently we have started introducing the "dinners" baby food to him... so meat and a little bit of grains here and there. The grains are the issue with him... but my goal is to very soon (hopefully) break out the Magic Bullet and feed him our food instead of buying baby food.

Do You Want to Play Barbies With Me?

That is the most asked question in our house. And this evening, here was the dialogue between Ariel and Ken.... Gracie played the role of Ariel and Bryant played Ken.

Ariel: Boyfriend, do you want to go to church with me?
(I'm thinking, ahhh that's such a great question!)
Ken: Sure, what do we do at church?
Ariel: Kiss real quick and get a baby.
(WHAT?!)


The story is always the same.... if you're playing Barbies with Gracie you will either take a trip to the grocery store, the beach or to church (to get married). And on a real lucky day you get to do all three!

Tis the Season...

For sickness. This is why you haven't heard from us for a little while. For the past couple of weeks we have had one thing after another at our house. Runny noses, coughs, ear infections... you know the drill. But, poor little Eli has had the worst of it. An ear infection. I had to take him to the ER because we weren't able to get into the Pediatricians office... 3 hours later Amoxicillan. Then the very next night... 3 hours in the ER followed by a new antibiotic... because he came down with this lovely rash. Tomorrow I take him into the Pediatrician so hopefully he is all better... but I am doubtful.

Tis the Season also for Snow. Last night we got a few inches and Nathan has had a snow day both yesterday and today for it. This morning while Eli was napping I took the kids outside to play in the snow. It is a wet heavy snow and my side still hurts from shoveling the front walk way. Needless to say, snow angels weren't very productive... but snow balls, those suckers were great!

She can run...

And she can hide...

And then, she just gives up...

After getting a good play in, outside... we played inside. We made robot costumes. If only they were real robots and this was the Jetsons household, it would've made the rest of the day so much easier!

But, the best thing about today was our make shift snow slide. It was great!

Full of Excitement....

Here's a better picture of Eli's tooth... it's that little white bump on the left just above the carrot covered face and bottom lip. And any day now that little white bump is going to have a neighbor popping on up.

And here's our little man last night, just after bath. His hair is all a mess (which I love) and he is sportin' his new jammies that grandma made. Our excitement here is that he can finally sit without falling over! We still throw some pillows down on the floor around him, just in case he decides to go for a head dive...

One thing with a baby is that there are just so many things to be excited about! Since the New Year Eli has began cruising around the house in his walker. And he LOVES it! He maneuvers that little thing very well... doorways, rugs, and hard wood flooring... it's so great!

Now it's Gracie's turn. This past week on Tuesday, we got a little bit of snow. I believe an inch fell total over night, but we still had a 2 hour delay for school in the morning. But, Tuesday afternoon Gracie watched and waited for some snow flakes to fall so that she could go catch them....

... with her tongue.

And Nathan...

This week Nathan has really progressed with his swimming. And we are so excited!!

And a Happy New Year!

We headed up to New York for the New Years on Wednesday. There was lots of jumping from house to house to celebrate Christmas with all of our family. But, all in all the 4 days were at times a bit of a blur but, definitely wonderful!

Here's a short recap: We watched tons of great movies; Four Christmases, Date Night, Inception, Legend of the Guardians, Karate Kid.

We ate lots of great food! But, our families favorite that I think is going to become a tradition each time we are together: Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip... I like it best with celery, my brother well, he'll smear that stuff on anything... it's just that good!

And so now here are some pictures.... starting with the beautiful J's.... Jen and Jenna.

And the boys... playing video games, of course! When we got there you could find each one of the kids (with the exception of Jenna and Eli) upstairs all sitting in a row on a bed with a video game in hand.

And here's the two smallest.... just wait til next year. Hopefully they'll be best friends just as their siblings all are. And basically the whole time we were there they sat around...

and sat around some more....

and worked on some teeth... Jenna actually got one while there and worked on her other top tooth also...

and the tree... it has sparkles on it, and Jenna was very intrigued.

And then we opened our gifts...

Gracie just loves her "Fancy Pancy" book.

After the kids all went to bed, the adults all had a White Elephant gift exchange.

Here is Chelsea opening her box of VHS tapes. The box actually went home with Jennifer, while Bryant ended up with Andrew's helicopter and I came home with a box of old CD's.

And while we were at Bryant's families house the kids got some fun gifts too. Here is Gracie with her cousins having a tea party.

We discovered once we got back to Virginia that Jenna wasn't the only one teething. Eli got his first tooth on the drive back home! This picture isn't the best, but it was very difficult to get a picture of the tooth without Eli sticking his tongue out to eat.