Eli is 3!!!

Today Eli turned three. We had a little party with our family, Granny and Aunt Hannah (yeah...she is home for a little visit). Here are a couple of pictures of Eli with his "Cars" cake wearing all the stickers Aunt Hannah gave him. We had a fun time celebrating three years with our little boy.

This is Eli three years ago today. Hard to believe our little Eli started as this big boy. And yes, these were literally taken right after he was born....9lbs 13oz (and at high altitude...supposedly this makes you weigh less.) I can remember like it was yesterday walking around WalMart at 11:30pm trying to get my contractions to pick up until I couldn't walk anymore. And then racing to the hospital during rush hour traffic the next day...the midwife and me in one car (me screaming the whole way) and Dan, my mom and Madison trying to keep up with us in another car (my mom screaming the whole way.) It was an adventure to remember.

Christmas Eve....wish you were here Aunt Hannah

Here are just a few quick pictures from Christmas Eve at Granny and Grumpy's....just for you Aunt Hannah since you aren't here to enjoy.

Madison spreading "Reindeer Food" on the front lawn. She used her new lantern to light her way. TOO CUTE.

Happy 6th Birthday Madison

This weekend we celebrated Madison's birthday party at the Embassy Suites in Tulsa. On Friday night we stayed the night and let Madison (and Eli) open up their joint bday present - A Wii!! While we were setting it up for a Wii little party the electricity went out. At first I thought, "Dan, what did you do??" but then I realized it was the entire block of hotels. Since the lobby was a little crazy we decided to stay in our room and wait it out. Finally, after about 30 minutes the lights came back on and we had a fun few games of Wii bowling and tennis.

The next day Madison had a few of her friends, Delaney, Austin and Hope, come up for Happy Meals, cupcakes and swimming. We had a great time!!

Notice that Eli is right in the middle of all those girls. I don't think he minds at all being the middle child with two girls on either side. He will get the best of all worlds!!

This isn't the best quality picture but I thought it was really cute. Lillie is growing so fast!!

Christmas Gathering Stars

This week Madison, Eli and Lillie modeled jammies in front of 800 women at our church's annual Christmas Gathering. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is like Oprah's favorite things meets HGTV. It is so much fun to be a part of and this year we were able to involve the whole family. They were the stars of the show. I had my doubts about whether or not Eli and Lillie would actually go out on the stage, but they did so great. Lillie walked right over and sat on Denise's knee and Eli ended up climbing onto the red chair like he had been on that stage 100 times. And as you can see, Madison waved like a gymnastics star.

Just Because

I didn't really have any misc. pictures of Madison, so we will have to make up for that on another post. These were just a few cute pictures from the month that I liked.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wish you were here Aunt Hannah!!

Less than two weeks until Holiday Market! For those who don't know, this is The Church at BattleCreek's annual arts, craft and home decor show. I have a huge need for volunteers for Saturday, November 22nd. If you are interested please leave me a comment and I will get you plugged in. If you can't volunteer, please plan on stopping by to check it out from 9am-5pm.

Halloween and Fishing

Is Halloween over yet? It seems like Halloween this year was a two week event, we were dressing up every time we turned around. We had lots of fun though. We are definately in the perfect neighborhood for trick-or-treating!! We even ran out of candy. People literally were coming by the car load and unloading in our neighborhood...it was crazy fun! As you can see, Granny and Grumpy joined us for the evening. And no, my mom isn't in costume...haha, just kidding.

Tonight we settled in for a little game of Let's Go Fishin. It is interesting to see the different styles of fishing as the game went on.

Madison enjoys normal, traditional fishing with the pole. She also volunteers as the lake patrol ensuring that everyone is playing correctly, confiscating any illegally obtained fished.

Eli tried the traditional method. He did okay for a while, throwing back nearly every fish he caught so that it could be caught again. After a couple of rounds he, however, decided to trade his fishing pole for a wave runner and enjoyed torturing the other fishermen/women by tumping the game upside down.

Lillie is a true Oklahoman. She prefers to noodle for her fish and then quickly eats them before her humanitarian brother throws them back or her sister polices her catch.

Franny B. Kranny There's a Bird in Your Hair!

Today Madison got to dress up like her favorite story book character. After much deliberation she decided to dress up like Franny B. Kranny. For those of you who are not familiar with Franny's story: Franny is a little girl who ends up having a bird make a home of her wild hair. Thanks to Granny, Madison looked very Frannyish.

She also got to decorate a pumkin for school. Again, with the help of Granny, Madison designed this beautiful work of art that she creatively named, Aunt Hannah. Can't imagine why she picked that name. (And yes, that was her idea, no prompting.)

Halloween Preview

We went down to Main St in BA tonight for their little Pre-Halloween celebration. The kids are getting to wear their costumes a lot this year so that makes it a lot of fun. Madison and Lillie are Fall fairies and Eli is Superman. They had lots of fun dressing up and they are all looking forward to dressing up again for church tomorrow.

A Little Off Color

I couldn't help but share this very funny conversation between Madison and Dan on Friday while they were driving on 169 on the way to the zoo. Hope you are not too easily offended.

Madison: "Daddy, what is that bad smell?

Dan: "They are laying asphalt on the road."

Madison: "Ass?"

Dan: "No Madison, asphalt"

Madison: "Ass?"

Dan: "No Madison, AsPHALT"

Madison: "Well, I don't know but that ass is stinky!"

Kids say the craziest things, I am just hoping that when she tells her teacher what she did on fall break she doesn't recall her stinky encounter on 169.

I almost forgot

First of all, WE LOVE OUR CHURCH!! BattleCreek has been such a blessing to out whole family. Occasionally, though, things happen that are totally out of control. Yesterday when we picked up Lillie from the nursery I could see as I approached the pick up door that Lillie had a huge bump over her eye. The worker, upon seeing me at the door, said, "We had a little accident." I figured that she had bumped her head, but it turns out that a little boy actually bit Lillie on the eye and apparently "held on". Poor baby girl. I had to post pictures of her BattleCreek nursery wound. Again....BattleCreek, in my opinion, is the best church in the world.

And, here is a really cute picture I stole off my friend Sarah's page. This is another one from the pumpkin patch. Eli has been waiting all year for that bus ride.

Random

I have taken a lot of random pictures this month, so I thought I would post a few for fun. I haven't had much about Lillie....she is growing up so much!! Not a baby anymore.

Eli showing off the new tats
Madison at her award assembly
Lillie and Eli playing with blocks before bed...they have become pretty good friends. Eli is starting to step out of little brother mode and into big brother mode, it is very sweet.

Character Counts

Today Madison received a very special award at school called the character counts award. Each month they focus on a different attribute and one girl and boy are chosen to receive the reward for being a great example that characteristic. Madison was chosen this month because she shows great respect. We are very proud of her.

Pumpkin Patch

Thursday I got the opportunity to go with Eli on his first field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun watching Eli with his friends. He talks a lot about a couple of the little girls in the class so it was nice to finally meet them and their parents. Here is a picture of his class (notice he is one of only 3 boys in his class.)

Here is Eli with the twins. A couple of weeks ago Eli's teacher caught Eli on the reading rug with one twin under each arm looking at books. Hopefully not a sign of trouble ahead.
This is Eli with one of the twins (left), Ashton and Kaitlyn (right). Kaitlyn is the little girl that he talks about the most. Her mom caught me and said that Kaitlyn says that Eli is her boyfriend.... Kaitlyn's dad says that he needs to have a little talk with Eli.

High School Musical on Ice

Last weekend we got to go the fair and see High School Musical on Ice (thank you Aunt Barb) and we had tons of Wildcat fun. Erin and Keith joined us for a morning of cheesy entertainment and lots of laughs. GO WILDCATS!

Hello Tooth Fairy

I am a little behind on my posting, so sorry this is coming a little late. Two weeks ago today Madison lost her first tooth. Actually, she lost two teeth at the same time!! Lucky for the her, the tooth fairy wasn't prepared for this special event and only had a ten dollar bill, so she really made bank. She was very proud to be one of the first in her class to bring her teeth to school for show and tell.

Lillie Walking

Okay, Aunt Hannah here is your video of Lillie walking. She was in a great mood after church tonight and we were having a blast watching her run around and giggle. I think she would have gone on for hours if we had let her.

Catching Up

Hannah, I know that I told you this post would have video of Lillie walking, but it doesn't. I don't have a whole lot to report, so I have decided to just to blog about random things from the past couple of weeks.

Madison is doing great at school. She has a love for learning that I hope continues through her entire education. She got an award recognizing that she is a team player, so she was very proud of that!!

Eli on the other hand...well we celebrated no pee pee pants and sort of no time outs at school. The first week was a little rough but he is adjusting. The potty training is going great!! Our biggest challenge is trying to keep clothes on him. We let him run around naked while he was learning and now he prefers nudey tudey to the traditional clothing. Oh well.

Lillie continues to be a great little baby. For the most part she goes with the flow, still takes two naps a day, loves to be held like a baby and sings all the time. She will be my early talker (or singer). Her favorite thing to sing is "Ashes, ashes...all...down" It is precious.

I am still enjoying my job. I definately think I will learn a lot while I am in nursing school from the patients on the floor I am on (Neurology.) There is never a shortage of good stories, that is for sure.

Dan is doing good. He is taking 17 hours and keeping up with it very well. His friend Chris has shown drastic improvement. He has completed the reconstruction of his left arm including skin graphs and has been admitted to the rehab floor. He has lost a lot of weight but seems to be getting around fairly well and in pretty good spirits. It has been a real joy getting to know his family.

Well I guess that is all, I will end with a picture from Madison's and Lillie's room. I just finished their dresser and I think it looks really great.

First Day of School and Madison Rides the Bus

So, it is official, Eli has started Preschool!! He gets to go three days a week, and of the three days he has gone so far he only had to go to time out once (that we know of.) His teacher seems really nice and he acts like he really enjoys getting to be a big boy that goes to school. Yeah Eli!!

And yes, Madison is riding the bus.