Exploring and 5 Months

A few weekends ago we took Eli to a kid's museum here in town called the Exploration Place. It was a dreary Saturday and we needed to get him out of the house so this ended up being the perfect activity. I had never taken him before because I thought it would be too old for him, but there was a little activity and play area for his age group and he had a great time. I think he just loves exploring new surroundings.

Hailey was enjoying herself as well.

We were trying to bribe Eli with animal crackers for a sibling photo and this was the best one we got. :)

Hailey's eyes are still blue! Eli's started turning brown at this age.

This is a great picture showing the river downtown and the big Indian statue.

Marc was teaching Eli how to drive this tractor. I haven't ridden in a tractor since I was a little kid but this one was pretty comfortable!

And then, since Eli did so well with his first driving experience, Marc decided to let him fly a plane too. :)

It was a fun day and everyone had a great time including Hailey. She is such an easy baby for us. I really can't think of the last time she was difficult for us during an outing.  We try to just time things for when she is fed and rested and then we are good to go.

It is hard to believe that we have had Hailey with us for five months now. It has really just flown by. I think balancing two kids has something to do with that. :) Hailey has been sleeping so great this past week. I hope it sticks around for good this time. We started her on rice cereal this week which has been lots of fun. Eli enjoys watching her eat with a spoon. She is finally starting to fill out a little bit!

Happy 5 months Hailey June!

Almost Two

I am behind on a few posts from last weekend but wanted to share a few pictures today of my almost two year old. Eli is just so much fun right now, and I wanted to have a post to look back on to remind myself of this age. He cracks us up with his little personality that is blossoming. :) And, I know he is MY little boy, but I think he is just the cutest thing ever. Don't these eyes just melt your heart???

I could take pictures of him all day, but he is not a big fan of the camera. :)

So, Eli what are you up to these days?

You are starting to eat a little better for us. We offer you what we eat for dinner whether you like it or not and have found a way to bargain with you to eat a bite or two of most anything before you can get down from the table. If you REALLY hate dinner then we usually cave in and give you a yogurt in the bath tub before bed (because deep down inside we are afraid we are going to starve you!). :) Your favorite foods right now are pizza, hot dogs, chicken (cooked almost any way), pork tenderloin, sausage, taco meat and pinto beans, grapes, oranges, strawberries, yogurt, and sliced cheddar cheese. You also love cheerios and goldfish anytime of the day. You rarely eat any vegetables even though I put them on your plate every night. You poke them with your finger and ask me "What's that?" Ha!

You are becoming very adventurous. One day you figured out all by yourself that if you turned Hailey's car seat upside down it would become a slide (sort of). You love "sliding" down it in the kitchen. You are also a big fan of pillows. You stack up pillows anywhere you find them and jump into them. You have tried a few times to jump off of things onto the pillows (like the coffee table) but we usually catch you before you get a chance. :)

You really love our family. When we are all sitting somewhere together you chant over and over "Mama, Dada, Haywee, Eyi." This goes on for quite sometime and you get so tickled saying all of our names. You also love giving us hugs one by one and say "Mama hug, Dada hug, Haywee hug." You notice when one of us isn't with you and always ask where the missing person is. You know if your daddy is gone that he is at "wuk" (work) and it breaks his heart that you say this when he is gone.

Elmo is by far the coolest thing ever to you right now which is why we have decided to throw you an Elmo themed second birthday party on Easter weekend. You are going to L-O-V-E it.

You understand what "no" means fully well but still try to test the boundaries quite often. You have a look that you get on your face when you have done something you shouldn't have. You tilt your head to the ground, look up at me with your eyes, and then you smile. It is the most mischievous look I have ever seen and it always makes me laugh (on the inside). It sometimes takes me a little while to figure out what you have done but it never fails that I always find something wrong when you give me that look. :)

You love going to the park. You act just like a dog who has been told he is going on a walk. We have to wait to tell you right before we are about to leave or you go crazy running around the house so excited you can hardly stand it and yell "pok, pok, pok!" (park). We have been so blessed to have an amazing park right around the corner from us. Your most recent feat is going down the slide head first (which you again figured out on your own) and you scared us to death the first time you did it.

Your favorite activity to do anytime of the day is to read books. Both of your grandmothers have showered you with books over the past two years and you are really enjoying them now. You read books in your bed before your nap and with us at night before bed. Usually by the end of the day, all of your books are off your shelf because you have read many of them throughout the day and haven't quite figured out how to put them back where you got them. We tell you at night to pick out two books to read before bed and it never fails that you give us ten.

We love you so much Eli. We are so thankful for you and pray for many more years to get to enjoy watching you grow!

Making Room for Hailey

Bath time has always been a favorite for Eli, but we have recently started letting Hailey join in on Eli's bath fun since she is a little bigger and can handle his rowdiness and splashing. It is just easier on us to bathe them at the same time than separately so that is what we do! Some days Eli loves sharing his bath time and other days he can't wait for us to get Hailey out so he can stretch out in the tub and splash around ALONE. We usually let him play for a few minutes by himself after we get her out and dry her off. :)

Hailey loves her baths, too!

What crazy fun these two are!!!

Weekend in OKC

Retreat weekends away from the business of life are just so good. I planned Marc's birthday weekend in Oklahoma City this year and we had the best time. It was planned as a surprise, but I was pretty sure as the days were approaching that Marc knew where we were going and what we were going to do there.

So, when we hopped in the car on Saturday I asked Marc where he thought we were going. He of course said Oklahoma City and that he thought we were going to see the Thunder play (he had told me a few months ago that this was something he wanted to do, but I still thought I could surprise him). Since I was expecting that to be his response I had set the TomTom for Tulsa, OK (because that was the direction we needed to head anyways) and then showed Marc. He looked a little shocked at first but said he didn't care where we went or what we did, he just was excited to spend some time with me (good answer!). Once we were half-way I let him open my parents' card to him and the tickets to the Thunder/Lakers game were inside. Surprise! So, we just continued to head down I-35 to Oklahoma City. :)

We stayed in the Bricktown area which was so much fun. I had never been to Oklahoma City before but there was a lot to see and do. We went to Toby Keith's "I love this Bar and Grill" on Saturday night and enjoyed some cheesy fries and burgers. Mmmm.

We were going to hit up the Melting Pot after dinner for some fondue dessert but were so stuffed that we decided to get some Starbuck's hot chocolate instead. Then, we went to see The King's Speech. Have you seen it yet? It was really great. I thought the acting was so well done by everyone involved.

Our past few weeks of sleep ever since Eli was sick have been quite rough. Hailey went from sleeping through the night to waking every 3-4 hours and either needing her pacifier or wanting to eat, and Marc's pager has been going off all through the night. So, even though this weekend was full of fun events we were also hoping to get in some much needed R & R. After the movie we headed back to the hotel around 11 pm to get what we thought would be a fabulous and restful night of sleep. However, at 2 am I was awakened by a noisy crowd in the hall. After listening to these high school and college kids conversing at full volume for well over half an hour, I called the front desk to see if someone could kindly escort them back to their room.  We were then awakened at 5 am by the fire alarm going off (probably triggered by the people mentioned above) and the fire department had to come and reset the system. It unfortunately took them an hour to come and reset the alarm. :) By 5:30 am I was just laying in bed laughing to myself at how we couldn't get a good night of sleep no matter what city we were in. And then I just suddenly became so thankful for our kids. God reminded me of what a blessing those little ones are to us... even when they make us lose a little sleep.

Sunday we met up for church with a medical student friend who we have a feeling is going to "match" with our program next month. It was great to see him and also fun to visit someone else's church. After church we made a quick stop by Wal-Mart to get some Thunder t-shirts and then we headed to the game.

This was the second NBA game that Marc and I have been to and they are so much fun. It was incredibly loud and there was tons of energy from the fans since this was such a big game. We had a great time and the game really went down to the last second!

It was wonderful coming home to see our kids again after a night away. I know they had a great time with their Nana and Papa and my mom somehow even managed to cook us our meals for the week which was a GREAT surprise for me. Thanks mom and dad for all your help! Marc had a great birthday weekend.