Thanksgiving- Part 2

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Marc's sister and brother-in-law's house for dinner. They have a little girl who is 15 months and a little boy who is 3. Eli is in between those two in age so the house was full of busy little bodies that night. :)

Angie had gotten the kids all matching pajamas so we could get them in some pictures together. It is quite challenging to get four kids to look at the camera at the same time! Marc and I stayed pretty close by Eli during the pictures since we let him hold Hailey. Sometimes he does really well and other times he gets tired of her and tries to push her off his lap. We have taught him to say "all done" when he wants us to take her back so that we at least have some warning. :)

Since we will not be in Illinois on Christmas this year, Eli opened up his presents from Marc's parents early. He also enjoyed getting to open up Hailey's gifts! It was so fun seeing what a difference a year makes. Last year he didn't even want to pull the paper off, but this year he was so excited to open up his gifts and to pull them out of the box to play with.

I think Marc will get plenty of practice putting things together this holiday. It wouldn't seem like Christmas if the dad didn't have to assemble something for his child. :)

Well, I still have one more day of our trip pictures to post tomorrow and then I am going to move on to my sister's wedding pictures!

Thanksgiving- Part 1

So, I decided I had too many pictures to put them all into one post so I am going to separate them into a few posts. Marc was fortunate to get a whole week off over Thanksgiving because it overlapped November and December which allowed him to take more time off. Since we have been married we have alternated holidays with our families and this was our year to be with his family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time! Eli is so friendly and warms up to most anyone within a few minutes. I think he is a joy for everyone to be around. It was also fun for Marc's siblings to get to meet Hailey since they weren't able to come see us when she was born. She spent a lot of time getting held and she loved it. :)

It was pretty cold while we were there. Illinois has cold winters! We brought Eli's coat with us but didn't have a hat for him so Marc shared his and he loved wearing it. I think he would wear anything I asked him to if it meant he was going to get a few minutes outside. :)

New houses are always fun for Eli because he gets to explore and in the case of his grandparents houses, play with new toys. :) Eli spent so much time crawling up and down Mama Reenie and Papa's stairs. He loved poking his head through the rails and looking at everyone down below. His Papa taught him how to slide down the stairs backwards which he loves and he can now go down the stairs at our house this way without me worrying about him falling.

The last time Eli met his cousins he was only 8 months old and he could have cared less about them but this time he got really excited and he still says their names when I show him pictures. It was also a challenge getting all the kids to share their toys, but I think that is pretty typical for this age. :)

On Thanksgiving we had turkey and all the fixins' and Eli didn't touch a thing. He wasn't feeling so great that day so he ended up eating a yogurt for his dinner! He did however enjoy the leftovers the next day when he was feeling better. It was so nice to spend time with everyone relaxing, eating great food, and watching football. I am thankful that I married into a great family and always enjoy the time we spend with them.

I am going to try to post some more pictures every day this week so check back soon!

Home Again

I have the washer and dryer both full trying to catch up on laundry from our two weeks away from home. We were in Illinois for a week over Thanksgiving, then home for one day before we were on the road again heading to Arkansas. We spent this past weekend there for my sister's wedding. The kids did so well with all the traveling. I am not sure how we would have handled the 10 hr. drive to Illinois (which became more like 12 hrs. with stops!) with screaming babies. :) I have SO many pictures that I am sorting through and love them all. Whatever did we do before digital cameras? It is so great being able to capture memories and see them right away. Eli is sitting here right now looking through pictures with me and loves to point out himself in all the pictures. Ha! I hope to get some pictures up later tonight from Thanksgiving and then will put up my sister's wedding later on this week. Stay tuned!

Our Weekend Fun

We had a fun weekend. It started out on Friday with me hanging out with both kids. I am getting more of a routine when I have them both and also learning how to go with the flow when that schedule just doesn't work out. Hailey still spends a lot of time napping which helps me give Eli the attention he wants and needs. It is great that around noon they both take naps, and I can get a few things done. This was how things looked in our house at noon on Friday...

My two babies sleeping. So peaceful. :) I am still trying to get Hailey to take naps in her crib. She sleeps great in her bassinet at night by our bed and is only waking up once but she has not taken very well to her crib during the day. She prefers to sleep in her swing (even when it is not swinging) or her bouncer. I am hoping that will get better soon, but I will probably have to wait until all our travels are over in the next few weeks to become more consistent with where I put her down to nap.

On Saturday Marc decided to take care of the leaves in the yard. He prefers to mow and mulch the leaves a little every few weeks instead of raking them. It was a really pretty day so while he was mowing I decided to play with Eli in the leaves (Hailey was asleep in her bouncer on the porch). We piled up leaves at the bottom of his slide and he had a blast sliding down into them!

Saturday night Marc and I went out for a really nice dinner to celebrate my birthday. We tried out a new babysitter for Eli and took Hailey with us. Hailey was great! She fell asleep on the way there and didn't make a peep the entire time. We were the only ones in the entire restaurant with a child so I am glad she didn't disrupt anyone's dinner! When we got home we asked the babysitter how Eli did for her and she said he was "crazy all night." Ha! Hopefully we paid her well enough that she will come back! I later told Eli that is not really the kind of report I want to be getting from his babysitters. :) He is full of energy for sure.

On Sunday, Marc and I were scheduled to work in the nursery during church. Eli loves going to the nursery now. He used to get sad when we would leave him but now he runs into the room as soon as we open the gate. He really loves playing with this toy kitchen so Marc and I are going to get him one for our basement for Christmas.

Well, tomorrow is the start of the week. It will be a short one for Marc since he is only working until noon on Tuesday! We are planning on leaving for Illinois some time after that for Thanksgiving. We are hoping for easy travels with the kids but I think our 10 hr. drive to Illinois will probably take us a little longer. :) We are going to turn Eli's car seat around for the first time for this long trip so he can enjoy the DVD player. I am hoping it keeps him entertained and that Hailey sleeps most of the time. We'll see how everything really plays out! I will update when we get back. Happy Thanksgiving!