Monday, November 16, 2009

Weekend Wrap-up

Just a few pictures from our weekend...

We kicked off the weekend with dinner guests on Friday night. Eric, Crystal, and their sweet daughter, Zoey came to visit. The adults had a great time eating and talking and the kids had a blast playing together. We are so thankful they drove from Abilene to see us!

I love how Zoey knows how to pose for a picture. She even says "cheese"...precious. 





 Who can believe we got all three to sit and look in one direction?


It didn't last long!



We had to get out of the house after Dustin painted Saturday morning because the fumes were reeeeally bad.

We got to spend the whole day with Dad, the weather was beautiful, mom got to do a little shopping, and we played outside most of the day on Saturday. Could life get any better than that?




 




We had never seen a giraffe "bend down" before.





 I was making mom very nervous trying to climb through the fence.


 Our favorite part of the day was climbing up and down these steps. We could have stayed here for hours.

















What a fun weekend! Hope yours was great as well!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

13 Months

We are now well into our second year of life, so here's an update on how we are growing and changing.

The last time we went to the doctor, Eli weighed 18 pounds 8 ounces and is now in the 3rd percentile. That's a record, folks! Landon weighed 20 pounds 11 ounces and he is in the 20th percentile. It was pretty interesting to see their personal growth curves compared to the average growth curve. Most kids are sort of leveling off around this time, but Eli and Landon are growing now more than ever. Maybe we'll catch up someday. And maybe we won't...whatev.

They are both very healthy, very active, and very good eaters. We are, of course, off of formula. I thought we would save a lot of money being done with formula, but I didn't account for the gallon of milk PER DAY that we now go through. It's still cheaper. And it's for a good cause I suppose.


Get ready to hear about my really tough life and schedule...

Eli and Landon sleep until 9:00 most mornings. I know. Can you believe it? And the shameful thing is...most mornings I sleep until they get up. I don't know why I just confessed that, but now it's out in the open and I'm glad I got it off my chest.

We change diapers and play for a little while before we eat breakfast. They eat pancakes, scrambled eggs, bananas, cheese omelet, muffins, or biscuits for breakfast. We sing songs, talk about our dreams from the night before, and plan our day over breakfast. Depending on how messy we are, we may or may not take a bath. Then we get dressed for the day and play. We have plenty of toys and books to keep us busy in the morning. The boys play best when I am playing with them - we have the least fights, bites, and meltdowns if I'm around.

Sometime between 11 and 1 Eli and Landon get cranky, emotional, and very clumsy. I try to make it as long as possible before putting them down for a nap. I fix them a bottle of milk and put them in their beds and they do a pretty good job of going to sleep on their own. They sleep around two hours. If I haven't yet, this is my time to shower and get dressed...so what if the day is half over. Dustin comes home for lunch most days and I get to sit down, eat a meal, and have a conversation with my husband and everything is perfect in that moment in time. Until he leaves, I have a mess to clean up, my babies are waking up, and they are hungry. Oh well...it was good while it lasted.

When Eli and Landon get up from their nap, we change diapers and eat lunch. They like PB&J sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, yogurt, bananas, avacado, grilled cheese, any kind of meat cut up, all vegetables, mashed potatoes, grapes, whole wheat crackers, applesauce, goldfish crackers, and pasta...pretty much anything. It is almost certain that we will need a bath after lunch, so we go straight from the high chair to the bathtub. They love bathtime, so we prolong this event until they are prunes.

We have been playing outside every afternoon that is warm and sunny. Eli and Landon love it outside and will play for hours out there picking up pecans, playing in the rocks, climbing up and down the back steps, trying to pick the few flowers I have left, swinging with me on the back porch swing, or just walking around investigating. We almost always do something in the afternoon like go to the park, go on a walk, go to the grocery store or wal-mart, or just go for a drive with the windows down. It helps us all to just get out of the house and Eli and Landon do wonderful when we're out - they really know how to work the crowds.

Sometimes we all three lay down on a pallet in the living room in the afternoon for a little bit and watch the Bonnie Hunt show or whatever cartoons we can find. I love the moments we all three just sit together and rock or lay down - they don't happen that often anymore since they are so mobile and active, but I always close my eyes and take a deep breath and try to burn that feeling into my memory...as Hootie Darius Rucker says, "it won't be like this for long" (side note: that song still makes me cry every single time I hear it.)

The hardest part of my day is the hour or so before Dustin gets home. I guess we all three just can't wait for him to get home and we all get cranky about it. But when he walks in the door...everything is better. He plays with the boys while I fix dinner. We all sit down to eat together and afterward, he gives the boys another bath (that's three in one day if you're counting - they are very messy eaters) while I clean up the kitchen. I've come to love this time. I love to hear them playing and laughing in there and I love the few moments I have to do some mindless work in peace without someone hanging on my leg. And most of the time I talk to Eva on the phone while I'm cleaning so it goes by super fast.

So...the reason my kids sleep late is because they go to bed sort of late. Dustin wants to spend as much time as possible with them in the evenings, so they don't go to bed until between 9 and 10. And the reason I sleep in so late as well is because I stay up way too late. This is the only time I have for myself and with Dustin. I do laundry, start the dishwasher, put everything back in it's place, plan/thaw meat for tomorrow's dinner, and make sure everything is clean for the next morning. It's just so much nicer to wake up to a clean house. I also watch TV, blog, pay bills, write emails, stalk people on Facebook, talk on the phone, roam around Wal-Mart, or just sit like a zombie enjoying the peace and quiet.

So that is what life is like around here right now. It's the perfect mixture of challenging and wonderful with a little stress mixed in every now and then. Thank you for coming here to share in our every day life. I don't think I mention it enough, but I am thankful for you. (Even those of you that take this blogging relationship way too seriously and demand new posts...oh wait...that's just my mom.)



Landon


 Eli


Landon




Eli


Landon


Landon







Monday, November 9, 2009

Home again, home again...

Where to start?

Dustin took the last of his vacation this past week and oh wouldn't it be grand if he never had to work! Everything is better when he's around and we had such a good time hanging out with him for a whole week.

We left last Friday night and headed to Iraan for the weekend. We stopped in Midland for dinner and a haircut for the boys. It was their first professional haircut and they did fairly well.


Could Landon possibly be more excited?


Eli is not a fan.


Saturday morning we went to watch Dustin and Kevin (and Lance) mark calves. Eli and Landon had a great time watching and trying to moo like the cows.


















After working so hard...we needed a bath.
 

 Everything was under control...
 

But Annie decided she needed to help.
 

 

That afternoon, we went to Loren's birthday party. The only pictures we got are of D'Laney loving on Eli and Landon. She is such a sweetie. They had a lot of fun running around and playing with the decorations.



 

 


 

After the party...it was time to go trick-or-treating with the boys. Eli is the giraffe and Landon is the zebra. Landon hated the head to his costume, so we went without most of the night. They did really well. They walked up to the house and held their bags out with a little help. Landon cried when we left each house. I guess he wanted to go inside and visit for a while.












 

 

 

 

Keva was so kind to take pictures of  Eli and Landon in their costumes. 
 



 

That about sums up our Halloween. We had a full day of fun and family. Needless to say, we were all worn out after that marathon of events. This is what they looked like soon after getting home:
 


We want to wish a very happy birthday to Nemo today! 
(*fyi: Dustin's mom's name has been changed from Nana to Nemo)



More on our vacation to be continued...
Related Posts with Thumbnails