Eli - 6 months old

Eli turned 6 months old on Sunday, September 5.  As I say every month, he is growing too fast!  He had his 6-month checkup today and he is healthy and right on track.  He now weighs 21 lb. 5 oz. and is 27 1/4" long.  This puts him in the 95th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height.  He is one BIG lovable boy!  He was also in the 93th percentile for head circumference, but who really cares about all that?  Here are a few new things Eli is doing this month:

-Says many consonant sounds

- Scoots a little.  He mainly does this by climbing on top of a stuffed animal and pushing off with his feet.  Just can't quite get the mechanics right, but he manages to get around

-Loves to walk while I am holding his hands.  He's starting to walk along furniture, but I have to stay close by.  Sometimes he forgets to hang on.

-If anything is within reach, it is his.  We now have to begin the baby-proofing process again.

-He has increased in opinions and in volume.  He's almost always happy, but if he wants something, he WILL let you know!

-He's eating three solid meals a day.  

-He drinks from a sipee cup

Oh what joy to see my little ones learn!  Thank you God for the privilege to raise these precious children!  They are gifts from above!

We've Moved!

Remember when I posted this, but then I had to go back and post this?  Well this time it is official!  We have closed and moved in.  To avoid speaking too soon again, we waited to share the news with everyone.    

Here are a few pictures of the house, I'll tell about some changes we want to make and as we make the changes, I'll blog about them.

Here is the front:  We are planning on repainting the front door....maybe red?

The front entry into the living room:  We have painted this room "spanish olive", which is a very pretty green.  When everything is in place, I'll take a new picture and post.

Living Room

Kitchen: I want to make this look like a New Orleans Cafe

Breakfast area

Master Bath: We have his and her walk in closets.  I'm in love with my bathroom!  No Doubt!  I don't have picture of my bedroom, but it is wonderful as well.  Nice and big and the perfect color.  

Landry's Room:  In a corner not shown, we plan on making a dress up corner with some "fancy" mirrors on the wall and lots of pictures of Landry's past "get-ups".  Eli's room is not ready yet.  He has a bed to sleep in, but we've got to do lots to make it especially for him.

2nd Bath: It is beautiful just the way it is, but I would like to make it more kid-friendly.  I plan on doing a monkey theme.

Screened-in back porch: This is our FAVORITE part of the house.  Landry has stayed out for hours on it.  She can come and go as she pleases, and I can always see her through the big windows in the living room and the kitchen.

Back Patio: Can't wait to grill out on this!

Back Yard:  We plan on taking out some of the Landscaping to make more room for our kids to run around.  While it is nice and pretty, plain ole grass is better for us right now. 

Hope you like it!  We love visitors, so come visit us!

Guest of Honor

We had the privilege of hosting a great friend (more like a family member) in our home for a few days.  We affectionately refer to him as "our soldier".  I mentioned Ben in a previous blog, here.  We first met Ben in Georgia, where we enjoyed the short time we had with him.  Then, Ben was sent to North Carolina.  He was then deployed to Haiti and Afghanistan.  We are so thankful that God has now brought him safely back to the United States.  Ben had some leave time, and we are so honored he chose to spend some of that leave time with us.  While he was here, we enjoyed lots of great time together eating, chatting, watching movies, seeing the city, etc.  But I think Ben had the most fun playing with our kids.  Landry quickly attached herself to him and all we heard for the rest of his stay was "Ben, come on!  Ben, where are you?  Ben! Ben! Ben!"  And as for him, one who has never really been around young kids, he was outstanding with both Landry and Eli.  We thought he would be sick of them by the time he left, but he tells us he already misses them badly.  What a sweet guy!  Here are some pictures I was able to get of our time together.

This is from the day we spent in the French Quarter

Ben and the kiddos

Landry stole Ben's "woobie".  Yes, that is what all the tough Army guys call this type of blanket.

And Ben and Eli played a game of "Monkey See, Monkey Do."

Eli think's Ben's phone is much cooler than mommy and daddy's

We can't wait till Ben can come visit again!

Studmuffin!

This outfit called for a faux-hawk and a photoshoot.....

Just can't seem to pick a favorite :)

Wordless Wednesday - A Typical Saturday

Family Night-Pizza Party

I mentioned in this blog that we are trying to start a tradition of "Family Night" at our house.  So this week, we had a Pizza Party.  Poor Eli slept through the whole thing, but it was probably a good thing since he wouldn't be allowed to eat anything.  It would have just been a tease for him.  The rest of us, however, had a great time.  We each made our own pizza.  I would have gotten lots of toppings to choose from, but Cory and Landry are only into CHEESE.  Next, we made a dessert pizza to share.  Everything was delicious and I think we will be having pizza parties more often.


You'll see that Landry didn't want to "waste" her cheese putting it on the pizza.  She wanted it now!

The finished products!

Yummy!

Spreading the cream cheese mixture on the cookie crust

And having a little fun with the left overs

Now to add the fruit.

You'll notice a few strawberries with bites out of them.  Landry just couldn't resist.  Good thing it was only our immediate family eating this!

Everyday after lunch............

we have a 

DANCE PARTY!

And it gets wild and cray sometimes.  You should see the moves on Eli!  LOL

Just ignore that crazy lady you hear on the camera.