Pool fun!

Eli is finally sleeping through the night!!!! Woot woot! He's no longer nursing once in the night, so we're finally getting sleep. He should be completely weaned in two weeks. He nurses before his nap and after supper, so I'll cut one each week. Wish me luck! We had a fun family morning. Brandon cooked up a big breakfast, then we headed out on a long walk to The Perk (local coffee shop) while it was still cool. We saw a lot of old fixed up cars around, so we went to the park on our way home to see all the line up of cars before their parade. Eli enjoyed playing at the park, of course. Yesterday was hot, so when Brandon got home we let Eli play in his baby pool in back yard. He loved sitting down and "swimming" kicking his legs really fast and splashing around. I didn't put very much water in it, so he could just walk around playing with toys etc. My cousin Angela stopped by before her art show. After putting Eli to bed, I ran down with my other cousins/friends (Ellen/Sam) to hang out and see her pottery on display. Eli never wanted to get out of the pool! We left it up, so he could play again today (since it's going to be 92).

Sicko!

This is the face you make when you're sick and have spaghetti stuck to your face :-) Seriously, this kid can whine when he's not feeling well! Poor thing. At one point Brandon and I just burst out laughing because the whining was so fake and absurd we couldn't help it! I was glad to get a break and eat at Panera with my cousin/friend Ellen! I am sad he's sick because I had plans to have a playdate at our house with my friends, a playdate set up with my cousin and her baby Luke, Brandon leading worship, and the big church picnic at the park this weekend that I had really been looking forward to. It just stinks that we have to miss them all! There is a cold going around (hopefully not swine flu) that a lot of my friends say their kids have right now. Boo hoo!

We had a wonderful Memorial Day! I was misty eyed all day thinking about my grandparents, Eilers, Brandon's grandparents, etc.; all the loved ones of ours who have passed and never got the chance to meet Eli. It makes me sad, but I also am encouraged knowing we'll see them all again someday. Brandon put Eli's little flag out on our porch (he's crazy about flags), so when we were outside he would wave it at people going by. He would copy my tone of voice when I'd say "Happy Memorial Day!" even though he couldn't say the words. We went shopping and bought an area rug for the basement. It's starting to look good down there! We'll be eventually getting some hand-me-down furniture from my parents that we'll put down there, and it will truly be a family room! Eli helped me move all the storage boxes (all baby stuff/clothes/etc) out of his future "big boy room" as we call it. Well, actually he helped me throw clothes/socks of Gavins down the stairs that he's ready to wear. He loves throwing things up or down the stairs. Brandon's first week of furlough is in less than a month, so I'm getting everything ready to paint! I will be so excited when his future room is done. Hopefully it will be cute. Blue and airplanes...his two favorite things! We might have to throw in a flag and he'd be set! I'm a little sad because Eli has come down with a cold. He hasn't been sick in over two months, so I'm kind of dissapointed. Hopefully he'll feel better soon. He just has a really runny nose right now but no fever thank God. I haven't gotten to go out with one of my friends in a long time (because they've been sick or busy etc.), so I'm going out to eat with my cousin Ellen tonight before I'm sick! I am Eli's personal snot rag! Luckily, the last 5 colds Eli and I have had Brandon hasn't caught. He can take care of us! Eli is obsessed with running. I have like a million heart attacks a day with him running. I'm constantly saying "SLOW DOWN!". In the house, it's okay but outside on the sidewalk or cement I just hold my breath. BOYS!

Going Green is not a FAD!

It really blows my mind that people get so upset fighting about global warming and whether it's really happening or blah blah blah. The fact of the matter is, we should be taking care of the earth regardless of what you think. There are a lot of verses in the bible about taking care of the environment. It's nothing new! We've been commanded to take care of God's creation. It has really been weighing on me these past few years especially, when I start thinking about my children's future. I remember when I was in Germany and was amazed at how much they recycled...it wasn't an option...why are we so behind? Here are some things that we've been doing to try and do our part...of course there are SO many other things we could be doing, but at least we're trying. I love the Seventh Generation cleaning supplies motto by the Iroquois, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

-2x concentrated laundry detergent
-All cleaning supplies/detergents/dish soap etc. are Seventh Generation (organic all natural etc) or Babyganics (They do just as good a job and smell better than all other cleaners I've used)
-Try to eat organic fruits and veggies (especially for Eli)
-Made my own babyfood
-Breastfeeding
-Only organic products for Eli (soap, shampoo, lotion, etc)
-Growing organic vegetable garden
-Don't use any pesticides in any of our gardening
-Feed and water birds
-Try to plant butterfly and bee attracting plants
-Eco friendly light bulbs
-Only run full loads of laundry and dishes
-Recycle everything but glass (this only costs us like $24 a YEAR for our trash service to take all recycling twice a month)
-Try to cook homemade meals with fresh ingredients and not use prepackaged/premade

Hopes for the future:
1. Hybrid car (please stop making them look like eggs...then I could convince my husband...thank you)

Farm living is the life for ME!

We're home from a WONDERFUL weekend at my parent's farm! It was such a refreshing trip. Eli had an absolute blast. He was in heaven. Both car trips were great. I had packed sandwiches, snacks, books, toys, music etc. When we got there we just played outside all evening. He was thrilled to see my family (if I even say the word Grumpa or Granny he always says "BOOM" in reference to a game they always play with him), so all day he'd been excited saying that. Eli loved the wide open spaces. He just roamed around with Brandon and Will all over the farm playing with the cats, dogs, rocks etc. After putting him to bed, Brandon and I went into a bar/restaurant in town to meet up with some of my high school classmates. We had a great date visiting with old friends. Saturday, we had more outside fun! We took Eli to the pond in the pasture behind my parents house. He just went running into the water. He walked the entire perimeter of the pond in the water holding Brandon's hand and splashing here and there. We saw baby turtles and frogs. Eli played outside and with Grumpa, Granny, and Will all day. We also visited my almost grandma in the hospital. Josephine and Gilbert were like grandparents to us growing up. They never had kids of their own and since my dad farmed their land, they adopted us as their own. We've taken Eli to visit Josephine in her apartment several times and she calls him her grandson. She had a heart attack a few weeks back and has been dying in the hospital since. We were so glad we visited her yesterday. It was hard to see her looking so terrible, but the second we walked in she said "You brought ELI!" Considering her memory hasn't been so great since the heart attack we were thrilled. She passed away the night we visited. I'm so glad we got that last visit! We also stepped into the head injury unit to visit one of my childhood friend's dad and my doctor all growing up. He's had Huntington's Disease since my friend and I were in junior high. He actually was better than I expected and later remembered us coming and told my friend we'd been there, so I was really pleased with that. I've always taken pleasure in the fact that Eli's doctor shares the same name...Dr. Barker! Brandon enjoyed riding dirt bikes with my brother. They rode both Saturday and Sunday and had a ball! Brandon enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful back roads around my parent's farm. Today Eli was looking longingly at my Dad riding the 4 wheeler around doing chores, so my dad rode by and picked him up and drove him slowly on the drive way to appease his curiosity. He loved it and kept saying "more"! We had to snap a picture of him and "Eli's Tree". My mom planted a tree for each of us when we were born and always took pictures of us with them as we got older. She's continuing the tradition with the grandchildren. Eli's tree is a red bud that she planted when he was born. He loved his tree and kissed it several times. Eli loved Granny's cooking! He enjoyed her famous bierocks and empenadas. Saturday night we took Eli to my class reunion at a friend's house. He played in the sprinklers with some neighbor kids and got in the pool for a little bit. Brandon took him home to go to bed, and I stayed and caught up with classmates for the next few hours. It definitely turned into a drunkfest, which was very entertaining. After Eli wakes up from his nap, we'll be heading over to my aunt's house for my cousin Angela's graduation party. She's going to Friends next year (great choice might I add).

The basement is finished! YAY! The guy said in all 35 years of doing tiling, this was one of the hardest jobs he's done. It was just really hard to get it even and looking great because of how uneven the cement floor was. He did an awesome job! I'm dying to get down there and clean and have my basement back functioning! We've always used the family area as a play room, so it's been hard for me to not have that available since the rains a month ago. I thought you would enjoy Eli's "whine face". Sure is cute in the picture, but quite annoying in person ;-) Whenever I'm cooking or on the phone he whines the entire time. Ask Brandon. It drives me NUTS! He was checking out his new shoes, testing them to make sure they were up to par. He is going to go through shoes like crazy because we spend so much time outside. We're heading up to Minneapolis tomorrow for my class reunion. Some of us are meeting Friday night (after Eli will be asleep) at the Blue Moon downtown to eat and then Saturday night meeting at a friend's house to have dinner together. I'm hoping it won't be a drunk fest (Am I the ONLY person in the world who doesn't drink or party????) Sheesh! It will be fun to catch up. We haven't been up to the farm since the weather has warmed up, so I'm looking forward to Eli having wide open spaces! He's going to love the kittens...since he constantly is meowing and loves to play "cat hide and seek" where I'm the cat and he is the kitten and we meow until he finds me and then I attack him hissing (he loves it). Speaking of that. A very creepy thing happened the other night. I have been known to talk/walk and do weird things in my sleep (ask my mom and sister). I remember them telling me one time I was shouting "5 cents for a pickle!"...seriously. Strangely, since I've been married I haven't done anything weird and I've only talked a couple times (Brandon has talked in his sleep a few times too). The other night Brandon was laying awake and looked over at me asleep and I opened my eyes, sat up, leaned over his face and clawed at him with my hand hissing (never touching him). Then just laid back down asleep. He thought I was awake and joking with him until he told me about it the next morning. Then we were both freaked, until I demonstrated the same thing I do with Eli when we're playing the cat game, and he said that was exactly what I did. Good to know I was only dreaming of playing that game with Eli and not demon posessed...ha ha ha! I'm praying for a wonderful weekend at the farm!

Eli loves to:
-Sit on his potty
-Do somersaults on the bed
-Play in any type of water (a bucket with some water in it will keep him entertained for hours as he puts dandelions or sticks in and out of it)
-Climb any stairs (especially loves climbing up to the rooms upstairs)
-Feed his stuffed animals when I declare them "hungry", give them kisses when they are "crying" or rock them side to side
-Smell flowers (I taught him to do this instead of picking them and it was worked wonderfully)
-Eat fruits and veggies
-Use a fork (which he calls a spoon). He'll hardly eat unless I give him one to at least try with
-Be tickled (he'll say "More more more" over and over again)
-Be around other kids. He watched them so carefully and shares really well (we use that word a lot around here in practice)
-Play the guitar which he calls "AY YA"
-Sing old McDonald, and when you sing "And on the farm he had a...." and wait to let him fill in the blanks he always shouts "BOY"
-Go for walks with Rica, play at the park or playground
-Talk to his grandmas or aunt Becca on the phone (he kisses the phone)

Mom, a Carni!

What a fabulous weekend! We didn't have anything major going on, so we got to enjoy our time as a family and make our own fun! My aunt Paula (my dad's brother Ed's wife) was nice enough to come over after Eli was asleep last night and stay with him while we watched the huge fireworks show at the end of our block on the river. My cousins Megan, Ellen, Angela, and Sam joined us. It was great! We snacked on cookies and hot chocolate. Today we went to church and after playing in the lobby for a little bit, Eli headed down the hall to his class on his OWN and went in excited to play with the kids. They said he whined a little bit, but for the most part had a great time. When I peeked in at the end of church he was just playing away with the other kids. He did spill his drink on himself though. He can drink out of a cup really well here at home, but they give the kids dixie cups with just a little bit of water (he's in the big boy class...probably one of the youngest) and he wasn't used to one that small. She said it takes a couple weeks and they can handle the small cup. Later we took Eli to a carnival in the mall parking lot. Unfortunately, he wasn't tall enough to do any of the kiddie rides (that we thought he'd be able to....probably will be the story of his life), but he did ride the carousel twice and loved it. He loved watching all the crazy rides with people going upside down etc. We hit the park after feasting on another deliciously grilled meal from Brandon (he made the best grilled chicken I've ever eaten last night, and amazing steaks tonight). It was so incredibly crowded. Eli had fun, but it was so much work to keep him from running into other kids or getting trampled. When I go during the day or meet my friends there is no one there. I just made a Lasagna for supper tomorrow and am off to bed aka my SANCTUARY!

Gag me!

So, Eli did something extremely weird and gross last night. He was being goofy and discovered that he could gag himself with his fingers. I was horrified when I saw what he was doing and of course tried to stop him (which made him laugh even harder). No such luck. He threw up (luckily just fluids). He thought this was hilarious as well. Brandon then saw what was going on and tried to get him to stop and he would laugh and keep doing it. After throwing up TWO more times he finally stopped. Seriously. We were totally mad. It was just a moment of discovery and luckily he's never tried to pull that stunt again. Sheesh! Horrific parenting moment :-)

We've had a wonderful day today. We went to our favorite local Riverside restaurant The Copper Oven and got scones early this morning (best scones in the whole world might I add), picked up some bird seed (we go through several bags a month), and groceries. Later, we hit Sprint and I got a new phone for free. My screen has been out for like a month, which has been so annoying, and I finally found out that I've been eligible for a new phone for two years...woops. The workers laughed so hard at Brandon's ghetto phone (still has an antennae which they don't even make anymore). He could have gotten a new one for free, but we decided to wait until it starts to die before getting one. Brandon started reading The Shack while Eli slept today. Unlike me, he didn't sob the whole time but is loving it all the same! Here is our first harvest from our garden...one strawberry. We all shared it at supper (Eli wanted more, so I was glad I had bought a pack today at the store). Tart, but delicious!

This has been a packed couple of days. They started tiling the basement yesterday. I wish I would have thought about the fact that I wouldn't be able to get to my laundry machines while they are working on it. There is going to be one MASSIVE pile of laundry to wash next week. The tile is a pretty close match, and I can already tell it's going to look great. Our microwave blew up, so the repairman was here today (luckily under warranty). The disaster insurance guy came to look at the damage from the rains we've had and the leaks in the roof, AND the roofer came as well. Craziness! Eli has enjoyed all the people. Today he kept throwing the ball at the insurance guy trying to get him to play with him (he was nice and did throw it back once) and always said "Bye Bye" and waved when they left. So adorable! I'm really looking forward to the weekend after all the craziness this week. Time for some relaxation!

Park fun!

Today, Eli and I met my friend Tanya and her two boys Seth and baby Jesse at the park by our house to play. Before they arrived, I hung out with our old neighbor who happened to be there with her two boys! It was great to get some friend time! Eli loved climbing from the very bottom of the play equipment clear up to the top (after climbing several sets of stairs) and then ending at the really tall slides, which we'd go down and start all over again! Last night Tanya's husband Chris, who used to be Brandon's roommate, called and they went to see the new Star Trek. They both really liked it and Brandon had fun with the guys! I was miserable all night and half of today because I had a clogged duct. I could hardly sleep. I've had quite a few since Eli was born, but nothing like this before. It was SO painful. I tried pumping, nursing etc. but I couldn't clear it. Finally, when Eli was nursing before his nap I had instant relief. Ah. It definitely set a new tone for the day. Eli loves beets. I'm growing some in our garden just for him. Last night we couldn't stop laughing because he was scarfing down some beets with his meal and I called him "Little Mose". If you've ever seen the t.v. show The Office, you'll know who I'm talking about. He has a beet farm and is rather strange. Poor kid...he didn't even know his mother was making fun of him ;-) ;-) Eli's been going through clothes, shoes, and socks like crazy during the day. I really believe kids should be raised outdoors without t.v. and video games, and luckily Eli has joined in on the outside adventure and LOVES to be outdoors exploring and getting dirty. The only problem is we go through a lot of clothes. By the times he's played in the sandbox, dirt, water, flowers, rocks, grass etc. (with all of it sticking to his sunscreen) he's a mess! Today we went through three outfits. I know what times the front or back will be shaded so he doesn't get too hot or too much sun. He's not going to be a city slicker if we have our way! Brandon was horrified when he saw the white jumper that Eli was in when he came home from work (hey, I was on outfit number 3). I think he may have called it a dress ;-) ;-) Teaching and reminding Eli to say "Please" has really helped with his demanding everything. I was laughing earlier because he demanded Rica to drink out of the watering can. He even was bossing her around! Love this kid!

DONE!

Last night we took Eli to the River Festival to get some food and play on the kid stuff. Eli and I shared a vegetarian platter with Veggie Lo Mein and Veggie rice. We both loved it! After eating, we took Eli over to the kids area. There really wasn't much for his age but a couple blow up jumping things. Brandon went with him in one. All I could hear from the outside was Eli saying, "Done! Done! DONE!" I was cracking up. He hated it. Thinking that one was just a little too intense we took him over to this little tiny kids one. He stood in there one second then started in with "Done! Done! DONE!" Brandon and I couldn't stop laughing. He did NOT like the kid stuff. He did enjoy running around, dancing, and going up and down this ramp while we listened to some gospel music. Hopefully next year the weather will be better and we can catch some puppet shows or other kids programs that he would like. It's supposed to rain every day this week, so that was our only chance to go.

Today I about had a heart attack. Eli has learned to climb up and go down backwards on the steps outside the house or other places, but still has never even attempted the wooden stairs inside the house. They are too slippery. I turned my back for one second to put some dishes in the dishwasher and looked back and he was standing on the first step smiling like he'd won the lottery. Scared me to death. Of course after that all he wanted was to go up and down the stairs. I had to put some chairs in front of it until Brandon can come home and put up the baby gate. It helped me remember that we need to carpet those stairs. Crap! Another house project. I was making out the list today of everything we need to do this summer while Brandon is furloughed. No excuses for not getting them done, since we'll have the time. I've got the color picked out for Eli's upstairs room. Speaking of colors...Eli is doing great at his colors. He has this color mat that I practice with him. He can now go and point to and help me put toys on red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and purple. He's a genius ;-)

River Fest Rockin!

We played at the Wichita River Festival for around 2 1/2 hours last night. It was FREEZING! I'm surprised that anyone was even there, but a lot of people came to support us and we sold quite a few cds. It was a lot of fun, even though we froze. We celebrated Mother's Day with my parents and brother here at our house. Eli loved having the family here. My mom babysat for us while we were gone. Here's a couple pictures of Eli and my dad wrestling and snuggling on the bed. Eli is so affectionate!

Parade...

We went and got gelato and enjoyed the Wichita River Festival parade this evening! Eli loved the flags and balloons. He really liked the costumed characters as well. I read the book The Shack today during Eli's nap. Wow, what an amazing book! All of my friends have been raving about it, and it definitely was very moving and very spiritually uplifting!

Disasterous morning...

This morning was...well interesting to say the least. First of all, as I was getting ready Eli decided to throw his doggy in the toilet (he lifted the lid before I could stop it). This is the doggy he sleeps with every night and carries around half the day. It barely got wet, but still. I scrubbed and scrubbed it with this babyganics cleaner and hung it outside to dry. Next, my brother and I went shopping at my favorite flower center for my mom's mother's day present. When we went to load everything back in the car I realized I'd locked the keys, both of our cell phones, etc. in the car. Sheesh. I had to use the store's phone to call Brandon at work, although he wouldn't pick up because he didn't recognize the number. Grrrr. Finally I called the front line phones and after waiting on hold for what seemed like forever I had someone go get him. He came and rescued us, but in the meantime Eli found one of about a million puddles and was soaked and muddy from head to toe. At least he had a blast! We had to strip Eli's clothes off before we put him in the car (it's hot today, so we didn't bother putting a new outfit on his muddy self) and I had to throw him in the tub the second we got home. Oh, I forgot the other horrible thing that happened. As I was driving home a bird swooped down in front of the car. I thought I'd missed it, but Will so kindly had to tell me that I'd KILLED it, which was confirmed when I looked back in my mirror. I felt horrible, of course. Luckily, the rest of the day has been great so far! Eli LOVES playing in the watering cans. I always leave some water in them so I can easily water all the newly planted plants while we're outside playing. He loves to throw leaves/dandilions/balls inside and then fish them out. Yesterday, he got completely soaked splashing and such. He just loves water! We've been going through like three outfits on these warm days where we're outside playing all day. We got his sandbox set up last night. He was excited to see it! He noticed his doggy hanging outside, and wasn't too happy when I wouldn't get it for him! I just put him down for a nap without it. I just stuck another stuffed animal in there. He looked at me kind of funny and then just went to sleep no problem.

Chow Mein Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb egg noodles (i used spaghetti)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 carrots, cut into thin slices (i used shredded)
1/4 lb white mushrooms cut into fourths
1 1/2 cups snow peas
1/2 cucumber, cut into small sticks/pieces
1/4 lb spinach, shredded
2 cups beansprouts (i didn't add these)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sherry (didn't use this)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil

1. Cook noodles according to packet instructions. Drain, rinse under cold water and set aside.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the veggie oil in a preheated wok or skillet. Add onion and carrots and stir-fry for 1 minute (or more), add mushrooms, snow peas, and cucumber, and stir fry an additional minute (or more)
3. Stir in remaining veggie oil and add the noodles, together with the spinach and beansprouts.
4. Blend together remaining ingredients and pour the mixture over noodles and veggies.
5. Stir-fry until noodle mixture is thoroughly heated through (I cooked it until everything was soft enough for Eli).

Here's Eli's sign that he colored for our door using markers. Brandon loved it, of course! I've never let him try markers, only crayons, but he did a great job! Here's a video of Eli doing his "ninja" sound. He also says it when he sees a guitar (we're not sure why). I've really been working on steps and stairs with Eli. Teaching him to go down backwards and to crawl up instead of just stepping up. Today when we went upstairs to play I made him go down the stairs on his own backwards helping him along. He's going to have to learn, since his future room is up there! I'm still debating on a color for his room upstairs. Blue is definitely his favorite color, so we'll probably go with blue or teal. I found a few colors that I really like; I just can't decide! I went and got our band's Wichita River Festival buttons today. We're playing there Sunday 6-8:45 p.m. I'm excited to get to take Eli to the kids area sometime next week. They have little rides, puppet shows, etc. It will be a fun outing for us all! The Chow Mein recipe I made last night was AWESOME! I'm going to post the recipe it was so good!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Brandon called me a little while ago to tell me that he passed his oral test! He said he was so glad to have studied so much because it was really hard, but he passed with flying colors! I am so proud of him! Eli and I are going to have to color a congratulations sign. Yesterday, we colored him a good luck sign...Brandon loved it! So, you'd think for Cinco de Mayo I would be making Mexican food. Nope. I wasn't thinking and just made Mexican food, plus when Brandon called he was eating Mexican for lunch to celebrate. Instead I made hummus and am going to broil ciabatta bread and am making chow mein. It's the strangest combination I do realize. I had some produce left over from making risotto the other night that I don't want to go to waste, so I broke out my vegetarian cookbook. I try to cook really healthy now because of Eli. No fried, desserts, and no unnatural sugar. Plus, we eat tons of fruit and veggies. The only bad thing about that is that I need to gain weight. Between nursing and chasing Eli I am 5-10 lbs underweight. Not exactly the problem I thought I would have after having a baby. I've been buying some fattening things on the side to eat for snacks to try and up my calories. I have Eli down to nursing 2 times a day. Today was the first day I am really uncomfortable. Hopefully when I am done completely I will gain some weight back! Yesterday, I took Eli on a really long walk to enjoy the beautiful weather. I got all the way home before I realized he had kicked one of his shoes off. I was too tired to go looking for it until later in the afternoon. I considered back tracking, but decided to just re-walk it so I would remember exactly which streets I had taken. I was laughing so hard after walking for a half an hour and finding the shoe at the end of our block. I would have found it in a minute if I would have just gone backwards! Eli saw it too and started pointing at it before we got to it! He ALWAYS kicks one shoe off when he's in the high chair and when we go to the grocery store. Lately I've been noticing that he wants to hold his fork/spoon with his left hand. We were positive he was right handed, but now I'm wondering if he's going to be able to use both like Brandon can. We'll see! He's doing great with a fork/spoon. Usually I have to hep him scoop or stab the food, but he can feed himself otherwise (of course he'd rather use his hands anyway). Yay for independence! We've been working on manners. His version of "please" just kills me. He will use it, but I usually have to remind him. Eli is really sweet and affectionate. It seems like he's gotten even more affectionate lately. I hope it lasts! He's constantly running to me for hugs or snuggles, and he always is trying to kiss/hug Rica (yeah I know). They are definitely buds. Eli's really sweet/affectionate towards his doggy and other stuffed animals too. He'll give them hugs/kisses constantly. I taught him how to feed his doggy a bottle and burp him. So cute!

WORDS

This morning I started taking an inventory of all the words that Eli uses consistently. I was amazed as I kept writing and writing. Of course a lot of the words are hard to understand...but he continues to use them! Here is the list:

Boy
Purple (puh puh)
Please (eese)
Broom (boom)
Bye Bye
All Done
Donna
Obama (bama)
Mama
Dada
Mail (meh)
More (mmah)
Ball (ba)
Blue (boo)
Baby
Poop
Burp
Spoon (poon)
Pen

Going Green is not a FAD!

It really blows my mind that people get so upset fighting about global warming and whether it's really happening or blah blah blah. The fact of the matter is, we should be taking care of the earth regardless of what you think. There are a lot of verses in the bible about taking care of the environment. It's nothing new! We've been commanded to take care of God's creation. It has really been weighing on me these past few years especially, when I start thinking about my children's future. I remember when I was in Germany and was amazed at how much they recycled...it wasn't an option...why are we so behind? Here are some things that we've been doing to try and do our part...of course there are SO many other things we could be doing, but at least we're trying. I love the Seventh Generation cleaning supplies motto by the Iroquois, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

-2x concentrated laundry detergent
-All cleaning supplies/detergents/dish soap etc. are Seventh Generation (organic all natural etc) or Babyganics (They do just as good a job and smell better than all other cleaners I've used)
-Try to eat organic fruits and veggies (especially for Eli)
-Made my own babyfood
-Breastfeeding
-Only organic products for Eli (soap, shampoo, lotion, etc)
-Growing organic vegetable garden
-Don't use any pesticides in any of our gardening
-Feed and water birds
-Try to plant butterfly and bee attracting plants
-Eco friendly light bulbs
-Only run full loads of laundry and dishes
-Recycle everything but glass (this only costs us like $24 a YEAR for our trash service to take all recycling twice a month)
-Try to cook homemade meals with fresh ingredients and not use prepackaged/premade

Hopes for the future:
1. Hybrid car (please stop making them look like eggs...then I could convince my husband...thank you)

Joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart! Where?

I've got a lot of joy today. Why? Well it's simple. Eli stayed in the toddler nursery at church today with just a tiny bit of whining. Brandon and I had both agreed that we just needed to tough it out and make him stay in there even if it took a few weeks of crying etc. The head of the children's ministry assured me that it wouldn't take long for him to adjust. They were right. One of the leaders slipped in during worship to tell me that Eli was having a blast and not to worry! Yeah! Praise God! I actually got to enjoy Brandon leading worship and a great sermon on worry and how it hinders our faith (I think I was meant to be in there for once)! Eli has moved up to the toddler nursery where they actually do a lesson and a craft. You and I both know there's no way that he's actually doing the craft, but at least he gets a lesson! Today it was on Elijah and how God provided food for him by sending it through the birds. Eli liked to kiss his bird. We helped our bass player and friend David Racchini move into his new apartment last night. It was fun fellowshipping with our friends. Today, I am marinating cucumbers to take to the engagement party tonight. I know it's summer when I can break out my favorite cucumber recipe. Man, I am craving it!

Some cheese with that WHINE!

So, yesterday was HORRIBLE! I had an amazing day Thursday. Eli actually took a 2 hour nap right at noon (which is my dream for him ;-)). That night my brother came for dinner, and we all enjoyed seeing him. He played basketball with Eli, and we took a little walk. Elijah was in such a good mood Thursday that I was practically jumping for joy that his teething discomfort was over. Not so fast! He was up from 11:30-1:30 a.m. that night. I definitely was cussing like a sailor and I may have pounded the bed with my fist a few times. Needless to say, he was tired and cranky all day Friday...and so was I! Brandon came home from work looking like a zombie from being up. Ah, the joys of parenthood! We went to bed early last night, and luckily we all slept good and Eli is back to his normal self today. I've been trying to do little things to celebrate Brandon finishing his "green belt" project at work. It's too hard to explain, but he just has to take a test this week and he's completely done. He's been going in to work early this past week to work on it, so it was a relief to finish. Eli and I got him a Cinco de Mayo balloon, Izzy drinks, and have been cooking special things he loves. This morning I made him Dutch Babies. I am proud to have survived the week and enjoying the weekend! We have a joint engagement party to go to tomorrow for our friends in our band. It's at the park, so Eli should have fun!