Fall Party!

Eli had his Fall party at preschool today! All the kids wore their costumes to school, went trick-or-treating throughout the church building, did a paint a pumpkin on a rock craft, read some books, and had an awesome snack time to end it off. It was adorable! I loved watching my little cowboy have a fun time. They had so much fun getting candy and eating all the yummy snacks. I took gluten free cookies and fruit snacks and the director had made rice crispy cookies to make sure that Eli had a snack he could eat (Asbury preschool rocks). They got lots of goody bags from different parents and had fun. He loves preschool and was so happy for me to come to his party. He wanted several hugs when I got there! P.S.-He's wearing my cowboy boots from when I was a little girl on the farm.

9 weeks

I had my first doctor's appointment to check on little baby A. I got to have a sonogram that confirmed there is only ONE perfect little baby. The baby put its hand out and did a little wave and moved around a couple of times. It's always amazing to hear that strong little heartbeat. Everything looks wonderful and we are very thankful! I do not take it for granted that we have had two healthy pregnancies and babies. I pray this one will be the same! Eli loved looking at the pictures (which don't look very good compared to what I got to see) and talking about how big baby A is right now. Eli and Cora both love to kiss my growing belly and say, "HI!" to the baby. I have felt wonderful for a week now and am praying it lasts!

Fall Festival

Our church had their annual Fall Festival this weekend. It was so much fun to get to spend it with my sister and her kids! We love driving out to the country and enjoying hayrack rides, pumpkin patch, bonfire, games, awesome food, and great fellowship. The kids all had a blast! Eli and Cora rode the hayrack ride several times and Cora ran as fast as she could when she saw the pumpkins and grabbed the smallest one! Eli also picked a small one. All the cousins picked GIANT pumpkins. Eli got to play with his best friend Seth and they never stopped moving, exploring, and playing the entire night. Cora enjoyed her first hotdog and Eli loved chowing on the GF cupcakes I took!

Love

No one truly prepared me for how amazing it would be to watch my kids love each other. They are so happy to see each other in the morning or when they wake up from naps. They give each other big kisses before bed. They play running games together or play with toys. They wrestle, they laugh, and sometimes they fight. They take pride when the other does something well. They actually get along better than I would have expected. I can only pray they will be there for each other in the future when I can't be. I don't expect them to be friends, but I expect them to be family. I hope they choose to love each other even if they don't "like" each other.

7 weeks

Thought I would just post a quick pregnancy update. I had a really rough week last week feeling nauseous and tired all the time. It was hard for me because I had to let a lot slide, and I take my homemaking job very seriously. I couldn't cook big meals and I barely got the housework done. I felt bad about everything and I was grouchy in the mornings. I was so glad to start a new week! I just needed a fresh start! I am thankful I haven't thrown up yet and I have started the week feeling great. I got all the meals planned, house cleaned, and did the grocery shopping for the week. I am on top of things. I feel like time is going very quickly because I have two cuties to distract me. I have also grown a little tiny baby pooch belly. I am definitely already having "cravings" and smells get to me. It is nice to have already gone through this two times before, so I know what to expect!

We ended the rough week with a fun weekend! I babysat my nieces and nephew overnight so my sister and Joel could celebrate their anniversary. We had a blast! Then Saturday, we went to a parade downtown (a herd of giant longhorns led the parade) and we all celebrated my brother's birthday with paletas, Sumo's Japanese Steakhouse, and a haunted house. It's always wonderful to be with family!

Field Trip

Eli had his first field trip this week to C-Arrow Stables. I am so glad I'm a homemaker and can be involved in all of his school parties and activities! It was so much fun! The kids all played on a little playground first, rode ponies next, learned to groom the horses, fed and pet a whole mix of animals like goats, pigs, alpacas, deer, sheep, etc., and pet a camel. They finished the outing with a snack and juice break and let the kids all pick out a pumpkin before heading home! Eli's favorite part was riding the ponies! He got to ride two different ponies and had a huge smile on his face the entire time. We tried to get Cora to ride, but she was scared! She loved petting and feeding all the animals, though. On our drive home, Eli said, "Next time we come, I am probably going to get to take home my favorite horse!" Not quite! I am so happy with Asbury Preschool! Eli's teacher and co-teacher are amazing! They made sure to bring a gluten free snack for him on the field trip and go out of their way to make things easy for me. When I went to pick him up from preschool today, my heart sank when I saw a mother leaving the classroom with a box of leftover cake pops. The first birthday party. I had been dreading finding out how Eli would do when he didn't get to have the special birthday treats all the mothers will be bringing for their birthday kids. Once again, I shouldn't have worried. I casually asked Eli what he had eaten at the birthday party and he got all excited telling me about the gluten free lemon cookies he had gotten while the other kids ate "wheat". He didn't care at all. He was perfectly happy with the cookies I had left with the director in case of a special occasion. YAY! I am purposely going to sign up to bring a snack for every holiday class party, so I can make sure to bring something gluten free that all the kids will like! Preschool is going wonderfully and Eli is loving it!

17 Months

Cora is 17 months old! She is so much fun! I absolutely delight in her! She has such an easy, joyful, personality that it makes parenting her so much fun. Physically, she is such a litte girl now. She has slimmed out a lot and her hair is finally in enough to do something with it. I am really enjoying this age with her. She's independent on a lot of things, but still loves to be my little "baby" at times snuggling in the rocking chair with her pacifier that she calls "boppy". At 17 months she is:

1. TALKING in phrases constantly. She will put two words together all the time such as: "I come", "prairie dog funny", "a bite", "hiding spot", "pet Rica", "wake up", "birtday party", "happy birthday" etc. Some of her new words for the month are: earrings, jumping, nice and clean, petting, hiding, jumping, itsy bitsy, snuggle, slides, kicking, kick, Paul, Josh, Dave, Todd, pumpkins, piggies, Rics, penguin, smile, jacket, prickly, zeek, Mimi, Carol, Brittnie, etc. When she is with another kid her age I am reminded at how fortunate I am that she is talking so much! She can usually tell me exactly what she wants at all times! She can also say all of her body parts and colors.

2. Getting jealous if Brandon kisses or hugs me. She will immediately come over and pull at my legs until I pick her up so that SHE can give me a hug and kiss and then does the same with Brandon.

3. Starting to like to lay in the dirt and swim in it. She is one grimy little girl at the end of the day. She LOVES to be outside. She asks "OUTSIDE?" a hundred times a day and I try to get her out there as much as possible. She loves to slide, pet Carrot, climb on the rocks, play in the sandbox, blow bubbles, etc. She will always remind me to go for a "WALK? JACKET? SHOES?" if I forget!

4. Very into animals. She loves Rica and will try to share all her snacks with her. She will go find her many times during the day yelling, "Rica? Rics? Ricky?" She also loves to pet Carrot and feed him dandelion greens. She will say, "Ah, sweet baby!" when she pets Carrot.

5. Loving attention. She charms everyone around her. She will say "Hi" a million times when someone is around just to make sure they are watching her. She will ask them to watch her before she does anything she is proud of. Such a show off! She will jump with her feet off of the ground, dance, sing, etc. just to get attention.

6. Tough. She will fall and scrape her knee or fall and bonk her head and literally she just gives one litte exclamation and that's it. With Eli, he would cry for hours if he got one little injury, but she just gets right back up and takes off running. Sometimes she'll have everyone kiss her boo boo...even the dog.

7. Loving babies. She asolutely loves babies pretend or real. She loves to play babies and barbies. She will rock and make her babies burp really loudly.

8. Only taking an afternoon nap now, and I love it!

9. Missing Eli while he's at preschool. She will talk about him in the car on our drive home after dropping him off. When we go to pick him up she gets SO excited and will be yelling "ELIJAH? ELIJAH?" Don't ask me why she calls him that when the rest of us call him "Eli".

10. Girly. She asks for nail polish, earrings, and clippies for her hair. I love it! The other day she dug through my makeup and found nail polish and wanted me to do her nails. She sat perfectly still holding her hands and feet out for me to paint them! It's so much fun! She is a great balance of both the girly side and the rough and tumble keep up with brother side!

11. Best friends with my niece Jacklyn. I swear she loves her more than ME! She calls her "Jackie" and will say she's her "friend". Jacklyn will hold her and they will play together for hours! They have an amazing sisterly bond. It's really beautiful to witness.