a moment in time.

(Eli watching over Hannah's shoulder as she is writing Eli's name in her notebook) Eli: "It's E-L-I but that's not quite right. The dot has to be floating in the air." 

LOL "floating in the air" what a cute way to put it. 

I love my babies.

Sweet brother

I'm not sure how it came about but one day Eli wanted to paint Hannah's nails.  So under my supervision, I permitted.  Look at that sweet face... What a good big brother!

That's one thing I really love about Eli.  He's ALL boy. Rowdy, aggressive, too loud, often crosses the line when it comes to being in other people's space. BUT he likes to play dress-up with Hannah and "take her to the ball", he likes to dance, he'll paint her nails, play Daddy, and put headbands on his hair.  It's little things like that that make me think he's going to have a good understanding of Sister and girly things, and that will help him later in life when he {hopefully} chooses a wife of his own. What a sweet boy!

Little Mommy

Carrying her "baby" in her pouch.  =)

Carter's new favorite thing

When Carter first started walking he was obsessed with the kitchen cupboards, daily unloading cans of food, cereal boxes, noodle boxes and everything else you store in cupboards.  Then I re-arranged and got him to move on to a little cupboard of his own that just has tupperware-type bowls.  He still unloads those at least once a day, and if he's hungry he'll dump ALLLL the cheerios out onto the floor otherwise leaving the rest of the food stuff alone, but now he's more interested in the drawer.  A drawer.  Where he can pull out all the little baggies from the box. And unroll the wax paper or the aluminum foil. 

LOVELY.

Silly boy!

Carter LOVES to play peek-a-boo.  He often initiates it.  Here he is laying down, being silly with his blankie around his head.  You have such a FUN personality, I love you to pieces!!

You know live in the country when...

You glance out your window and surprise! there are cows in your yard!  This was a first for us though not uncommon for country folk, I guess!

These cows showed up last week and ended up wandering our parts for a couple days.  They'd munch on the grass for awhile, eventually move across the street and head out to wherever cows roam to, and then when we thought they were gone they showed up again the next afternoon.  And again the day after that!  But I really do think they're gone this time!

Childlike faith

Eli's practicing writing the letter T right now in an activity packet I made for MOPS {it was an extra one he's doing again}.  He's telling Hannah it's like the cross where Jesus died.  I ask him from the other room, "And why did Jesus die on the cross?"  He replies very matter of factly, "'Cuz! For our sins!"  Oh I love how he said it.  I love how children just take what you tell them as truth. 

I continued to ask him what it means that Jesus died for our sins, what happens once our hearts our cleaned and he answered, "We go to Heaven!"

I pray that he continues to grow in knowledge and truth, that he continues to believe, and that I continue to feed him the good things I want him to believe.  Because when I say bad things, when I'm mad and frustrated, he'll believe that too and that scares me.  Lord, thank for you this sweet boy with such a big heart for You.

I think he missed me!

Today I had Carter sitting in a bouncy seat and Eli was playing with him while I went outside to check the mail and bring the trash can back up the lane. Eli was soo cute just sitting there talking to him and playing with him and giving him kisses, for the longest time really, I was adoring the moment. I came back inside and Eli was still doing all this. A few minutes later he got up to go potty and while he was in there, Carter had begun to cry because he was getting tired. But when Eli came back he said, "Aw, I think he missed me!" How sweet is that! They're going to be such good buddies!

The innocence of a child.

I made sugar cookies during the kids' nap today and when Eli came downstairs, he saw some fresh cookies on the pan and said, "Pancakes!" I love little moments like that, too cute!

Connections.

This morning Eli sees address labels with a small hummingbird on it. "It's like nochio [Pinnochio)!" he exclaims seeing the pointy beak of the bird.
haha, Yes, Eli, I suppose it is...


Later this morning when we were outside picking up sticks in the yard so I can mow Eli found a bunch of mushrooms and asked what they were. I explained that they were mushrooms and not to touch them. A couple minutes later he was asking about them again, "Why are those pepperoni's there?" Haha, I guess he hears all too often when we typically order mushroom and pepperoni pizza and he'd connected the two!

The birds are back!

Every few days an entire flock of birds will decide to visit our house.  The sound of them all chirping at the same time can actually be quite loud.  It's literally hundreds of birds all perched in the same tree or two.  It's fascinating!  You'll probably have to click on the pictures to really see...

It's frustrating when...

...you keep spilling $90 eye drops all over your cheek! Ugh! Why can't I get better at this?!