Elijah Turns 2!

Its March...not sure how that happened. Here is a brief look at our February:

We had Elijah's 2nd Birthday Party on February 1st. It was Sesame Street themed and to say that Elijah enjoyed his party would be an understatement. :)

The Birthday Boy!

Elijah's actual birthday is February 6th. That happened to be a Thursday so I made a dinner that he enjoys, Tim and I gave him some gifts from us, and we played a lot. We've had a 2 year old for almost a whole month now and it is amazing how grown up he seems. As Tim's mom put it once, Elijah doesn't talk in sentences any more, he talks in paragraphs. Oh how this is true! We can spend 15 minutes in the car and never hear a moment of silence! It is hilarious and sometimes puzzling to hear his unique thoughts and take on the world. He recently started asking "why?" And has taken a huge interest in dressing himself.

The pregnancy has been going well. I am about 30 weeks and have been getting an A+ at all of my check ups. Tim and I have been feeling very blessed lately with several opportunities to spend time with other families from church and feel like we are growing our circle of friends. Its such an encouragement to get to know families that have similar priorities to ours.

Feeling Settled

These past few months have really flown by! We are enjoying settling into our life here in Wisconsin. Tim is enjoying his job and all the perks that come with it - like playing with knives, discussing survival techniques and weekend trips to the trailer to test gear. We are all enjoying getting involved in church and making friendships there. I have been helping in Elijah's nursery and attending women's Bible study once a week. Tim has been volunteering with the Jr. High youth group. And Elijah loves going to church so he can play with his friends. He talks about nursery a lot and sings the songs that he learns there.

Elijah has grown and changed so much since we have moved to WI. He has a lot of energy and loves to run around and sing songs. He is talking in 4 to 5 word sentences and blowing us away daily with how smart and observant he is. Elijah is also the funniest kid I've ever met. We are never short on laughter in this house.

Our biggest excitement recently is that we are expecting baby number two in May! Elijah is thrilled to be a big brother and convinced that he will have a baby sister. We find out the gender next week so we will know if he is right! The pregnancy has made it a bit more difficult to adjust to our move, but we are happy that we finally feel settled and at peace that we are where God wants us. He is doing some exciting things in our family!

Elijah and Grandma on Thanksgiving.

Watching a family favorite, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Our living room all decorated for Christmas.

Kitchen.

Dining room.

Our stocking are hung in the hallway with care. :)

Elijah's One Year Pictures

My good friend, Jess, took Elijah's one year pictures for us and they turned out great! Especially considering the fact that Elijah had only napped for half an hour all day and was not his normal happy self. She did a great job capturing his winning personality despite him having little enthusiasm about getting his picture taken! You can check out her work here on facebook. She's really good!

So precious!

Happy boy!

Squinty eyes!

FOOTBALL!

We call him "Baby Rogers"

So serious in his suit.

Isn't he so sweet?

Melts my heart. :)

Plenty, plenty of things going on in our life right now. We move in full speed and then God slows things down for a bit. We are entering a "slow" period right now, having just come out of a whirlwind. But with the sunshine and springtime and no more class for Tim, I don't think we'll have trouble filling up the next few weeks!

Elijah Turns One!: The Party

The Saturday after Elijah's birthday we had a dog-gone good time at his dog themed birthday party! I chose a dog theme because it was one of the first animals Elijah could identify, and he always gets excited to see a doggy. :) It was really a special party because several of Tim's family members were able to come from Wisconsin for it. Elijah seemed to enjoy the attention, he has always been a people person, and he definitely enjoyed his cupcake!

I made some decorations, including a birthday banner,

dog balloons,

and dog cupcakes!

This was my first attempt at cake decorating and I think they turned out pretty well!

And, of course, there were lots and lots of presents!

Elijah just learned how to ride this bike all by himself today!

After opening his presents, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Elijah and he hammed it up eating his cupcake. I knew it would be a good show because he has always enjoys his food. :)

You can't stop eating for pictures. :)

I'm really happy with the way we celebrated Elijah's first birthday. We made a lot of good memories and showed Eli how much he is loved. I read in a magazine once that a mom started a blog without the intention of ever having followers or readers, but just so that she and her family could look back on what everyday life was like. She wanted her kids to be able to see pictures and hear stories and thoughts on life when they were young. I would like to do a better job of that on here. This blog was started to keep near and far family and friends up to date on our every changing life, and it is doing just that. But I want to start recording more, posting more pictures and writing more thoughts on everyday life. For this blog to be a digital scrapbook of sorts. Hopefully someday adult Elijah will be able to look back at our blog and see how many people have loved on him over the years. :)

Elijah Turns One!: The Birthday

We have been very busy celebrating at our house...Elijah had his first birthday!!!! Since his birthday was on a Wednesday, we had a fun day on his actual birthday and then had his party on Saturday.

On his actual birthday, Elijah and I went to story time at our library like we usually do on Wednesday mornings. Elijah received his first birthday card from a little friend of his who is only 20 days younger than him. It is always fun to watch the two boys enjoy the stories and singing together. At the end, the whole group sang happy birthday to Elijah, and I think he may have sort of realized they were singing to him. :) That afternoon we skyped with my sister and her kids so they could all sing happy birthday to Eli.

Nana & Papa gave Elijah this couch for his birthday. :)

For his special birthday snack Elijah had a powdered donut, which he thoroughly enjoyed. And I thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures of it. We were still talking to my sister and Elijah was being very silly.

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Daddy came home a bit later and we gave Elijah his presents. We decided I would make his gifts since I have been improving my crochet and sewing skills a lot recently. I crocheted a football hat, made a Packer blanket with Elijah's name on it, and made a felt quiet time book.

For dinner we took Elijah to McDonald's, but we forgot the camera. Overall I think it was a pretty good first birthday. :) Stay tuned for Part 2 of Elijah Turns One!: The Party

Looking Back

As Elijah quickly approaches his first birthday (16 days....how did this happen??), I have been thinking a lot about how much growing he has done. Elijah seems so old lately, and he still has his whole life ahead of him! A few weeks ago, I finally figured out how to get pictures off of my phone and on to the computer. I know, this is common knowledge for most, but I don't have a "smart" phone so it took some work. Anyway, I thought I would share a bunch with everyone since they date back about a year to just before Elijah was born! Enjoy! I know I did!

Pouting during ultrasound one week before he was born.

Shortly after coming home.

What?

Cow baby :)

Disco Eli!

Mr. Cuddles!!

Learning to hold onto toys.

So cute and so bald. :)

First ride on Sandy at Meijer.

Such a big boy!

We are thankful for you Elijah!!