Another PJ Day

I just put my kiddos down for a nap and Elyse is the only one that is fully dressed and out of her PJ's. I love Monday's around here. It's one of the only days we have the option of staying in Pj's, building forts, reading books, etc. all day. So, that's exactly what we did this morning. We piled up pillows and read lots of books from the library.

The boys are avid fans of the "Jack and Annie Books," as Austin refers to them, or "The Magic Treehouse" series for the rest of us. They're cute, imaginative chapter books. We've discovered over the past several months, that Austin gets overly distracted by illustrations and photos in books, which makes reading such a chore or nearly impossible with him, so chapter books have been a God-send. He sits quietly and waits for the illustration every second to third page. Anyway, on Friday at the library, we picked up a FABULOUS new series - "My Father's Dragon."

It's another chapter book series, but much higher quality of writing and a good mix of adventure, fun, great discription, and good vocabulary. They LOVE it! We read the first book this morning and Isaac and I were so anxious to turn each page. Austin likes it too, but still wants more Jack and Annie. Elyse seemed to be content for most of it as well. All this to say, if you haven't checked them out, they're a great read for little ones!

4 year-old Soccer at its Best & 7 months with Elyse

Today was Isaac's last day of soccer. It was honestly the best introduction to the sport he could have had...only five weeks, one hour each at the gym in our church. They taught them a few "skills" for the game, but primarilly focused on character development and sportsmanship. Overall, he really enjoyed it, especially if he got to play on the same "team" as one of his friends. At the end of the day, they had a little party and received "golden medals," as Isaac keeps referring to his.

As you can see, he was pretty darn excited.


I can hardly believe that our baby is already 7 months old! It amazes me how much time has passed. She's still an extremely happy little girl and just LOVES to be entertained by her big brothers. She is now clicking her tongue - her latest of many talents...

She's also finally eating solids better. For a while I was concerned she thought she could live off breast milk alone - indefinitely. I assured her she couldn't! But, I'm telling you, this girl had a natural gag reflex like none I'd ever seen. It was actually quite funny, until I began to wonder if she'd ever get the hang of it. She's now eating sweet potatoes, peas, yogurt, bananas (her favorite), pumpkin, and a little bit of apple sauce. I think she's had squash, too. I incorporated fruit much earlier with her, in hopes to help her get the hang of it. She's a not a huge fan of the food being completely pureed, so I just mash things up a bit. She's definitely going to be Ms. Independent.

Here are a few recent photos of our little munchkin.

Don't you wish we could all wake up with this much excitement?!

Boys will be Boys

Yesterday Isaac was being a wonderful big brother to Elyse, just playing with her gently on the carpet, helping her discover new things. I was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen, but could hear them down in the family room. At one point I heard Isaac say, "disgusting, disgusting. Elyse, that's disgusting!" He probably said that two or three times before I took a look. I didn't see anything "disgusting," so I asked him what was so disgusting. He said, "I'm telling Elyse that her tooting is disgusting, but it's really me that keeps tooting!" And so the farting humor begins!

I've been away from posting for quite a while because we've been traveling - some for business, and some for pleasure. It takes me so long to get the house/laundry back to normal after these trips, not to mention the kids on their routines, and catching up with work, that blogging just hasn't fit in.

Below are a few photos of our visit with Granddad this last weekend, the kids' great grandfather (Kurt's grandfather), along with the rest of the Eilmes family. We had a great visit and are so glad we got to introduce Elyse to everyone in Washington.





We left for Walla Walla on the 1st of November, so the night before was an exciting night. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Halloween. There is truly no point to this holiday, and if there is a point, it's to sugar up kids (I don't like the idea of that), or to scare kids (oh great, more nightmares), or just another thing to spend money on (need I say more, as to why I hate this holiday?). Anyway, until about 3p.m. on Halloween, I wasn't sure if we were just going to boycott the thing all together, or if the kids would wear dress-ups we already have, or if I was really going to try to pull off "space shuttle" costumes.

With the help of my artistic husband, we made two great space shuttles in about 45 minutes and then went trick or treating at Auntie Megs/Unkie Bunkie's and our good friend Tam and Bob's. The boys looked SUPER cute, if I don't say so myself. There's just something extra special about homemade costumes. They loved them and I know we'll see them out and about all year long.



To continue the theme (yet using a fabulous hand-me-down costume from our friends the Mains), Elyse was the space-germinated seed, growing at "astronomical" speed!