Brotherly Love

Needless to say... Eli loves his little "bubby"......Always at his side....
Sweet Aiden....

Snuggling his little brother every moment he can....

Can't keep from smooching him...

Both of boys are so sweet.

I am one lucky mom......

Growing Up

It seems like yesterday that my friend Amaris told me that she was pregnant... time flies! Her son, Jace turned 3 on May 17th. He is one super cute kid! His party was held at Pump It Up and Eli was afraid of moonwalks. We started out with taking him down the slide....
After walking around and checking out the other moonwalks, he started to enjoy himself. He loved the slide and the basketball court moonwalk.

Eli went down the slide on his own and loved it! I took him up on the slide the first time and he went down with me on my lap. The second time, he wiggled away from me when we got to the top and held my hand on the way down. By the third time, he was a pro and did it all by himself! yeah Eli!

Eli loves Amaris and went down the slide with her as well!

Aiden and Amaris....

Happy Birthday Jace!

This was a sad moment for me. When we went into the room for pizza, Eli sat on the bench and picked up his slice... then took a big bite..... WITHOUT my help! I soon sent Jer over to "make sure" he was okay... and to let me capture the moment. Eli is growing up so fast and needing me less and less. Of course, he needs me all of the time, but it is nothing like when he was a baby.

Eli and Daddy playing in the basketball court moonwalk.

shooting hoops!

The Past Two Weeks at a Glance...

I returned from maternity leave on May 18th and went full steam ahead as we ended the school year. Our life was pretty busy and thanks to Grams, dinner was always on the table without me going to grab something on the way home! Grams and Uncle Jamie have been watching the boys for the past 2 weeks while I went to work. It has been a blessing to have her take care of my boys! Here are some pics of what the boys have been doing the past 2 weeks....

Eli has taken lots of bubble baths and regular bath water baths! He is one messy little eater and seems to like putting his food in his hair! The tub has also been his "swimming pool" when weather didn't permit. We have taken Eli to the pool a couple times. He really loves it and squeals the whole time!

Eli went to his first PumpItUp Birthday party. Jace Z turned 3!

Happy Birthday, Jace!

Eli and Aiden have snuggled lots... well, Eli has really loved on Aiden and taken really good care of him!

Looking forward to "Jaden Wednesdays"....

While on maternity leave, Chelette and Jaden came over for play dates on Wednesdays. Eli enjoyed having someone his age to play with and I enjoyed the adult conversations! Now that summer is here, we are really looking forward to more play dates! Chelette and I already have some plans for the boys... oh the adventures ahead!

Eli was afraid of the moon walk... so Jaden played in it and Eli threw balls to him!

School's Out for SUMMER!!

The school year is officially over!! YEAH! I only had to return to work for 9 days so it wasn't too bad. I had my class help me clean and pack the classroom for summer so that I didn't have to stay late or all day on my in-service day, which is tomorrow. My room is packed, I have all my paperwork complete.... all I have left is the staff breakfast tomorrow morning, get a signature from the IT guy, and turn in my keys! WAHOO!!

I had a good class this year. It's amazing to see the growth that each student goes through in a year. Here is a pic of me and one of my kiddos that really kept me smiling and enjoying what I do.

Of course, we have lots on the agenda for the summer! I cannot wait to see Eli grow to be the little man he is becoming. He has changed so much and his vocabulary has grown HUGE in the last two weeks. Grams and I have been working on a list of words that he says....more about that later in another post!
Aiden is also changing more and more every day. He is wearing some 0-3 months clothes, but more into the 3 months. Jer took him to the doc this past week and he weighed 11 lbs, 5.5 oz! He started "talking" these past 2 days... all of a sudden! We love the coo's from him! He even tried talking to us at 4am this morning....

I have about 10 weeks with the boys before I have to be back at school. I am really looking forward to all the fun, smiles, and snuggles in store for us this summer!

A Visit

I took the boys to visit Eli's old daycare. It is hard to call it that... I placed Eli in daycare at Children's Universe January 2009 just after our bad experience with in home care. This place really made me feel good about dropping off my kid, listened to my concerns, and really loved Eli. He really loved them too! After much debate, the boys will be enrolled in a daycare close to home next Fall. Jeramy will be helping me pick them up so it wont be lots of time in the car and they can get home sooner. We will really miss Children's Universe!

Aiden with Ms Dian... she took great care of Eli when he was in the infant room

Aiden with Laura
Eli and Dian...

Aiden with Courtney and her hubby Michael

Eli went to the 1 year old room to see his "lady"... she was sleeping. He looked really close at her and you could tell he wanted to be with her. This is another hard thing for me to justify him going to another daycare. Eli will be leaving his girlfriend, Sara. He fell in love with her on day one of being at daycare last Fall. He cornered her for a smooch and stayed by her side. Soon she gave in and fell in love with him too.....they were inseparable when they were together. We hope to have play dates in the future.

sleeping beauty

You "Crack" Me Up!

This is one of those moments that you can't pass up with a camera.

I know that Eli will kill me for this when he is older...

One day last week after climbing on the table for the remote, Eli decided to pull down the back of his diaper. As I chased him down to pull it back up and try to get clothes on him, he stopped to take care of his brother. I decided it was one of those moments you stop and catch it on camera. Note he also stole his brother paci-- yes it is pink! (it was in a 2 pack of pacis and its turned out to be Aiden favorite)
So here is Big Bro Eli with his crack showing and turning on the seat for his brother to relax...

BOYS!!!

Being a Toddler is Hard Work!

One of "those days" when Eli did everything he could to get in trouble, he found Daddy's massager behind his chair. I set it up for him and hoped it would scare him away with the motion... I was wrong... he loved it! I guess being a toddler is hard work......
he even turned the heat on....

Being a Goofball

Eli has really tested his mommy's patience this past week. I think he has realized that it is now time to practice those "terrible twos".

I caught him on top of the kitchen table to get the remote to the TV, dumping his milk on the floor in the living room after begging to get the milk, and he climbed into his old walker and pretended to be a baby!

We also tried putting him in the corner when he does something wrong... as his time out. Well it worked the first time... then afterwards, it has gone down hill! Now when we send him to the corner, he cries the whole way there and then when he gets there, turns around and smiles his best one yet ...and giggles!! He tries to charm his way out of trouble. This is one little stinker!

my little stinker...
is this payback for all the trouble I caused???

Mother's Day Fun In the Sun

After our delicious lunch at Landry's, we headed out for all the fun that Kemah's boardwalk has to offer... rides, water fun, and shopping.

Eli really loved their splash pad! They even had live music playing next to it! Eli and Daddy down at the splash pad...
Throughout the day, Aiden was passed from one loving arm to the next. Here he is hanging and snuggling with Shirley, Memaw's niece.

Eli rode on the carousel several times with Daddy and Papa James... and Uncle Jamie too!

This was another of Eli's favorites. Jer rode with him... and it was a long ride! I think they were on it for at least 10 minutes! Most rides do not last that long! Eli loved it though

Eli and Daddy looking down at the family below!

This was actually one of my favorites with Eli. We rode together and flew the plane! We had a blast going up and down and all around....

Daddy and Aiden rode along too!!

stopping for a pose....

As posted earlier, Aiden was hopping from one family member to the next.

Everyone wanted to get as much snuggles in as possible.

We all took the train around the boardwalk. At one point it goes into a tunnel with some animated characters in a western shootout. This is Eli's face as we entered the dark tunnel!

All aboard!!

Peggy (Poppy) and Me... enjoying the day and train ride!

Grams and Aiden

What a wonderful way to spend Mother's Day! We were there for 4 hours of fun and family time. I hope we keep this a tradition and come back again!