World of the Wilsons

SNOW!

2012-01-28T10:25:00.000-06:00

My friend, Torri, has some AWESOME parents this year who like to try to "one up" the other one during their child's STAR STUDENT WEEK. For those of you that aren't teachers, every week at school we have a kid that is the Star Student. During their week as Star Student, they get to be the line leader everywhere we go, they get to sit next to the teacher at lunch, they get to bring special treats for their class, and they get to do lots of fun things. Like I said, Torri's parents have started doing really big things to try to "one up" the other one. It's kind of funny and the kids are LOVING it because they're getting to experience some really great things. A couple of weeks ago, a parent rented a snow machine and made it "snow" at our school for Torri's class. Since we live in Louisiana, we don't see very much snow, so this was such a special treat for her kids. They played for about two hours one afternoon in the snow and they all went home with such a wonderful, fun memory!

When school let out at 3 o'clock, I called Diane to let her know that the snow was still out there and for her to bring the kids by so they could play in it. Eli and Marlie LOVED it! Hannah stood out there for about five minutes and then decided that the snow was not for her. She begged Diane to let her go back to the car. We realized that if we ever let the kids go skiing with us, Hannah won't last very long. Marlie and Eli though would have stayed out there until they had frostbite! They kept throwing snowballs at each other, running through the snow, and building snowmen. It was so much fun!

I love little unexpected moments like this! I love that a regular afternoon turned into something very special for my little boy. I hope I can always make fun memories like this for my little boy :)

Playing in the Puddle

2012-01-28T10:16:00.000-06:00

One of the things my little boy loves is being able to play in puddles. Thanks to his Christmas gift from Zue-Zue (a pair of new rain boots), he's been able to do this a lot more lately. The back of our house is in great need of some dirt, but until everything gets leveled, we have a nice little pond after it rains. One day during our break, Eli and I went outside so he could play in the water. I loved watching him just be a boy and took lots of pictures of him having fun :)

I love you, sweet man, and I know these days of playing in puddles won't last long, so I plan to remember them and treasure them forever :)

Happy 4th Birthday, Molly!

2012-01-28T10:10:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of January, we celebrated Molly's 4th birthday. My friend, Dara, leads quite a busy life if you're keeping up with this blog. Just a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated her twins', Meredith and Jackson, birthday. Eli was very excited to go celebrate Molly's birthday. He and Molly are 10 months apart, and I've loved watching the two of them grow up together.

Dara outdid herself and threw an amazing carnival themed birthday party for Molly. The entire gym of our church was filled with carnival games, carnival food, and two jumpers. There was so much to do! Our first stop was to guess how many suckers were in this jar. It may look like Eli is really concentrating on counting those Dum-Dum suckers, but really he was staring at the huge dragon bouncy house he couldn't wait to jump in.

Eli immediately found Hannah and the two of them stuck together like glue for the rest of the party. If these two ever do date, I don't know if Diane and I will be able to contain ourselves :) Eli's going to have to do some growing between now and then though :)

The food table

The cake table under the "Big Top"

The precious birthday girl!

Eli and Hannah didn't stray too far from the dragon bouncy house, and I managed to capture a quick picture of Hannah, Molly, and Eli. I love all these kiddos so much!

Diane and I got some hot dogs for Hannah and Eli, and we ~~forced~~ helped them eat before they went back to the jumper. As you can see, Eli was more interested in the slinky he found rather than eating. Big surprise :)

The two proud parents, Whest and Dara

Diane and Hannah

Big sister, Whestley, and Meredith

It took a little convincing, but we finally managed to get all the kids out of the jumpers so we could sing Happy Birthday to Molly. Dara made her a cookie cake this year rather than a big birthday cake. It made me have flashbacks of all the cookie cakes I devoured growing up from The Great American Cookie Company. Oh, man, those were good!

Eli actually ate a cupcake this time before going right back to the jumper. By this time, he was beginning to run on empty, so I knew he wouldn't last much longer without a nap.

We watched Molly open a few of her presents and then we had to leave.

Eli picked up his treat bag of cotton candy, which he LOVED, and we headed home. We walked through our door and he immediately said, "Mommy, I'm ready for my nap." He took off his shoes, used the restroom, and before I knew it was sacked out in his bed. Little man was exhausted!

It was such a fun birthday party and we're so glad we were invited! Happy Birthday, Molly! Hope you had the best 4th birthday ever!

Happy 1st Birthday, Meredith and Jackson!

2012-01-28T09:25:00.000-06:00

Back in December, we celebrated Meredith and Jackson's first birthday. Meredith and Jackson are Eli's friend Molly's little sister and little brother. My friend, Dara, their mom, planned a cute farm themed birthday party for them. The party started right in the middle of Eli's naptime, so rather than miss his naptime, we opted to go to the party late. We got there right as the twins were opening their gifts :)

Jackson

Molly helping her little brother and sister open their gifts.

Their big gift was matching rocking chairs

After the gifts were opened it was time for cake. Dara always makes the cakes for her kids, so I love seeing what she does every year. This one looks great as always :)

Meredith's smash cake

Jackson's smash cake

The food area

We sang "Happy Birthday" twice, once for each twin, and then Dara and Whest put them in their chairs for their smash cakes.

It took awhile for them to try the cake that was sitting right in front of them, so Dara helped each one get a little taste of the icing. They weren't really sure about the whole thing as you can tell.

Like usual, my non-eater chose to play rather than eat anything at the party. He loved the bouncy they had at the party, so much so that right after this picture was taken he decided to nose dive out of it and get a nice carpet burn on his nose.

Even with the nose dive, it was still a wonderful party celebrating Meredith and Jackson's birthday. We love the Shirley family! Thanks for inviting us!

12 Dates of 2012-January

2012-01-27T20:01:00.000-06:00

When we were visiting my parents for Christmas/New Year's, Josh and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Before we went out that night on our date, I had my mom take some pictures of us. I wanted to try to recreate the photo that she took of us 10 years ago when we were first engaged. It turns out recreating photos isn't easy! It took us several times before we finally got one picture that was similar to the original. At one point, Josh looked at me, laughed, and said, "You know I love you when I put up with this!" For those of you that don't know Josh, he absolutely hates taking pictures and only does it because he knows how much it means to me. I'm so glad he does, too! Here are some pictures that didn't quite make the cut :)

It took several attempts but we finally got one that was close! I plan on recreating this picture every 10 years to see how we change as we grow older. I'm so happy I get to grow old with this man :)

After we captured "the" picture, we loaded up for our date :) One of Josh's Christmas gifts from me this year was twelve already thought out dates for us to go on throughout the year (definitely inspired by Pinterest!). I wrote a poem for each date and enclosed it in an envelope. On the first day of each month, he gets to open that month's envelope to see what we're supposed to do on our date. Before we left for our date, Josh got to open his first envelope.

The poems are fun and corny (just like me) but it was fun writing them for each date. For our January date, we went to eat at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro, and then we saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Nothing big or creative, but it was just nice being together. It was so much fun being able to spend some one on one time with my guy! Our lives are crazy busy and being able to just relax with him was such a blessing. I know so many of you can understand that!

It only took me a month to blog about our first date so hopefully I'll do better with February's date :) I think it'll be neat to look back and see all the fun we had going on our dates. I can't wait until February now!

A Christmas Visit from Grant

2012-01-27T19:32:00.000-06:00

Oh, dear! I am SOO far behind on this poor little blog. The good news is I've uploaded all the pictures I need to blog; the bad new is I have about ten different posts with pictures now waiting for words. Oh, if only there was more time in a girl's day! Let's go back to Christmas Day (told you I was behind!) and revisit for a little bit :) Late in the afternoon Christmas Day, Jessie, Will, and Grant all came in town and went to Josh's grandmother's house. We went over there so we could see them and so Grant and Eli could exchange Christmas gifts. Eli also had a birthday gift waiting for him because Grant couldn't make it to his party back in November.

I was still getting used to my new camera, so I brought it with me to take some pictures of the kids. Doesn't Grant look thrilled to see me? HAHA!

Eli and Grant exchanged Christmas presents. Eli was pretty excited to find that he got a new movie-The Lion King!

He even gave Grant sweet hugs for giving it to him.

Then Jessie gave Eli his belated birthday present. To say he loved it was an understatement! She got him a Cars play tent. He had to open it immediately and test it.

Grant was pretty happy about Eli's new tent, too!

Then Grant got inside the tent and he wasn't so sure anymore...haha!

Here's a view of it from the front. The back of the car even has a spoiler on it :)

After the boys exchanged presents they had lots of fun running around Mamaw's house playing together. Grant loved being pushed by Mamaw in the stroller!

Eli found one of Papaw's exercise bands and he and Josh had lots of fun playing with it. They tied each other's hands up, played tug-o-war, and even wrestled with it. It was lots of fun watching my boys play and have fun!

Thanks, Jessie, Will, and Grant for Eli's gifts! We can't wait until we see you guys again!

Christmas with Grammy and Pop

2012-01-07T09:29:00.002-06:00

New Year's weekend our little family traveled to see Grammy and Pop so we could have Christmas with them, my brothers, my grandmother, my Uncle David, and my cousin, Emily. Josh had to work late Friday night, so we didn't leave until Saturday around lunch time. That actually worked out great because Eli took a wonderful nap in the car on the ride there. We arrived around 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon and little man was in the best mood. He was SO EXCITED to see his Grammy and Pop (and all their furry companions, too). Even though it was technically New Year's Eve, Grammy and Pop were in full Christmas mode. They were busy cooking our Christmas dinner for that evening and the house was decorated so beautifully for Christmas. Mom just has a knack for making all her displays look like they came out of a magazine. I definitely don't have that touch.

While Christmas dinner was cooking, Eli and Emily found Pop's stash of fireworks that he'd purchased for Eli to pop later on that night. Mom's not a fan of fireworks, but I knew Eli would enjoy them, so I sent a little text message to Pop earlier in the week that said, "I think Eli would enjoy fireworks Saturday night." Dad took that little message and that was all the encouragement he needed (I think Dad's a pyromaniac like all boys) and he came back with a huge box full of fireworks for "Eli." Dad found some snappers for Emily and Eli, and they went into the front yard to enjoy them. I followed because well, I'm a over-documenter and I feel like I have to blog about every detail :)

Eli discovered that it was fun to dump them on the ground and then jump on them.

Andrea, Joshua, and their puppies, Brody Jack and Tinkerbell, followed us outside to watch Eli and Emily. The weather felt like Thanksgiving and was just so pleasant! Brody Jack became the perfect subject for me while we watched the kids play.

My hubby, who loves to throw the football but doesn't get to do it enough, brought his football outside and threw some with my brothers. It's not that I mind throwing the football with him, in fact, I actually throw a decent spiral for a girl. I'm not so good at the whole catching thing, especially if it looks like it's coming in fast. I usually just sidestep and let it hit whatever is behind me and that doesn't exactly make Josh happy. I also have a condition known as "brick hands." Somehow I don't catch the ball easily, it hits my hands and bounces off. Oh well, I'm just thankful he was able to throw some with guys who don't complain :) He was super excited as you can tell!

Andrea and Tinker

Sophie

Joshua and Eli have lots of fun together. I love the next two pictures of them.

Before we went in to eat, Pop came out and let Eli try a party popper. As you can see, Eli was a little hesitant about doing it and ended up letting Pop do it.

We came inside and after a round or two of sword fighting between and Joshua and Eli, we were ready to eat Christmas dinner. Pop and Grammy cooked a baked ham, dressing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and so many other yummy dishes. We all ate until we were stuffed, and then we started opening gifts.

Eli and Josh

Josh and Andrea had a surprise for us all and they decided to let Tinkerbell and Brody make the announcement for them...

Yes! I'm going to be an AUNT!!!! Andrea is pregnant and is due in August. I am so excited for them!

Letting the dogs announce it was one way they'd planned on telling everyone, but the second gift was another option. They gave my mom and dad a onesie that said, "I Love Grammy and Pop." I didn't even think to ask where the one that said, "I Love My Aunt," was...

Our Christmas started off with a great surprise and it got even better after that. We all had a wonderful Christmas! We received so many great gifts and loved them all!

Caleb and his girlfriend, Kailey

Kailey has a side business making custom cups and tumblers.

We all got new cups from her for Christmas!

Kailey also etches glass on the side, so Andrea and I got canisters with our last names etched on them.

Josh got a new knife

"Hey, need a knife?" was heard about 50 times after he opened this present :)

Geaux Tigers!

Kailey got a custom Cricut cover that my grandmother made

Eli got a new Disney/Pixar game for his Leapster

He also got Pez. You think he's excited? HAHA!

Uncle David and Emily

Emily and my grandmother

My parents got Eli two remote control cars-Mater and Lightning McQueen-for Christmas. Pop had it set up where Mater talked to Eli so Eli would know which present to open. We all loved watching Eli's face when he realized who it was speaking from that box!

Eli immediately wanted to open every single one of his presents and start playing with them.

We had toys everywhere!

Kailey got a new Cricut cartridge

Josh and Andrea got a gift card to Pier 1 for their new house

I love cheesing for pictures :)

Josh got new running gloves for those cold mornings when he runs.

Eli got a remote control bulldozer from Uncle David and Emily.

New jammies for Emily

Kailey made Grandma a personalized ceramic coffee cup.

One of Kailey's favorite movies

Yay! A dart board for our patio!

Eli got his first Webkinz, a clydesdale horse, we have yet to name.

Pop got "real" cologne as opposed to that stuff he used to get from us when we were little called BOD. Anyone remember that stuff? HAHA!

Joshua and Andrea got a new mat for the new house.

I got a Life Planner from Erin Condren!!!

Rain boots for Emily

Eli got more cars! I think we have every single car from both CARS movies now.

Cars are taking over my life!

Caleb tried to assemble the submarine he and Kailey got Eli for the bathtub.

Eli realized he already had Grem so he shared with Uncle Josh.

Dad's new weight loss book (like he needs to lose weight!)

Josh and Eli got a new container of jelly beans!

Andrea gave all the girls a personalized bag. This just fed my bag addiction :)

Playing cars

Another canister for the new house full of goodies!

Eli gave Grammy a plate for her to display every Christmas :)

She LOVED it!

Love Pop!

Caleb and his goofy self got a Blu-Ray DVD player

Dad and Mom got a calendar of our whole family

Eli found his other remote control car

He was in love!

It took us about an hour and a half to open all our gifts because of the way we do Christmas. Everyone opens one gift at a time that way you get to see everything everyone gets. I like doing it that way because Christmas seems to last longer and it's not chaos with paper going all over the place. After we'd opened all our gifts, Eli took a bath and got ready for bed. We switched from Christmas mode into New Year's Eve mode and everyone went outside for the fireworks show. Eli loved doing the sparklers the most.

Pop, Josh, and my brothers all had lots of fun (notice it's all the boys) shooting fireworks and making lots of noise. I tried to capture some of the fireworks with my new camera, but I'm still learning all the different settings for stuff like this. I did manage to get a few shots but the quality isn't what I wanted. I'll get it eventually though!

After the grand finale we all went back inside. Josh and Eli immediately went to bed and the rest of us stayed up to watch the ball drop in Times Square. My New Year officially started at 11:00 CST, but it was 12:00 somewhere :)

The next morning we woke up bright and early (it never fails, no matter what time Eli goes to bed, he still wakes up at the same time!). After some coffee and cinnamon rolls, we played a few rounds of Candy Land. Eli got this game from my parents for Christmas and loves playing it.

The weather was nice so we went outside to watch Pop and Caleb work on their project. Caleb was making a Buccaneers corn hole game for Kailey's parents for Christmas. If you don't know what that is, don't worry, neither did I! Eli didn't like the sound of the circular saw, so Pop found him these to wear :)

Eli and Grammy :)

Eli loved exploring Grammy's yard

Later on that night, Josh and I went out to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, so Eli got some one-on-one time with Grammy and Pop. They had lots of fun! They decorated a gingerbread man and a gingerbread house with Kailey, they went to Sonic to get a Wacky Pack meal, they watched movies, and they played Cars. I love when my little boy gets to spend quality time with my parents :) Before Eli went to bed, Pop read him a bedtime story and then Eli convinced Grammy and Pop that he needed to sleep with them :)

The next morning we had to leave to go back home. We made a quick run into town to get a few things we needed, and then we ate at my favorite restaurant, Newks :) Oh, how I heart that place! We said good-bye to Grammy, Pop, and Grandma and said we'd see them again soon. I love visits with my family and hate that they always seem to end so soon. I can't wait until we see them again! Thanks for a wonderful Christmas! We love you all very much!

Ten Years Ago...

2012-01-03T00:00:00.002-06:00

Ten years ago, my life changed forever.
Ten years ago, I married my best friend.
Ten years ago, I saw my future standing in front of me.
Ten years ago, my prayers came true.
Ten years ago, I began an incredible journey that I'm still on today.

Today, my life is so full, so complete, and so happy.
Today, I feel like the luckiest girl alive.
Today, I am more in love than I was ten years ago.
Today, I can't wait for another ten years, and then another ten years after that, and ten more after that. Today, I would marry him all over again.

Happy Anniversary to one of the greatest men I know. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for choosing to spend the rest of your life with me. Thank you for being exactly what I need. I love you and I can't wait to see where life takes us next. I'm so thankful that you'll be by my side.

Best of 2011

2011-12-29T16:17:00.000-06:00

2011 was an exciting year for our family! We built a new house, Eli started a new school, and we had many fun adventures along the way. Here's a look back at our year :)

Merry Christmas-2011

2011-12-28T10:13:00.002-06:00

Christmas morning we all woke up and rushed to see if Santa had been to our house. Of course, he had!

Eli's 3 gifts from Santa this year-a violin, a Mack, and a Nerf gun

Eli was excited about all his gifts from Santa, but I think he really enjoyed the Nerf guns the most.

A certain Daddy was happy about those as well :)

Eli got a few small gifts from us, nothing major, but he was pretty excited about the new sword from Daddy. They love having sword fights together and pretending like they're Peter Pan and Captain Hook.

Our morning was very relaxed and laid back. Eli would open a gift and then we'd play with that toy until he wanted to open another gift. Most of his gifts he got from us were games. Yes, we will be that family that has "Family Game Night" once a week.

At one point, Eli stood up and we noticed that he had a bow on his booty. He said, "Look, I a pwesent!" It melted my heart because I remembered many Christmases where I wished for a little baby and now here we were celebrating his 4th Christmas with us. Thank you, God, for your wonderful gift!

Zue-Zue came over to see what Eli got from Santa and from us, and she stayed for a little while and played some of Eli's new games with us. Eli quickly caught on to UNO Moo! It's a cute game for preschoolers and we all really enjoyed it. (We've since moved on to UNO Attack, and he loves that game just as much, too!)

One of the impulse buys I got a few days before Christmas was a superhero cape and mask set. It was only $5 and I thought Eli would enjoy it. He loved turning into Super Eli :) When I get my sewing machine, I plan on sewing a huge "E" on the back of his cape.

Probably one of Eli's favorite games was Don't Break the Ice. We must have played this game 10 times this day. It's great for his hand-eye coordination.

It was a wonderful Christmas! There are so many things I'll remember about this Christmas-Eli's reaction when he saw his 3 gifts, playing all his new games with him, watching the Christmas parade as a family, our huge Nerf Gun battle we had with each other-but my favorite memory is being able to celebrate our first Christmas in the new house with each other. God has blessed our family so much this year, and everything we have is because of him. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Christmas Eve-2011

2011-12-28T09:42:00.001-06:00

After we left Mamaw and Papaw's house Christmas Eve night, we hurried home so we could bake cookies for Santa. I know Santa is a fan of chocolate chip cookies, but it's so much more fun to use cookie cutters and make sugar cookies. Santa didn't seem to mind because he gobbled them all up!

Probably Eli's favorite part was puting the sugar on the sugar cookies. He may have gone a little overboard, but they sure were pretty!

While the cookies were baking, we read our last two books from under the Christmas tree. This is an idea I've heard about for a couple of years, but Pinterest reminded me of it this year. I took 25 Christmas books that I already had and wrapped them up and put them under the Christmas tree. Every night Eli got to choose a book and we read that book before he went to bed. It was one way we counted down to Christmas. This is a tradition I will definitely continue doing every year. Not only does it foster a love a reading (something near and dear to my heart), but it was so sweet getting to share these Christmas memories with our little man. We read a variety of Christmas books, some had been given to him over the past few years as gifts, and then I bought some new ones to add to our collection. My favorite nights, I must say, were the nights he chose books that talked about the birth of Jesus. It was so wonderful to be able to share with him the real reason that we celebrate Christmas.

All the books we read this year!

After our cookies were finished baking, we poured Santa some milk and set out three cookies for him on his cookie plate.

Eli wrote him a note...

Then I let him enjoy one cookie before bed :)

His favorite part was the "spwinkles" :)

After he finished his cookie, it was time to go sprinkle our reindeer food on the ground outside. We wanted to make sure Santa's reindeer knew where to land, especially since this was the first time they were going to be at our new house. He and Daddy had lots of fun sprinkling the reindeer food outside. Then it was time to go to sleep so Santa Claus could come!

We all settled down for bed and went right to sleep because we knew Santa wouldn't come until we were all asleep. I left my camera out charging for the next day and when I woke up the next morning, I had a surprise! Elfis must have figured out the self-timer on my new camera, because he left us one last picture before heading back to the North Pole. We can't wait to see him again next year :)

Christmas at Mamaw and Papaw's House

2011-12-28T09:20:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve afternoon we went over to Josh's grandparents' house to have a late Christmas lunch with them...I call it "lupper" :) We normally all get together and play Cajun Christmas with each other, but this year, we just opted to let the kids exchange gifts. That was more fun anyway!

When we got there, Eli, Peyton, and Josh started a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos. They had lots of fun playing together.

Eli and Peyton are best buds and play so well together. Peyton is so patient with Eli. I love watching the two of them together.

Jordan and Addison arrived next, and I just couldn't quit taking pictures of this sweet little girl.

Ariane, Peyton's mom, and Addison

A sweet little smile from Ms. Addi

Peyton and Addi are like brother and sister

Eli, Addi, and Peyton

(We were missing Grant this year. Next year though, we'll have Baby Brett-Sara and Shane's baby-in our pictures, too! How fun!)

After we all ate some really delicious food, we let the kids exchange gifts with each other. By this time, it was just Addi and Eli, because Peyton and his mom had to go to another Christmas party with her family. Addi and Eli had fun opening their presents though and got some really cute stuff.

Hurray! A wood building train kit.

Sounds like a great Dude Night activity

(that's what Daddy Dates are called around here)

Addi got a kitchen from Mamaw and Papaw

(In fact, Little Miss Betty Crocker got several kitchens for Christmas! One for each house she visits!)

From Mamaw, Eli got a Cars lunch box, two new cars, and some jeans from Old Navy.

We've discovered that Old Navy jeans fit my skinny minny the best.

Yay! Two new cars!

Jordan and her mom gave Eli his very own digital camera

Now he can take pictures with Momma!

Our family gave Addison a growth chart.

It's my latest painting project I've tried, and I have to say I love making them!

Addison and Eli immediately started playing with their toys. Addi loved talking on her phone and being a pretend doctor. Jordan is in nursing school right now so Addi loves playing with her stethoscope. Jordan thought Addi would love having her very own stethoscope, and she was right!

Eli's camera didn't have batteries, but he loved pretending to take pictures.

It was such a fun night. I love watching the kids play together and make fun memories. Hopefully next year, Grant and Brett will be able to be here, too!

Christmas with Zue-Zue, 2011

2011-12-27T17:16:00.000-06:00

Friday night we went to Josh's mom's house to have Christmas with her. Eli was so excited to see Zue-Zue, and we were even more surprised when we walked in and saw all the gifts! We must have been very, very good this year!

Poor Zue-Zue fell and broke her arm a couple of months ago, and it's been tough on her ever since. She wore a sling for a long time and is now going to physical therapy. Needless to say, she wasn't able to put up any Christmas decorations herself, but Mammy and Uncle Clare came to the rescue and did it for her. Isn't her tree beautiful?

Before we ate, I had Eli pose for a couple of pictures with Zue-Zue in front of the Christmas tree.

Zue-Zue cooked a yummy breakfast for us (I love having breakfast for dinner!) and then it was time to open gifts. Daddy and Eli were both very excited!

Eli passed out the gifts to each of us and then sat very patiently while we each opened one gift at a time.

Zue-Zue had lots of fun buying gifts for Eli this year, and the only thing that was missing was a set of earplugs for Mommy and Daddy :) I think every gift she gave him made noise. Thanks, Zue-Zue...

Fishing game (that plays music the entire time you're playing)

As you can see, Eli was happy about this game.

Daddy waiting for his turn

Hungry, Hungry Hippos...what a fun game!

Zue-Zue did really well for Josh and me as well. We both loved all of our gifts from her!

My Mary Engelbreit calendar for school. I got a big one for home, too.

I love anything with peacock feathers.

Daddy and Eli received a joint gift and they were both excited to see that it was Nerf basketball. Josh had already mentioned to me that he wanted to get Eli one of these this year because he played with one all throughout his childhood. Zue-Zue must have read his mind!

Eli was super excited about getting a new pair of rain boots.

He couldn't wait to put them on and walk around in them.

Daddy got an LSU Tervis Tumbler cup...perfect for game day!

Zue-Zue modeling her earrings she got from us.

Buzz Lightyear is always a hit with Eli!

Zue-Zue talking to Eli about something.

Zue-Zue got a new picture for her key chain.

Eli loves all things music and was super excited when he discovered that another one of his gifts was a harmonica. Oh, happy day! More noise :)

My new piece of Wilton Armetale

Josh with his new running shirt

Eli loved helping each of us open our gifts.

Hurray! A new fishing puzzle!

Eli couldn't wait to open his last big gift from Zue-Zue.

What could it be?

Let's just dump it out and see...

It's Mega T-Rex!

My new piece of artwork-fleur de lis painted on a distressed cabinet door

Josh and Eli took a break from opening gifts to play the fishing game.

Woo hoo! Daddy caught a big one!

My new coat :) I LOVE it (of course, I picked it out, so I should! HAHA!)

Our new stainless steel stock pot

Josh's new Columbia jacket...nice pose, babe :)

Sue is not known for her picture taking abilities, but she proved that she can handle the digital SLR...go figure! Give her a harder camera and she takes quality pictures :) She snapped these next two of us and I have to say they're great pictures. Way to go, Zue-Zue! Thank you for a wonderful Christmas! You went overboard, but we appreciate and are thankful for everything you gave us! Thank you for loving us, cooking for us, helping us with Eli, and doing so much more! We had a great Christmas with you!

Delivering Christmas Goodies

2011-12-27T08:46:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to bake goodies for my neighbors. I don't go overboard, but I do spend a couple of days baking and cooking. This year I had a little helper that loved being the designated mixer :) Our goodies this year included-homemade white chocolate and cranberry biscotti, Rolo cookies, chocolate chip cookies, sausage and cheese balls, turtles (carmel and pecans covered in chocoalte), chocolate covered pretzels, and Oreo peppermint popcorn (Thanks, Pinterest, for the recipe on this one!). Whew! It was a lot, but we had lots of fun measuring, mixing, baking, and packaging all our goodies.

Once they were all boxed up, we drove around our neighborhood and stopped at each house to make a special delivery. Eli LOVED this! He had a blast carrying each neighbor's box of goodies to their door and saying, "Merry Christmas!" to them as he gave it to them. This encourages me even more about doing Random Acts of Kindness with him next year as our countdown to Christmas. I first read about this great act of service at this blog. What a wonderful way to teach your children about giving! I think Eli will be the perfect age next year (you can start at any age, but I think he'll really "get it" next year) and will enjoy giving to our friends.

Eli standing in front of our neighbor's door.

Aren't her decorations precious??

Merry Christmas to all our neighbors! Thanks for welcoming us into the neighborhood :)

Happy Birthday, Zue-Zue!

2011-12-27T08:34:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday, we celebrated Zue-Zue's birthday. She turned 60 on December 23rd, but couldn't come over to our house that night, so we celebrated a day early. She can't really do sweets, so we did the next best thing...steak! Zue-Zue loves a good grilled steak, so that was her birthday meal. I have to say Josh did a FANTASTIC job on the steaks; they were better than what you would get at a restaurant!

We gave her a couple of gifts to open that night-some earrings, a bracelet Eli picked out for her, and a photo magnet of Eli. She loved them all! Happy Birthday, Zue-Zue! You are such a blessing to our family! You do so much for us, and I'm so thankful to have you in my life! Thank you for loving us and for loving Eli. We love you and are glad we could celebrate your birthday (almost) with you! Hope you had a wonderful day!

Eli's Christmas Party at School

2011-12-26T21:47:00.001-06:00

This past Wednesday Eli had his Christmas party at school. It was another reason for me to be thankful that our schools have different holiday schedules because normally I would have had to take off work in order to be there. Eli's teacher Mrs. Paige had the kids rotate around in their center groups during the party, so it wouldn't be chaos trying to get 15 kids to do the same exact things at the same exact time. I helped out with the food table and then rotated around with Eli so I could take pictures of him doing all the different activities.

At the food table, they had cupcakes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, reindeer cookies I made (Pinterest inspired), Cheez-Its, and a banana. Eli immediately went for the sweets. He gets it honestly :)

After the kids had finished their first activity, they had a special guest visit their classroom...Santa Claus!! All of the kids were so excited and couldn't wait to sit in his lap and get their picture taken with him.

I didn't really know how Eli would react to Santa because we haven't really discussed going to visit him this year that much. Anytime I brought it up, Eli would tell me he didn't want to go see him. I didn't feel the need to push the envelope any further. I figured if he wanted to go see Santa he'd say so, and I left it at that. In fact, one night when I brought it up to him, I said, "Don't you want to go see Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas?" To which Eli replied, "No, I just tell Elfis and he go tell Santa." What else could I say to that? Haha :)

Back to Santa visiting the classroom...when it was Eli's turn, he ran up to Santa and practically jumped into his lap. He was so excited about seeing him! Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Eli rattled off his list of three things that he wanted from Santa- a violin, a Mack from Cars, and a new Mater. The only thing Santa understood was a new Mater, but we know Elfis has made sure that he knows about the other two gifts as well.

(If you don't know about the reasoning behind the three gifts from Santa, here's a brief synopsis. Santa only brings 3 gifts because baby Jesus received three gifts from the three wise men. On Christmas morning, and any other time, you have the opportunity to tell the story of Jesus' birth and his three gifts. You get to explain to your children how Jesus is the best gift of all! My friend, Nicki, introduced our family to this, and I think our pediatrician we once shared introduced it to her. It's a wonderful thing to do with your kids!)

When Eli got down from Santa's lap, he proudly said, "I sat in Santa's lap. He nice, Momma!" Sweet boy! I love his precious little heart.

After each child had a chance to sit in Santa's lap, Mrs. Jody, Paige's assistant, attempted to get a picture of all the kids and Santa. That was hard to do!

Then it was time to do the next two centers. Next up was decorating a sugar cone to look like a Christmas tree. As you can see, it took lots of concentration :)

He took a quick break so we could get a picture together. Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am that our schools have different schedules so I can do things like this with him? If not, then let me say it again...I'm so thankful I got to be a room mom this day :)

Eli with his completed ice cream cone. Now time to chow down!

The last center his group went to was the craft center. Mrs. Paige had them each make an angel with their picture. I loved watching Eli interact with the kids in his center group. He's the youngest one in his group, but Mrs. Paige said he's doing great with them and is keeping up very well. I'm one proud Momma :)

Holding up the wings for a closer inspection

Time to put some glue on the wings

No angel is complete without some glitter

My solemn looking angel

(He must have been ready for nap time when they snapped this picture.)

Eli's completed angel

Before we left, Eli gave hugs to Mrs. Jody and Mrs. Paige. We pray and thank God every night for both of them. They love my little boy so much, and it's very apparent that he loves them too.

Merry Christmas to Mrs. Paige, Mrs. Jody, and to all of Eli's friends at school!

Zoo Lights

2011-12-26T21:08:00.000-06:00

The weekend before Christmas, our little family took a trip to the zoo for ZooLights. We used our membership to the zoo that Grammy and Pop gave us last year for Christmas and we had a great time! Eli loved leading us around to see all the different light displays. I hope this is something we can do again next year!

Excited about Zoo Lights

Josh liked this golfing Santa :)

Santa and his reindeer.

Eli made sure to point out the fact that Rudolph was missing :)

It only took us an hour to walk the mile of ZooLights and then it was time to go back home. We ended the night with a nice cup of hot chocolate. What a fun night!

Christmas in the New House

2011-12-26T19:03:00.002-06:00

Christmas in the new house was just simply wonderful. I had so much fun decorating the house and making it look pretty. We had a housewarming party earlier in the month, so I took a few pictures of my decorations then but never posted them. I have to say thanks to my mom, my grandmother, and Josh's mom because they all helped me decorate and get things ready for Christmas. I'm almost sad to take down the decorations tomorrow, but I guess it's time. They've been up since Thanksgiving, so I guess that's long enough. I can't wait for next year though. I already have so many ideas of things I'm going to do differently as far as decorations go. Thank goodness for Pinterest or else I'd never remember them! Here's a look around our house the way it was for Christmas.

My free printable from Pinterest

I love this verse!

I have to say my favorite place to decorate was my mantle. Sue gave me the idea of doing a wreath on top of the mirror and I LOVE how it turned out! I bought a pre-lit wreath from K-Mart and then hot glued gold glitter ornaments on top of it. I used a Pinterest inspired tip (stuck a Command strip upside down on the back of the mirror) to hang the wreath on the front of the mirror.

My mantle above the fireplace

The night before our Housewarming Party, my mom, grandmother, and I were doing last minute decorations around the house. Before they came all I had above our entertainment center was a strip of garland with lights on it. I knew that I wanted something else up there but I didn't know what to do. Using things I had around the house already, Mom came up with this idea. Thank you, thank you, Mom!! I have to say thanks again to Sue for the vintage Santa picture. It was part of my birthday present from her and I love it!

Our resident Elf on the Shelf, Elfis, was with us every day during the Christmas season. He was a very well-behaved elf, unlike several elves I read about on various blogs and Facebook. He pretty much just liked to hide in different places, usually high places, around the house. Eli and Daddy really enjoyed walking around and looking for him every morning. Eli understood Elfis a lot more this year and made sure everyone followed the Elf on the Shelf rules :)

One of my absolute favorite things during Christmas is receiving Christmas cards from all our family and friends. I bought this wall hanger last year from Willow House and I love using it to display all the Christmas cards we receive.

It's not a Christmas without seeing pictures of my little man during his first Christmas. This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of him :)

My staircase...loved decorating this!

The stockings were hung with care...

Actually, the stockings were hung above the fireplace at first, but after Eli managed to pull one of the stocking hangers down on his head, I moved them. After bandaging the cut on his head, I asked him why he pulled it down and he said he just wanted to see it. (We'd already had the conversation about not pulling on them because it could fall and hurt us.) I decided to take temptation away from him and moved them to the top of our china cabinet where they've always been and will probably always be from now on.

If you've ever moved into a new house that's bigger than the one you were previously living in, then you know how it feels to walk into rooms and have nothing in them. That's what we have right now in several rooms in our house. We have the space, but don't have any furniture to fill the space. Our dining room is a classic example of this, so this year we opted to fill it with our Christmas tree :) It still looks pretty bare in there, but at least it's not just an empty room anymore. It's going to look like a cave tomorrow when I take the tree down though!

I love getting the ornaments Eli makes at school and hanging them on my tree every year. This year his class did lots of ornaments!

I love that Eli goes to a school where they talk about the true meaning of Christmas with him.

I'm so very thankful that he's not only getting it at home and at church but at school as well.

It's hard to believe the Christmas season has come and gone. Tomorrow I'll take down the decorations, box the tree up, and wrap up all the ornaments. I'll place them in the attic and won't look at them for an entire year. It'll be sad to see all the pretty decorations go, but I'm thankful that the true reason we celebrate Christmas isn't something that gets boxed up or put away. Thank you, God, for your love, for sending your son to this Earth to save sinners like me. Thank you for loving us!

Christmas with Mammy and Uncle Clare

2011-12-23T09:02:00.003-06:00

Monday was a very BUSY day for us-doctor's visit, school, playing outside-and then later on that night, Mammy and Uncle Clare came over to give Eli his Christmas present. Eli couldn't wait to see what was hiding in that big bag they brought over. He scrambled into Mammy's lap and started pulling out the paper before I even had the camera ready.

They got him a new Mater pillow pet, a Lightning McQueen sponge, and a bottle of Cars bubble bath.

They also gave him his first bird watching book. Uncle Clare loves going outside to look for birds, so now Eli can take his book along and join him. Mammy told him that he'd need his binoculars to help see the birds, so Eli went to his room to get the ones that Aunt Lisa and Uncle Dave gave him from Allison's wedding. I think these two are going to have lots of fun together looking for birds!

Then Eli gave Mammy her present from us. We gave her some personalized Christmas address labels this year that I ordered from Expressionery. (Here's a heads-up...they're having their MADNESS sale right now and things are 60% off! I always order things for next year at this time while prices are so low. Just thought I'd pass that tip along!)

Eli LOVES Mammy and Uncle Clare, and I'm so thankful we got to spend part of our Christmas with them. I am very thankful for them and for so many others that love our little boy unconditionally! He is surrounded by so many people that love and care for him. We are truly blessed to have you guys in our lives!! Thank you for all our gifts! We love you!

Playing Outside

2011-12-23T08:49:00.000-06:00

This past week was my first week of Christmas vacation. I've LOVED every single minute of it. Eli's school didn't get out until Thursday, so I have been a stay-at-home mom for a few days and it's been great! I got to take Eli to school, pick him up, run errands, clean the house (ha-ha, like that happened), and even managed to work in two trips to the coffee shop for a cafe´ latte and some reading time there. (I'm currently re-reading The Hunger Games trilogy. I figured I needed to since the movie comes out in March. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those books, by the way.) I also got to go to Eli's school to do an art activity with his class, attend his Christmas party, and his Christmas play. I would have gone regardless, but it was nice not having to take off work or work around any other schedule.

Monday after I picked Eli up from school, he and I spent some time playing outside on his new swing set he got from all the grandparents for his birthday. It was such a nice day, so I decided to try out my big lens on my new camera. Josh gave me a Canon Rebel T2i for Christmas this year (YAY!!!!) so I've had lots of fun playing with it. When Josh graduated college, his dad gave him a Canon Rebel (the kind that took actual 35 mm film). For a long time, we were really into photography. We purchased a camera bag, filters, and several different lenses for the camera. Then two years later when I graduated college, digital cameras were just making an appearance and I got a Sony digital camera. I've had a digital camera ever since, and we haven't even thought about the other camera. When Josh ordered my new camera, he made sure to go with Canon again, so all our old lenses would work on the new one. I got out the telephoto zoom lens (75-300 mm) on Monday and had lots of fun taking pictures with it.

I made sure to get some pictures of Maggie with it, too. It's hard to believe that she's going to be 10 years old in March. Her little face has gotten to be so white, but she's still such a happy dog. Eli loves her and she is great with him. Eli, Maggie, and I had lots of fun playing and enjoying the beautiful weather. It's hard to believe it's December and the weather is still this nice!

Before we went inside, I climbed to the top of Eli's swing-set and took some pictures of the fields surrounding our house. The trees lining the fields were so pretty! I can't wait to see these fields in the spring and the summer. It's going to be a beautiful sight!

Three Year Well Visit

2011-12-23T08:23:00.000-06:00

This past Monday, Eli had his 3 year well visit with Dr. R. We had not seen Dr. R since his well visit last year, so we (I) was looking forward to this visit. Since we were going to school right afterwards, I dressed him in his uniform so we wouldn't have to make another trip home. Eli was in a great mood, but since we hadn't been to the doctor in a year, I went ahead and prepared him for some of the things they were going to do-weighing him, seeing how tall he is, checking his temperature, etc. His main concern was if they were going to "pinch his leg" today (A.K.A. get a shot). I honestly didn't know, but I reminded him that if they did have to give him one, he'd get a sucker and some stickers for being a big boy. He promised that he'd be a big boy and do everything they told him to do :)

They called us to the back so they could get Eli's measurements. He weighs 31 pounds (my little featherweight) and is 37 inches tall. Dr. R said he's in the 50th percentile for both. That was better than what I thought! This was the first visit where they checked his vision and hearing and he passed both with flying colors. They also checked his blood pressure and even had him tee-tee in a cup. He thought that was hilarious and kept telling me that you're not supposed to tee-tee in a cup, you're supposed to tee-tee in the potty. Then once he saw it in the cup he said, "That looks like juice!" Gross, but his comment did make me chuckle.

We went back to the room and waited for Dr. R to come see us. Eli played with our latest addition to the Cars family, Jeff Corvette, and some of the toys in exam room. He also devoured the sucker he got for being great while they measured and weighed him. Then Dr. R arrived and she checked Eli. She said everything looks great, which I already knew, but it's always nice to hear :) She and Eli chatted about school, things he likes to do, and what Santa Claus is bringing him. She checked his chart and noted that he was behind on one booster shot...Sorry, buddy! She said they also needed to check him for anemia and give him his dose of flu mist.

The nurse came in to prick his finger and he did great with that, but then it was time to "pinch his leg" and he didn't like that at all. He cried for a few seconds, but thankfully a sucker and some stickers made it all better. We said goodbye to Dr. R and her nurses and told them we'd see them next year! It's hard to believe that my little man is getting to be so big!

Happy Grinch Day

2011-12-17T08:45:00.000-06:00

This past Wednesday at school, all the first grade teachers and their kiddos celebrated our first annual Grinch Day! I'd seen so many posts on other teachers' blogs about Grinch activities they were doing with their classes, so I decided this was something new I wanted to start doing with my students. I mentioned it to my co-workers and our Grinch Day was born! I started making plans for all the fun activities we were going to do for Grinch Day. I went to our local Wal-Mart and found these cute Grinch shirts for us to wear. Our students loved seeing us in our shirts :)

The first activity I had for my students when they came in the classroom was to finish the writing prompt, "To make the Grinch grin, I would ________." I got all kinds of answers from my students but most of them were along the lines of "I would tell the Grinch some funny jokes," or "I would make funny faces at the Grinch." I did have one sweet student say that they would give the Grinch a true Christmas to make him grin.

After we finished our writing activity, I passed out a Grinch face to all my students and let them color it. Then I tied it around their necks with some yarn. They loved wearing their Grinch necklaces around school that day and told everyone that asked why they were wearing it. They loved letting everyone know we were having Grinch Day!

We read the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss, listened to the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, and then watched the cartoon movie that I grew up watching. We had a long discussion about what the book meant about Christmas not being about presents and gifts. Some of my kids had a hard time wrapping their minds around a Christmas without gifts, but God bless some of my darlings for truly getting it. I had one that boldly said, "Christmas is all about love!" Yes, it truly is :)

While my students watched the movie, I passed out some Grinch treats I made for them-Grinch popcorn, Grinch punch, Grinch cookies :) Can you tell green was the "it" color for the day??

I spent the night before making my Grinch Popcorn. I couldn't find the recipe I was looking for on Pinterest, so I googled it and found this recipe for popcorn here. Some of my kiddos really liked it and ate two and three servings of it, but others didn't like it at all. I used lime Kool-Aid to get the green coloring, so maybe it was the lime flavor they didn't like. Either way it was a fun experience and one I'm sure they'll remember :)

We also drank some Grinch Punch while we watched our movie. I put a scoop of lime sherbert in cups and then poured Sprite over it. I should have brought more of this because my kiddos chugalugged this! They loved it!

After the cartoon movie was over, we watched the new version with Jim Carrey in it. My kids loved that movie, too! A lot of them had never even read the book or seen either movie, so I'm happy that I was at least able to give them this experience.

I made the game "Pin the Heart on the Grinch" on the SMARTboard, but we never got around to playing that game. We had so much fun celebrating the Grinch. I've already thought of so many ideas and things I want to do next year for our second annual Grinch Day. I can't wait!

Before my kids left for the day, I gave them one last treat...a green candy cane attached to this cute poem. This printable came from the very talented Mrs. Cara Carroll. She's such a talented teacher and I get tons of ideas from her! You can find this printable here.

What a wonderful Grinch Day! I love being able to do fun activities like this with my students at school because these are the days they're going to remember :)

PreK-3 Update-November

2011-12-17T07:31:00.000-06:00

Whew! Didn't I just post the October PreK-3 update? Wow! Where did November go?? My little boy is still loving school, and I am loving all the fun things he is doing in his classroom. His teacher is SUPER creative and is always sending home precious crafts that the kids have done. Thursday is my favorite day of the week because it's the day I get to see all of his artwork from his class. Eli's file for this year is getting super bulky, but I can't bring myself to get rid of anything just yet. I still plan on making a book of Eli's crafts from this year, but that'll probably be a summer project for me.

Every week in Eli's class, they study a letter of the alphabet. They talk about it's sound, words that start with that letter, the way the uppercase and lowercase letter look, and much more. Every Friday the kids get to bring something to school that begins with that letter. Eli has loved getting to share his show and tell item every week. Last week was especially fun for him because he got to bring Francesco Bernoulli to school. He LOVES anything that has to do with cars right now!

Eli has discovered how much he loves using scissors to cut paper. Anytime I am sitting at the table cutting something for school, he wants to sit beside me and cut too. I let him use my funky craft scissors because they're blunt and he can't hurt himself with those. I'm pretty sure "Santa" is going to be bringing him some kid safe scissors for Christmas. It's great practice for his fine motor skills, and it keeps him busy for a long time. I usually draw lines of various lengths on the paper and have him cut the lines. He's doing very well on that :)

His speech is improving daily and conversations with him are getting SO FUN! He is starting to remember more about his day, so our daily "What did you do today conversations?" are getting more interesting. I love hearing about his day and what he's doing at school. I also love catching him singing songs and rhymes that his teachers sing to him at school. The other day he was sitting on the floor in the living room and started chanting, "Criss cross, applesauce, hands in your lap" and then proceeded to do that :) It's so cute!

Here are some of the things he did this past month in his class. I love them all!

Pilgrim Eli and Indian Hannah on Thanksgiving Day at their school.

I love this one :) Makes my heart so happy.

The Ultimate Gift

2011-12-11T22:35:00.000-06:00

Last night, Josh and I attended his bank's annual Christmas party. I love having a reason to dress up and go on a fancy date with Josh, so I always look forward to this party. Plus, they give away great prizes and there's excellent food! Before we left we had Sue take a picture of us in front of the mantle. I promise I felt like I was in high school again getting my picture taken before going to prom :) Josh and I left and looked forward to a great night...we both needed it!

This past week was a pretty tough week for Josh's little family at work. Josh's loan assistant and good friend, Reve, got a call early Tuesday morning that her husband Richard had been involved in a serious car accident in south Louisiana. Reve called Josh around 6:45 that morning to let him know that she was on her way to the hospital where Richard was already in surgery. We both went to work with heavy hearts and immediately started praying for their family. A few hours later, I got a text from Josh, while I was at work, that let me know that the doctors didn't expect Richard to make it through the day. Less than an hour later, he let me know that Richard had passed away :(

So many emotions rushed through me the moment I saw that text-shock, anger, sadness, and confusion. Josh and I kept talking about it and we both couldn't understand the why's of it all. Why Richard? Why take a wonderful father and a wonderful husband? Why take his life right at Christmas time when it's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year? Why take away a son from a mother, who just lost another son a few years back from cancer? There were more whys than we could possibly ever answer, and I know that this side of heaven, I'll never know. Ultimately, I realized that life is precious and you have to make the most of every single day, every single moment. You have to say "I love you" more, hug more, kiss more, and spend time with the ones you love. I know without any doubt that Richard did this. He loved his boys, Drew and Scott, and his wife so much; he adored them. I don't understand why he had to go, but I know that ultimately God has a plan. It sounds so trite, but if you don't believe that, then how do you go on? How do you wake up the next day and live your life? I'm so thankful that Reve, her boys, and her mother-in-law are so strong in their faith, and they are trusting and depending on God to get them through this difficult time.

The morning of the Christmas party was Richard's funeral, so everyone was thinking about and praying for Reve that day. Usually, she is with us at the party cutting up, laughing, and having a great time, but understandably so she wasn't there that night. Like I mentioned before, everyone's heart was pretty heavy that night. Josh didn't really want to go, but I knew that he needed a night out so we did. I'm so glad we did because THE MOST AMAZING thing happened while we were there.

Every year Josh's bank gives away what they call the "Trip of a Lifetime." They put every employee's name into a hat and pull out one name. That person wins $10,000 that they can use to go anywhere in the world they want to go. The only stipulation is that you have to be present to win. Before he drew the name this year, Cliff made the announcement that if he pulled Reve's name, she was going on the trip no questions asked. Everyone wholeheartedly agreed with this. If anyone needed a trip, it was Reve. We all held our breath as a name was drawn. Cliff is always very creative at how he eliminates the employees and pretty soon it was Josh, and our friend, Carrie, left standing at our table. Once again, Josh was "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" but we both cheered happily when Cliff read Carrie's name out loud. She was stunned, shocked, and amazed. She and every other woman that works in their office started crying. She made her way up to the stage where she hugged Cliff and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and then led her to the microphone. Carrie, bless her soul, spoke into the microphone and told us that she and Frank, her husband, had decided before they came that if for some reason they won, they were going to donate their trip to Reve and her two little boys. My heart swelled with pride, love, admiration, and amazement at Carrie's genuineness, her love, and her compassion. How many people would give up the trip of a lifetime and give it to someone else? I don't know very many.

The night got even better when we all crowded around Josh's cell phone to tell the good news to Reve. Cliff, Josh's boss, made his way slowly over to where we were and before we had a chance to press SEND, he told Carrie he had some more news. He had just talked to the chairman of the board of directors and they were going to give Carrie a trip, too!! WOW! That completely made my night! Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Sharing love with the ones you love, giving without expecting in return. I'm so thankful that I was able to witness such a miraculous gift.

Christmas Card Pictures

2011-12-10T09:58:00.000-06:00

This year for Christmas I had high hopes of getting all of us together for a family Christmas card picture in front of the new house. We tried a couple of times, but we never got "that" picture that I really wanted. I really wanted a picture in front of the door at the new house, so yesterday, Eli and I had our own little photo shoot. If I couldn't have all three of us, I decided I at least had to get the cutest one :) He was the perfect subject and smiled and cheesed just like his Momma asked him to do. Which picture did we choose? You'll just have to wait and see, but here are some of the pictures that I was able to capture of my little man. I used my new Canon Rebel T2i, my early Christmas present from my wonderful hubby! He knew that I had been wanting a Digital SLR for a long time and he was sweet enough to get me one this year :) I LOVE IT! I still love my Sony point and shoot camera that I carry around in my purse, but the pictures on the new camera are just crystal clear! I can't wait to really learn more about my new camera and how to take better pictures. It's going to be lots of fun!

Classroom Christmas Projects

2011-12-10T09:03:00.001-06:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my classroom! We only have 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'm trying to fit as many activities in as I can with my first grade kiddos. We have been super busy creating ornaments and gifts to give their parents for Christmas, and I love how they have all turned out! As you'll be able to tell, I'm in love with any craft that uses kids' handprints :)

Back in the summer, I debated creating a blog dedicated solely to my classroom, but let's be honest, I'm not so great about updating this one, so having to update two probably wouldn't have worked. Ultimately, I decided since the title of this blog is "World of the Wilson's" and teaching is part of my world, I'd just include anything classroom related on this blog. It's a little glimpse into my life as a teacher.

I thought I'd post a couple of the crafts we've done so far in my classroom in case anyone (the five of you that read this...haha) needed an idea for an ornament that was super easy and affordable. First, my kids made Santa handprint ornaments for their parents. I do this every year with my kiddos, but in the past, we've made it into a card for their parents. This is the first year I've made it an ornament to hang on the tree. It's so easy to make! All you need is paper (we used manilla construction paper), paint, googly eyes, and glittery snow confetti. I painted each kid's hand red at the top of the palm and down the length of the thumb for Santa's hat, peach in the middle of the palm for his face, and white on all the fingers for his beard. I pressed their handprint on the paper and when it was fully dry, I trimmed around the handprint with scissors and laminated it. I used a hot glue gun to attach two googly eyes, a red bead for his nose, and glittery snow for his beard. I hole punched it at the top and threaded a ribbon through it. I wrote their name, the year, and their grade on the back, and then proudly displayed it on the tree in our classroom. It'll stay here until they take it home to their parents next week.

The next ornament we did was a Pinterest (I HEART THAT SITE!) inspired craft. I originally saw a "pin" that used kid's thumbprints to make reindeer. I had some old ornaments that I wasn't planning on using and I had exactly 17, which just happens to be how many kids I have in my room :) I took them to school and had the kids dip their thumbs in brown paint and then make three thumbprints on the side of the ornament. I let that dry, then with a Sharpie added antlers, a red bead for the nose, and googly eyes. I wrote their name on the bottom and then Merry Christmas around the top of the ornament with a Sharpie. Last, I sprayed them with a clear acrylic sealer which added a little bit of shine to the ornaments. This is the final product! I think they're just adorable!

The big gift that they're giving their parents this year is probably one of my favorite things ever. I wish I could claim credit for it, but the preschool where Eli used to go did this with one of their classes, and I saw one and just had to re-create it for my class. I tweaked their design just a little bit and made it my own, and I LOVE how it turned out. I found these red chargers from Wal-Mart for $0.98 and bought enough for my class. I used acrylic green paint and painted my kids' hands and then stamped them on the middle of the plate with the fingers pointed down. I used their thumbprint dipped in brown to make the trunk. I painted on a star and then poured gold glitter on top of that. I sprinkled green glitter on top of the green paint while it was wet. Once their handprint dried, I used beads to make ornaments. I found a cute font (Kwekel) and wrote "Merry Christmas" and their name around the edge of the plate. Then I sprayerd the charger with a clear acrylic sealer. I attached a label on the back with their grade, class, and the year, then wrapped it in individual clear plastic bags. I hope their parents love it as much as I would if Eli made one for me :) (In fact, I'm doing this with Eli's class the Monday before they get out for break.)

That's it for now. I have one more ornament that we're doing, but I'm going to do a tutorial on that one because it's so easy and so pretty to make. I love this time of year! I can't wait to do more fun Christmas themed activities with my kiddos at school and my little kiddo here at home :)

Thankful-Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-05T06:29:00.000-06:00

The past few months have been kind of crazy, but on Thanksgiving Day I felt an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness for everything that has happened to us lately. There are so many things that I could list that I'm thankful for, but overall they really boil down to three things.

I'm thankful first and foremost for my Jesus Christ, his salvation, his forgiveness, his grace, his mercy, and his love. Without Him my life would be empty. He gives me the strength I need to get through hard days; he loves me when I'm unlovable; he forgives me more than I deserve; he is my hope and my anchor. There have been many times in church lately that I've just been completely overwhelmed with God's goodness during the worship service. I am so thankful that I can be called one of God's children!

Secondly, I'm thankful for my little family. Josh and Eli have brought so much balance, purpose, and meaning to my life. I am so grateful for the man that God chose for me to spend the rest of my life. He is exactly what I needed, and he's there for me and listens to me when no one else does. He is my other half and when he's not with me I feel like a part of me is missing. I love him more than written words could ever begin to adequately describe. I can't wait to grow old with this man and I'm so hopeful for all the wonderful things that God is going to do in our lives as a couple. Next to being Josh's wife, being Eli's mom is the GREATEST joy on this earth. He makes life so much fun! I love him with my entire being. He is the best gift Josh and I have ever been given, and we are so thankful that God chose us to be his parents. It is my prayer every night that Eli would come to know Jesus at an early age. That he will, at an early age, realize how much he needs Jesus in his life. I also pray daily that God would make me into the mother he needs me to be for Eli, and that my life is an example of Jesus to Eli.

Lastly, I'm thankful for all our family and friends. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people that God has placed in our lives for us at this time. Every one of you has impacted our lives in some way, and we wouldn't be where we are without your love, support, and prayers. Thank you for loving us and for always being there for us. Thank you for the prayers that you say on our behalf on a daily basis. Thank you for filling our lives with happiness and joy! We love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Happy 3rd Birthday Eli!

2011-11-24T08:09:00.000-06:00

Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES! Eli's 3rd Birthday Party post is about to begin!

Saturday, November 5th, our family and friends gathered at our new house to celebrate Eli's 3rd birthday party. This year we (I) chose a race car theme because Eli is ALL ABOUT cars right now. The decorations were very easy and simple, and I loved the color scheme-black, white, and red. My mom helped me out in a HUGE way like always and helped make everything cutesy just like I like it. We stayed up pretty late the night before decorating cupcakes, setting up the tables, making labels, and getting everything ready for the party the next day. Plus, I also had to clean and straighten the house because this was the first time people other than family were going to be at the new house. I knew they'd want the grand tour and I wanted the house to look its' best.

This year we had to plan Eli's party around two things-naptime and the LSU/Alabama game. That's what you do when you have a birthday during college football season. Last year, LSU played Alabama and I scheduled Eli's party around that game time, but then they changed it at the last minute and Eli's party ended up being right in the middle of the game. Yeah, it wasn't good. This year I wasn't going to make the mistake twice. Well, truthfully, it wasn't my fault...they're the ones that changed the game time last year. Anyway, I planned Eli's party mid-morning that way Eli would still be able to get his nap, it wouldn't interrupt game time, and people would still have the rest of their day to do things.

Eli's birthday balloon wreath I made for birthday weeks at our house.

I love how it turned out!

The only problem with the party being at 10:30 is it came a lot sooner than I thought it would! Thankfully, Mom and I got most of the stuff done the night before, so Saturday morning was mostly just setting everything up. My friend, Diane, and her family and my brother and sis-in-law, Josh and Andrea, arrived a little early so I was able to use their help with last minute stuff before everyone started arriving. Before I knew it, it was PARTY TIME! My friend, Torri, took pictures again for me this year and she did a FANTASTIC job as always. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful family members and friends who love my little boy so much :)

The frame Mom found at Hobby Lobby for his party.

I love all the vintage license plates around it.

Lightning McQueen cupcakes I made

Luigi's leaning tower of tires :)

(chocolate donuts)

Guido's Dipsticks

(chocolate dipped pretzel rods)

Red Light/Green Light treats

(Rice Krispie treats dipped in chocolate with M&M candies)

My birthday boy wearing the shirt my friend, Sarah, made for him :)

Mammy and Uncle Clare

Becky and Autumn Ferguson

Zue-Zue

Flo's Filling Station

(Rootbeer and Hawaiian Punch)

My friends, Kally and Diane

Josh and Clare

Reve and Richard

Sarah, Cooper, and Sophie

Sarah, me, and Cooper

Proud parents

My friend, Dara, let us use her little girl's inflatable jumper they got for her birthday last year and it was a LIFESAVER considering we had NOTHING in our backyard for the kids to play on. The little kids LOVED jumping, sliding, and playing on it. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dara!!

While the kids were playing on the jumper, the adults started eating and snacking.

I went the simple route on Eli's cake this year. I did cupcakes in the shape of a big 3 that looked like a road and simply stuck some of his cars on top.

For the cake we used to sing Happy Birthday to him, I baked a small 6" cake and decorated it with Wilton's black sugar sheet. I'd never used that stuff before, but I really liked it. I just cut out my squares and made my own checkerboard pattern around the edge of the cake. I cut out a road for the top, rolled some yellow Laffy Taffy flat to use for the dash marks on the road, and then stuck Lightning on top. I was really pleased with the outcome.

I also made a couple of Mater cupcakes. I LOVED how these turned out! The recipe only made 6 so I used them mostly for decoration but Eli got to eat one on his real birthday the next day and loved it.

All the grandparents this year went in together on Eli's birthday gift and bought him a play fort with a slide, see saw, and swings this year. He LOVED it! I was so worried it wouldn't come in in time to be assembled, but it arrived Wednesday. Unfortunately, with us still moving stuff in, getting unpacked, having a fence built literally days before the party, Josh didn't have time to work on it before my parents and his parents arrived. Dad, Ed, and Josh got really busy Friday after Grandparents' Day and started assembling the swingset. Thank goodness for the love of grandparents because they worked until sunset Friday night and then woke up at 6 AM the next morning to continue working on it. They didn't get it completely finished, but it was sturdy enough that the kids were able to play on it during the party. Eli LOVED it :)

We called all the kids to come in so we could sing Happy Birthday to Eli, but they didn't want to get off the jumper or the swingset, so Dara finally just unplugged the jumper :) The kids were starving but first we had to sing Happy Birthday to the sweetest three year old ever :)

He absolutely loved hearing everyone sing to him. He sat there and just soaked it all up smiling the entire time.

Then it was time for cake!

After all the kids had stuffed their bellies, we had a couple games for them to play. I found some cardboard boxes (had plenty of those leftover from the move!) and my Dad painted them for me. I dressed them up with eyes, mouths and race car numbers, and we had instant race cars for the kids to run around in and play with. The kids Eli's age didn't really take to the cars the way the older kids (5-6 year olds) did. They really got into the games and kept wanting to race each other!

Then I had Sophie, Torri's daughter, help me play Red Light/Green Light (who doesn't remember playing that game as a kid?) with the kids. They loved that game just as much as the race cars!

After the games, it was present time. The kids were all excited to see what Eli got for his birthday.

Every year there is always a toy that captures Eli's attention more than anything. This year that honor went to my friend, Sarah's, gift of an umbrella. Who knew my child would want to drop absolutely everything else and do nothing but play with that umbrella? I definitely didn't because if I had I wouldn't have opened the umbrella in the middle of the gift opening :)

I tried to get Eli to pass the umbrella to Dara so that he could open the rest of his gifts, but he wasn't having any of that. I was even willing to hold the umbrella for him while he opened the rest of this gifts, but he wasn't having that either. He wanted to sit in my lap and hold the umbrella. The only problem was he kept hitting the other kids accidentally in the face with it. I didn't want them to get hurt, so I finally took the umbrella away and told him I'd give it back to him as soon as he was finished.

Yeah, Mom of the Year right here...My little guy was not happy at all! I hate seeing big crocodile tears on his birthday! It broke my heart!

I finally got him to calm down and we finished opening his gifts. He received so many wonderful gifts from his friends. We've had so much fun playing with everything since then.

He especially loved his new Cars sunglasses from Mammy and Uncle Clare.

The best part of his day though was when he was able to get that umbrella again. It made my heart smile.

I love this picture of Eli and my Dad. It truly shows the relationship they have together. They're good buddies and Dad's always there quietly showing and guiding Eli. I've said it before but I'm so thankful that Eli has such a wonderful example to look up to. This really makes my heart smile :)

I was so thankful to have so many wonderful friends there. I love watching our kids grow up together. Sarah is such a precious part of my life. I thank God for her and for her friendship.

Me and Soph

Josh and Andrea drove in for the birthday party and I was so glad! They were a huge help getting the food ready. They are building their dream house right now and I can't wait until it's finished!

My other brother, Caleb, also drove in for the party. He and Eli are good buddies and they love playing games together. Caleb's really just a big kid :)

After the party was over and the guests left, we took some family pictures before we all took naps. We were exhausted!

The party was a HUGE success! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated our little boy turning 3! We have been so blessed to have all of you in our lives. Thank you for loving our little boy and making his birthday party such a fun day full of great memories!

Grandparents Day

2011-11-23T16:06:00.001-06:00

Like I mentioned in the previous post, Grandparents Day was on November 4th. I hope that this is a tradition that continues in the years to come because ALL of Eli's grandparents were able to be here because of his birthday the following day. I think I was more excited than anyone else. I love special events that involve family, and I was super thrilled that everyone that was important in Eli's life was able to be here.

The grandparents started arriving as I was leaving the school, so I called my mom and told her to wait for just a second so I could get a picture of all of them before they went in. I wish I'd been able to go in with them, but there was standing room only everywhere they went.

Grandpa E, Zue-Zue, Pop and Grammy

Grandparents Day 2011

Eli was just a little happy to see all his grandparents when they arrived :)

All the classes had prepared a special song to sing for the grandparents. Mom, Dad, Zue-Zue, and E all said Eli was kind of shy when the 3 and 4 year olds were up there and didn't sing that much, but he gave a repeat performance at home and sang the song beautifully. After the performance in the auditorium, they went to his classroom where they had gifts for all the grandparents-a bookmark of Eli stretching his arms out wide with the words "I love you this much" behind him and a pin with Eli's picture in it. They were both PRECIOUS! They also had a couple of crafts for the grandparents to do with their grandchildren in the classroom. Eli and Pop had fun painting each other's hand for one of the crafts. It was a picture of both of their handprints. I know it's something my parents will treasure forever :)

After taking them on a tour of the school (my mom and Sue both said he had NO CLUE where he was going. He just wanted to walk around..haha!), they went to eat lunch. They served red beans and rice (YUM-O!) but all Eli wanted was the cornbread...typical :)

After lunch and some shopping at the Book Fair, all the grandparents checked Eli out from school and came home. We had a lot of preparations to do in order to be ready for his party the next day! Our busy weekend had just begun and it was going to be tons of fun!

Muffins and Juice

2011-11-23T16:06:00.000-06:00

Remember a few posts ago what I said about wanting to slow things down? Yeah, so that didn't happen until after the first weekend in November because a certain little boy was turning 3 years old. 3!! How in the world has it been 3 years since this sweet little boy was placed in our arms? I am always stunned at how fast his little years are passing by, and once again, I am so thankful for this blog. It is such a wonderful "time capsule", if you will, of everything precious, momentous, special, and funny that has happened since the moment we found out we were expecting Eli. I'm so glad it has all my thoughts, recollections, and memories in one place so that he'll have it to read one day :)

Friday, November 4th, I took the day off from work so that I could do things to get ready for Eli's party the next day. My original plan was to take cupcakes to Eli's school later on that afternoon, but those plans were cancelled when I found out that his school was having Grandparents' Day the same day. I was upset at first because I didn't think I'd be able to celebrate his birthday with him at school, but then I came up with a Plan B. I asked his teacher if it would be okay to bring muffins and juice when Eli got to school that morning and then I'd be gone before the grandparents started arriving. She said that'd be perfect :)

My sweet birthday boy

Mrs. Paige called Eli up to the front and had him sit in her lap. She asked him how old he was going to be on his birthday and he told her. Then she had all his friends sing Happy Birthday to him. It was so cute! He sat there and smiled so proudly! After the song was over, all the kids went to their seats to eat their muffins and juice.

Eli and Mrs. Paige

I gave my birthday boy hugs and kisses and then darted out before the grandparents started arriving. I'm so glad I was able to celebrate my little boy's birthday with him at school with his friends.

PreK-3 Update-October

2011-11-23T16:05:00.000-06:00

Around the middle of October, Eli's school had their Fall Break so they could have Parent/Teacher conferences. I scheduled mine early one morning before work, but then Josh got sick, and I wasn't able to make it. On my way to Walgreen's the night before my scheduled conference, I called my friend, Torri, to see if she could give me his teacher's number so I could call and reschedule. She didn't have it, so I was going to have to find another way to get the message to her that I woudn't be there. While I was waiting at Walgreen's for Josh's antibiotic, guess who walked in the door...Eli's teacher, Mrs. Paige. Thanks, God :) She wasn't there under the best circumstances either, she was getting medicine for another family member, but we were able to have our conference right in the middle of Walgreen's.

Eli is doing great she said! She doesn't have any concerns or worries about how he is doing in school. I was a little concerned about his speech (just articulation) but she said next year if he still isn't articulating very well, he'll probably qualify for speech services at school. A few days later that week, she sent home Eli's report card for the 1st Nine Weeks. I was one proud Momma :) I hope that next year we can just continue to build on what he's learned this year in PreK-3. He'll be doing PreK-3 again because of the way his birthday falls, so that makes his progress so far even better! I'm so proud of my little boy and everything he's learning at school.

Happy Halloween

2011-11-19T08:07:00.001-06:00

October was such a BUSY month for us that I was actually looking forward to Halloween so we could move on to another month! Between moving into the new house, going out of town, Josh getting sick, Eli's festivities at school, my festivities at school, and our festivities at church, Halloween was such a welcome holiday this year! I've lumped all of our Halloween festivities into this one post, so you could see all the fun we had this year!

First up, was Wild and Wacky Hair Night at church. I help teach the kids at our church on Wednesday nights, and the Wednesday before Halloween we all came to church with wild and wacky hair. To show my team spirit, I quickly used a wild and wacky hair technique that dates back to my high school days. I got one of Eli's cups and pulled my hair up all around it and twisted a ponytail holder around it. The result was an enormous looking beehive do that had all the kids wondering how I got my hair up so high. I wish I had a picture that showed a profile shot of my hair, but you'll have to trust me that it was WAAAY up there!

Next, I flexed some of my creative muscles and made these pumpkin rice krispie treats for Eli's class at school. I saw these in a magazine, or maybe it was Pinterest, and thought they looked easy enough to replicate. I thought they turned out really cute!

Eli got lots of fun surprises leading up to Halloween. His first surprise was a card in the mail from Grammy and Pop. Inside the card was a gift card to Sonic for $10. WOO HOO! We'll definitely be using that on Fridays for some blue drinks-Powerade slushes. Fridays are usually the day we make a Sonic pit stop, but I could literally go every day during Happy Hour because this Momma runs on their drinks.

He loves to get mail!

Thanks for the sticker card and the Sonic card!

We also had the privilege of being BOO'ed not once, but TWICE at our new house. For those of you that don't know, the BOO process is as follows: You go to a friend's house with a pumpkin/bucket/bag full of treats. You run up to their door and knock. You place the bag of treats down and rush back to your car before they answer the door and see you. It's quite fun and Eli and I are going to participate more next year (this year we only BOO'ed one person). Eli got BOO'ed by Clayton and Cooper and by Hannah and Marlie. He loved all his treats!

Then a couple of days before Halloween I had a freak out moment when I realized that Eli's trick or treat bag, the one Grammy and Pop gave him for his very first Halloween, was missing. True, I could have just gone to the store to buy a new one, but I really wanted to find his Frankenstein bag. I vaguely remembered taking it to my parents house during the river flood crisis, so I called Mom on Thursday and asked them to look around up there. Thankfully, they called back and said they'd found it! Dad mailed it to us Friday and it arrived Saturday! Whew! Thanks again, Grammy and Pop! We were so excited when it arrived that I had Eli sit on our stairs for a quick photo. I have a feeling that he's going to be photographed a lot on these stairs growing up!

The Friday before Halloween, my school had our annual fall carnival. It was C-R-A-Z-Y because when the kids are out of uniform the excitement level goes up quite a few bars. All my kiddos were super cute in their costumes. I love Fall Carnival because all the teachers at our school dress up in costume, too. Last year, all the first grade teachers went as witches. This year we were a bunch of scarecrows (kinda fitting...we sometimes wonder where our brains went..haha!). We all have so much fun together and I'm so thankful to be where I am at my school. I love my first grade girls!

Halloween morning Eli's class went trick or treating around the school. All the preschool and kindergarten classes walked around to the high school and junior high school students and got TONS of candy. I took off yet another 1/2 day so I could go with him. I wouldn't have missed it for the world! It's amazing how much difference a year makes. Last year Eli didn't want to wear any costumes and this year he was all for it. He loved his Peter Pan costume! (Thanks again, Nicki, for letting us use it for a little bit!)

My little Peter Pan

Eli and Mrs. Paige

Eli and Mrs. Jody

I loved seeing all his friends' costumes. They were all so cute in them!

Eli's friend, Walker, and his dad, Adam

Scooby Doo, Jessie from Toy Story, and Peter Pan

Before we left to go trick or treating, we tried to get some pictures of all the kids in their costumes. Wow! Have you ever tried to get 15 three year olds to look at the camera at the same time...not an easy task!

I love Jessie from Toy Story in this last one :)

I understood how she felt!

After trick or treating around the high school and junior high, the kids came back to the classroom to have the rest of their party. Mrs. Paige was nice and let them pick two pieces of candy to eat right then and then the rest was put away in their backpacks.

Eli chose two suckers :)

After they ate their two pieces of candy, the kids changed into regular clothes. Eli and his friend were pretty excited about having matching shirts.

The kids sat down and ate their Halloween breakfast-muffins, doughnut holes, and juice-while the parents started prepping for the crafts.

The kids rotated to three craft stations-a candy corn magnet, a door hanger they decorated with stickers, and then a ghost canvas made with their cute little footprints. I can't wait until next year so I can use this to decorate. I plan on adding some cute wording at the top and adding some googly eyes to my ghosts.

I picked Eli up from school and realized that in all the craziness we hadn't even carved a pumpkin! I was a little sad because that's an experience I love sharing with him, but we had just been incredibly BUSY! I grabbed one of the pumpkins I had sitting by my front door and we quickly carved the pumpkin. We had a little meltdown moment because Eli wanted to use the knife to cut the pumpkin, but other than that it was fun getting to share this moment with my little man.

Before

When Daddy came home, our pumpkin was finished and we were ready to go trick or treating at our church.

After

I dressed Eli in his Peter Pan costume, snapped a couple of pictures of him on the stairs, and then we were ready!

We knew our church would have TONS of people wanting to trick or treat so we left early (or so we thought) but when we got there we still had to wait a long time in line. It was worth it though. We loved seeing all the different themes and all our friends dressed up. Normally, we participate in Trunk or Treat, but Josh and I opted not to this year with everything going on. We might try again next year :)

Walking to Trunk or Treat with Daddy

The line at the church to get in to Trunk or Treat

Eli's friends, Drew and Scott dressed

as Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat

Music minister, Stephen, and his wife, Megan

M &M gang

Jana and Jennifer

Swashbuckling pirates

(some of the youth at our church)

The Flinstones

Jordan, Logan, and Addi

Old McDonald

Heidi, Dusty, and Baylor

Eli and Molly

Eli and Peyton

Hayden and Eli

Whew! Good-bye, October and Hello, November! It was a whirlwind month full of wonderful events, but I'm ready to slow down just a little bit :) Happy Halloween!

Eli's 1st Field Trip

2011-11-16T16:40:00.000-06:00

During the middle of October, Eli's class at his school went on their first field trip of the year to the pumpkin patch. Eli was so excited about going mostly because he was going to be able to ride on a school bus for the first time. Since it was my little boy's first field trip experience, Momma had to go :) I took off work that morning so I could go and experience it with him...okay, okay, I also wanted to make sure I documented it for the blog :) I'm a blogger at heart, what can I say?

Eli's class boarded the bus and while we were waiting for the other three year old class to take their seats, I took some pictures of my little man. His teacher went over some of the bus rules with the kids, and then off we went to the pumpkin patch!

Momma and Eli on our first school field trip

We arrived at the pumpkin patch and were greeted with pumpkins galore! They had pumpkins of every size just waiting for someone to take home.

Since there were two classes of three year olds, each group rotated to different stations for some fun pumpkin activities. Our first station was the Discovery Center where the kids got to see, smell, and touch a pumpkin as the lady carved it. She showed them the inside with all the pulp and seeds and got lots of "Eww!" comments from the kids. Then she gave them each a small piece of the pumpkin to look at, smell, and touch. Eli must have been hungry because he kept asking to eat his piece.

Diane, Hannah's mom, couldn't get off for the field trip so I took some pictures of Hannah and sent them to Diane while we were at the pumpkin patch. Hannah was having a great time and I wanted Diane to see that so she wouldn't worry. Hannah's class went to the puppet show first and they all seemed to love it!

Then it was Eli's class's turn for the puppet show. Before the show, one of the girls there read the kids an ABC book about fall and gave them pumpkin cookies to eat during the story. Those kids gobbled those cookies up so quickly! She also went around and asked each kid their name. Most kids just stuck with their first name, but mine decided to give her all three of his names :)

After the puppet show, it was time for the kids to go pick a pumpkin to decorate with stickers and make a funny face. They all loved this part!

Eli with his silly pumpkin :)

Mrs. Paige wanted to get some pictures of all the kids in her class, so we went over to the photo booth area to take some pictures.

After the individual shots of the kids, they attempted to get a group shot...it took several attempts, but I think they eventually got a good one of all the kids actually looking at the camera.

Before we left, Eli and Hannah got a picture together :) These two have really bonded this year and it's so sweet to watch them play together.

We all loaded on the bus to head back to school and on the way back, Eli's friend Logan rode with us on our seat. Eli loves to play with Logan at school and comes home and talks about him a lot. Evidently, they're good buddies! It's been lots of fun watching Eli make friends this year. I hope that these friends are ones he'll keep for a long, long time!

The BIG 3-0

2011-11-15T17:30:00.000-06:00

October 21st, I turned the BIG 3-0. I remember turning 20 and thinking how far away 30 seemed, but surprisingly 30 came much faster than I thought it would. Luckily for me, I've never been one of those to dread getting older...I guess because I realize now that getting older usually comes with added wisdom and a sense of being more comfortable in my own skin. I have to say that I'm looking forward to all the wonderful things that are going to happen in my life during my thirties. My twenties were some of the best years of my life and if "the best is yet to come" then I have a lot to look forward to! I'm excited about this new chapter of my life.

I thought I'd close out my 20's with a breakdown of the top things that happened to me during those years:

2001-Got engaged to Josh :)
2002-Married Josh in the snowy mountains
2003-Graduated from college and got my first job
2004-Bought our first house
2005-Sold our first home, moved to Josh's childhood hometown, and both got new jobs
2006-Bought our second house
2007-Began renovating our house
2008-Had our first little boy, Eli :)
2009-Took our first family vacation to Destin, FL
2010-Sold our house and started looking for plans to build a house
2011-Built our first house and moved in October 2011

The day of my birthday, Josh and Eli gave me a new pair of TOMS shoes. I have to give a shout out to Beaux, Josh's friend, who helped my hubby pick out my present by telling him to go to my Pinterest site and check my boards. I had pinned a pair of TOMS a few months ago onto My Style board and that's what I got for my birthday. So, thank you Beaux and thank you, Pinterest! I wore my new shoes to school and when I got there I had another surprise from my favorite girls at work. Sarah, Torri, and Judy all conspired and decorated my door with streamers and bought donuts for my class that morning. They also gave me my first piece of Wilton Armetale. Now I can start adding more Flutes and Pearls pieces to my collection :) These girls are the best and I'm so blessed to have them in my life!

Happy Birthday to me!

My first piece of Wilton Armetale from my girls

After work, I opened my birthday surprise from my Mom and Dad. Mom ordered me a bag from 31 Gifts (love, love, love everything they have!) and gave me the movie 13 Going on 30. Mom's cute like that :) Josh and I made plans to go to one of my favorite local Italian restaurants for my birthday dinner and then we went over to his Mom's house for cake and coffee with Mammy and Uncle Clare.

Sue gave me a letter stamp with our new address on it, and Tammy and Clare gave me a pretty fall pumpkin candy dish. I was so excited about both gifts. I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. Thanks for making my birthday so special and memorable! I can't wait to see all the wonderful things God does in this next decade of my life :)

All my birthday gifts

Thanks, everyone!

Allison and Spencer's Wedding Weekend-Wedding Day

2011-11-12T10:35:00.000-06:00

Saturday, October 14th, was Allison and Spencer's wedding. After our morning of bowling, we came back to the hotel so Eli could take a nap before the wedding. We wanted to make sure our ring bearer was well rested. He was so tired that after about two hours we had to wake him up so we could get ready for the wedding. He still wanted to sleep, but once he was wide awake, he was ready to go! While we waited for Shane and Sara to meet us in the lobby, I took some pictures of us in our nice wedding attire.

Josh and Eli

My two very handsome boys

Our little family

Zue-Zue and Eli

The weather the day of the wedding was perfect and everything looked so beautiful. We all waited around outside talking until it was time for the ceremony to begin.

I used this time to snap some more pictures of my little man. Eli was in a rare mood and completely hammed it up every time a camera was pointed in his direction. Days like this don't happen very often, so I capitalized on his willingness to smile for pictures. (The wedding photographer did, too. They snapped TONS of pics of Eli!)

Thanks again, Cheryl, for letting us borrow Brody's tux!

You were a lifesaver!

It's hard to believe that we'll celebrate 10 years in January!

Love him so much!

Josh and Shane

Eli, Lee-Lee, and Addi

Josh and Aunt Lisa

Jordan and Addi

Attempting to get a pic of us with our kiddos...Neither kid is looking in

the right direction, but we look good :)

Josh and his mom

One of the sweetest parts of the day was when Eli saw Uncle Dave for the first time. He ran to him and gave him the biggest hug.

Sara with Baby Brett :)

Eli and Sara

Sara, Shane and Baby Brett

Eli and Zue-Zue

Josh's cousin, Corey, loves taking pictures and he snapped several of Eli that have quickly become some of my all time favorite pictures of him. These images also make me wish for a new camera :) Hint, hint, Josh!

I wanted to get a few of the images framed so I edited out the bo-bo on a few and left it on some of the others. I don't want to forget that he had a bo-bo this weekend, since it's just a reminder of how "all boy" he is.; however, I did want a few without it so you could focus on Eli completely and not just the bo-bo.

Eli's shoes were quite the hit. Who knew faux Converse tennis shoes would be so popular? They made Eli look quite cool that day and also SUPER CUTE!

Soon it was time for all of us to find our seats so the ceremony could start. Eli, Josh and I found seats in the back. Eli's part wasn't until the very end of the ceremony, so we had a while to wait. He was very ready to do his part and had a hard time staying in his seat. We finally gave up on the whole sitting quietly thing and walked to the back to wait for his part.

Allison was a brave soul and tied the actual wedding rings to the pillow. I prayed that whoever tied the knot tied a really, really good one :)

The wedding started and everything was simply beautiful.

When I saw Allison for the first time, the first word that came to mind was BEAUTIFUL. She was stunning! I loved watching her and Spencer see each other for the first time. It was so sweet.

A few minutes before he was supposed to walk down the aisle, Eli got really quiet and really serious. He must have been concentrating on what he was supposed to do.

The time came for my little man to walk down the aisle and he did a wonderful job! He walked slowly liked Uncle Dave had instructed him to do and made it down the aisle with the rings still attached to the pillow.

When his job was complete and the pillow was in safe hands, he turned around and proudly marched back down the aisle to Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy and I were so proud of our ring bearer!

The ceremony was beautiful and very touching. I love weddings-all the emotions they stir up, the reminders of our vows, and the important promises couples make to each other and to God that day. What a wonderful celebration of love!

Another favorite moment of this day was right after Spencer and Allison were married. They walked down the aisle as husband and wife and when they got to the end of the aisle, they continued walking hand in hand out to the meadow. It was no one but them at that moment; it was as if all of us faded into the background and all they saw was each other. It was so sweet.

After the wedding, the photographer still needed to take a few more pictures of the wedding party, so I hung around until Eli was finished. I used this time to get some more pictures of all our family that attended the wedding.

Addi and Jordan

Jordan and Sara

Jordan, Sara, and Deb

Jordan, me, Sara

Deb and Corey

The entire wedding party

We walked over to the main house for the reception. All the food was SOO good, especially both of the cakes! His was a chocaholics dream cake and hers was filled with strawberries. I was tempted to try both, but I went for the chocolate :)

I loved Allison's cake and her unique not your traditional wedding topper. I knew I wouldn't be able to fully explain the meaning behind it, so I made sure to take a picture of the explanation they had framed beside the cake.

It was a wonderful day celebrating Allison and Spencer's love. We are so glad that we were able to be a part of their special day. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and love!