Daddy's Girl

I just love this photo of these two!

Elinore Rocks Her Baby

Elinore loves baby dolls.  Recently she's started grabbing them, hugging them and rocking them.  

 

Hopefully soon she's start giving us real people hugs too!

Faces of Elinore

Fishing

The boys have been itching to go fishing.  Finally on the fourth of July, we took them.  

We stopped by a lake after the parade.  My mom and I dropped Keith and the kids off before I drove around a bit to put Elinore to sleep.  We were back in the lake parking lot napping within 10 minutes, mom and I included!

We woke up when the rain started.  It was a nice gentle rain, so they stayed out for awhile longer in it. 

Keith was sure the boys wouldn't last long fishing.  In the past, it's been that way.

They surprised us by not wanting to stop fishing after about an hour and a half!

Caleb caught one fish on the whole adventure. 

4th of July Parade

This year for the first time, we took the kids to the 4th of July parade in Fredricksburg.  It's one of the largest parades I've ever been too.  I remember it being big as a kid, and Keith said there was no way it could be that big for such a small town, but it certainly didn't disappoint!  The boys came home with a whole bag of candy and Elinore loved it too!  A guy on a motorcycle even stopped to pull a little stuffed kitten out of a bag for Elinore.  She LOVED it!

 

We had to cover her ears for all the firetrucks.  

When I say big, I mean BIG.  There were nearly trucks from about a dozen different area fire departments!

Kisses!

Last night, for the first time, Elinore kissed me!  She puckered up and kissed me right on the lips.  Well, she places her lips at mine, and I kissed her, but that's close enough for me!  Ever since then she's mmmaaaa mmmmaaaa-ing around at people for kisses.  It's the sweetest thing, and I'm so happy to be the recipient of her first kiss.  Not to worry about Daddy though, he got them too right after me!

She's been starting to hug a bit too lately, but be careful you can miss them because they're fast!  Sometimes I pretend it's a hug too when she's really just reaching behind me for something she sees!

Happy Birthday Elinore!

Or otherwise titled: Elinore's First Cupcake!

New Car Seat

On Elinore's first birthday, I installed Elinore's new car seat.  We're moving up, but still rear-facing.

Backyard Kiddie Pool

When We're Dead

Caden and Caleb have wild imaginations.  They are constantly telling us stories of what is going to happen when they grow up.  Recently Caden has shared a lot of ideas about what he wants to do with our house when we're dead. 

Yes, lots of ideas for when we're dead.

It's kind of odd really.  We remind them that they can explore these ideas with their lives and create things while we're still alive, but it's most certainly always when we're dead. 

Currently he is dreaming about building waterfalls in my kitchen and living room.  When we're dead of course...

Father's Day 2013

Father's Day was swell.  We gave Keith a healthy Asian cookbook he'd wanted.  The boys were interviewed by me about their dad and it was given to him too.  Each one of the kids made him a photo card, even Elinore.

Standing

About a month ago Elinore started standing much more.  She's made a lot of progress in the last month too!  She gets to her knees now and wants to keep going, but hasn't managed it yet!

Genesis

In April, I started reading the book of Genesis.  I've taken some notes for my own reference as I've read through this book of the Bible. 
In Genesis I learned about:

• Creation
• Adam and Eve
• Sin
• Cain and Abel
• Noah, the ark and the flood
• Babel and the confusion of languages
• Abram and Sarai leave their land, end up in Egypt for awhile and lie about Sarai; they say she's Abram's sister; then they must leave
• Abram and Sarai separate from Lot to maintain their herds with resources in other areas
• Abram rescues Lot after he's captured
• God agrees to give Abram and Sarai a son, then his inheritance won't go to a slave
• Sarai gives Abram her slave, Hager, and Abram impregnates her
• Hager births Ishmael
• Abram becomes Abraham and will become the father of many nations
• Circumcision
• Issac is promised to Abraham and Sarah
• Abraham tries to bargain with God over Sodom and Gomorrah to save the good people, if there are 10 there God will not destroy the cities
• Lot and his family leave Sodom, but his wife becomes a pillar of salt when she looks back at the cities being destroyed
• Lot's daughters get him drunk and sleep with him to impregnate themselves and continue their family
• Abraham and Sarah again lie about their relationship to Abimelech in Gerar
• Isaac is born to Sarah and Abraham
• Sarah is jealous of Hagar and Ishmael and sends them away so Issac can be Abraham's heir
• God tests Abraham and sends him to a mountain to sacrifice Issac
• Sarah dies
• Abraham's servant finds a wife for Issac, Rebekah
• Abraham marries again, Keturah
• Isaac and Rebekah struggle to get pregnant; they pray to God
• Rebekah gets pregnant with twins and prays to God as they struggle inside
• God says two groups of people will be born from her and they will struggle; the older will serve the younger
• Esau and Jacob are born to Rebekah and Isaac
• Esau was a hunter; Jacob stayed near the tents
• Esau came home after a long trip of hunter and was starving and needed food, Jacob agreed to provide for him if Esau promised to share his inheritance with Jacob from Isaac
• Esau agreed, he cared little about the material blessings from Issac
• Isaac lies to Abimelech about Rebekah being his wife for fear of his life; he feared they may kill him to have his wife
•  Abimelech learned the truth and decreed no one to touch him or his wife or they would loose their lives
• Isaac reaps a great harvest from the land and become very wealthy
• Abimelech forces him to leave fear he has more power than them
• Isaac moves to new land and lives there when Abimelech returns for peace and acknowledgement of God's blessing of Isaac
• Easu marries two Hittite women, Judith and basemath
• Isaac in his old age sends Esau to to hunt a meal for him and promises him his blessing when he returns, Jacobs brings goats instead and disguises himself as Esau and receives the blessing
• Esau is angry and plans to kill Jacob, but Rebekah, their mother, sends Jacobs away to save him
• Jacob goes to Northwest Mesopotamia to Laban, his uncle's to find a wife
• Esau marries Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter
• Jacob has a dream about a ladder into heaven; he makes a promise for God to be with him and protect him; Jacob will give God on-tenth of all he receives from God
• Jacob works for Laban to marry Rachel
• Laban tricked Jacob and have him Leah (his older daughter) 
• He worked for Laban again to earn Rachel as his second wife 
• Leah have him many boys and Rachel none
• Rachel gave her slave, Bilhah, to Jacob who bore sons
• Leah gave her slave, Zilpah, to Jacob to bear children in jealousy of her sister
• Rachel also bore sons then
• Jacob tricks Laban into taking his healthy livestock to raise as his own after serving his seven years for Laban
• Jacob ran away without telling Laban
• Rachel, Jacob's wife, stole her father, Laban's, idols
• Laban went in search of Jacob and his idols; he found Jacob, but Rachel continued to hide the idols
• Jacob and Laban do agree to separate and built "a pile to remind us
• Jacob sends for Esau who comes with 400 men
• Jacob is anxious about his arrival and sends gifts ahead, but Esau is grateful to see him again
• Jacob and Esau agree to travel to Edom, but at different paces to accommodate the young flocks and children
• A daughter of Jacob's, Dinah is attached and raped
• Jacob's daughters deceive the men of the man who raped their sister; they told them to be circumcised and they could have their women as their wives, but they murdered them and looted their land
• By God's direction, Jacob took h I s family to Bethel to make an offering and clean themselves
• Jacob becomes Israel
• Rachel dies during childbirth
• Joseph was Israel's favorite son and wore a special coat made for him
• His brothers disliked him, especially after he shared his dream that they would bow down to him
• Jacob was sold into slavery by his brothers after they decided not to kill him
• The coveted his coat in goat blood and told their father he was killed
• Jacob ran away without telling Laban
• Rachel, Jacob's wife, stole her father, Laban's, idols
  Laban went in search of Jacob and his idols; he found Jacob, but Rachel continued to hide the idols
  Jacob and Laban do agree to separate and built "a pile to remind us"
• Jacob sends for Esau who comes with 400 men
• Jacob is anxious about his arrival and sends gifts ahead, but Esau is grateful to see him again
• Jacob and Esau agree to travel to Edom, but at different paces to accommodate the young flocks and children
• A daughter of Jacob's, Dinah is attached and raped
• Jacob's daughters deceive the men of the man who raped their sister; they told them to be circumcised and they could have their women as their wives, but they murdered them and looted their land
• By God's direction, Jacob took h I s family to Bethel to make an offering and clean themselves
• Jacob becomes Israel
• Rachel dies during childbirth
• Joseph was Israel's favorite son and wore a special coat made for him
• His brothers disliked him, especially after he shared his dream that they would bow down to him
• Jacob was sold into slavery by his brothers after they decided not to kill him
• The coveted his coat in goat blood and told their father he was killed
• Judah and his sons and daughter in laws story is told
• Joseph is sold and poisoned by the wife of his master; she accused him of sexual relations
• Joseph interprets the dreams of a wine server and baker in jail
• Joseph is taken from jail to interpret the dreams of the King, he explains it is not him who can explain, but his God
•  The dream told of seven good years of harvest, followed by seven years of hunger
• The King decided Joseph was the person to control Egypt to save them from the seven bad years, so he stored grain from the good years to get them through the bad years
• His brothers come from their land to Egypt because of their need for food, Jacob recognizes them, although they don't recognize him
• Joseph accused them of being spies, sent them to jail, then sent all but one of them back with food and their money they came with; they had been released to feed their families and bring their 11th brother, the youngest brother back with them
•  The brothers finally convince their father to allow them to go back with their brother and Joseph was thrilled to see his brother Benjamin
• Joseph sends them back with a stolen item from his kings goods, he sent men after them and brought them back for Benjamin's staged theft
• Joesph reveals to them who he is when they return and they go back to bring their father back to Joseph
• Joseph sees his father, his father and total family will settle in Goshen, near them, but away from Egyptians
• They were provided the food they needed and their animals too
• The people of Egypt came to Joseph when they ran out of money; they traded their animals for food, then their land and finally themselves as slaves for food to survive
• Joseph returned the land to them for harvest, but 1/5 was the kings at harvest, which continues today
• Jacob made Joseph promise him they would not bury him in Egypt when he passed
• Jacob blesses Josephs two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim in the end of his life
• Jacob blesses his sons and they become the 12 tribes of Israel
• As promised, Joseph took his father to be buried with a large group of people
• When they returned to Egypt, Joseph's brothers feared him, but they were welcoming by Joseph and God
• Joseph passed and asked his bones be taken out of Egypt

Lemonade Stand

Caden and Caleb have been patiently waiting for this years garage sale to hold a lemonade stand. 

Keith helped them out and they were set!

Supermom

The Friday after Elinore's birthday, the day before her first birthday party, I had the day off work and took the kids to the grocery store to get the supplies for the party.  We were spending some time in the produce section.  I'm doing my shopping and the next thing I know Caleb is spilling to bags of apples all over the floor all around the aisle. 

I wasn't sure how to handle it at first.  I was wearing Elinore and she was sleeping on my chest.  The boys were just kind of standing there dumbfounded.  I tried to get the picking them up; I picked up a few awkwardly with a sleeping baby.  A few employees walked around us, until one finally came out to help us.  He was kind enough to tell me to let them handle it since the baby was sleeping.  Caleb helped him pick up the apples and put them back in the bag, while an older couple stood behind us waiting.  They finally got the all picked up, after they spilled again from an uneven bag. 

A few minutes later, we were on the other side of the produce section when another mom stopped me.  She stopped me to tell me that she thought I was 'supermom!'  She told me she had hired a babysitter at home to keep her two kids so she could come to the store.  I laughed as I thanked her and let her know that she had just missed us spilling apples all over the next aisle over. 

I hope I left her feeling a little better that I'm not 'supermom,' but I also felt pretty good for receiving the compliment. 

Nicknames

Keith has nicknamed Elinore, Pooka Bear.  When he first started it I wasn't a fan, but it has stuck.  He even sings a song that makes her dance every time with her nickname in it.  While I don't call her by her nickname, her brothers too. 

My dad's has created his own nickname for her too, which actually comes from my childhood nickname from my dad.  As a kid, and still sometimes, my dad has called me Boo Boo.  Apparently as a child, I had a great time playing peek-a-boo.  So now, Elinore is called 'Lil Boo. 

2013 Goal Update

I wrote these goals back in January.  Since we're just about mid-way through the year, I wanted to review how I'm doing!


I've been trying to spend more time in my Bible, and my goal for the year is to read my daily devotional and passage, reflect and spend more time in prayer.  -  I'd been doing really on this until the last week.  I want to please my God and know my Jesus.  I want to know the word.

I need to start working out regularly again.  I'm registered for an April 6, 5K, but my goal is to continue working out at least 3 days a week, and ideally running.  -  I didn't run that April 6th, 5k.  I took Elinore to swim lessons instead, which was awesome!  I was busy with school and kid of stayed out of the pattern of fitness, because it wasn't a priority, and I couldn't handle everything, so it was a something I decided to lower on my priorities list.  We were still some what active as a family occasionally, which I felt good about.  The last week or so, I've written down a schedule and one week in have kept to it.  We'll see how long I can keep it up.  I don't know how long, I'm taking two classes this fall!  Yes I'm crazy, but I want to FINISH my MBA!

I want to spend more time outside.  That's a tough goal to write on the coldest day we've had so far this winter with most of today being in the single digits; however, when the weather is nice, I want to spend more time outside and playing with the kids.  I stayed inside a lot last year since it was one of the hottest years on record and i was pregnant or had a newborn!  -  I haven't spent a ton of time outside, but certainly more than I used to, and I feel good about it. 

Plant a garden and work in it!  This goes well with my prior goal.  My husband is super on board with this one, he even purchased a tiller this weekend for it.   -  Keith is the garden rock star this year.  I haven't really done anything with it, but Keith has made it amazing.  Worthy of writing something just about it. 

Start composting.  I've been trying to convince Keith to start composting for a couple years now.  He was not agreeable until a newer co-worker of his talked him into it.  At least we're planning to compost now. -  Thanks to Keith, we are fully on board with this and doing well!

And last, but certainly not least, I plan to focus on my family!  I feel like we're finally starting to get into an evening routine that works and allows me some time to spend time playing with the kids most nights.  I've been training myself to leave some chores until the kids go to bed and relax so I can spend more time with the kids before they go to sleep. -  This is awesome.  My time with them is never enough, but reading the Bible and praying about it reminds me that I'm still responsible for the house and chores and I feel good about this too. 

Elinore - 1 Year Old

 

Compare to 11 Months Old

Compare to 10 Months Old

Compare to 9 Months Old

Compare to 8 Months Old

Compare to 7 Months Old

Compare to 6 Months Old

Compare to 5 Months Old

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Compare to 3 Months Old

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Compare to 1 Months Old

Compare to 9 Days Old

A Year Ago

A year ago today, I worked, much like I am today.  Although, I remember having much less work to complete a year ago than today; today, I am swamped with work!  Anyway, I left early a year ago today. I was worn out and had been feeling just blah all day, plus I had some unexpected wetness, so I wanted to leave.  With all my work caught up, I didn't see the point in sitting there for another hour to go home.  So off I went.

On my way home though, I called the doctor's office about that wetness, and they reccomended me to go into labor and delivery.  I called Keith, we met at home and were on our way to the hospital.

Later that night, I was induced and the next morning Elinore was born in a beautiful peaceful moment. 

We are blessed.

I can't believe it's been a year, but I am so looking forward to celebrating her first year over the long holiday weekend with our family.

We'll be celebrating her first year, her futuer, and mostly our wonderful blessings.