Elliott James 1st Birthday

We celebrated EJ's 1st birthday last weekend!  We invited a few friends over for lunch and cupcakes. He was very excited about his cupcake!  I made some homemade ornaments in a Cat In The Hat theme.  Elliott is a very silly and inquisitive little boy.  We love spending time together as a family.  He is very close to walking but just not quite there yet.  I think it could happen any day!  I look forward to many more birthdays to come!  Happy Birthday Elliott James!  

Garden Update

After a month of rain our green beans are finally growing!  Kellen picked these himself.  We've also eaten out first tomato and lots of strawberries this summer!   

Hanging Out

Spending some time outdoors painting.  Kellen says, "I'm an artist!"  I couldn't help but think, I hope not.  Nothing wrong with bring an artist, it's just makes me think he's a lot like his Uncle Keith.  Oh no, please no! 

EJ Six Weeks

At six weeks, after the infant acne had started to go away we finally got around to taking some pictures of Elliott.  He's also given us a tease, sleeping from 11 pm to 6 am a night or two.  Usually he wakes between 3-4 am for a feeding.  Hoping he sleeps through the night consistently soon!!

Gardening

As a fun project we decided to try some gardening this summer.  We started by growing some green bean seeds and squash inside the house.  Kellen calls them his "magic beans".  We watered them everyday and waited for them to grow.   

The squash really took off.  

After a few weeks of growing inside, we transplanted our seedlings into the ground.  Of course we had to build a cage to protect our crops from the giant domesticated squirrels that live in our neighborhood.  We also planted a strawberry plant and two tomato plants. The strawberry plant produces a strawberry or two every day, just enough to be Kellen's personal stash.  Looking forward to seeing if we get any veggies growing!

DIY Baseball Pics

I've been trying to find inexpensive ways to decorate Kellen's room. We're doing everything in a baseball or sports theme.  I had been looking for some pics, but they were all $25 or more a piece and just didn't want to spend that much. So I decided to make my own. For about $12, I made four baseball silhouette pictures.  They look really nice.  Can't wait to post pics of his room once we get everything hung up. I still have a few more DIY projects to finish first. 

 I found four baseball images or silhouettes online that I wanted to use.  I sized and printed the images on card stock paper.  Then cut each image out.  I painted four 8 x 10 canvases, a color of my choosing (tan).  Took three coats of paint to cover. Then coated each canvas with Mod Podge glue. Placed the cut outs on the glued surface. Finally I painted a coat of glue over the entire canvas to seal.  Now we just have to hang them up.  Only took about an hour from start to finish plus drying time. 

Elliott James

On January 19th we welcomed Elliott James to the family. Weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and 20 1/2 in. He's a sweet, happy, loving baby brother. Kellen has adjusted very well and loves helping take care of E.J. I can't wait for them to be able to play together.

Welcome Back

It's been too long since my last post and so much has happened. I'm going to try to get back on blogging board!  So I apologize for all the posts that will be coming that most likely will be old news to many!  

Breakfast Together

Daddy and Kellen enjoying breakfast. Not so nice when Kellen wakes up early in the morning, but it is a special treat to eat with daddy before he leaves for work.

Cinco de Mayo

Making chicken enchiladas to celebrate!

Strawberry Picking

We took Kellen berry picking this morning, since he LOVES strawberries so much! He was excited to pick the berries until he realized he could eat them. After that, he was over the picking and just kept eating them out of the basket leaving Billy and I to do the picking! He was a real mess by the time we were done.

Chocolate

I am putting all this Easter candy to good use! I chopped up all the chocolate and made Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Yummy!

Visiting

So we just returned from another trip to De. We managed to visit family, attend a viewing and funeral, and have a yard sale in four short days. Thankful that we got to have a visit with Emma and Will! Kellen had a great time playing outside all morning. As you can see, they were even holding hands.

Books, books, and more books!

One of our weekly routines is going to the library for story time. The kids sing songs and usually hear 3-4 books (depending on how wild the crowd gets). Kellen has become fascinated with the water. He's very into books about whales, fish, and penguins. You'd be surprised how few children's books there are on the ocean. I think we've read them all. "Commotion in the Ocean" is great. It has lots of sea creatures, including penguins and polar bears. Today at story time they read books about bugs, not a favorite subject for Kellen. He just kept saying "ewwwww". That he learned from his Mama. I too am not a fan of the bugs.

Cook Out

We had our first cook out last week.  The weather has been so beautiful, I'd been dying to get the grill out.  Yummy!

 

Xbos Birthday

For Kellen's (second) birthday celebration we had a kid party at Xbos Family Fun Center.  It was really great to see all the little ones running around having so much fun (adults included).  Kellen loved getting to see all his little friends that we've been missing since we've been away in N.C.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the kids playing together, but it was next to impossible to get them all together when there's so many cool things going on all around them! 

Happy 2nd Bday, Kellen!

 

2 Years

We celebrated Kellen's 2nd birthday this week.  He's growing up so fast.  He is now 28 lbs, 12 oz and 35 1/2 inches tall.  He is still in the 50 percentile for his weight and the 85 percentile for his height.  He is doing all the things little boys should be doing.  Some of his favorite foods are still mac and cheese, pizza, broccoli, goldfish, and cereal.  He's very sweet and happy most of the time.  He loves to be outside exploring in the yard or playing with his friends.  He is so friendly and outgoing, it makes me feel good to see him being so sweet and kind to others.  I look forward to all the new things that come along with being two! 

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy! 

Wow, that's a big box!  This ones from Grampy and Grammy Lorraine.

YEAH!!!! More balls!

Buzz!