He is In to Everything!

Quite Literally!

One Year Old!

A couple weeks ago we celebrated Elijah's first birthday!  We had to postpone the party a couple weeks, but that turned out good because Mom Bakos got to be there.  Since he has a January birthday, I thought a winter snowman theme would be fun.  

 My mom and sister saved out some of their winter decorations and we all turned Cyndi's house into a Winter Onderland :) hahaha   Here is the kids' table:

 The seat of honor!

 Since I have discovered Pinterest, I found some fun ideas such as these cupcakes.  My chocolate turned did the whole turn whitish thing, but that just helped the trees look more snowy!

 First cupcake!  I was surprised by how little he actually ate of it.  Elijah loves muffins.  Normally when I first pull them out of the oven, I tell them they are too hot and we blow on them until they are cool enough to eat. The day before his party I had the in-iced cupcakes sitting on the counter and he really wanted one thinking they were muffins.  Every time I walked past them holding Eli, he would start blowing as if to cool them off so he could eat one!

 

 One of Eli's favorite pastimes is to stir and for some reason he loves the peanut butter jar.  So, I wrapped up an empty peanut butter jar and a wooden spoon.  He loved it! 

 What a blessing to have 4 generation together!

LumberJane

I just remembered I never posted our daughter's first on-screen "appearance".  This year's Lumberjack promo featured her voice!  Ben (the guy in green plaid) is Abby's voice.  Enjoy :)

Mama's Heart Melting

I just overheard Abby say, "Elijah, you're so cute.  Just the way I love you."  I'm savoring the moment :)

A Different Christmas

Our Christmas vacation was a little different this year.  I say different instead of bad, because with each curve ball we were thrown, it provided for something good.  Thanks to Eugene's help, I was able to get all my work hours done by Thursday, so we left first thing Friday morning for CA.  It was kind of humorous (or maddening) because our children rarely sleep past 8:00 and never do they both sleep in.  However, Friday morning Eugene and I both were up early, had the car packed and ready to go and both kids slept until about 9am!  The one morning in the past YEAR I could have slept in and I was up packing a car.  Oh, well. We let them sleep so that they would be happy on the car ride, and they were.

We were making great time and stopped for lunch just north of Medford.  The pass closed while we were eating and we decided to go ahead and drive to Ashland (10 miles down the road) so we could be right at the base of the mountain when it reopened.  Well, about 2 miles north of the Ashland exit we got stopped.  Apparently every other car in Oregon was trying to get over the pass for Christmas.  Three hours later we were funneled off the freeway.  Thankfully the kids were great and never even cried or had to go to the bathroom that whole time - amazing!

We have super great friends in Medford who fed us dinner and let us crash at their place for the night, so that was fun to see them.  Early the next morning the pass was open so we headed back out and made it to Sacramento by late afternoon.

 Here are all the great-grandkids.  They are not all smiling or looking at the camera, but this is the only shot I got of them all sitting together!

 I saw this outfit at Babies-R-Us and did not get it at first because of the price.  When I changed my mind and went back to purchase it, they were all sold out of Eli's size.  But, when I got to CA, they had one!  It really is the size he is just growing out of, but I had a weak moment and bought it anyway :)

 

 Abby received a princess dress and Kristi got a princess nightgown so the two enjoyed running around and dancing together.

snuggles with Grandma Dorothy

 opening stockings Christmas morning

 Eli came down with a fever during the night, but was such a good sport on Christmas Day.  Abby developed a fever Christmas morning and both got worse throughout the day to the point she did not even want to finish opening presents.  Not wanting to expose family anymore than we already had, we left for home early the next morning.

 Although it was sad to cut our trip short, especially since we got there a day later than planned, it was kind of nice to have some just  us family time at home.  The kids turned out to have Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, but once they were past the fever stage, the rash/sores did not seem to bother them too much.

 Once the kids were feeling better, we had a little family Christmas time, just us.  It was kind of nice!  In a weird sort of way I was thankful for some down days quarantined at home.  Here is Abby helping Elijah open the gift she bought him - jingle bells in a little stocking.  He loved it.

She picked out this blue star ornament for Daddy because she said he did not have enough of his own ornaments.  Then she decided it should be a decoration for his office.  I am glad she is starting to catch on that it can be fun picking out presents for people and not just getting them.

 I like this picture of Eugene :)

I got Eugene an exercise mat, but I think our children enjoy it the most!  Every time he gets it out, Eli crawls over and starts playing with it.

Our Little Man

I get so frustrated with myself for not posting more of Eli's first year.  I have already forgotten so many moments and milestones.  So, before I forget anymore, here is an update on our little guy.

 He continues to have such a great smile - not only does he light up, but we all light up as well when he grins and giggles.

 He has been cruising since he was about 7 months old.  I thought he would be an early walker, but after falling on our concrete floors so many times, he has developed quite the fear of letting go of things.  Poor little guy seems to always have an array of bruises on his forehead!  We finally went out and purchased an area rug for the living room.  It's something I have been wanting for a long time and now I had a good excuse to get one!

 He loves baths, putting things in and out of containers and trying to put a lid on containers, kitchen utensils, the peanut butter jar and my flour and sugar canisters.  He also loves peek-a-boo and will hold a blanket up himself and just giggle and giggle - melt my heart!  When I tell him "I'm going to get you!" he takes off crawling and giggling as fast as he can.

 He is into everything!  Working is a bit difficult these days :)  Speaking of which, he now naps in the archive room since all the other offices and conference rooms are now in more use.  It works out pretty well because it is dark and undisturbed.  He can say dada, mama and aba and I think he identifies them with each of us.

He loves to read books.  When I am rocking him and ask him if he wants a book he lunges over the side of the chair to reach the bin of books on the floor.  He even recently tried to copy animal noises while I was reading an animal book - so fun!  I love this age!  And, although he still does not sleep through the night, I completely enjoy our little man :)

A Winter Weekend

 On Saturday, we headed out to find a Christmas tree.  I was being picky about the farm we went to, but after driving around for about 30 miles we ended up going back to the first one we had driven to, just up the road from us.  That is so the way I work sometimes!  At least Eli got a nice little nap in the car :)

 Since Elijah eats everything and pulls himself up on everything, we opted for a small tree that could fit on top of our end table.  We told Abby to find a tree no taller than Mommy and let her pick.  Well, kind of let her pick.  She and Charlie Brown would have gotten along well.

 After nap time we made Spritz.  I forgot how much butter those took - no wonder I like them so much!  And, good thing we stocked up during Thanksgiving sales.

 It is getting harder and harder to get a normal face from this girl on camera.  What a goof ball!  I am so glad she likes doing things together and I hope that never stops :)