Who Wants To Do It?

Elijah bought cars and a semi-truck car carrier with his birthday money. He loves it! 

Elijah's latest nighttime routine includes choosing a parent to brush his teeth. This selection usually contains the following quotes:

"Who wants to do it? You?"

"Raise your hand if you want to do it."

"Point to yourself if you want to do it."

Weekend Play

Eva loves climbing on this slide and falling face first off it. She can also watch Care Bears from the top seat.

Elijah likes to line up his Matchbox Cars and play with them at the kitchen table (or floor, or on his work bench, or on the tracks in his room, or the car). Eva girl wants to play too. "Mom, she's trying to eat my cars!"

We're learning how to play Chutes and Ladders. The board numbers are a little confusing for Elijah, but we helped him move the pieces. We're still working on losing...he cried a little and wouldn't tell Daddy 'good game.' 

Cootie is a much better game for Elijah to play. Even though Daddy 'won' this game, Elijah kept rolling until he 'won' too. Plus, this game is very good for teaching counting and taking turns.

Hot Park

Yesterday morning, we went to the park at 8am because it was going to be a hot day. On our way home from the park (walking a few blocks), we saw big kids leaving their homes and walking to the end of the road wearing backpacks. They were waiting for the school bus to come and take them to school. 

Our kids like climbing up the slide more than sliding down it.

This little boy even found a tree he could climb.

After playing for about an hour, Elijah's face was red and his hair was wet and sticking to his face. Time to go home.

Messy Clean

The pictures today might be blurry because they're from my phone. Look at Eva's messy curls.

He used markers unsupervised. He marked all over his hands, shirt, and mouth. Timeout.

I was downstairs cleaning the Plexiglas and the kids were trying to get me!

Then they cried!

10 Month Giraffe Outtakes

Her expression when we first brought out the giraffe.

Then we let her chew on it before taking some pictures.

She got to play with the giraffe after pictures too.

Elijah's Birthday Party

The tables at the park.

Tee ball set.

Trying to get the ribbons off.

Cousin Ellis playing with ribbons.

He had to climb on top to open this large one.

The car tracks look like the bow.

Opening more on the ground.

Jeep book!

Popping bubble wrap.

Baseball net and throwing machine.

The wind tried to blow out the candles.

Learning to play ball.

Elijah's 3rd Birthday

After his special morning birthday milk (see my Facebook for a pic), we opened 2 presents before Daddy left for work. He got so excited after opening these markers that he fell off the couch. So funny!

He also opened Eric Carl lacing cards. He thought I was saying racing cars...lots of confusion. I thought he did really well with them this morning, and that's considering all the 5-year-old children in Cubbies I've seen try to lace.

Elijah really liked coloring with the blue and yellow. He had a hard time taking the caps off, but he was able to put them on. 

Eva's sitting up on her knees a lot. She doesn't want to walk much (even holding my hands), but she likes to climb around on everything including Elijah when he's in timeout.

Yesterday, Elijah told me he wanted to wear his airplane shirt, but then he changed his mind and wanted to be Superman. He really likes wearing the cape. We rented The Lego Movie and watched it twice today. It has a song: "Everything is awesome! Everything is cool when you work as a team!" Now we have that stuck in our heads.

How much has Elijah grown in the past year? By our measurements, he's grown about 4 inches.

And our bedtime routine would not be complete without a few YouTube videos. Eva girl even decided to join tonight for some Veggie Tales and Digger songs.

Helper & Blanket Wars

Eva helped Mommy do laundry by taking the clean clothes off the couch and putting them in her mouth before throwing them on the floor and rolling around with them.

She looks guilty. Eva helped clean up Elijah's Goldfish crumbs that had fallen in his workbench shelf. She stood here for 20 minutes eating each crumb.

The blanket wars started with a sweet game of peek-a-boo. Everything changed when Eva wanted to take one across the room to eat it. Elijah had to get a bigger blanket and cuddle on the cushion. Eva decided to crawl on Elijah and that's when the rolling began...

After a tickle fight when Daddy got home from work, everyone smiled for a picture.

10 Month Baby

Big girl in a big chair.

Looking at Daddy who helped me get a smile.

Silly Elijah! That truck is too big for the ramps.

Midwest Balloon Fest

Early morning drive to the Kansas Speedway. It's cloudy, but we hope to see some balloons. We brought Elijah's cousin, Josie, with us for the morning.

Waiting to see if they will fly in.

They gave them a green flag! Look at our seats - right in front of the target.

The first group of balloons caught a shift in the wind and stayed too far east.

The kids ran around playing superman and supergirl.

Way high in the sky!

Finally some balloons came right over the target.

Here's one after it passed us. Now it's over the tents and carnival.

I love this one!

The kids and Erik with the balloon behind us.

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That evening...

The bounce houses were free (unlike the carnival) so we spent a lot of time jumping around.

We saw a big green egg.

We missed the balloons because of the bounce houses and the crowds.

Dinner was yummy! I had a philly cheese steak and Elijah snacked on everyone's food.

This balloon has a cross! Too bad they didn't pass out programs with balloon names.

Eva had to be carried the entire time. My neck stills hurts and Erik is 'sore all over.'

We met up with some friends. This is Sommer - she goes to Elijah's daycare and is 2 days younger than Elijah.

US Bank sponsored the events.

Family picture. You can see our balloon view was blocked a little...

Mr. Cool Balloon was the first shape balloon to inflate.

This is Lydia - she's Sommer's little sister and is 6 weeks younger than Eva.

On our way to the car, we could see the shape balloons better. Shark was eating Elvis.

As always, we end with a glow.