happy birthday to YOU

......can't believe a whole year has passed. What a blessing you are Elijah!!

Sunday School Sheet

Here's eli's very first paper from sunday school! As one of his sunday school teachers, i do have to say he wasn't the best colorer, but it was his first time to try it out. He did enjoy eating the paper (notice the bottom of the sheet) and throwing it on the floor, and he thought the blue crayon was just delicious :) I did manage to force him to "hold" onto the crayon with his fist and scribble around on the page some before he refused to hold it anymore- he didn't really care for that part too much....hehe- maybe next week, right?!

lovin' the nuzzy

normally eli's nuzzy stays in his bed............but today after i washed his stuff, he found it laying on the couch and proceeded to carry it around in his mouth while he crawled around the living room. how ingenious!!

he's saying, "here mommy, hold my nuzzy"

while his nuzzy isn't actually IN the picture, i am using it to get him to smile :)

preferred mode of nuzzy transportation

this is what i did during eli's 3 hour nap

so it didn't actually take me 3 hours to do this seemingly little project....maybe only 2. but i (1. made the icing, (2. made the piping bags from parchment paper, (3. made the icing into 3 colors: brown, blue, and green, (4. practiced piping stars and letters onto parchment paper. i didn't even make a cake or decorate a whole cake!

i'm glad i practiced because now i know that letters are difficult and stars are easy and that i WILL be making eli's birthday cake the day before the party!!

fair fun

so tonight matt did a totally selfless and caring husbandly thing: he took me to the fair! i HAVE to go every year to get cotton candy (i blame my parents who started this tradition oh about 20 years ago). and since today was get in the gate free day, we went.

we got cotton candy first off (matt may have snuck a carmel apple in there too) and looked at all the cool exhibits and crafts and animals. eli rode in his sling and had saucer eyes the whole time :)

then we met up with aunti livi and chad for a while, then came home. tons of fun in my opinion. so a special thank you to my sweetie husband for serving me in this way! next year, the tilt-a-whirl!!!!!

matt

okay, so i HAD to throw in this super cute picture of eli even though this is a post about matt.....i turned around and he had pulled up in the door frame of the bedroom- love it!!

okay, so if you're easily grossed out, avert your eyes.....matt had a glorious time at the trail ride, but came home with a NASTY case of poison ivy. he had a shot on wednesday, and today (saturday), it's finally looking better. btw, this picture was taken on thursday. i thought his arm looked like he had leprosy so i had to snap a picture of course.
here's the invalid. his arm actually looked much worse in person....if you can believe it.
here's matt's hard work paid off- we now had about 30 butternut squash either on our counter or almost ready to be picked in the garden. they're completely organic too (and beautiful). he got a really good crop and now we're going to feast on every butternut squash dish imaginable!
way to go matt, can't wait for next year's garden!! i'd better stock up on canning supplies now :)

Fun times in AR

Eli and I visited Gram & Papa in Arkansas while daddy went horseback riding for a few days. We had a WONDERFUL time playing at the lake and at Gram & Papa's house. Next time we'll bring daddy with us and all have fun together!