HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARREN!

*This post is for our good friend, Darren! Happy Birthday man; We love you!

We were so excited to get the email from Lindsey telling of your video birthday wishes! We hope you have an amazing birthday and we are sorry we can't be there in person. Just know, our hearts are completely there in joy and gratitude!

You are an amazing man! We are so proud to call ourselves your friends and feel honored that you have chosen us to share times of your life with us! You are so loyal, trustworthy, honest, genuine, compassionate, fun, accepting, encouraging, and loving. Thank you for being who you are! We celebrate you today!!!

A little side note about our videos. So, we took these Sunday morning, which you must realize means we are still in our jammies and are lazo-ing around the house. Sorry I didn't put any makeup on or at least brush my hair. :) But, even though we aren't dressed for your party, we love you all the same. :)

Gampa's Visit

This weekend Ian's dad, otherwise known as "Gampa", came to stay. The boys had a blast with their new buddy in town and it was wonderful to see the generations of guys all bonding. Elijah kept holding up his arms for Gampa to hold him and Joaquin was all smiles every time Gampa came into the room.

Gampa watched Joaquin while Daddy had a bath time with Elijah. :) It is always fun and games with Daddy in the tub!

Here is Gampa and Elijah just before Gampa had to head off to the airport. Elijah wasn't too happy to be losing his pal. :(

Gampa showed Elijah how to wear his fancy tie and let him play with his big-boy briefcase. The credit card, however, was stolen from Daddy's wallet, that little scoundrel. :)

Little man, Joaquin, after he had his bath with Daddy. (I love those little doughy arms!)

Gampa helped motivate Joaquin towards learning to crawl. He is pretty darn successful at getting where he wants to go just by rolling, wiggling, and army-crawling on his belly. In this picture he started on the play mat (in the far right corner of the photo where the blue book is placed), but as soon as mommy turned her back towards the kitchen he was out the gate and headed toward the bedroom where Gampa and Daddy were talking. Wanted to be with the boys, I guess. :)

Thanks for your visit Gampa and for loving on your grandbabies! We love you!

New Experiences

"Kris Kross Will Make You..."

Joaquin has a new favorite way to spend his time...in the bouncer! It is a great way for mommy not to have to worry about him getting trampled on by Joni or Elijah running around. He loves to warm up those leg muscles and just jump and jump and jump.

Elijah's new favorite activity is good ole fort building. Well, I should correct that and say his favorite activity is playing in the fort, not building it. Mommy and Daddy get the joy of putting it all together, although it isn't like it takes a lot of effort to move the couch pillows around. :) It brought back such fun memories of playing in elaborate forts that my brothers and I would take days to construct with secret passageways and booby-traps for tress passers. (Of course we would later make my mother or father "tress pass" so the traps were put to good use.) Ahh, so much happiness from scheming and creating. Parenting is such a special time-traveling experience that puts us all back there in that simple space of childhood joy!

If you want a laugh...

Some New Tricks

Elijah's New Trick

So, Elijah recently figured out how to sneak under the stair gate. I had to put it above the wood edge on the wall so there has always been about a 3 inch gap, but he hadn't-until recently- noticed it. Looks like I will have to find another method to keeping him off the stairs.

Joaquin's New Trick

This one really needs no introduction...

Hallows' Eve

This Halloween was especially fun because Elijah was older and more aware of what was going on. It was his first time to go trick-or-treating and it is so much fun as an adult to get to introduce them to strange traditions and things of the sort! Actually, Elijah had about a weeks worth of Halloween activities, starting at his Mother's Day Out, the church, and then the actual door-to-door stuff. Here are some pictures from the events.

Joaquin as a chili pepper

Elijah was an elephant, as you can see.

Daddy and son before his M.D.O. costume parade

The two of us getting to school early that morning

That outfit was so cute. It was padded in the front and back and looked hilarious when he waddled around.

The crew all dressed up to go out and walk the neighborhood.

Joni the bumble bee, Elijah the elephant, and Joaquin the chili pepper

Leaving the house

Elijah got so excited every time someone dropped something into his bag. He soon realized that each house we went to was going to GIVE him something, and that was awesome!

However, after about 7 houses Elijah was pooped! Daddy ended up carrying both boys back to the house, because Elijah didn't want to walk any further.

He was to interested in what was in his bag at that point.