Eli's bedtime prayer tonight:

Hi God,
Thank you for the rocks.
And thank you for the trees and their roots.
And thank you for the dirt and water and the sky.
Thank you for that little bug we saw that looks like a grasshopper but probably isn't.
And thank you for handlebars on bicycles.
And the fan on the ceiling. And blue.
Aaaaaaannnd the front porch.
And chips.
And thank you for Mommy.
And handlebars. Oh wait, I already said handlebars.
Amen.
Oh and thank you for buttons. I love buttons. Amen again.

This post is just too funny and so, sooooo true.

First, let me admit, this was probably NOT a good idea. Live and learn.
I decided to give Eli a haircut with Kevin's clippers. I used a number 3, mostly because I couldn't find the recommended number 4.
Here's before:








and here's after:

Eli has already made it quite clear that he does NOT like his new haircut. Neither does Kevin. Oh well. The good thing about hair is that it grows. Poor little shorn fella.

The saga of the pond continues.
I surrounded the hole with cinder block since it was filling up with mud from the yard.
Then I ordered some stack stone and began to stack. I stack and stacked and stacked. It was a lot harder than I expected. I mortared everything together late at night after the kids were asleep.
My friend Della was dividing her water lilies and gave me a pot full. One bloomed almost right away! A good omen for sure!
Here is the finished product.

The dragonfly was the first piece of pond I got from Kevin and the kids, for Christmas. It was the last piece to go in place.The pond is finally finished!!!

So what else has been going on?

Well for starters, Linden is really walking. She is, in fact, running, the little imp. She's still sweet as pie, though she's starting to get really opinionated, especially where food is concerned. She loves Eli so much and will wander the house looking for him when he's at school. They play together really well. He is very patient with her and is amazingly good at sharing and helping to calm her down.

She is talking, too. She's got several words:
shoe
ball
pants
shirt
hat (this may be the cutest thing she says)
dog (and "woof woof")
water
bottle
book
car (she carries the keys around saying "caaaa" "caaaa" and pointing outside).

She knows the signs for "more", "all gone", "bye bye" and she can blow kisses. She's stinkin' cute.

Eli just moved up into the "big kids" class. He's such a leader in his classroom. He is very smart and can write most of his letters and recognize all of them. He can ride a bike (with training wheels) and a scooter (with three wheels). He loves to sing and dance. And OH MAN he loves to talk and talk and talk. He could talk the bark off a tree. He's interested in being a fireman or and astronaut or a doctor or a ballerina. He loves sticks but hates bugs. He's been a great helper in our garden.

It is a happy, happy house.

There has been some silliness around our house.

Our backyard is pretty great, but in when we get a good rain, the patio drain clogs and we have a little lake in the yard. Eli thinks it is a giant puddle for his amusement. Bicycle helmet optional.

I love this shot.

Linden got this crazy princess car for her birthday. Both kids are great about playing with it together... so funny! One of them will ride while the other pushes. It makes Linden laugh and laugh and laugh. Until Eli drives away then she gets a little grouchy.

As a birthday gift to me, Kevin, Linden and Eli gave me a pond for the yard. It has been my project for the last few weeks. Here is the beginning


First, there was a hole. I dug and dug and dug.















Then I lined the pond with a plastic pond liner and filled it up.


But ooooohhhh, it doesn't end there! There's more to the story, but it will have to wait until I get the rest of the pictures uploaded.

And Granddaddy came to visit, all the way from Pilot Mountain.

And Linden turned ONE!!

Eli is awesome in costumes. The Christmas costume box has been put to great use. We're adding bits and pieces (scarves, shirts, shoes, masks) all the time. He comes up with the strangest combinations.

Okay, where to begin? I'll start with pictures of the last nearly two months since my last post we've been having fun!

Linden continues to be a happy and voracious eater.


She even likes to go shopping in the cabinets. Here she is picking out her own snack.


She's discovered her brother's old rocking horse and she loves to bounce!

Poor little blog, you have been so neglected!

I am not exactly sorry, I've been too busy out doing things to write about them. I hope to do better, but who knows.

To make it up to you, I've given you a little facelift. I hope you like it. Maybe it will help me get reconnected. We shall see.

And we busted out the wading pool! This will be a big favorite this summer. Linden would have been happy to stay in all day. Eli preferred to use his lizard watering can to fling water around the yard, but both had loads of fun.

Summer came on fast here in Atlanta. And with summer weather comes fun times outside! We played with friends at the Piedmont Park playground. The firetruck is a big favorite of Eli's and Linden is learning quickly!

Our new nephew is here! Big brother Hunter loves him and we can't wait to meet him.

Welcome to the world, little Lucas Michael!

Linden is 11 months today. That is so wonderful and a little sad. She's getting so big so fast. I am really going to miss her babyhood.

Thanks to Beth Frilingos for this picture.

Eli and I planted a garden today. There is a sunny patch of dirt between our house and the neighbors house. I bought a small electric tiller and dug up the dirt and mixed in some good organic compost.

Went walked our wagon up to Garden*Hood, our local gardening store and bought two blueberry bushes, some Celebrity tomato plants, jalapeno plants, anahiem chili plants, and this year, I'm going to give okra a shot.

Eli loved digging in the dirt and searching for worms. He stomped on a couple of our newly-planted crops in his gardening excitement, but all-in-all, it was a great adventure.

Apple eatin' buddies.

Eli made a fun snack yesterday, ants on a log. Here's how it went...


The ants (raisins) lined up to march across the log (peanut butter on celery). We counted them. There were 19.


As the ants marched across, they got stuck in the peanut butter. Oh no!


Mmmmm...


Delicious!

Easter was lovely, as were the kids.


Linden and Mommy


Double E's: our lovely friend Esther and sweet Eli in their matching Easter duds.

And climb...


and climb...



and climb!