Eli had an awesome birthday last September. It is absolutely shocking to me that he is 4 years old. At his request (with some prompting, if I'm honest), we had a pirate birthday party complete with a treasure hunt and a pirate ship cookie cake. Pictures are saved on a hard drive somewhere. I have no idea if I'll ever find them again.

The truth is I love putting together birthday parties for my kids. I really enjoy thinking about the possibilities of party favors and games, decorations and cakes. I think kids' parties can do things that grown up parties can't, like request their guests to dress up in pirate gear! Arrrgh!

In an effort to recycle, I figured Eli would be a pirate for Halloween a month later. The costume was already all put together. Easy-peasy, right? Kevin had the great idea to make a parrot costume for Linden so she could be the parrot to his pirate and they could ride together in the wagon at the neighborhood parade.

Well. Eli saw Linden's parrot costume and decided that he actually wanted to be a parrot instead. So I made a second parrot costume, in a larger size.

Then Linden screamed her head off when we tried to put on HER parrot costume. So we put her in a tiny little pirate dress with Eli's big hat. and Eli wore the big parrot costume. She was the pirate and he was the parrot. It was strange but it worked. Every one was happy.

(thanks to the Millers for the photo.)

Aaaaaaannnd... We're back!

It has been a long long time since I posted on the blog. It is both hard to keep up and hard to quit. I'm going to try a blog-a-day February and see if this is worth keeping up for a while longer or if I need to find a way to archive what I've written and close it down.

It is totally impossible to summarize the last six months. We've had all manner of holidays and birthdays, trips and celebrations. I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks working on some back logging of the last few months, hopefully recalling some of the really funny stories these amazing and lovely kids have provided for us.

The short version of the last few months is this: we've got an amazing, wonderful and abundantly blessed family. We are totally smitten with our kids and we're in a sweet, sweet time of life. The grownups in the house are working really hard but we love our jobs. It is bittersweet because working away from home means that we're not at home to spend every moment with Eli and Linden, but the time we do spend together is really charmed. It is a good life. I look forward to documenting more of it.

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!