Super Elijah

When Nathan was a little boy, his parents made him a cape that said "Super Nathan" (as seen below) For Christmas this year Eli got a cape that says "Super Elijah" just like his daddy's cape. The inside of Eli's has Philippians 4:13 in it "I can do all things through Christ who stregthens me" Very cool gift. Thanks to Aunt Tarah, Gramma and Granpa for their combined effort.

bowling

Friday we headed out to Cabot to go bowling. It was Eli's first time and I think it is safe to say he enjoyed it. It was pretty cool, you can set it up to where bumpers come up for different bowlers and then go down for others. So they automatically came up when it was Eli's turn. Uncle Jeff and Bid Daddy were such great coaches for Eli. We had quite a group, Nana, Big Daddy, Uncle Jeff, Josh and Jennifer Clary, their kids, Emma and Ty, and Charlie and Sarah Rogers. Eli had a little trouble waiting his turn, but not near as bad as I anticipated. We also ran into our cousins Kaylee and Jessica. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. Thanks Nana and Big Daddy! Here is Eli's very first time up to bowl! Very exciting!
He got a Spare!!!
Cousins Kaylee and Jessica with Lucy and Nana
Ouch! Nana sure has a big swing! She entertained us all with her "form". She swings her ball so high behind her. Creepy, but cool picture. I'm not sure how it happened, but you can see straight through that ball as if it weren't there.

Christmas

we wrapped up our Christmas with a gift exchange with Gramma Gari. Eli got some cool books, blocks and movies. Lucy got a precious doll that came with a handmade bed that Gramma made. We ate lots of great food, hung out and even managed to get out for a little bit of shopping. Well, that's how it happened for me, Nathan worked hard on screening in our porch while I shopped. I will post pictures of the screening process in another post. thank you to Gramma Gari for helping us get that together. And thank you Elliott for helping Nathan, too.

You better WORK! turn the left. now turn to the right.........

Lucy got some super cute tights for Christmas from her aunt Tarah. We decided she needed a denim skirt to show them off and set out to find one this afternoon. We found 2 really cute ones, but only one fits now. So what do you do when you get new clothes???...... fashion show. It was so fun for Tarah and me. I think Lucy enjoyed it, too, but not near as much as we did :) And those legs!! I love'em!!!!! Thanks for putting up with us Lucy. Maybe one day you will be more into this kind of stuff.

Merry Christmas!

This day came so quickly! Here are a few highlights from the day. We started our day by opening Eli's stocking to see what goodies were in there. Then we loaded up and headed to Nana's and Big Daddy's. I'm too tired for too many detials, but let's just say the kids got some good stuff!! We have one more day of celebration with Gramma Gari and Nathan's siblings and then it's done till next year. It has been a wonderful Christmas. Eli has been sooo sweet today. What a blessing our little boy and sweet little girl are to us.

Eli and Tiger and Bear, OH MY!

What a busy couple of days it has been! We started the holiday weekend by making cookies. We never got around to icing them, but they were still a yummy treat. Then we went caroling on Friday night in LR. Got up Sat morning and headed to Monticello for some yummy food, good company and a few presents. We caroled on Sat night. Sat night was Christmas Eve for the James family. They have tradtions that happen on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day. They have always been kind enough to rearrange when we celebrate so we are able to do Christmas with both families. They have been caroling on Christmas Eve for about 30 years now!! Eli was a little bit frustrated the first night after the first couple of houses, but once he got the hang of it, he really enjoyed it. He would dance and run around while we sang. He even got to go in one house and play with their son and his dinosaur as we sang. What a treat! While we were caroling on Sat night, Eli got a big surprise, heck, it was a surprise to all of us. We got to a house and some how ended up caroling inside instead of on the porch. Little did we know what was just inside the door. Apparently their daughter, all of their kids are our age, anyway, she put her name in a drawing hoping for a new tv. When she got the call from the drugstore, she was sure she had won it. She answered her phone anticipating the announcement that she was the new owner of a tv, but instead they informed her she was the proud new owner of a .......................................LIFE SIZE TEDDY BEAR! Do you see where this is going?? They had the enormous bear tucked next to the tree behind presents. When Eli spotted it he was so fascinated by it. He didn't throw a fit wanting it, he just kept telling me "I want da beear, mommy. I want ta take it wit me" I'm not kidding when I say it is about my height and bigger than me! So, the family realizes how much Eli likes this bear and they get it out from behind the presents and set it in the floor in front of him. He immediately hugs it and sits in it's lap. It was precious. Long story short, the bear ended up in our van that night and then in Eli's bed. Little did we know what surprise we would have in the morning. We awoke to find that Granpa had got Eli a life sized tiger. The joke quickly became that all we needed was a lion.........get it? Lions and tigers and bears, Oh MY! Good times. We decided you are only a kid once, so why not! They are both pretty darn cool. The tiger is freakishly realistic, but still very cool. So, off of that story, we finished up LOTS of food in Monticello and headed home. We were greeted by Gramma Gari, who is in town all week! We got to take a break from present for the first half of Christmas Eve and then last night we headed to "the country" (as my brothers and I have always called it cause it seemed so far away as a child) to see my dad's side of the family and get a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. Whew, I'm tired just recapping our past couple of days! :) But it's not over yet. We have Christmas with Nana, Big Daddy, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Pammy the Great, her friend Ken, Mema and her friend Carl this morning. Then we will close the holiday celebrations with Gramma Gari, Aunt Tarah, Uncle Elliott, Aunt Lee Ann, and Uncle Taylor tomorrow. Lots more good food and company!!!! Well, that's all for now. Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days. I haven't taken as many as I would have liked to :( Merry Christmas to you all. May we all be able to wade through all the "stuff" in this time of year and remember our Lord Jesus Christ. What an awesome, untoppable gift He was and is and will always be. God bless and guide you all! We'll be back with more pictures soon.

Saturday

What a day we had Saturday! We started our day by going to a birthday party for Jonas. It was a morning party at Gymboree. Eli has sooo much fun climbing, sliding and crawling around. Thank you Jonas for letting us celebrate with you!



From the party we went straight to Nana and Big Daddy's house for Christmas with my brother and his kids and stopping the fun only long enough to take a nap we celebrated Christmas again that night with my mom's mom, mema and my mom's sister, Becky and all of her kids and grandkids. It was a lot of fun. We sang karokee, ate good food and got a visit from Santa!

"YOU... ARE.... A.......TOY!"

If you spend any amount of time at our house then you definitely recognize the quote in the title. We are quickly becoming experts on Toy Story and Toy Story 2. As I was uploading the pictures for this post I overheard Eli say, "YOU ARE A TOY!", as he was playing with Buzz and Woody. It seemed an appropriate title for this post, although I'm not positive why....... So Christmas has offically begun for our family. We celebrated with my brother and his family yesterday afternoon and then with my Grandmother, Aunt and cousins last night. Eli and Lucy recieved very cool toys and clothes. Eli also recieved a very cool jacket from his Great Aunt Becky, it is a bomber jacket with Buzz Lightyear patches. Here are pictures of him sporting his new Buzz Lightyear jacket. He isn't much of a camera ham so this is the best I could do to get the picture. It was all I could do to get his shirt on first, he kept saying "my jacket". I will post more pictures from the 2 celebrations yesterday later. We are getting ready for church, so I better go freshen up. Enjoy! And thank you Aunt Becky for such a cool gift!

Just the girls

Last night was Fellowship Bible North's Women's Christmas Event. It was so nice. It was held at Next Level Events and included a yummy dinner, shopping from some local women, a program and ended with all 100+ women singing a few Christmas songs together. I was blessed to have both my mother and grandmother present. I am so thankful that we enjoy each other and are able to do outings like this together. Here is a snapshot of the 3 of us. Christmas is officially here!!!! We are celebrating with my brother and grandmother this weekend. I can't believe it is already here.........wow, time has just flown by! Merry Christmas to everyone. May you be blessed as we celebrate our Saviour's birth and remember the gift that he gave us so many years ago. God bless and guide you!