Some Fun Pictures of Eli

Eli going in for the kill. Notice the tongue. The best part is that he totally knew he was being funny.

Late Night Musings

Why is it that while I am the one who begs to go to bed by 9:00, my husband, who thinks going to bed before 10:00 is depressing, falls asleep within two seconds before I've even found my comfy spot? So, here I am, thinking about the day when I would really much rather be sleeping it off.

I hate the days that I feel like "Mean Mommy", like I've said "No" to absolutely everything. My favorite days are the days when everybody is being sweet and reasonable, (I mean, as reasonable as a three year old and a one year old can be, of course.) and I get to say "Yes, that's a great idea!" to most every request.

Today was not one of those days.

It was one of those days when I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was wrong with the picture, but I kept thinking, "At what point did my children lose their minds and I lose control of the situation?"

Even now, I'm thinking about several moments during the day when I stood staring at Luke with my mouth hanging open and him staring back at me with this sheepish grin on his little face. There wasn't necessarily anything to discipline, but an overall insanity that needed something that I was completely at a loss to supply. Is this making sense?

By the time Kris got home, I had admitted defeat and given control over to the natives. Thankfully, he had a little more left in him than I did and not all our possessions were completely destroyed. Thank you, God, for a good, helpful husband.

Tomorrow will be a much better day, I feel sure. If not, I'll be FedExing two little boys to Grandma.

We Made It

We are all better. Luke didn't get off the couch without being carried until Monday. Kris broke his wrist playing softball Wednesday night and then came down with the flu Saturday. He didn't go back to work until Wednesday. It was a bummer of a week.

THANK THE LORD!!! Eli and I didn't catch the plague. Eli ran around the house like he had wheels for feet the entire time Luke was sick. I'm not sure if he liked having everything to himself or liked having Luke and Daddy stationary or both. I'm just glad he was happy. That helped tremendously.

So, we're officially done being sick for the winter. I'm calling the winter off. No more sickness allowed in this house!

Stomach Bug, Part Deux

This morning we woke up to the sequel of this fun time. Fortunately, we had a new main character. (And by "fortunately" I mean for me.)

Is it bad that I feel like I've had a small vacation this morning? With Luke laid out on the couch, I've been able to do all kinds of things. I vacuumed, dusted, wiped baseboards. I even mopped my floors for the first time in....well, a long time. Luke is the best sick person I've ever seen. When he feels like he's going to be sick, he whimpers for a few seconds, throws up neatly into his bucket while keeping his eyes glued to the TV the whole time and then lays back down.

Eli has enjoyed having Luke stationary, and he's just played around him so sweetly. I don't think I've had to even once say, "No kicking!" "Play sweetly!" "Luke, get off his head!" "Eli, give Luke back his _______!" (Fill in the blanks here because that child is forever swiping Luke's stuff.)

Not that I'm wishing sickness on my baby, and I do hope he feels better quickly because there's nothing more pitiful than a sick child, but I have enjoyed my morning.

What Fun Is It If You're Not Getting Dirty?

When spent the entire morning outside, enjoying the beautiful weather and the new (to us) toys that our neighbor gave us yesterday.

And, if that's not disgusting enough for you, check out the Hitler 'stache.

What I don't have a picture of is the pound of dirt that Luke dumped on Eli's head. He still has sand all in his hair after a scrub down. He was fully clothed when it happened, and he even had dirt in his diaper.

I Even Surprised Myself This Time

I had some framed prints that someone had given me when we got married that were sitting in a closet. They were great frames and mom suggested I use them to frame pictures of the boys. They were an odd size, so I was having a hard time figuring out what size to blow the pictures up to so they would fit, and this is what I came up with instead!

I printed the verses on sheets of canvas that we had from another project we did a while back and put the original mattes back in the frame. Voila! Free custom artwork!

My Little Encourager

The other day I was cooking in the kitchen while Luke was eating a snack at the table and he looked over at me and said, "Mama, you're so cute."

And yesterday morning when I came out of my room ready to go to church, Luke said, "Mama, you look so pretty!!"

I'm so grateful he has not yet figured out manipulation on that scale because he really could have won the jackpot after those comments.

I Have The Bug

We went to the Lake Woodruff Wildlife Refuge this morning for a bike ride and some wildlife sightseeing. It was fun, and the boys enjoyed seeing all the alligators, ducks, turtles and other random birds.

But the real point of this post is to confess that I officially have the baby bug. I knew it was true when I heard myself say, "Awwwww, it's a baby alligator!!!"

What, exactly, is endearing about a baby alligator?!?

Not That I Was a Huge Fan Before

The Bachelor show is total trash. Even though I was pretty sure how last night was going to turn out, I'm still in shock a bit that Melissa was thrown under the bus for ABC's plot for better ratings. And that Jason went along with it. And that Molly jumped right back in his arms. It's all so ridiculous that I can't even stand it. They should all be ashamed.