Random Thoughts

I can't decide. Is it, "You talkin' to me?" or "Watcha talkin' about mama?"



As Fat Bastard would say, "Get in my belly."




"Run it's the one eyed monster" contributed by Eli.




This is the way Eli gets his hair cut. He says, "Mom I'm putting the tape on my mouth so the hair won't get in." Pretty ingenious.

Pee-Wee Soccer

Eli started his pee-wee soccer league on Saturday. They are teaching the kids the fundamentals of soccer, with the parents help. Eli thought it was cool that Daddy was his coach. On the way to practice, he kept asking if Daddy was going to be his coach.



Eli got to practice being a goalie.




He worked on passing the ball. Daddy taught him how to kick the ball with the inside of his foot. Eli is working on that in this picture.




The practice didn't hold his attention long. During the passing drill he picked up a dandelion and started plucking the leaves off one by one saying, "She loves me, she loves me, she loves me." We didn't stay for the whole practice, Eli didn't want to participate in the activities once he decided he had enough. He said, "I'm ready to go home and play Star Wars now. I will want to stay next time when I don't have this bad cough." He had been sick, and but was better by Saturday. Has he already learned that being sick can get him out of doing things? If so we are in trouble.

Party Time

Happy Birthday Eli and Tatum. We had a huge birthday party for them on Saturday. It was wild and chaotic, but now that I think about it the best parties usually are. They were surrounded by family that showered them with love and presents.

Eli and Tatum are waiting for the guests to arrive. When Eli saw everyone coming he said, " Oh boy, oh boy everyone I know is here!" He was very excited.



They both received so many gifts. They are very spoiled! This is a picture of them together before the circus of opening presents started. I was trying to keep every thing organized. I knew I was in trouble when I looked up from helping Tatum with some of her presents and saw only pink presents left on the table. I don't know how Eli knew but he managed to open all the presents for him and left the ones for Tatum. I was kind of impressed that he knew which ones were his and I was shocked at how fast he tore threw them. A big change from Christmas. Thank goodness Aunt Angela was keeping track of who gave what, I didn't have a clue.




Eli's birthday theme was Buzz Lightyear, of course. He had Buzz balloons, plates, napkins and a Buzz cake. He really liked the cake, before the party he kept getting the step stool out to look it. I was afraid he was going to put his hand in it or something.




This party was a little more special for Tatum since it was her first. Even though she had no clue what was going on she had fun. She had a special onesie made for her that had a cupcake on it with one candle in the cupcake. We put that on so she could eat her cake and not worry about getting her dress dirty. She also had a cute birthday hat.




When we brought her cake to her and sang she thought that was the best. She was grinning ear to ear and giggling.




It took her a little while to figure out what to do with the cake. Once she got the idea there was no stopping her. She did get a little carried away, she started throwing the cake. She has a good arm; she managed to get some on the wall and the couch.



Forget Campbell's, birthday cake is Mmm Mmm Good.

She's Graduated!

After wearing her STARband helmet for 3.5 months Tatum has graduated! We are very happy with the results. I'm happy to have a "baby" to cuddle with again and smell her sweet head. Her head would get really sweaty and stinky under the helmet. She doesn't seem to notice it is gone, well that is until she bumps her head and realizes that it hurts.

God has really blessed us during this time. He has been amazing. For starters we had a great doctor who recognized the problem early and referred us to a specialist. Other families are not that lucky, because some doctors tend to dismiss plagiocephaly. We were told it is unlikely that insurance will cover the helmet because it is seen as a purely cosmetic procedure. We prayed about this and not only did insurance cover the helmet, but they approved it in 3 days. Anyone who has ever dealt with medical insurance knows that this is pretty uncommon. If insurance didn't pay it would have cost us $3,000. When she was first diagnosed they said she would have to wear the helmet for 4-6 months. Most likely 6 months because her case was pretty bad. Now, 3.5 months later we are done. It has really been a positive experience.



This is a picture when she was first diagnosed in August of 2006.




Another view of her head.



Ta Da the end result. You look marvelous baby!

And She's Off!

Tatum has just mastered the art of climbing stairs. She is very good and fast at climbing them, which brings on some new challenges for us. We have resorted to putting a gate between our living room and the door to the stairs. Every time the gate is down she is making a beeline for the stairs. Her little personality is so cute. If we see her going we will say no Tatum, she will look back at us smile and start crawling at warp speed towards the stairs giggling the whole way. This is the first thing she has challenged us on. Elijah doesn't help the matter any. If he sees her going he encourages her, "Go on Tatum, you can do it." Seriously, I'm not sure if he wants to see her climb the stairs or if he wants to see her get in trouble. My guess is he wants to see someone else get in trouble.





Wow, this is fun. Look at me go.



Concentration is key.

Gratification! Big smile, I did it.

Oh What Fun!

Eli got to get out and play in the snow this weekend. We got about 3 inches of good snow. Good snow being the kind you can sled on and the kind that makes a good snowman. Eli did it all. He enjoyed his first outing this year. For starters he got to play in the backyard with Morgan. "Mommy, I love Morgan, she is my best friend." They sled down the hills in the yard, went down the slide on the swing set to clean it off and then they made a snowman. It was a pretty tall snowman, tallest one in the neighborhood so you know they had some help! After they got tired of the hills in the yard they went up to the community center to sled on their hills. They have some great hills that are always packed when we get good snow.




Eli and Daddy going down a hill in the backyard. Eli was all smiles every time he went down a hill. He loved every part of the day.



Eli and Morgan getting pulled on the sled.




Eli and Morgan by the "perfect" snowman. The snowman did have a carrot nose, but Eli got hungry. I'm not sure what happened to his arm, poor guy.

Happy Birthday Jesus

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus. It has been a great and fun holiday season for Eli and Tatum. We got to visit Santa three times. Two times Eli asked for some airplanes and a puppy and Tatum cried. The third time both kids did great. Maybe because Santa seemed a little familiar, thanks Uncle Michael.

With all the Christmas and Santa excitement we tried to sprinkle in the true meaning of Christmas for Eli. The twelve nights before Christmas we did family devotions that taught us 12 different names for Jesus. Like; Savior, Light of the World, and Living Water to name a few. The devotions were well received and Eli asked to do them each night. On Christmas Eve day Mommy and Eli baked a birthday cake for Jesus and on Christmas night we had a party for Him. It's hard to tell if any of the lessons hit home, but my hope is it planted a seed in his heart. To be fair, Eli didn't really get the whole Santa thing either. On Christmas morning he walked right past the tree with presents, some unwrapped. We had to ask him if Santa came last night. I'm sure next year will be a different story.



Tatum didn't get into the presents, unless you count banging on all the boxes like they were drums. She thought that was fun. She got a new Christmas dress and looked very pretty all dressed up in her tights and shoes. The green dress really showed off her red hair (while she had her helmet off).




Santa came to visit all the cousins Christmas morning at Aunt Dee Dee's house. They were all excited to see him and thank him for the presents he left the night before. When it was time for Santa to leave the cousins looked out the back window into the woods because someone saw Santa's sleigh and reindeer outside (clever distraction for them so they didn't watch Santa come back in to change clothes). It was really sweet to see them excited and looking for the reindeer.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mmm... Donuts

Tatum has a new fascination...food. It doesn't matter what kind of food, if you have some she will try everything to get some. We discovered how far she will go one Saturday morning. Eli was sitting in his chair eating donuts and drinking his milk. When Tatum got up she sat next to him and was very interested in his milk and donuts.

At first Eli was nice and kept moving his donut bowl farther away. That didn't stop Tatum she was literally climbing over him to get the milk and donuts. I was amazed at how aggressive this little girl can be. Eli finally said in a loud voice, "Tatum get your own donuts."



So Tatum got her own donut. She watched Eli carefully to learn how to eat it properly.



Okay I can handle this...Donut to mouth...



Savor the bite. Wow these are pretty good. I've been missing out, sure beats the baby cereal I get for breakfast.




Oh, donut coma. Maybe I should stick to the oatmeal.

It's Pumpkin Time!

To celebrate the arrival of fall Eli, Grace, Tatum, Grandma Billie and Mommy went to a local pumpkin farm. We had great weather and enjoyed all the fun things the farm had for us to experience.




Eli tried his hand at milking a cow. It didn't take him long to get the hang of it. While Eli was milking he was singing "The cows give us milk, the cows give us milk, hi ho the dairy oh, the cows give us milk." We tried to get Grace to join in the fun, but she wasn't that interested in the cow.



Eli and Grace got their 8 seconds in on the cow? I kept calling it the bull since you usually ride bulls and not cows, but Eli corrected me, "No Mommy it's a cow."




They played on the horse swings. I couldn't get them to look at the camera. They were too busy looking at the moon walk and the kids playing in it on the other side of the swings.




After we saw and played on all the fun things at the farm we got a big pumpkin to carve. It turned out to be a fun outing and a memorable time.

S*M*O*R*E*S

For a couple of months now we have been talking about making smores. One night we finally got around to making them. Eli enjoyed every part of the experience. The only thing that would have made it better was Daddy being with us.

Eli and PaPa getting the fire just right.



Eli and Grandma Billie putting the marshmallows on the fork.



The fire looks perfect, time to start toasting. It took a few tries to get the perfect one, although Eli did enjoy blowing out the marshmallows that caught on fire. I actually prefer mine a little burnt and black (crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside). After years of bonfires on the farm I have perfected the art. Will he follow in my footsteps......




After taking all that time getting the marshmallows perfect, Eli decided he liked to eat the marshmallows untoasted. Knowing Eli's personality, that sounds about right. I will keep working on him preferring the burnt ones.




Even though Tatum was too young to help out she was there and even got to "taste" one of the finished smores.

Here Little Fella

When Eli was younger his favorite book was the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Since that time he has been fascinated by caterpillars and butterflies. There are several plants in the yard that attract butterflies and Eli loves to catch him. At first I never thought he would be able to catch one, but to my surprise he is very gentle with them and has caught several. I think he might be a miniature Dr. Doolittle. He talks to them and they seem to respond.

In this picture he is searching for the perfect one to catch.



This is a picture of him putting out his finger for the butterfly (there is a butterfly on the plant, it's hard to see). During this time he is talking to the butterfly. "Here little fella. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to hold you. You are very beautiful. Mommy don't you think the butterfly is beautiful?"



This last picture is of him posing in the flower garden after his butterfly hunt.

Can You Hear Me Now?

The following is a conversation that took place between Eli and Grandma Cindy (who really wasn't on either phone). Yes, Eli was using two phones at once. I don't know what was funnier, him using two phones or what he was "talking" about with his Grandma.

"Hello Grandma Cindy, are you there? After my nap I am going to come and see you and Skittles and Holly and Sunny and PaPa Bear. But not, Sammy I don't like him he is really really loud. Okay, huh, okay I will see you later. Bye Grandma Cindy."

He was so serious during his conversation and just mater of fact about it. It was great.

It's amazing how he picks up on the little things we do, for example his Daddy. During the day if I haven't seen him for a few minutes I usually know where to find him. He will be in Brian's office back in the storage section typing on an old keyboard with a phone up to his ear. If I ask him what he is doing he says, "Just, just, just a minute I'm working. I'm almost finished. Okay? Come back in a minute." The ways he says it and his facial expressions are priceless!