Back to School, Back to School...

Our little man is growing up so quickly!  He recently started attending the toddler lab at BYU-Idaho.  It's basically preschool for him, but the instructors are students working on their degrees in things like Child Development or Early Childhood Education. We knew going into it he would probably struggle, since I have been attending Nursery with him for the last seven months, but after going three times, he is managing it and seems to be having fun.  He has, however, managed to poop every time he has been at school, which is unfortunate for the workers.  Especially for Mr. Kevin, who had the wonderful opportunity of changing a diaper for the first time!  15 minutes or so later, Eli came out in a completely new outfit!  Anyway, here are a few shots of Eli modeling his new backpack tonight.

FHE

We are trying to do better this year at having Family Home Evening.  And by saying we, I mostly mean Jess.  She is taking the time and effort to initiate things for us and most weeks does all of the lesson planning, too.  Tonight we had a lesson on missionary work.  Jess was recently called as a Ward Missionary and is maybe a little reluctantly excited to get to work.  Having grown up in Rexburg, ID, where the population is some 98%+/- LDS, she has not had much opportunity to do missionary work, so this will be her first real taste.  When the Bishop called her, he mentioned that she will likely have the opportunity to teach lessons to some individuals, which I think is where the reluctance comes in, but she will do an amazing job!  Here are a few shots from the evening.

Also, we are trying to include my sweet mother in our FHE activities via Skype or phone.  Mom, thanks for letting us interrupt your regularly-scheduled Monday evening routine.  Sisters, if you'd like a turn with her, we can schedule accordingly.

Giggles

How cute are these kids?

Good Brownie!

This morning while I was getting ready for work and Jess was getting Lizzy dressed for the day, Eli went downstairs.  He came back a few minutes later and exclaimed, "good brownie!"  When we went down stairs, sure enough, he had pushed a chair over to the stove and found the pan of brownies that I had made after he went to bed last night.  

Another First

Miss Lizzy's first taste of rice cereal.  She actually like it a lot more than this video suggests.

A Couple Firsts

This boy is just so cute.  He brings so much happiness (and frustration) into our home.

A little Nerf skirmish 

Trying Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce for the first time.  He loved it.  He ended up eating it with his fingers, as opposed to the carrots he's dipping in the photo.

Na na na...na na na...EliMan!

 

Another first.  This time it's carbonation.  Perhaps the flavor was too strong, but ultimately he didn't like it.  You can see him trying to scrape it off his tongue with his teeth.

Mr. Helpful

Eli absolutely loves his little sister.  Sometimes he loves her too much.  Here he is working very hard to help her get a drink.   She might be little, but its obvious to tell she adores her big brother...most of the time.  Don't judge us for putting the Bumbo on the table.

Here he is loving on the poor little helpless girl.  Thanks for the blanket, Aunt Missy!

Little Staller

Last night after bathing Lizzy we decided to skip Eli's bath and just put him to bed.  While working on dressing Lizzy, Jess realized Eli had gone into the bathroom and was very quiet.  She went to check on him and I heard "NO!"  This is what we found.  Eli pulled my gel out and decided to do his hair.  Needless to say, he ended up getting a bath.

First snow of the year

Dan had a work Conference from Oct 24 - 27. So we went and stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got to meet Grandma and Grandpa's new kittens. As a general rule the cats do not go in the house, but we were moving them from the back porch to the front so Eli could feed them. He got to carry one and he was excited. The day before we went to Grandma's house we had our first real snow fall and Eli was dying to go out and play. 

All dressed up in his winter clothes. That was a work out for me. I finally gave up on the gloves. I couldn't convince him to separate his thumb from his fingers. Grandpa watched Lizzy so Eli and I could play.

Checking out the snow. Not sure what do to.

He had to taste it. I let him because it was the first snow. We made a snowman but I never got a picture because I took the camera in. And when I say "we" I mean me. Eli ran off to play on the 4-wheeler. We went out to play in the snow and he ended up on the 4-wheeler in the shed. I had fun playing in the snow. I am sad I didn't get a picture. I can't remember the last time I made a snowman. Mine ended up more squarish than round and very short. Needless to say it was a special snowman. 

Random Pictures

9/6/12

10/15/12 - Finally getting a picture of her smile

 

I have the cutest boy! He can sure try my patience but he makes my life so much fun with his laugh, his smile, and his new found independence, "I do it!"

He likes to pull the blankets out (much to my dismay) and use them as bumps for his truck. I finally stopped folding them because as soon as I did he would notice and go pull them right back out. 

First Day Home

My mom is a Saint!The first week after Lizzy was born we spent at my parents house. She took Lizzy  during the night and brought her to me when she needed to eat. My dad is awesome! He played with Eli during the day, keeping him busy and entertained. Which isn't easy. Eli is a very active boy. When it was time to go back home my parents came home with me  and stayed while I got unpacked, did laundry, and got organized. Then I was on my own for the first time on Wednesday. Dan went to work at 8. He stopped by real quick in the morning to grab something and then real quick to get the computer in the afternoon. After work he had two meetings with clients and then went straight to bishopric meetings. So it was me and the kids all day. It was a pretty good day, we were all alive at the end which is a plus in  my book.

Because Miss Lizzy was born in August, we got to deal with the hot days. To combat this we open the windows at night which make for cool mornings. So Lizzy went to bed with hats on. 

Our sweet angle

Eli had so much fun staying and playing with Grandpa. One of the days Eli helped Grandpa mow the lawn. Once Eli finally sat down as wasn't in constant motion he fell asleep. To show how tired he was, Grandpa brought him in the house and sat down with him and Eli never woke up. 

Home Sweet Home

Eli loves putting other people's shoes on and wearing them. Here he has my mom's shoes on. 

He loves pushing this dump truck around. He looked so cute, with shoes that were too big, running around. 

Eli loves laying next to Lizzy. Although, as soon as I got the camera out he wouldn't hold still. And yes, Lizzy is wearing boy pajama's. I lost her cute girl ones so I put her in Eli's. My mom did make her some pink pajama's and I eventually found the lost ones so she didn't look like a boy for too long. 

First Bath

The Herzoff's were kind and came and visited us out at my parents house. Since they were coming I thought Lizzy should have her first bath. She did pretty good but of course she cried. Eli hearing her cry ran and got a blanket and brought it to her, what a sweet boy! He loves his blankets and was trying to comfort Lizzy with what comforts him. Eli is a very loving brother. He loves to give Lizzy kisses and hugs and loves holding her. Sometimes it is scary but I try to encourage the love.

Happy and calm before the storm

She didn't like being cold

She stopped crying as soon as I wrapped her up.

All clean!

Coming Home!

The doctor came to check on us Thursday morning and said we could go home at anytime. I couldn't believe it. (Eli was born on a Sunday night and they wouldn't let us leave till Tuesday, and then they took forever to get us processed.) After hearing that I was already to go. Then I found out that the babies have to stay for 24 hours. Still not bad, we could leave that day just not as early as we thought. This ended up being a good thing because Elizabeth still didn't have a name. We finally picked a name about an hour before we left, yes we, not just me. Elizabeth Ann was finally ready to come home.

New Addition 2

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