Popped Through

We have a tooth!!

Yet, the drool has not stopped and he's still cranky. 

I think the second one must be on it's way.

Compromising, sort of....

I have found that at certain times, while parenting a female toddler, compromise is a necessity. Ellery and I have certainly had our "toe to toe" battles, some of which have lasted HOURS. The majority of these times had to do with the lesson of obedience and respect. Definitely no compromise in those situations.

However, this afternoon was a good example of when to just let go and let her BE.

Yesterday she found the pink shirt and heart shorts in her closet.  It's been there all summer and she showed NO interest all summer.  But of course when it's 45 degrees outside she wants to wear that outfit.  I let her run around the house in the pink shirt.  Today she woke up from her nap and again was determined to wear the pink shirt and heart shorts.  She already had on the grey long sleeve shirt.  Mommy saying "no" to the pink shirt was not an option in her mind.  So I told her she could wear it over her grey shirt but HAD to keep on the long sleeves.  Then I told her to go into her room and find her jeans.  I believe a conversation when something like this:

(After sending her back to look for the jeans, she came out to the living room empty handed and looking frustrated.  The heart shorts were on the floor in the living room.)

Mommy:  Ellery, where are your jeans?  Didn't you see them?
 Ellery:  (sigh, sitting down on the floor) Listen.  I could not find my jeans and these (picking up the heart shorts) are the ONLY thing to wear!
Mommy:  (Laughing hysterically) You can wear those heart shorts either under your jeans or over something else but you must have something to cover your legs.  It's too cold outside to just wear those heart shorts.

The black leggings is what she came out with.  I said, "Okay, sure.  You put them on."  She's learning to dress herself and it's hysterical.

She's not even 3 yet and I will definitely have my hands full when she's a teen.

I found these antlers in her preschool bag this afternoon.  They have small bells at the ears and I had to bribe her with a treat to get her to wear them.  Again, purely for my enjoyment!

The outfit seriously cracks me up.

Now.  For this little guy!!

Walt had his 6 mo. check up yesterday.  He has a slight ear infection, from that nasty cough his sister gave him, remember?  Poor little guy was NOT happy last night after all of his vaccinations and cold.

Here are the stats!

16 lbs. 6oz.

16 3/4 inches

He is army crawling.  Loves to chew on shoes.  Tries to pull himself up on the edge of his crib (gotta lower the mattress).  Sits up and babbles.  Still going to bed at 6:00 pm and wakes a couple of times at night.  I'll nurse him once and then soothe him the other times.  He has slept straight through the night before, just not lately.  I started feeding him rice cereal a few days ago, it's going okay. He'll start veggies soon, maybe this week, maybe next.  We'll see...

It's crazy how kids change over time.  A few short weeks ago this little girl and I were NOT getting along.  Now, she loves me, we're friends, she snuggles with me and I feel like I have my daughter back.  Loving this time!!

The Weekend

It has been an insane weekend, but SO MUCH FUN!

I will admit to being the extravert in the family and therefore Christmas parties are my absolute FAVORITE thing.  When I'm feeling down and gloomy I find that going out and being with friends is just what my soul needs.

We had a party Friday night, Saturday morning was the Christmas production at our church and Saturday night.  I REALLY wanted to go to a party tonight as well but knew that it wouldn't be good for the family.  Cary was partied out and the thought of my kids going to bed with out us one more night just didn't sit well with me.

Walt has come down with a nasty sounding cough, which he got from his lovely sister who can't seem to keep her hands off of him and has yet to figure out how to cover her mouth when she coughs.

Ellery LOVES doing crafts.  I've been giving her some craft Christmas ornaments made from foam stickers as little afternoon projects.  We also made a paper chain to decorate the little "tree" in her play room.

It reminds me a bit of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree but I think it's perfect!

Just Celebrating....

We are just enjoying the holidays! Ellery has been loving her "cone" time (advent calendar). The first several days were candy treats which will "hook" any toddler to anything. But lately we've had small items, like a bell and teeny tiny baby Jesus. Those little treats she loves as well because anything small gets put into a little purse or something only to be lost in the chaos of her toys. Huh, sometimes Christ can be like that a little too, huh? Celebrated over Christmas but just a small enough part of the year that He gets put in a little box and forgotten about in the craziness of life.

As soon as Ellery started running off with the bell and baby Jesus I grabbed them and hid them so they wouldn't get lost.

I've also been giving the kids small gifts to help celebrate the season.  They were given Christmas PJ's,

Popcorn boxes, so Ellery and Daddy could watch Beauty & The Beast's Enchanted Christmas (something I recorded on TV), stamps for decorations, books and other fun small things....

Walt enjoyed movie night from the comforts of his exercauser!

Christmas Decorating

I woke up Tuesday morning knowing I was going to have to get pretty much all of my holiday decorating done that day.  I'm SO thankful Cary surprised me and told me he was staying home to work on some projects.  I'm also SO thankful Ellery had preschool, one less set of hands to occupy while I'm busy at work.

It was a lot of fun to pick her up from school and see her face when she walked into the house to see her Christmas tree with lights and a bow, all ready for her help to hang the ornaments.

We have a box of ornaments from Cary's childhood that are fun, whimsical and perfect for her little hands.

My advent calendar is my favorite part of the season (and decorations). 

I made these cones from scrapbooking paper and under each cone is a small object and a slip of paper with the meaning of the object.

For example:  Under day #1 is a small box of raisins.  The meaning of the raisins is, "Grapes make jelly and juice, raisins & wine, but Jesus didn't need grapes to perform his first miracle.  Read John 2:1-10"

My hope is to do this mini devotion with Cary and Ellery each day so we can focus on the REAL meaning of Christmas.  I love the significance of each item.

And just to give credit where credit is due, a girl from my MOPS group found the advent activity.  She shopped for 4 hours to find all of the little pieces and one night at MOPS we just assembled bags of the materials.  The cone idea is from here.

I was up pretty late but got the majority of the decorating done and boxes put away.  There is something about having a decorated house that can warm a heart and put a smile on everyone's face.

Christmas Tree Farm

One of my favorite family traditions is cutting down our Christmas tree from the Ayers-Kreh Christmas tree farm, 1/2 mile from Mimi & Grandad's house.

While we waited for Walt to wake up from his nap, Daddy & Ellery did what they usually do on the farm, hang out and explore.

 Amos has to be a part of the action!

The tractor ride to pick our tree!

I saw this tree up on a hill and said, "This is it!  Let's get it and GO!"

Happy Holidays!!

Country Bath

Mimi has a TON of toys, blankets and misc. things from Cary and Parker's childhood.  Most of the things that Ellery and Walt play with down here are from Cary.

After dinner tonight Walt was going crazy, like squawking and clearly tired.  Poor little guy drools like a champ and his entire shirt was soaked while his neck shined from drool.  Mimi offered to set up a bath in the kitchen sink and I took her up on that.  While we were washing him she made a comment that she has pictures of Cary getting a bath in her mom's sink.  So I told Cary to grab the camera and capture these moments.

Ayers Thanksgiving

It's our annual trip to the farm for Thanksgiving!  The weather has been amazing.  Ellery has been super excited to go on the tractor and see the cows.  Cary planned a few fun "Father/Daughter" things for them to do; special adventures.  I'm excited to get our Christmas tree tomorrow!

Some memories:

This is Walt's new thing, sucking on his bottom lip.  

I think he looks like an old man with no teeth.

Cary, checking out a hunting stand that we came across while touring the back of the farm.

He's been hunting but had no luck, yet.

DeFoggi Thanksgiving

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures while we were celebrating Thanksgiving at my parents house.

We had a really nice time! 

My aunt and cousin visited from Canada and our friend Ginger, from church, joined us as well.

Walt hung out in his new bouncy seat and kept everyone entertained while he jumped and squealed the entire meal.

After lunch Ellery asked Mar Mar if she could "cook."  Mom has a little spice station next to the cook top and Ellery just pours salt into the pepper bowl and makes a huge mess.  But that's part of the fun!

We have so much to be thankful for and when the day ended, my heart was so full.

A Little Off The Top

Although I cut the "wings" above Walt's ears a few months ago, while we were in Florida, the hair on top was quickly becoming out of control.

I had enough and decided to give him a little trim on Thanksgiving morning.

He is SO curious!  This was the 10 seconds of the entire haircut where he wasn't trying to get into something on the bathroom counter.

MUCH BETTER!!