Mmmm basagna

Had to write this down quick..

We are at the dropzone tonight and I just put the boys to bed in our trailer. When I was putting Elijah to bed, he said, "Mama, what you making for food for you and Daddy?" I said, "Lasagna." He said, "Ohh! What will you eat after that?" I said, "Maybe some garlic bread." I kissed him goodnight and he said, "I hope you enjoy your basagna and garden bread!"

Brothers and other

I'm happy to report that I have seen some (teeny tiny) bits of improvement with the Sammy-Elijah bond. There are actually moments when Elijah will tolerate being slobbered on or crawled over. The other night at dinner Sammy was making his back-of-the-throat piggy noise that makes us all laugh and Elijah let out a genuine giggle and said, "Sammy's so funny!" Up until now, we haven't heard him say much of anything about Sammy that was positive, so I loved hearing this!



Speaking of that Sammy, he's quite the little comedian these days. He insists that we put all of our cereal boxes on the floor and open them up so that he can reach in and grab a handful of Fruit Loops or Kix whenever he feels like it. If I put the boxes back up on the shelf, he will point at them and whine until I bring them back down. The other day Dan and I were making fun of his whiny-pointing, and Sam thought it was hilarious. Now he makes fun of himself! He does the point-whine and cracks himself up.



Another funny thing from Sammy.. he loves to go over to the door and grab his shoes and shove them toward his feet and then look at us like, HELP! Get these things on! He does this until we put on his shoes for him. Also, when he falls or runs into something, he will point to the body part that he hurt, while giving me a concerned look, so I will kiss it. He has been making a funny kissy sound lately, too. If I ask him for a kiss, he'll make the sound and smile.



Elijah has been loving the movie Tangled lately. There's a part in the movie where Rapunzel threatens to hit Eugene (or Gene, as Elijah calls him) with a frying pan. So now Elijah walks around the house with either his toy plastic pan or a spoon, pretending to hit everything (and everyone) he sees. Great.

This week has been....well, it has been an interesting one. There are lots of things going on with us in just about every aspect of our lives. My dad and stepmom spent some time with us this week before they headed back home to North Carolina. We also got to see other family that we don't see nearly enough. We've been trying to wrap our heads around a few other things, and now we are looking forward to a weekend and the dropzone and the State Fair. Dan and I are taking a much-needed adult-only vacation next week that we are getting excited for. So, yes, lots going on. I hope you all are doing well! Have a great weekend..

Our little star!

Our happy-faced little boy donned the cover of the St. Francis mailer!

Family time

The boys had a great time in Iowa visiting family. Elijah and Sammy even got an entire day and night with Grammie and Gramps!



Elijah fell in love with the lake. He loved "swimming" (wading/kicking/splashing).



It is so much fun to see our boys bonding with my dad and stepmom and other family members, as well. I think it's so important for them to feel love from not just us, but other people, too.



It took Sammy a while to warm up, but it happened! He did great without Dan or I there at all on that last day.



Elijah has made great strides with potty training, even on vacation. Granted, we have had our share of accidents, but we are getting closer. I refuse to put diapers back on him (except at night), so we are getting accustomed to cleaning up our share of messes.



Now we are back at home and attempting to get back into a routine. I reached a bit of a breaking point this week as far as having a bit too much on my plate. It gets really tough during these summer months when Dan works most of the time. Add to that some post-surgery stress, a full-time job, two blogs, photography and miscellaneous and....you have one burnt-out mama. Plans are in the works to alleviate some of this..



That's about all we know for now! School starts in a few weeks, but we have a lot of fun stuff on our schedule before then.



Sorry for the lack of posts lately and thanks for checking in!

Playing "buckets"

Here is a small sampling of photos from the other night at home. We are spending time with family this weekend, getting and giving lots of love.



Have a good weekend, everyone!

Updateless update

I am behind! Sorry for the lack of posts. We have been busy. I'll come back soon to write an update. For now, boy pics..

I think we chose the perfect name for him

Sammy has a thing about picking up large or heavy objects and toting them around the house. I walked into the kitchen the other day to see this..



He walked through the entire downstairs portion of our house carrying the toaster, and then turned it upside down to unleash the crumbs. So I took it away from him..



Everything that he can lift, he does lift. And carry.



He started pointing the other day, which I think is adorable. If he hears an airplane, he will point at the sky and go, "BBbrrrrrr!"

He is getting good at making animal noises. Cow=booo. Duck=ga ga. Dog=uff. So stinkin' cute!

Another fun thing we do is our chasing game. I say, "I'm gonna GET YOU!" He laughs hysterically and runs away from me. It's a fun little game the two of us like to play.

And my oh my, what a good little sleeper this boy is. He sleeps from 6:30 until 6:30, sometimes 7:00 and even 7:30 or later on occasion. The latest Elijah has ever slept is 6:50, and I think it happened once.

One other cute Sammy thing. He likes to sit down with a book and flip through the pages as he whispers, "Dada. Dada. Dada." I say, "Book?" He whispers, "Dada."