Great start to 2014!

1,620 miles later, we are home from another incredible road trip. Our trusty Camry got us to Indiana and northern Michigan and back home. We spent five days with my dad, stepmom, brother and my brother's sweet girlfriend in Indiana. We all had such a fun and relaxing time! We took tons of naps (uhmm, every day) and we played in the snow a lot. Our first day involved a Christmas celebration that the boys adored.

Isn't Uncle Joel so cool.

Joel and Bree are the perfect gift givers. Sammy loved his pirate telescope and Elijah LOVED his Lego RV.

Something I did not capture any pictures of was our trip to a state park to go tobogganing! Oh my goodness, what an adventure! The toboggan track was 70 years old and went 30-40 miles per hour. I knew Sammy wouldn't dig it, so he sat in the chalet with Grammie at first and then Gramps. Our first trip down the icy tracks involved me in the front, GRAMPS in the middle (so proud of him for doing this!) and Dan in the rear. We got our speed up to 31 mph! Wooo! Elijah even willingly went down himself three times! Once with Uncle Joel/Bree, once with Grammie and Bree and the last time with Dan and me. I was so proud of him! I could definitely see his anxiety building up before each "race," but once we were moving he had a blast!

We had tons of snuggle time on the couch in the house we rented in Indiana, which will be perhaps my favorite memory of the trip.

Dan started a fire a couple days in a row. It was COLD, so we needed warming...but we also wanted to be outside, enjoying the fresh air and newly fallen snow.

Our lucky boys got to make and eat s'mores by the frozen lake!

Some silly Elijah faces..

Does anyone see Dan? I think he went inside. Oh wait..

I LOVE this photo of the boys with their Grammie and Gramps.

More snuggle time.

Another photo I love! Elijah and Gramps!

Bree and I made an awesome snowman in the freezing cold. Sammy named him "Sammy."

Fun times inside.

Story time with Gramps.

We sadly departed our rented Indiana home and said good-bye to Joel and Bree. I miss them! We drove up to northern Michigan to attend my niece Emily's wedding. We stayed right on Lake Michigan. It was beautiful!

The boys were ring bearers in the wedding. They did great and they looked even better. Look at these handsome boys!

We are back home and adjusting to the normal routine. Kind of. Tomorrow is our school-has-been-canceled-because-of-the-cold-temps day and Tuesday Elijah is having surgery on his ear. We are dreading it, but it is necessary. Thanks for checking in! Wishing you all the best!

Pee-pop!

I have had a "pee-pop" (Elijah's word for "lollipop") sitting on the bathroom counter for a week now. He adores pee-pops, so I figured I could use them as a tool in my game of potty bribery. (Ha! That makes "pee-pop" a very appropriate "word!") Elijah will sit down on the potty chair and say, "Pee-pop? PEE-POP? PEE-EE-eeee-PO-oPpppppp!" which is followed by very sad tears rolling down his cheeks after I tell him, "You can have a lollipop after you go potty." Well, today he finally got his beloved pee-pop because he went poopy on the potty! Yay Elijah! Maybe we should start calling it "poo-pop?"

We will be meeting with Elijah's birth-to-three program teachers and therapists on Thursday to go over the results of his recent assessments and testing. I'm really excited to be able to explain what we find out in more detail. One thing I DO know is that Elijah has been approved for ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) preschool! This is very exciting news! I think he will go to school for a few hours, two mornings per week starting in February. My baby will be going to preschool?! It makes me want to freak out just thinking about that, but I'll deal with that when the time comes. I'll be able to explain more after Thursday's meeting why he is eligible and what will be going on in his classroom.

The poor little cough monster is still coughing quite a bit, although I think it is starting to improve. His sleep is still getting disturbed, but less and less as each night goes by.

Elijah and I are hanging out at home tonight since it is FREEZING outside. This type of cold weather makes driving and running from building to car and car to building pretty miserable. Yuck! Oh well, we can handle it. At least we have a cozy warm house to come home to.

Have a safe, fun, WARM week, everyone!

Warmth, please

We have mere hours left in arctic Minnesota. It was -21 degrees on my drive to work this morning, and that is just a little too cold for me. We are looking forward to spending time in a tolerable climate for a few days. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 1:30 and we haven't even started packing yet. This is usually how we do things. Even though we are last-minute packers, we usually don't forget anything! We have so many fun things to look forward to on this trip. I will capture as much of it as possible in writing and on our camera.

Elijah has been so fun to be around this week. He makes us laugh all the time. He started sprint-crawling and it cracks me up. When he has his heart set on getting somewhere quickly, he crawls like he's in a very competitive race. It's so funny to see his little arms and legs moving so fast and his little bum going from side to side. He has been so fun and bubbly and full of personality lately. We haven't even had too many tantrums this week. Hopefully our vacation will be just as pleasant and tantrum-free.

Have a great weekend! We'll update next from North Carolina, where are fingers will have had a chance to thaw out.