Snapshots

Tonight we did our best to get a great picture for our holiday cards. Here are some of the funny results. After we thought we had the perfect picture, I look at it on the computer and noticed Elijah had a sweet potato mustache. SHOOT! The perfect picture, flawed. :) So, we will try again tomorrow night...and it will be BEFORE Elijah eats this time.

Little Mister

Here's Elijah trying his best at sitting up. :) He sure likes playing with little toys. :)

Tree shopping

We got our Christmas tree about 7 days ago...you'll soon see the final decorated tree. :) Alia found some trees her size that she just had to take home.

A visit from Santa!

Saturday we went to a holiday party with the Visalia MOMS Club-a club I'm involved with. It was a great time of food, fun, and...well, Santa! He arrived on a firetruck decked out in his red outfit and sunglasses! Only in California! :)

Precious kids

Here are some random pictures...so cute.

Thanksgiving

My parents came to our place for Thanksgiving. We had a good time together, despite colds. :) We didn't get a whole group picture...but here are some memories for you. Jason cooked the turkey on the BBQ and everything else was done inside. Everything turned out great!!

Roll playing

Alia has been doing a lot of roll playing. Last night she was playing with her babies and she picked one up and sat her on the wall, saying, "you didn't listen to me so you go on the wall for a time out".










This picture is of Alia "feeding" her baby...the same way I feed my baby (Elijah). Jason and I get a big laugh when she pretends to nurse her baby. Kids sure watch what we do!

Dining area

Here's a pic of our dining area...the chairs are a nice leather. We like it a lot.

Cousin friends!

Here are the pairs of cousins! They just love to be together-can you tell?? Daddy gave Avery and Alia mohawks...they loved it.

And here they are sitting on a bench in downtown Visalia. Too cute!











And now the sleeping babies...Elijah and Cayley. Notice how their heads are turned the opposite ways. Pretty funny. This was probably after a long morning of shopping with Mommy and Auntie Mary.

Our little boy

Elijah is growing up fast. He just had his 6 month checkup-and got 4 shots!! It's possible he has reflux, so he's on some medication to see if it will help decrease the spitting up. We'll see. He's 15 pounds right now. His favorite spots are on his belly, trying to crawl and in his exersaucer. He's moving around by rolling and scooting...so it won't be long now before he's really moving. Yikes! I'm not sure I'm ready for 2 mobile kids. :)

Treat Time

Alia loved trick or treating! There were a few houses that scared her, but holding one of our hands did the trick. And, for a little girl of only 2 years, she got quite a bit of "loot"! We let her eat one piece last night...and she gobbled it down.

Playtime

Yesterday we had some play time on the floor with Elijah. His favorite place to be these days is on his belly. (his second favorite place is his exersaucer)
The past three days he actually started moving. He moved backwards about 5 or 6 feet yesterday! Crazy. He also scooted his knees underneath himself for the first time....the first image of crawling. Doesn't he look so cute?

Happy Halloween!

The first two pictures were taken at a Halloween party we went to last weekend.

One is a chicken, the other is a cow...so cute! Thursday night we went to a halloween carnival at the library. It was so funny to be there...Jason and I laughed most of the time as we watched the other little kids, and Alia, dance around to a singer. She had a great time. After a while she decided she needed to rest-and sat herself down to look at some books.

First Foods!

This past week we decided to give Elijah his first foods. Here he is playing with the spoon. We're pretty sure he likes the rice cereal...as he fusses when we put down the bowl. His favorite thing to do is to try to grab the spoon and bring it to his mouth himself. We've entered the world of messy eating again! Yikes! I have been telling myself that I need to start making some baby food so I'll hve it on hand, but I think I can wait another few weeks before I do that. We'll see. I'll have to spend a Saturday making a number of bunches.

Pictures!

Here are some pictures, finally! I'll get more on soon...kids are crying.

Installation weekend

We had Jason's parents and a number of friends come to town for Jason's installation weekend. It was good to have everyone here. Below are pictures of: 1) The Backlund family 2) Alia and her boyfriend, Jacob Quayle 3) Elijah and his girlfriend, Keilani Quayle.

Pumpkin Patch

So, living out here in the "country"...there is this cool pumpkin patch! Two weeks ago we went to it with some other moms from MOPS. They read us a story and the kids got to pick pumpkins. Here's Alia's pumpkin. There was a little corn maze for toddlers, and a sandbox filled with corn kernels instead of sand. Pretty fun place!

House

Here are some pictures of our house. Alia is sitting on her big girl bed-so proud! Underneath the bed is a trundle (for soon to come sleepovers) and three drawers for toys. To the right of her bed I've created a "kitchenett" for her. We made a little fridge out of a shelving unit. It's pretty cute...she plays there a ton. The other picture is of Elijah's room. It's a baby's room...with crib, glider, and changing table.

Long time...

...no Blog.
Sorry it's been so long. I'm sure some of you have been checking back again and again for updates on our new life in Visalia. The past month has been crazy, but great. We packed up all our stuff in 2 big trucks, and moved our life and family to the valley! We've been spending the rest of the time unpacking and becoming familiar with our new home.
We love our house! And Home Depot loves us, too! :) We have so much to be grateful for when I think of our home. Alia has her very own big girl room...with a big girl bed, a little kitchette area, and a table for her "little people" toys. She loves playing in there-it's so fun to watch. Elijah has his very own room with little boy things in it. He is going to grow up and love his room, too. We have a family room/great room which is perfect for our family! We can be fixing meals in the kitchen and still keep an eye on Alia. We also have a formal dining/living area...right now it's empty...someday soon it will be furnished. It's still hard to believe that we have our very own house. Next week we are having a bunch of the inside of the house painted, so it will look so much different than it does now.
So, I'm sure you are asking, "where are the pictures!??!" Well, I can't find my USB cord to the camera. It is either in one of the boxes still to unpack, or it's still at my parents place. In any event I am hoping to replace it soon. So, hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon-I have a TON of them! :)
Jason's enjoying his job...is glad to be back in ministry. I've been getting involved in 2 moms groups (MOPS & MOMS club), which has been real helpful.
Life goes on...and so does the smell of the cows. :)

Smiley.

Jason's Aunt Melissa and Uncle Dan sent us this great onesie. Uncle Dan happens to be a dentist/orthodontist...so it's a very fitting outfit to recieve from them. Here's my happy baby who doesn't floss! (but, one day he will...I promise Uncle Dan!)