Elijah's walking!

While we were in Minnesota Elijah took his first steps! He took one in the morning, then two more a few hours later...then just started to walk around. It was crazy how quickly he figured it out! Now, a week later, he is walking all around our house! He still does his silly crawl when he wants to get somewhere fast...but he's trying out the walking thing more and more. He's a cutie pie. I have noticed that he has to feel comfortable in a place before he'll walk. When we got home it took him a while to walk (he wasn't in the familiar hotel room), then on Sunday at church he wouldn't really walk...but once he got home, he was walking all over. Enjoy this cute video...it was the best we could do.

Our Trip

Little Mister looking at the big planes.








We spent the last week in Minnesota, visiting for my cousin's wedding. The whole family was there and it was so much fun to be together. We frequented the Mall of America (there's so much for the kids to do and be entertained by!), visited with family and friends, and celebrated Alia's birthday. And...Elijah STARTED WALKING! Yep...he took his first steps on June 16th, and it's been uphill ever since. I'm still trying to get a good video on my camera. I'll try to get one tomorrow. For Alia's birthday (the 17th) we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe with my family. I ordered a Backyardigans birthday cake-and she was thrilled! We opened a few presents too. Earlier in the day she got to make a bear at the Build A Bear store. Of course, she chose the pinkest animal she could find. She put pajamas on her and named her Snoozy. It's pretty cute. We had a great time away...but it was good to get home, back in our own beds.

Here are the big girls at my cousin's wedding. They were given little bags with a princess coloring book and glitter crayons-perfect idea! The girls spent lots of time coloring and playing with the stickers inside. Then, the music came on and they danced the night away.

Our friends from seminary (who now live in South Dakota) came to Minnesota for a Dr Appt...and so we got to spend a day with them! It was so great to see them, and their new additions to their family. Them, us, and my brothers family all went to the zoo and spend the day. There were 6 parents and 8 kids! Yikes!!! We had a good time. Here's a picture of all the kiddos...Elijah is in the way back, probably trying to crawl away.

We spent some time at LegoLand, in the Mall of America. Here's Avery and Alia playing away. They loved to play at the Lego tables.

Here's Elijah getting his turn at the Lego tables, too!

Alia and Mommy on the Carousel.

Daddy being silly with Elijah at lunch.

I've come a long way...

For those of you interested (is anyone out there??)...my weight watchers progress thus far is -34 pounds! It's so hard for me to believe...especially when I fit into a single digit size pants. Crazy!!! Anyways...I still have a little more to go, but I KNOW I can make it there! I can't give up now...look at what I've done! Praise the Lord!

Elijah's Dedication

Elijah was dedicated on June 10th at church, along with Micah Nickell. It was a nice service, although the older children didn't cooperate as well as they could have. But, the two being dedicated had no issues, and just went right along with it.

The Birthday Party

On June 9th we had a birthday party for Alia and Elijah. It was a castle party, so all the little boys got prince crowns and the little girls got princess tiaras. The kids had lots of fun playing in the back yard, eating yummy mexican food, opening presents, and, of course, eating cake!



Here's a picture of some of the decorations.


The craft table-there were swords and wands for the kids to decorate with markers, stickers, glitter glue, and some other fun things.


Here are the cakes. Since Elijah is only 1, I decided to let Alia chose the color for the cake...and of course, she chose pink...or more appropriately "princess pink". I saw a picture of this cake online and knew I could make it. I think it turned out pretty neat, and it was fun to make. Plus, it was yummy. I also made Elijah his own little blue star cake-that way he could eat it to his heart's content...which he did.

Cake, yummy!

After dinner we came home to have some cake. Well, Alia, Elijah and Daddy had cake. :) I made little star cakes-the size of cupcakes and then decorated them. I put it in front of him and he fingered it a bit...then brought his fingers to his mouth. AHHH...YUM! And he reached down and grabbed a BIG chunk and started eating. He loved it! Fun to watch.

A trip to Toys R Us

Elijah is part of Toys R Us's Birthday Club, so we took a trip to let him "pick out" a birthday present. He got the special treatment. They made an announcement over the loudspeaker, announcing to everyone in the store that it was his first birthday. And then we heard a number of the other workers there say "Happy Birthday" to him over the loudspeaker. It was cute. Then he got this fantastic balloon (which he loved banging it around) and a birthday hat (which he took off as quickly as we tried to put it on him). We got a few things and went on our way to have pizza for dinner.

Happy Birthday, Little Mister

Well...today my little boy turned one year old. It's so hard to believe he's one already! Wasn't it just yesterday that I was in the hospital waiting for the Dr to come so I could push him out? Man...time flies! And how he's grown. I'm feeling a bit sad that he's grown up so much, but also excited at what is in store for us. Many more milestones to hit...and to be proud of! We love you, little mister...and happy birthday.


Elijah, just born.


Elijah, today. Don't you love the gummy smile??

Opening Presents!

Yeah! This morning Elijah got to wake up and open his presents!! He wasn't too interested...but he did have fun. :) He really liked climbing on top of the boxes.



Here's our big boy in his Birthday Boy dinosaur t-shirt. I think he looks pretty handsome.


Like Elijah's new Oregon Ducks t-shirt? Thanks Gramma Barb & Grampa Jim!


Elijah loved the tissue paper that his new moose stuffy was wrapped in. Great idea, Grandma & Grandpa B!


Vroom! Vroom! There will be hours of skidding cars happening in our hallway, thanks to Auntie & Uncle & cousins! Vroom, Vroom!


We got Elijah a little toy workhorse. He loves standing up and banging the hammer, and Alia likes to play with it too. :)

Updates...

So, it's been a while since I posted an update on us...so here it is:

Jason
He's learning more and more each day about what it means to be a Pastor. He made it through Easter with flying colors...and is moving on to the future. He's so glad to be doing what he's been trained to do...and loves it!

Trish
Well...there's now 28.8 pounds less of me! Can you believe it?!?! I sure can't...but it's amazing! I've gone through about 2 cycles of clothes (it's not okay when your pants are literally falling off you), which means wasted money, but what better way to waste money? :) It's been a lot of hard work...with moments of failure, but the work is sure worth it. Other than that, life's about managing the kids. :) We have lots of playgroups, activities and errands we do. Some days it's just hard to be a mom...but most days the joy of cuddling up with my kids makes it all worth it. My favorite moments with them are: sitting on the couch reading books with Alia, snuggling with Elijah right before he goes down for a nap or bedtime, laying on the floor and letting them both climb all over me, and watching Alia's face light up when Elijah comes into the room.

Alia
Can you believe she'll be three in a month!?!? Man...time flies. For her birthday she wants "A pink mirror...so I can watch myself dance." Is that cute? And she does just that...listen to music and dance. She danced like crazy in front of me (and with me) this morning. She's 100% potty trained-no more diapers for her! Yippee! She'll be going to preschool this fall and is so excited about it. She loves her brother a ton and enjoys playing with him all the time.

Elijah
Next week we'll have a one year old in our house. His favorite thing to do is follow his sister around. He loves to get into our box of instruments and make "music" with them all. He's a real good eater-eating most of what we eat and is getting the hang of a sippy cup. He has developed his crawling into a sort of gorilla crawl-on his hands and feet! It's pretty funny. He wants so bad to get up and walk-I can see it in his eyes, but he gets around FAST the way he's going...so walking might be further off than we thought.

Chicago-land

A few weeks ago we flew to Chicago for a visit to family and friends. We had a great time! The plane ride home was much better because the plane wasn't filled so we got to bring Elijah's carseat on as well...so he was much more manageable. We arrived on a Monday evening...and the fun began on Tuesday. We spent most of Tuesday in the city with our seminary friends, Wednesday we visited my old work friends...and had lunch with them, Thursday we spent time with Jason's grandmother, and Friday we had breakfast with Jason's high school buddy and his family. In between all of that we hung out with Jason's parents! WOW! Were we busy! Thanks everyone for a great trip!

more pics...

We got to spend some time with our old Bible Study, and good friends. It was soooo good to be with them!!

All of us with our kiddos (minus on husband and one baby)

Here's Elijah grabbing some food from his new friends.

Alia and her buddy Joel. Alia and Joel spent the first year of their lives together...and it was so precious to see them pick up right where they left off.

Pictures

Last week we went and saw Sesame Street Live's Elmo Makes Music. It was a blast! Alia couldn't take her eyes off the stage, and started to cry when they left, saying, "Where'd all my friends go?" Elijah had a harder time, so he and daddy hung out in the lobby the second half of the show. But, we did have him wear his "Got Cookie?" cookie monster shirt. So cute! Alia's favorite "friend" was Zoe, and she loved singing along with the music-and dancing, too!

Here's a still of Elijah after his dinner tonight. Both he and Alia went right into the bath after they finished.

Tonight's dinner

Tonight we had chicken, stuffing and green beans for dinner. I also put together some macaroni and pasta sauce for the kids-in case they didn't eat the chicken. :) Well...Elijah acted as though he hadn't eaten all day long...shoveling the food into his mouth with both hands! It was hilarious. He ate it all before I could get the camera...so I took a little video of him after he was done. Boy, doesn't it look like he enjoyed it? And, I also took a little shot of Alia...the first bite is of her noodles, the second is a piece of cantaloupe, the third is a piece of chicken. Tonight she ASKED for some chicken! Boy, she's come a long way!

Try #3

Here's a different video of Elijah walking. :)

Not so video savvy...

So, I'm trying to figure out this video thing...so bear with me. My camera doesn't have audio with the videos, so you'll just have to watch in silence. :) But, enjoy them all the same. To view, just click on the little picture, and it should come up bigger.

Bathtime!

Here are my cutie pies in the bath together. They both love to take baths!