Dance machine

Elijah was quite a kick on the cruise.  Every time with went into the "club" area and took him on the stage he danced around like crazy.  He even upstaged the comic before Bingo on the first night.  He was a celebrity for the rest of the cruise.  In this video he's dancing while Home Alone 2 is playing but you get the gist.

Anyone know how to flip a video?

Honeymoon (5 years late)

When David and I got married 5 years ago we intended to take our honeymoon trip 3 months later but a delay with our passports required us to push it back.  After that our Spring Break schedules never lined up.  So this year over our 5th anniversary we finally took our Florida "honeymoon" vacation (with Elijah).

We started were gone for about 10 days.  We started in Orlando and found a cute little place called Celebration.  There were some little shops and a little town square area that had snow like bubbles at night.  Elijah loved it and danced around like crazy it in.

 The next day we went to Islands of Adventure @ Universal Studios.  We decided not to do Disney World because it would be more fun when Elijah was old enough to care and we wanted to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We were also delighted to find out that there was a Dr. Seuss section of the park and Elijah was able to go on every ride there.

 There was also a Grinch show the Elijah LOVED.  He sat spell bound for the entire 30 minutes and he giggled and clapped at the right times. 

 There is also a Jurassic Park section to the park.

 The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was packed with people but it was so fun.  It felt like stepping into the book.  There were some characters around but we weren't able to get a picture due to the crowds. 

First you walk into Hogsmeade.

 Then you get to Hogwarts.  Hogwarts is mostly just a ride but while you wait in line for the ride you get to see quite a few memorable parts of the castle like the fat lady and such.

 After we left Orlando we drove to Palm Beach and left on a short 2 day cruise to the Bahamas.  We decided not to spend the money on an excursion but walked off the boat and enjoyed looking at the ocean there.

My favorite picture of the whole tip.

 This is the area we walked around as seen from the boat.

 Our last place was near Ft. Lauderdale.  We spent most of our time there relaxing and went to the beach every day since it was right next to our hotel.   This was the view from our window.

Elijah loved picking up handfuls of sand and throwing them in the water.

I was really surprise at how much coral and how many shells were on the beach there.

 And even though he got a face full of water numerous times, he never cried about it.

All in all we had a blast.  I don't think I ever want to be gone over the actual day of Christmas again, but I'm glad we finally went.  It was relaxation and a great break from the stresses of life.  I love you David!  Happy 5th anniversary.

San Antonio Trip

We decided to use our free Sea World San Antonio passes one last time.  Dave's sister Lindsay and her family joined us.  We had a great time despite the fact that on the way home Dave's car threw a rod and Mazda doesn't want to have anything to do with it because we didn't service our car with them.  Apparently a manufacturing defect isn't something they cover if they can find a way out of it.  Anyway . . . more on that another time.  Here are some pictures.

The green eyed monster

I have a big problem . . . I am envious of others who have things I want.  To me there is nothing worse than watching someone get exactly what I want, especially if they don't really want it in the first place.  I know that the Lord is in control and will give me things at the "right" time but it still sucks right now.  I hate giving up control SO MUCH! 

That's all.  Hopefully with that out I can move on and find other things to focus on.  Sigh.

Gary Randall

Just over 2 weeks ago a dear family friend named Gary Randall died.  I want to pay tribute to him a bit and just mention what he meant to me.  Gary was the only home teacher that I really remember from my childhood.  He came each month and although there was a time when he served in a Spanish Branch in our area he was still a constant in my life.  When my parents got divorced and my dad proceeded to leave our church Gary was the one who filled in where there was a void.  I don't know that he was ever asked to or if he just saw the void and did what he could to fill it.  Between he and my brothers I think that, all things considered, I didn't miss out on as much as I would have otherwise.  Even though there was not always a priesthood holder in my home I knew there was one 5 minutes away who would come when ever he was asked.  After I had a bad car accident he was there to give me a blessing of comfort and a chocolate bunny to ease my pain.  I was lucky enough to have him seal my husband and I for time and all eternity and that will always be something that is a tender mercy for me.  My dad wasn't worthy of being there but Gary was.

He will always be special to me.  A second father or sorts or at least a grandpa to me and I will miss his positive influence in my life.  I will be eternally grateful for his love and kindness and how he helped me grow into the person I am today.  I will try to be a better visiting teacher to honor him and his memory.  Thank you Gary.  You made a little girl/young woman's life brighter and happier because you were in it.  I love you!

Nursery Boy

Last Sunday I decided to start putting Elijah into nursery at church during the 3rd hour.  He's not quite old enough but the nursery leader has told me to go ahead whenever so I did.  He had a lot of fun.  He had no clingy tendencies and when I peaked in during snack time he was such a big boy sitting at the table with the rest of the kids.  I'm so proud of my big boy.

Halloween

This year we did a lot for Halloween.  I didn't take many pictures but here are a few of my cute little puppy.

On the Friday before Halloween we went to our church's Halloween party where there was a potluck, carnival games and a trunk or treat.  We had lots of fun and were glad grandma and grandpa Figgins came too.  They got to witness Elijah finally getting good at saying "thank you".
The next day we went to grandma and grandpa Figgins church Halloween party where there was a chili cook off and trunk or treating.  Grandma's "swamp punch" was a big hit.  From the moment the trunk or treating started there was a line up of kids wanting to sample the punch with dry ice and rubber bugs in it.  It was a lot of fun.
On Halloween David stayed home and passed out candy while I took Elijah to a few houses to trick or treat.  He said thank you to everyone and said buhbye to them the entire walk down the driveway while I pulled him on so he didn't try to run back to the house we just went to.  I think next year he will be a pro. 

Oil Ranch

A few weeks after my sister left Elijah and I got to go the Oil Ranch again with his cousin Remy.  Here are some of the fun things we did.

Horseback riding.  Twice!

He LOVED it!

Remy liked it too.

 

We got to pet a sheep and this is Elijah baaing at one.

We got to ride on a little train with Hallie and Remy.

We also went on a hay ride of sorts and fed some cows and went to see a cow get milked.  Elijah was too scared to touch it though.  It was a lot of fun.

Fun with the Stevens

Bonnie reading to her son, Eric, and Elijah.

My sister and her husband came to visit at the beginning of October.  Unfortunately I forgot the camera everywhere we went so I just have a few pictures of when they were at my house the day before they left.


The first day they were here we went to Oil Ranch in Hockley.  It was such a blast!  There were tons of animals to see and pet, horses to ride, the older kids enjoyed playing on a "sky swing" and doing a little put put course that was on site.  There was even a train ride.  I was able to go again with my sister in law a few weeks later so I will post some of those in another post.

I could not get these two guys to stop sharing Elijah's cups with each other.

That evening Dave joined us and we honored my brother in law Jason's mom Linda (who passed away last year at this time) by going to Fajita Willie's for dinner.  I wish I lived closer to Willie's!

The following day we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival and had a blast eating lots of fair type food and seeing lots of shows.  The kids and Bonnie and I spent some time jumping on some trampoline's attached to bungee cords which was a lot of fun.  All in all it was a blast.  I am so glad that even though I don't get to see my family very often I have a sister who comes to Texas at least once a year.

calling all readers

So I'm toying with the idea of going private and just keeping this blog as my own personal journal.  I haven't gotten any comments in a while so let me know if you are still reading my blog so I can decide to start a new personal one for myself or just make this one private.

Hey Mom, Look what I can do!

One thing I was going to write about in the last post (before it got so stream of consciousness) was some of the things Elijah is doing these days just so I have a record of them.

• Elijah can tell you what a cow, sheep, horse, dog, kitty (not cat), lion, bear, and 3 singing pigs say.  He's actually been able to do most of those for quite a while now.
• can sit down on command so I can put his shoes on. 
• can find his binky in my pocket.
• is starting to use a fork.
• can show you his eyes, ears, head, nose, tongue, teeth, mouth, fingers, toes, knee, and his belly which always becomes bellybutton (he's also done most of this for a while).
• can smell his feet and if you ask them how they smell he waves his hand in front of his face to say they stink (thanks David).
• does all of the actions for patty cake and popcorn popping as well as most of the actions for 5 monkeys swinging in the tree and jumping on the bed.
• can put himself to sleep at night and sometimes for naptime too.  Yay!
• can put things back upon command, like daddy's socks from the drawer.  Sometimes he doesn't want to so he won't but it's nice that he does sometimes.
• can give closed mouth kisses which is so cute but a little sad because it means he's growing up.
• folds his arms for prayer (but he's been regressing at this I think because it is losing its novelty).
• says momma, dadda, night night (na na), love you (la la), shoe, sock, amen, cracker (ca ca), cookie (a variation on cracker), diaper (di doh), no, grandpa (pa pa) and attempts grandma but it's different depending on the day.  He some others which I can't think of right now.
• has said banana perfectly once and randomly said gnome perfectly when I was telling him what something was, neither have persisted.
• signs more, all done, drink and uses a sign I made up for binky which he has for a while, and recently added sorry.
• throws a ball and walks backwards.
• pushes cars along the ground.
• dumps out baskets of things like toys and clothes.
• climbs into his high chair booster thing as well as onto most chairs and sits on them.
• gives me his binky when I ask for it although he usually wants it right back if he's not distracted.
• grabs any writing utensil he can find and uses it to draw on the nearest paper.
• loves to look at books and turn the pages.
• climbs on the outside of his crib.
• is starting to be able to blow from his nose on command.
• dances to music in a few different ways.

He is just so precious!  I love this boy!

The humdrum daily life

First some recent pictures of Elijah in all his cuteness.

Every morning I send Elijah to get stray binkies from under his bed and often he gets them and just lays there.  It is so cute!

I was so thrilled when Elijah finally started liking fresh fruit.  I think he had some strawberries each week for a month.  It's nice when I know he's eating something healthy.

Elijah is obsessed with walking in mine and David's shoes.

Elijah also LOVES pizza. 

I had given Elijah some food one morning and left to go do something for a minute.  When I came back I found this.

It only takes a minute . . . I was getting a bag ready to go swimming and I came back and found this,  Not only was it on his face but it was on his tongue

Everything is pretty humdrum here these days.  We have pretty much lost our lawn in the drought but I suppose the upside is that we haven't mowed in months.  The weather is really starting to get to me and I am looking forward to fall and winter with much anticipation.  I keep reminding myself that we have to stay here until 2014 because we got the new homebuyer tax credit when we bought this house and don't have the money to pay it back if we move out before we've been in it for 3 years.  Sigh.

I have been talking to my sister recently about the difficulties of being a homemaker.  I never expected myself to struggle with it to the degree I do.  Some days it is very hard to get things done and as much as you love your child(ren) they can really get on your nerves some days.  Elijah broke his first glass today and I was MAD!  I should not have been so upset because he is just 16 months but I wanted to make an impression and hopefully stop his obsession with getting things off of the table.  It seems that it only takes 10 seconds away from him and he will get into something bad, as is evidenced in some of the above pictures.  I just feel overwhelmed some days and it I feel guilty for feeling that way.  Sometimes I have a hard time knowing how to interact with Elijah in meaningful ways. 

I was very grateful that I was able to watch our church's general Relief Society (women's organization) broadcast.  I needed the words spoken by the Lord's apostle.  I am so grateful for the reaffirmation that the Lord knows me and my personal struggles. 

I have also been finding my load easier as I have been making time to read my scriptures each day.  I started reading Sept 1st and will finish the Book of Mormon by Dec 31st.  It has been such a blessing and I seem to find myself able to get things done that I wasn't able to get done before.  Some days are worse than others (like today with the broken glass) but I am getting through it with the Lord's help.