chillin with uncle joe

here are a few pictures of eli and his uncle joseph (chris' little brother who turned 11 this summer) im not quite sure why they were laying under the table... but they sure were cute together! i guess they were both pooped from all of the family festivities... so they were just hanging out watching the carolina game!

have your cake and eat it too... birthday bash!

here are some pictures from our STEYNE BIRTHDAY BASH:
JENNI 28 (9/24)
CHRISTOPHER 28 (9/25)
VICTORIA 16 (10/3)
ABI 15 (10/11)
since everyone's birthday are so close... and two sets of sibling groups... we thought we would just have a big birthday bash! it was huge... i didnt realize the family is so big... 40 people all realated... and ironically about 1/3 of the family is spread across the world!


understand one thing... chris DOES NOT EAT any type of batter or cookie dough... but look what i caught him doing... tasting the cake batter!


now i on the other hand LOVE batter and dough probably more than the finished product!


6 whole carrots = 3 cups shredded finely = lots of love for a carrot cake!


i made Jenni a carrot cake with cream cheese icing


i made chris a milk chocolate cake with cream cheese icing


i made abi white cupcakes with dark chocolate icing


here is my finished work... dont mind the sloppy letters... i iced and decorated the cakes while holding eli... so if you look at it from that point of view... i think i managed to do pretty well! oh and the two big batches of vanilla and mint chocolate chip ice cream are not in the picture, but oh so tasty!


victoria wanted a chocolate chip cookie cake... i didnt make this one

I HATE SHOES...

here are a few pictures i took of eli when i put on his first pair of stride rite shoes (oh and just fyi... i totally got them for $2.50 at The Tot Trade)




so clothes are not his favorite either... his special trick is to take his diaper off at EVERY opprotunity

playin with the pup pups

Bono, you better get down from there or mama is going to get mad! crazy dog


Mama doesn't like me feeding the dogs... but she can't help but laugh when I start rolling with laughter! I was pretending to give Bono Cheerios, but then would eat them myself... but I was laughing so hard Cheerios were falling out of my mouth and those Bono snatched up quickly! It was a wonderful cycle of laughter


Mama walked into the kitchen and left Blair and I in the dining room... when the cat is away the mice will play... so maybe I just gave her a couple... mama just happen to catch me in the act!


Mama and I were getting ready for Bible study when we found Bono fast asleep in my highchair...my silly dog knows how to smile

playin with Blair

bug update

we found a cool leaf bug on our front porch...

where the phrase bug-eyes comes from...

yummy tomato...

not sure what the white stuff is... this is a different one who has not eaten any of my tomatoes

day one poop...

poop after 5 days...

creation... reading

as you can see i am trying to take on the huge task of being a mama to an adventurous little boy who is so curious about EVERYTHING... which i absolutely love. it is truly amazing how much i can see his masculinity shining through his little body and i am beginning to see what makes him tick and what he enjoys. he most definitely LOVES being outside... so here is what we found in whats left of our tomato plants




the last two days have been wet, dreary, overcast days... it reminds me of rainy season in africa... minus the vast amounts of mud... but the somewhat depressing days. they are the kind of days that make you want to stay in your pj's all day and cuddle up and read a good book... or for me catch up on all of my blog reading & writing.

a leaf fell onto our skylight and has been eli's focal point ever since... he made sure to show dada when he got home, talked about it until it got dark and looked for it this morning... (since i just said its really dreary outside i obviously made the first picture look pretty)





eli loves reading blogs with me... his favorite song is the song by david crowder "all that i can say"... i first heard it on bring on the rain then added it to my playlist as well as other friends i have found from angie's blog...

its also one of the songs i sing to eli at bedtime... and he sings along no matter if he is on the brink of lala land with his eyes shut




you cant tell that he is singing... but i assure you he is in this sweet sounding little boy voice... no im not bias!

conductor overalls

life is broken down into chapters and coming to the end of one and the begining of the next can be bitter-sweet... i have come to the realization that the "baby" chapter has come to an end and we are begging the toddling stage. eli is so independent and determined to figure everything out and just how it works. he gained the courage over the weekend to walk more times than he crawls, which makes his adventures endless. please dont remind me that my sweet baby is turning one in merely a few weeks.


chris had a pair of conductor overalls, which was his dads favorite outfit... so Pops bought eli a pair too! so here are a few pictures of our little man






he sure loves auntie jenni (i know 2nd cousin, but its a south african thing to call people auntie)


so as i was capturing eli enjoying the pretty day, the green south carolina grass, and the warm sunshine blair started growling (mind you we... chris, cousin jenni, blair, bono, eli and myself were all in the back yard) so we walked over to blair and found this copperhead stuck in the mesh fence pop pop put up to keep the deer from eating our garden. chris pulled out the shotgun and took the head off! WAY TO GO DADDY!



those of you coming to eli's birthday party... this isnt to scare you off... we are blessed by having lots of land surrounding us and with His creation comes creepy crawlies

"love" notes

Let me prefice this by telling you that I am NOT:
a pack rat
hoarder
psycho

I HAVE moved 30 times... but never went through the stuff I threw in boxes when my parents moved right after I graduated from high school