The Rewards

First of all let me say Happy 8 Months to my sweet Eli! What's Eli up to? He is sitting like a champ and swimming with those arms and legs. Eli eats five containers of #2 food each day and drinks 24 oz of formula. No crawling or even much time up on those knees but I'm not altogether ready for him to be mobile anyway. I did give him a little pep talk and tell him that by this day, Nathan was already crawling. I didn't tell him that Luke was 9 months before he crawled :) I guess this is how the parental sibling comparisons begin! Eli is like Nathan so far in the tooth department, none at 8 months. Nathan did not have any teeth until he was 11 1/2 months. Luke had his first by 6 months and a mouth full by the time he was a year. OK enough with the comparisons. Each child is different, right! Here is my sweet Eli today, on his 8 month birthday!

Now, on to The Rewards. Having three boys and three boys so close together is sometimes hard. Our carpet is a mess, the couch has become a landing pad and I can't even count the number of light bulbs we've gone through. But, when times are good (and they often are), they are really good. The boys have a lot of fun together and have fun more often than they fight. While I was getting Eli's 8 month pictures, the big boys were in the "background" having a great time. Here are some pictures of typical life at our house. The laughter is amazing and makes our house happy.

Nathan, after a take down.

It won't be long Eli!

Off to round two!

Happy Days!

THOMAS!!!

Yesterday we all piled into the Jeep and drove to Rusk, TX for the long awaited trip to see Thomas! I say long awaited but it was mostly long awaited by me. Although we went to see Thomas last year, I knew this year would mean so much more to Luke and I was so excited for him to see Thomas. To say Luke loves trains is an understatement. It's always funny to me to tell people he loves trains and they kind of nod. Until they get to know Luke and understand that he LOVES trains. I can't tell you how many people at his school have said to me, Luke really loves trains. I know! So, I'll go ahead and apologize for all the pictures. They are also really out of order but I wanted to get them posted because I probably won't have time to post for another week or so.

Getting on the train.

Nathan on the train.
Luke on the train.

The family :)

The big boys and Thomas.

We were in the first car (of course).

Getting our Thomas tattoos.

With Sir Topham Hat. Nathan talked and talked about Sir Topham Hat but when the time came, Sir Topham Hat was just too scary.

They had all these train tables set up for the kids to play.

On a tractor (for the hayride).

All dressed and ready to go!

This picture does not do it justice but we were on the train and Nathan was starring so intently at Jeff and they looked so much alike, I tried to capture it.

Nathan entertaining Eli.

Jeff and Eli.

After running away from the picnic table for the 10th time, Nathan's new lunch seat.

Hard to stop for lunch with so much to see!

This was after about the 8th time of Nathan running away :)

This is when we were back in the truck. Eli was SO good all day. It was incredible.

Getting ready to leave. Haven't left yet and Nathan is asleep.

It was a really fun day and a memory I will treasure! East Texas sure is pretty!

Time

Since I've gone back to work, time has really started flying. It seems like one day it's Monday and the next thing I know, the week is over. I don't mean things are bad, they are just moving fast. I remember when I first stopped working after Luke was born, the thing I missed most was coming home from work on a Friday evening and feeling like I had really worked hard, done something important that week and could enjoy my weekend. It's nice to have that feeling again, although it's on a Saturday afternoon now. The other thing I missed was really feeling like I was part of a team and getting to spend my days with girls that were my best friends. Well, I don't have that at my new job but there are some really nice people and I enjoy being around them. Maybe when we move closer to the University and I spend more days on campus, it will begin to feel more like I'm with my friends, not just coworkers.

These are just a few memories I wanted to record. Nothing special, just happy days at home.

Mechanic or road kill?
So cute I could not tell them to move back. The sweetest part was, Luke was watching TV and called to Nathan and said, "Here Nathan, here's a chair for you. Want to watch TV with me and eat your breakfast?" Nathan responded with his "yeah!" Luke had also pulled over the other chairs so they could put their plates on them (you can't see them but they are in front of the chairs they are sitting in). Eli is happy playing wherever the big boys are in sight.

This would have been even cuter if I had not had my finger covering the lens a little. This blanket Eli is playing on is one Jeff had in his room when he was a baby. So special!

So many fun years to come!

Trip to Mimi's

Last weekend the boys and I took a trip to visit Mimi in Tulsa. It was the first time I had taken the boys on a trip, by myself. We left on Thursday evening, about 7:30 and returned Sunday afternoon. I found out that it's much easier to travel with the boys in the evening/night. Thursday was a much better trip than Sunday! But, we did manage to do something I had wondered how to handle. We stopped for a bathroom break on the way back Sunday. I really did not want to mess up Luke's potty training progress by putting him in a pull-up. So, we had to stop. It went fine really. No one tried to run away and we made it back to the Jeep in a reasonable amount of time.

Here are Luke and Nathan with Mimi, headed into the Pumpkin Patch.

Having a picnic lunch.
Watching a butterfly.
Watching the sheep in the distance.

In the hay-maze.

Not sure about the pumpkins.

Best attempt at both big boys with the pumpkins.

Lots of running!

Maybe next year they will all look at the camera!

Milestone Pictures

Last month we took the boys to our old standby, Babies r Us, to have their pictures taken. We wanted to get more professional pictures taken but decided we might do that as a Christmas present to ourselves. Here are a few of my favorites.

Nathan's Two Year Old Picture


Luke's Three Year Old Picture


Eli's Six Month Old Picture