Last Summer Visit Before School

Jake and Sam came to visit before they are back in the the swing of things with school. Hard to believe Sam in starting Kindergarten and Jake 2nd grade. Here is my cutie pie watchin' his movie with his wild hair! We basically have one video and I set him in the middle of the bed strapped into his swing...so when I pull the swing out he cheers.
This picture completely captures Eli's personality! "Who me?" "I don't have Daddy's phone."
Funny thing is Eric makes this same face.....

Hanging out at the park with his big cousins! Giving a big holler out... having a blast!


Jake and Sam decided to reminisce and swing in the baby swing like their sweet baby cousin. I've never seen two boys love a little one so much as these two love Eli!

They had to take turns pushing ...now look at that smile...Eli is spoiled! :o)

Eli has really gotten into throwing the ball back and forth with us. Of course he was so excited to be able to do this with Jake and Sam.

Here is Cody, my friend Amy Blessing's dog, she and Eli were fast friends for the week that she was staying with us. Cody loved laying next to Eli and giving him big kisses. :o)

Mommy's Morning OUT!

Here are a few pictures from "Mommy's Morning Out!" A few of my Mommy friends and I were talking one day and came up with the idea to switch off days taking care of the children. Almost every Thursday we alternate who is on Mommy Duty and the other Mom's get to GO OUT and do what ever they want. It is a win win situation for us all. The kids love each other and they really have fun playing together and it is a wonderful break for those off duty too!Here Eli is making his new favorite noise his "Aunt Amy" taught him while she was visiting. He now spits all the time!
All the kids were staying in the den with chairs blocking getting into any other area...makes it easier for me. This day I was trying to keep Eli out of the dog bowls and Sadie and Story wanted to follow me in the kitchen, so I let them. The next thing I knew Sadie had backed right into the dog bowl and her behind was stuck in the water bowl...it is to bad I didn't get a picture of her soaking wet. ...it was hilarious. This is Sadie dressed in Eli's Carolina Panthers jersey while her outfit was drying. We thought she looked adorable!

Here is Story checking out Eli's tools. She thought it was really cool to stick them in her pocket! Too Cute!!! :o)

Sadie painting
On this MMO day my friend Sharon had the crew! She is so creative that she strapped them all in -put white t-shirts over their clothing and taped paper to the table and they did finger painting! Eli's first real art project. I know my Mom is so proud...she would do fun things like this with Eli for sure!

Eli painting

Hangin' Out!

Just hangin' out is so much fun these days. Eli is a hoot. I am trying to soak up every minute I can! It amazes me that he will be one in a little over a month. We went to his friend Noah's 1st birthday party today. He loved playing in the pool with his friends. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends that have little ones Eli's age. He has such a ton of fun. Here are a few of just this week . I am behind with the blog, so I will be downloading photos from the past couple weeks when I get a chance.

Here is Eli hangin' out in his new wagon. I begged for this for several weeks. I wanted us to get this for an early first birthday gift, but selfishly wanted it to drag all of our junk down to the beach too! So....Eric surprised me and ordered it! I love it and Eli loves it...this picture was on a before bed stroll around the block. He makes me laugh...he has propped his bottle on his Raffie and even with his bottle in his mouth he has a smirk on his face!

Hangin' out with Dad! He really is a crazy boy....WILD!

Dad and Eli checking out the banana plants. They were in our "little jungle"!



I'm not sure if it was the fact he has shoes on or that his hair is perfectly combed to the side, but he looks way to grown up in this picture. I'm finding it very hard to believe that he is growing up so quick!! You think time flies and then you have children and realize it flies even faster.
He's playing with his refrigerator farm here...one of the things he loves that helps keep him busy while I am in the kitchen!

Playing at Fit for Fun

Aunt Amy and Eli crusin around. We spent the day at Fit for fun and had a blast!
There is nothing more fun than spending the day with my little bug!!

More Beach fun...

Amy getting her morning cuddles before another fun day at the beach! Boy does Eli miss her and so do I!!!!

Jake, Sam, and Aunt Aunnie came to join us this day....the boys had fun playing with baby cousin Eli!

I love my Aunt Aunnie!

Beach Week....

Amy and Jonathan in town for another wonderful Wrightsville Beach vacation week! It was so much fun sharing Eli ...made it very difficult to say goodbye!Laura and Eli having a ball! :o)


Jonathan relaxing and soaking up some rays.

Amy and Eli looking cute in thier hats!
So precious! My little cowboy!

..again such a hard life!
Shower time with Daddy...

Beach Baby!

Eli has this beach thing down pat! He's diggin' on in!
A nice tasty sandy stick to chew on. Yummy :o)

Eli and Amy Blessing having a good old time. He was hysterically laughing because she was burying his feet.

Eli was so excited because he found a small crab. He chased it and chased it.
All this fun and now it is snooze time! Boy this kid has a hard life!!

Jake's Baseball Uniform

Here is one of my favorite pictures of me and the fam! Jake all dressed in his baseball uniform. We were so proud of him for making the all stars team!

It is amazing how grown up Jake and Sam look in this picture to me.