Renaissance Festival

We finally made it to Ren Fest this year!!!

Daddy was quite happy to finally make it to Ren Fest with the kids.
Watching an acrobatic show.
We went for a stroll through a maze. There were gold coins scattered about the maze for the boys to hunt. They were totally into that, especially Drake.

There was a slide at the end of the maze, which of course they loved.
We rode on a pirate ship.

Which sent Mommy's hair every which way.

Drake was NOT taking his eyes off of those guys to look at the camera.

Seriously watching the jousting.



Petting Zoo

Turkey leg! My man was HAPPY!
So was my little man
Mommy had her face painted too! I got a fairy eye, Drake got a sword.

Fall Festival

Every fall, the boys have a big fall festival at school. The even do a little "show" for the parents. Eli's age doesn't participate, but Drake's does. But of course my big guy was shy and wouldn't sing or dance. But that's ok, because they sure were cute little turkeys!

Watching, but refusing to sing/dance.
Silly boys dancing around on stage.
They got to visit all of the classrooms next, and get prizes. Here is my sweet angelic Eli kindly asking his brother to move.

The Boys Room

At the beginning of the summer, I had three major tasks in front of me.

1. Take Drake's binkie. (Heaven help us.)

2. Move the boys in together.

3. Get Tessa's room ready.

Taking the binkie was seamless. I couldn't believe it. We moved them in together right at the beginning of September when preschool started back up. Again, no problem at all. I just couldn't believe it. It's just more proof that I spend time on worrying , that I should just let go. So, here are some pictures of our sweet boys' room!

View from the door.
Eli's side
Drake's side
Changing table. Speaks for itself.
Tessa's picture- the boys kiss her goodnight!
Double closets. Stuffed full!

Halloween 2011

The boys were a dinosaur and sock monkey for Halloween. They already had the hats for winter, and all I had to get was the cape. Which they can continue to play with!

Showing off an empty wrapper. They were trying to eat it faster than they could collect it.

Eli quickly got the hang of carrying that bucket around! It only took him one house to figure out that he got candy in it if he carried it to the door!

Walking up the driveway to see Russ and Robin.
RRAaawwwwrrrrr!

Showing his goods to Mrs. Anna, who did a lovely job of acting surprised.

Sweetest sock monkey in the world!
Hat from etsy- my friend Heather (MrsPantski) knits and sells there. Cape from pip and bean, also etsy.
Drake went to carve pumpkins with the Francis Family!

Our biggest big boy!

I often stand in amazement of how big Drake is. Not in physical stature, but in every other way possible. He is so smart, so agile, and SO stinkin' funny!!! Drake started swim lessons back in September, and it was a rough start, for about five weeks. Now, he loves it. Goes right in, and runs to his teachers. It's absolutely adorable. They teach them in levels based on the Red Cross Drake is in Level I, and there are 16 criteria in it to move to level II. He got 13 of them on the first 8 week session! He still has to open his eyes under water to pick up a submerged object, fully submerge his mouth, nose, and eyes for 3 seconds, and be able to do a supported combine stroke on his back. If he can do those three by mid December, he will move up to level II in January. They've recently split Level II into A and B, b/c apparently is takes forever to get out of that level. They want the kids to feel like they are making some progress, so they can move from A to B after meeting certain goals.

The things that come out of that kid's mouth are hilarious. And unbelievably sweet. I love coming home to hear him say, "Mommy, I missed you". He kisses Eli when he's crying, or gets hurt. He kisses Tessa's photo each night. He knows all about his sister! He'll tell you that she's in China, and Mommy and Daddy have to go up high on the BIG airplane to get her. And of course, that he's going to Grandpa's while we go get Tessa.

Drake loves his rough and tumble gymnastics classes on Saturday mornings with Mommy and Eli. We usually go to Waffle House too, which is always a hit.

He loves school after it's over, but cries every day at drop off. He's so funny though, he'll tell me in the car that he loves school, and isn't going to cry that day. And then he always does. He has fabulous teachers, who are both the sweetest things. One, Mrs. Shari, is in the process of adopting her family's little one Maggie from China. She's a little younger than Tessa. It's so cool he shares that common bond with one of his teachers.

I'd like to blog again soon with some pictures, and some info about an awesome school I found! Hopefully it won't take another month for me to get around to blogging!

Eli- My big boy!

I can't believe our BABY has gone and grown up on us! We just celebrated 19 months with him:-)

At his 18 month check up, he was 18 lbs 14 oz (less than 5th percentile), 30.25 inches(5th percentile), and a head circumference of 18 inches, also 5th percentile.

His stats follow right in his big brothers footsteps! Eric was a small child, so I guess our boys are just taking after their Daddy. Dr. Dorsey, our fabulous pediatrician, says they are just fine, but they get to stay on whole milk, and have all the butter they want! Which they enjoy- they love butter!

Eli is becoming a little chatterbox. He loves to say bye, baby, all done, no, mama, dada, and lots of other words. He is so cute leaving school everyday, he has to wave and say "bye" to his teachers numerous times. Eli is at our church's preschool every Tuesday and Thursday, and LOVES it. He goes right on in his room to his teachers, which is so opposite from Drake. He'll walk right in, and start playing and eating. It's kinda funny he's so social and happy there, b/c we jokingly say that Eli simply doesn't like people. He's actually just quite attached to

me and Eric, except at school.

We have a great time playing at Mommy and me gymnastics on Ssturday mornings, and we are starting swim lessons in January. I want him to be comfortable in the water by next summer, since my parents now have a pool.

Eli obviously is too young to understand what it means to be getting a new sister, but is SO sweet kissing her picture every night. My heart is aching about leaving my sweet boys for two weeks. It is literally making me nauseated if I think about it too much, so I try not to.

Eli is super active and agile, and must do every.single.thing his big brother does. It's super duper cute. I can see them becoming friends, and it's simply adorable.

FYI

I haven't fallen off the planet. Life is super crazy with a job, two children, and preparing for number three. Right now, I do update Tessa's blog more often, so hop over there!