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!

Beach trip 2011- The Boats

Our last night at the beach, we headed to a seafood restaurant in Little River. It's on the marsh, and the boys get to watch all the boats. The gambling boats pull out around 7pm, and it was a huge hit.

The one picture I have of me the WHOLE vacation. In front of a trashcan. With no makeup. At least the kids weren't crying;-)
They waved 'bye' as the boat pulled away. I can't wait to take them on a cruise! And I wish you could see the front of my shirt. It has a Mickey Mouse head, and Drake ALWAYS requests Eric and I wear our shirts. It's too cute!

Eli really wanted on the boat!

Beach trip 2011- The park!

So, the boys got sick of the beach. I'm not sure how that happens, but they did. So much so, that we left a day early. We ended up taking two trips to the park. All Drake talked about was feeding the ducks at the park!

There were turtles too! More duck pics later...

They got lots of energy out playing!

And Drake had to figure out how everything worked. I swear he's gonna be an engineer.
Noone bothered to tell Eli he's not as big as Drake and Aidan.

I love this smile!

When did my big boy get this.... BIG? It's crazy how big they both are. But Drake is such a little man!
I heart this face.
"Yo! Someone put me in this thing! Put down that blasted camera and SWING me woman!"
Ducks!!!