Our Little Nut

Eli has developed quite the personality over the last couple months and he always seems to be doing something silly. Mark and I are quite entertained these days and we are loving this stage. I'll let the pictures do the talking...







Love our little family!

30 years...

Where has the time gone? We celebrated my 30th birthday back on December 7th and it was definitely made extra-special by my sweet husband. We didn't do too much on the actual day, except Mark did make me a delicious dinner from scratch. Since I'm still able to stay at home with Eli, I'm the one who usually cooks, so the break from cooking was awesome! Eli joined us for dinner and cake too!





Mark also ordered me a yummy cake, which I was so excited about. Buttercream icing is a definite vice of mine! However, my excitement soon turned to sadness, when Mark decided to cover the cake with 30 trick candles (which I've hated since I was a little girl) and they proceeded to melt all over my precious icing. We managed to salvage some of the cake, but it was a definite mess!

Before


During



After


Once we extiguished the cake, Mark gave me an envelope filled with sheets of paper documenting my itinerary for the next day. He set up my first ever spa day, a romantic dinner at Melting Pot, and front row seats to a local production of "A Christmas Carol" in Raleigh. I was blown away by the surprises he had set up just for me!

Wednesday turned out to be very relaxing and I enjoyed my day "off." My most favorite part was how much time Mark and I got to spend together, just the two of us. That is such a rare thing these days, so I was soaking up every minute of our time together. Looks like my 30's are going to be even better than my 20's!

Thanksgiving Festivities

Last month, we packed-up and headed to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with our families. We left a little earlier in the week so we could hang-out with Eli's Uncle Ben (Mark's brother), who was only in town for a few days before Thanksgiving and unable to make it back to VA for Christmas. On Tuesday, we spent the day in Smithfield with Mark's family and Grandmother to eat our 1st of 2 Thanksgiving dinners. Eli loved eating a little bit of everything we were eating. No surprise there!

Sunset on the James River down the road from Mark's parent's house.




On Wednesday, Mark hung out some more with his family and Eli and I ran errands with Grandma (my mom). One of the errands was to Mom's storage unit to pick-up a huge stuffed Clifford she had packed-up with her lower-grade stuff. (Eli is currently OBSESSED with Clifford...he loves to watch it on PBS kids.) When mom handed him the Clifford he was so excited! It even barks when you press its paw, which makes him giggle. Since that day, Eli and Clifford have been the best of friends and you can find Eli cuddling with him on a regular basis. It's so sweet!



Thursday was an early start for me, as I was signed-up to run a 5K for Toys for Tots with my older brother Rick and younger sister Erin. It was VERY cold that morning but we had fun. What made it even better was seeing all of the rest of my family cheering for us at the finish-line. We just may have started a new family tradition!

Eli waiting for Mommy, Uncle Rick, and Aunt Erin!





Thankfully, the race ended early enough that we were able to get home just in time to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Eli caught the beginning of it but quickly let us know that he was ready for his morning nap.

That evening, we ate our 2nd Thanksgiving meal with my family. It was so nice to catch up with everyone and Eli loved begging for all of the food off of his Great-Grandma's plate! (And you know she gave it to him too!)

On Friday, the girls went off to do some shopping for the day while the guys watched the kiddos. Mark took Eli to the Virginia Living Museum for the first time and they had a blast. Eli loved getting to hang-out with his cousins and Granddaddy too!

Psyched to go to the Living Museum! Mark texted me this picture while I was shopping and my heart just melted!



Look, Dad! I found animal tracks!




Excited about his new Otter Magnet from the gift store...he loves magnets! (His daddy also helped him pick a dinosaur that grows in water too)



Cousins Pic!



The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key, which was nice. We headed back home Sunday evening and were so thankful to miss most of the traffic. Eli and I loved hanging out with Mark for the week and can't wait for him to be off for Christmas and New Years!

Dedication

Last Sunday (the 14th), Mark and I were finally able to dedicate Eli in front of our church congregation. Both sets of parents, Mark's sister, and his grandmother were able to join us for this special day too. Eli was pretty well behaved, for a 14-month-old who had to wait about 30 minutes before the dedication "ceremony" took place. He did try to grab the microphone to say a few words when Mark was introducing us, but that was it. We were so thankful to have the opportunity to publicly present our son to our church family and profess our desire to raise him in a Christian home. It was a very special day for our little family.

Eli attempting to say a few words to the congregation...



Wearing his special outfit from Grandma




Tried to get a family pic...someone was a little tired by this point



Checking things out...



Mark's Family



My Family

The Haircut

Eli entered this world with a head full of blond hair and by a year old it was starting to get pretty shaggy. To be honest, it was downright driving me crazy, as I was constantly having to brush it out of his eyes. Well, somehow this shagginess lasted until he was 14-months-old. Last Thursday, Mark and I decided we were just going to take Eli for his first haircut when Mark got home for work that evening. Problem #1: evening is probably not the best time to take a young child out for a haircut...especially his first. We went to Sports Clips, thinking the huge TV's playing sports everywhere would be a good distraction from what was going on "up top." Wrong. No amount of food, sitting on his mommy's lap, or cuddling with his Sheepie would keep him still. The poor girl was so apologetic that she could barely cut even a little off of his bangs. We assured her it was not her fault and left a good tip to let her know we weren't upset. Then, since we were near Target, we decided to go purchase a pair of hair-cutting scissors to try trimming things up ourselves. Problem #2: Cutting hair is not the easiest thing to do, especially when you are starting from scratch...with no previous cut to go by. We got back home about 7ish and decided to strip Eli down to his diaper, have Mark hold him in his lap, and put on the Clifford movie that Eli is currently obsessed with. Well, our plan started off pretty smoothly. Once settled into his movie, Eli kept pretty still while I began to trim the thick bunch of hair over his right ear. Unfortunately, my cut just did not look right and Mark began accusing me of giving our son a mullet on the right side of his head. I didn't think it was quite a mullet, but it wasn't good looking either. After this, we decided to just suck it up and have me schedule an appointment for Eli to get his hair cut at the kid's salon up the road. Yes, it would be a bit more than what we would normally pay for a child's haircut, but by this point we were desperate.

Eli had his haircut appointment Saturday afternoon (I had to take him solo--which was pretty nerve-wracking for me), right after lunch, and the experience was SO much better than before! The lady that cut his hair was quick and he was so distracted by the airplane chair he was sitting in, the animal crackers I was feeding him, and the toys she gave him to play with, that he barely noticed what was going on. The haircut literally took about 5 minutes and his hair looked just how I wanted it to. Nothing too drastically cut, just a good cleaning-up all over. He looks so handsome (and slightly older) with his new do and we're loving it!

Before...



The "Mullet"



In the zone with a mouth full of animal crackers.


After...



He's pretty pleased with his new haircut too!

Boo At The Zoo

On October 23rd, Eli and I met up with his Uncle Rick, Aunt Heather, and cousins for some fun at the NC Zoo. Every year they host "Boo at the Zoo", which is basically an opportunity for kids to dress-up in their costumes, play some games, and listen to some kid-centered music. We didn't dress the kids up, but that didn't matter much, as there were plenty of other things to keep them busy. We had the best weather too, sunny and the perfect temperature for being outside. Eli really enjoyed seeing the animals. (I think it was nap-time for most of them when we were walking around to the different exhibits.) His favorite animals were the puffins. He would giggle up a storm as they splashed around in the water. He also loved riding on the tram to the other part of the zoo. (The NC Zoo is one of the nation's largest zoo's--in acreage) I think he liked the feeling of the wind in his face and hair. It was too cute!

After spending a great day with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, Eli was pretty wiped. He fell asleep within minutes of us leaving the zoo's parking lot! We even stopped to get a quick bite to eat in town before heading back and he slept through the entire meal in his bucket seat! (A huge shout-out goes to Uncle Rick for lugging it inside the restaurant for me!) Suffice it to say, we all had a great day and look forward to taking Daddy with us for our next zoo visit.

Trunk or Treat!

Two Sundays ago, we joined our friends the Porter's for their church's Trunk-or-Treat. Since Eli is still working on the walking thing and regular neighborhood trick-or-treating would be a little challenging, we figured this would be a perfect event for him. He had a great time toddling around with his buddy Caleb and selecting his piece of candy from the bowls at every car. However, he never quite figured out that he needed to drop the pieces of candy into his trick-or-treat sack. Maybe next year.

Tight grip on his animal crackers...


Caleb trying to help Eli with his hood...


Cutest little duck ever! (He did not like his hood either)



Our little tiger!


The 3 of us!