Picture A Day 1/16/12-1/20/12

1/16/12: Coloring a dove to represent peace....what we learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

1/17/12: Eli wrote his own numbers 1-10 and we made the birds fly in our kitchen!

1/18/12: What was shook from Anna's car seat....holy snacks!

1/19/12: Eli's new favorite show is "Team Umi Zoomi" on Nick Jr. Here is Eli's picture of them and his spelling of the show name...consonants are coming along!!

1/20/12: Anna the pirate!

And Eli dressing up at Paradise Park!

Picture A Day 1/7/12-1/15/12

1/7/12: Anna's hair is getting SO long! But, alas, she still does not like anything pretty in it...these lasted about 2 minutes :/

1/8/12: Eli had his first soccer practice! He LOVED it and asked all week when the next practice would be!

1/9/12: Magic week!! Sink or float? Salt water makes things float!

1/10/12: Just like mommy

1/11/12: Invisible ink!

1/12/12: Making a magic wand!

1/12/12: Finger fishin'!

1/13/12: Our favorite part about Paradise Park...cooking!

1/14/12: Not of the kiddos, but it has to be in my picture a day! My sister Holly with her in utero son, Heath....I mean, still loading....

1/15/12: Go Dinomites!!

Picture A Day 1/2/12-1/6/12

1/2/12: Anna's "bead" necklace; Eli & daddy sword fighting...Eli is into anything "good guys & bad guys"!

1/3/12: "What are these things for??"

1/4/12: Learning about the new year; What a beautiful January day to play with....leaves????

1/5/12: No coats in JANUARY????

1/6/12: Anna continues on the Toddler Town tradition with daddy :)

OMG!!

Thanks to my friend Farrah, I found out that I CAN post from my PHONE! This is awesome...THANK YOU!!! :)

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 included 5 separate gift openings & trip to Iowa. It was a great holiday, but per usual, it is nice to move on to a new year! I have posted so much of this already on facebook (a resolution to solve, hopefully, this coming year!) so I will just make it brief....enjoy!

We left for Iowa on Christmas Eve morning due to Eric's work schedule, so we had the kids just open a couple gifts on the 23rd to keep them occupied, but not make it so they would have meltdowns if their gifts were left in KC :) Here is Eli's Hotwheels game rug & motorcycles he opened from mom & dad:

And Anna's doll house:

Anna enjoyed pulling paper but big brother had to help finish the unwrapping:

The 3 hour drive to Iowa isn't too bad, but Anna doesn't like being held up for that long. Here she is making funny pictures for the camera on the way up:

And me squished in the back with the kiddos:

Christmas Eve night we laid out cookies & milk for Santa & grapes for the reindeer at Aunt Sarah & Aunt Steph's house. We told Eli Santa knew to leave his & Anna's gifts at our house in KC:

Christmas morning we got up & went right to Grandpa Bidney & Lola's house to spend the day there. It was a great day!!

Daddy helping Eli with his new lego set from Aunt Holly & Uncle Chris:

Anna enjoying the rocking chair:

Anna's dining chair for the day:

"Grandpa's arms are fuzzy!"

The Christmas Feast!

Gazing out the window....

Watch out for cousin Heath in there!

Practicing already!

The ladies....

When we got home on the 26th, we opened our gifts from Santa & it was tiring. We were pooped from the trip & really needed to either wait till the morning or just opened them all before we left.....mental note to remember for next year!! As a result, no pictures were taken of this event :)

Our final Christmas was on New Year's Eve with the Clarkson gang. Another great day & everyone enjoyed each other's company!

Sammie (or "Mammie" as Anna calls her) & her cousins:

Eli's first car??? He is actually quite intimidated by it!! Maybe he'll be okay with it by summer ;)

And Anna's ride:

We got a number of board games & movies. We have officially declared New Year's Day as "Movie Day"!!:

It was so great to be able to split our time with ALL our family. Looking forward to future Christmas memories!!!

The New Year

Here we are in 2012....wow! This year will hold a lot for us: a new nephew/cousin (and maybe another???), dad's retirement, Anna will turn 2 and Eli 5, I will officially become "over the hill" at age 36 (ha! I know, not till 40 ;), and our house will continue to grow & change as a family of 4!!

As far as resolutions go, I hope to continue on the road I am paving of enhancing my "domestic goddess" skills. Continue to cook home prepared healthy meals, improve my bargain shopping skills, maintain my cleaning schedule, and most important, continue our daily schedule of fun & educational activities & field trips. Anna will be old enough to enjoy our activities more this year, which I look forward to!

Another resolution is to figure out how to maintain my blog better. I started this blog as an online scrapbook of sorts that I hope Eli & Anna can look back on with vivid details of their life. Sadly, this year has been anything but....life with 2 kiddos! I like the picture a day idea and hope to keep that going, but I also want to do monthly updates of more detailed descriptions, stories, & development updates of Mr. Eli & Miss Anna. What is hard is that I post so much to facebook, my blog can get lost. So, let's hope I can make this happen! If only blogger would let me post on my iphone which is where I do 95% of my computer time!

Here's to a great 2012!!

Countdown to Christmas 2011: Day #21-#24

Day #21-#23: We created a nativity scene!

Day #24: Cookies & milk for Santa while reindeer got grapes!