Charlotte at 6 months

What?!?!? Yes, she is 6 months already. It's crazy. It's gone so fast. Here are some photos I took on Dec 10th, to capture the day.

Elijah's final birthday post

Really, this will be the last one. This is all about the birthday celebration we held as a family when Gary got back from Mexico. Uncle John supplies the wonderfully awesome cake. No, he didn't make it - he got it from the same person that did Yumi's Pengu cake for her birthday. The object on Elijah's cake - monkey of course! We used the least crusty monkey for the model and it even had a belly button! Elijah got to eat the cake belly button, which he still remembers. Too funny. Then of course, he got to open presents and was super excited about the new hockey sticks from Mama and Papa until he saw the garbage truck from Goo Ma!! Now it's a permanent fixture in the living room, as is the crane he got from Uncle Ed, Aunty Janet and Yumi.

Ok, and here are a couple pictures just sent to me from his birthday party with friends.

After all this, I can truly say that next year there will only be 1 birthday celebration, not a month of them!!

Josh's birthday

Ok, did I mention that November and December are crazy for birthday parties. Well, after Elijah's party, there was Josh's party! Obviously, it's been a while, but I'm trying to catch up now! So, Yvette asked me to make Josh's cake - in a car theme! It was pretty fun and the result is not too bad. The kids seemed to like it, as you'll be able to see in the video. I took quite a few pictures but not a lot of them turned out very well. Guess that's what happens when you're trying to watch 2 kids and capture the moment. I took pictures of the cake as I was getting ready to cover it up and stick it in the fridge. (That's why all the toothpicks are in it - NOT part of the decor.)

The party was at a studio Josh goes to for an all boys "Stomp" class. Sounds like he has a lot of fun with it. Took Elijah quite a while to warm up to everything, so a lot of the pictures show him just standing around while the other kids do things. He finally started participating when they brought out the bubbles. In the end he had a lot of fun. Thanks for inviting us Joshie!

Motoring Munchkins AGAIN

Yes, we still go to Motoring Munchkins when I plan it out right. Elijah always wants to go for the floor hockey, but this last time he DIDN'T EVEN PLAY!!! That's right - he found another toy. A car. I think it's because there was one at his last daycare. He must've played with it there and gotten used to it. So, he zeroed right in on it and wouldn't come off of it at all. After all, you take your butt of the seat and another kid will steal it from under you. Did I mention that Josh and Avery were there too? Well, they were and so Elijah and Josh zoomed around the gym most of the time. I rememeber when Yvette and I first brought the boys to Motoring Munchkins and we were horrified by the older kids going so fast on all the cars. "Where are these kids parents?!?! Why aren't they controlling their kids?!" Well, now we know.... "They can't do it at home so they're doin' it here", as Yvette so succinctly put it. Yup. This is where we let them burn off their energy. And they have so much fun doing it!



At the end of the session we were trying to get all the kids to pose for a picture together. It almost worked. Charlotte was not in the mood however, and it's pretty clear from her picture. :) Too funny!

Erin vs the new camera

I think I mentioned some time back (or maybe I didn't) that we got a new digital SLR. Now, I really enjoy taking pictures and I know once I figure it out a little I'll be totally hooked, but right now it's just a little intimidating. However, I've tried it out a few times. The first was when I was in the basement with the kids and Elijah was inspired by his latest Bob the Builder DVD to be a construction worker. He's got the whole thing down. The paper he's holding - those are his project plans. :) Then he makes me strap on his tool belt so he can carry every single tool he owns. Charlotte just sat in her Bumbo watching.

Lost time and Charlotte vs Rice Cereal

Somewhere in the twilight zone my last few weeks are located. Feels like it's been busy but looking back I wonder what I've been doing. Oh yeah.... I've been looking after my kids! So, the next few posts are going to be out of order, but that's ok, right?

Charlotte has started solids. So far just rice cereal, once a day or every couple days. I'm definitely going to up that amount soon, since she's nursing like a fiend lately. Not sure if it's a growth spurt or she just needs more now. She hasn't really taken to the solid food yet, but she eats it ok once we get it in her mouth. We managed to snap a couple photos of her expressions the first time we tried the rice cereal. You'll see that once she decides she's had enough, she sticks her fingers in her mouth and sucks on them. It's her comfort position. She does that when she's falling asleep as well.