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One year and three year portraits

We had Elijah's and Molly's pictures taken a few weeks ago for their birthdays. Here are a few of the good ones.

Moving

So, we moved yesterday. Well, our furniture and stuff did, anyway. Not a big move this time - it's just about 20 minutes from the old place to the new place. The new place is a lot closer to Patrick's office, which means more a little more time with him in the evenings - hooray! The old and new places are about the same size, but we will have interior stairs at the new place (Molly will be thrilled) and our own, ground floor front door. I am excited not to have to carry the groceries and a kid (and hold another hand) half a block from the parking lot and up a flight of stairs to our front door anymore. Yeah! There are some things I am not as excited about - the kitchen is the size of a closet, and there's no room for the sewing machine, and anyone taller than Elijah has to duck going down the stairs, and there is very little storage space - but I am going to focus on the good things. Patrick and I got to spend the day unpacking and getting things set up at the new place, thanks to Jackie who watched the kids for us, and Luke who helped us unpack, and Becky & Charlie who kept their kids while they were here. We really got a lot done, and I was encouraged to see that things are fitting pretty well, and we're finding solutions for most things. We aren't really moved in yet - we're all still sleeping at the old place at this point (the kids in their own beds and us on the air mattress), but we'll get there soon. Patrick's parents are coming up tomorrow to help us get completely moved in and baby-proof and all that jazz. We're so thankful for all the help we've had this week and all month as we've been packing and getting ready. Maybe soon I can put up some pictures of the new place.

Beach babes

We got to spend the afternoon at the beach on Friday. It was a really fun day! It was cool and rainy for most of June, so I wasn't expecting the water to be warm enough to go in, but it was! (Obviously, I have never taken a baby to the beach before. Lesson learned: baby needs a swimsuit even if you don't think she's going to get wet.)

Summer haricut

I gave Elijah a haircut today, and we went pretty short so that he would be less hot for the summer (sorry, Bobbi). His bed-head this morning would have told me that it was time for a cut, even if I hadn't been planning on it.

Before - the crazy bed head!

(sorry about the grainy pics - I don't know what's up with the camera lately.)

all ready

all done

Cuddles

Molly is a cuddly girl. She loves to snuggle and give hugs, and she has been really snuggling her blankets when she sleeps lately. When I go in to check on her there is usually more blanket under her than covering her. So when she wakes up, she often has "blanket face."

Really, she will hug anything. Even the couch.

Oh, poor sad baby snuggling with her baby and her blanket.

4th of July

We had a fun morning, going to the Bristol Fourth of July parade. The boys went last year, but this was the first time for Molly and I. She did really well despite the LOUD bands and sirens and muskets and cannons (!) going off all the time. She saw live horses for the first time, and loved them. Elijah loved the whole thing, too. I was glad that we had a nice shady spot to watch from, and all the other folks from Patrick's office were there and gladly helped hold the kids when our arms got tired. I was amazed - Patrick told me all about it last year, but it was still crazy to see the whole thing live. So many people, and all of them all dressed up and loving it. Bristol loves the 4th more than Christmas. It's nuts! The town gives each home a report card on how well-kept and patriotic-looking they are! Everyone is greeting everyone, "Happy Fourth!" in their Rhode Island accents. I don't think I've ever seen many adults who dressed up for the 4th more than wearing a red or blue shirt, but everyone was dressed up, and some of them were really serious about it. I think Molly was the only little girl there without some serious ribbons or a crazy headband. But she was still stinkin' cute. =) We forgot to take pictures of the parade, but we did try to get a couple of the kiddos in their star-spangled cuteness (not that they wanted to cooperate).

Yep, that's the best one we got.

Elijah is 3!

Wow! Elijah turned three yesterday! Since we had already had two parties, we didn't do anything fancy - but we had a nice day full of some of Elijah's favorite things.

The birthday boy at breakfast. We had special "E" and "3" pancakes for the first course, and blueberry pancakes for the second course. Man, can he eat!

Elijah and his trains

Elijah and I looked at the pictures of the day that he was born and I told him the story of his birth (minus the pain and gory parts). We also played with trains, read library books, and got to talk to lots of special people on the computer. (via web cam - love it!) Elijah got to open a few more presents, and of course, he ate lots of tomatoes. He had ice cream with strawberries and blueberries as his special dessert (since he already had his cake, we could have something he would really love). It was a good day.

Elijah is growing bigger and taller all the time (and the feet! oh my!) and continues to amaze us with all the things he is learning. (As my friend Esther said, he "is looking about 4 years old these days, the enormous fellow!") We will see on Monday how big he's gotten when we go to his check-up. Elijah knows all his letters and their sounds, and is starting to try and sound out words. He loves to read - either for me to read to him, or to look at books on his own, even ones he doesn't know by heart. He is getting quite skilled at building his train tracks on his own, and builds interesting and complex towers with his blocks. He is very social, and loves meeting other kids when we go out. Elijah is still a great sleeper, and even sleeps through Molly's periodic fussing at night. They enjoy sharing a room and chatting with each other early in the morning. E has quite a collection now of "friends" that he keeps in his bed, along with his cowboy quilt and his Bobbi blanket. Everything has to be just so these days. =)


Some of Elijah's favorite things are:

Trains, especially Thomas the Tank Engine
Construction machines
Cars and trucks of all kinds, especially Lightning McQueen and friends from Cars
Running
Going to the playground
Going to the Library and reading his library books
Laughing with Molly


We are so thankful for Elijah - and his first three years!

Today

Today we had minestrone soup for lunch - appropriate for a cool, rainy day - and the kids loved it! Can you tell?



We had a very stormy, rainy day today, with thunder and lightening at various times during the day. At lunchtime it got so dark it looked like twilight. Elijah said, "It is getting so dark it is nighttime!" And then a few minutes later, "We will never see Daddy again." Huh?

Apparently there was some confusion about Daddy's ability to come home in the dark. I did my best to clear that up, and Elijah was quite content. Hopefully the fact that Daddy did, in fact come home this evening relieved any remaining doubt. Wow - where does he come up with this stuff?

Yesterday

Yesterday we finally had a warm, sunny day. We literally rushed out to the playground to take advantage of some outside play time. It's been a cool, rainy summer so far, so we were all glad to see the sun!

Cars + mulch = happy boy

Racing cars down the slide

Molly is patient for a little while, but then it's time to get out!

We weren't the only ones who were taking advantage of the sunshine - we met some little girls at the park who were almost Elijah's age. They had fun playing together and I actually got to talk to another mom for a little while (with plenty of interruptions, but still - wow)! I was a little sad that we finally met some of our neighbors when we are about to move away, but at least we all got to enjoy some social time for a little while. Hooray for the park!

Another early birthday for Elijah

Tomorrow is actually the big day, but we celebrated Elijah's birthday (again) last week while Nana was here. I wanted to make sure that we could give him a fun little party, and since his birthday is just a week before we move I was afraid that things would be too packed up and busy. I didn't want him to lose out because I couldn't find a cake pan or wrapping paper! We will still have a little more celebration tomorrow, but it was fun to have a little party with Nana, too.

Opening presents!

New Cars coloring book and semi truck

Balloons!

Thomas cake.

Well, it was a busy week of cakes and parties, but it was fun. It reminded me that I haven't done much cake decorating in the last 10 years or so - my frosting piping skills are pretty rusty! But the kids didn't notice. Elijah loved his train tracks and seeing his name on the cake. We're looking forward to the big day tomorrow - I can't believe he is three years old already!