The Emperor of Absurdia

Dearest Elijah,

Before you were born, I thought you were going to be a girl. When you arrived the doctor exclaimed, "It's a boy!"  A boy?!? What did I know about boys? I was raised with a girl. Boys were uncharted territory! As I stared at you that first night, with admittedly, a little trepidation, I whispered, "How do I raise a boy?" Your father leaned over to me and softly said, "You love him." 

Little did I expect the fierce love that that would awaken inside me.

I pray for you daily that you will grow to be a man of integrity and honor; that your words will be uplifting and your courage will be unwavering. I pray that you will be strong and intelligent and passionate. 

But mostly, I pray that God will pursue your heart, to the ends of the earth, to the depths of the sea; and that you, in response, will guard your heart from idols and put your trust in the One that has loved you more fiercely than even I am able.  

For you Elijah, are my little prince. 

1. You love trucks, tools, trains and cars. Your sister got a Thomas track set for Christmas and you were heartbroken that we wouldn't let you play with it.

2. Your grandparents got you a big Tonka truck and you love to push it as fast as you can through the house and run into anything immobile. 

3. You call your dad, 'Papa' and your mom, 'My Mommy'

4. Your word for 'Charlotte' and 'Elijah' are exactly the same.

5. You still love to sleep, and yes, you still use a paci at night. 

6. You think it is funny to eat with your eyes closed. 

7. You are the most ticklish person I know.

8. You have had one haircut, just your bangs.

9. You were a blue monster for Halloween.

10. You hate veggies, but you can't get enough of eggs. You also like pancakes, bananas, and avocados. You love 'achacha juice.'

11. During Mater's Tall Tales, you scream when Lightning McQueen gets pushed down the big hill.

12. You have no self-control when you see someone lying on the floor. You MUST sit on them!

Love,

Mommy

Mommy, it's you!

After having the flu for nearly a week, I was disappointed that I couldn't take Charlotte to church on Wednesday night. I got her all dressed and as she walked out the door I reminded her that I wanted to hear all about it before bed. When she finally returned, she had a beaming smile and she giddy to tell me about her evening. She had said the long version of her memory verse, she had made an ark and played with her friends. Then, barely being able to contain her excitement, she handed me this picture.

"Mommy, it's you! And you have a pink dress! And your dress is a triangle! And you are walking on grass! Mommy, I love you!"

This girl melts my heart!

You make my heart happy!

Rain Rain Go Away!

C most definitely has Pearson coursing through her veins. From the very beginning we noticed her love of music. She gravitates to anything musical and artistic.

The other day while we were driving, I started singing "Rain Rain Go Away." It's a rather short song and at the end she would ask me to sing it again. After about the 8th time through she got frustrated with me.

C- "Mommy! I can't see your mouth!!!"

So I tilted the review mirror so that she could see my mouth and she asked me to sing again. I obliged. I did several more rounds and I noticed her silently mouthing along as I sang. Finally she said, "Now I'm going to sing it!"

And this is what happened.

Stop in the name of love!!

Charlotte is at that charming age when every day offers new adventures for her and new "Guess-what-my-kid-just-said" moments for me!

* Tim has been singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" to her at night before bedtime. We were driving home the other day, and I hear her in the back seat singing "Daddy, daddy, daddy! Merciful and mighty!"

* She was acting up while I was driving.
   Me- "Stop!"
   Charlie- "In the name of love!"

* In the middle of the night she woke up screaming. I went into her room.
   Me- "Charlie, what's wrong?"
   Charlie- "The froggies are going to get me?"
   Me- "What froggies?"
   Charlie- "The ones on the chair."
   Me- "I don't see any froggies on the chair."
   Charlie- "No, the boy ate them!!"

* My nickname for Charlotte is Bug.
   Me- "Hey Bug, come over here!"
   Charlie- "No!! You do not call me 'Bug!' My name is Charlotte!!!"

* While sitting at the dinner table, Charlotte proudly announces, "I toot like a cow!"

Who is that dapper fellow?

So, Elijah turned one.

I didn't think time could move that fast!

A year ago today, this was my dear sweet boy.

April 1, 2012

And now look at him!!

March 19, 2013

He is walking and talking! (By talking, I mean he can say "Uh-Oh" and "No-no-no" pretty well!)
He eats all the time.
His favorite food is hot dogs.
He also loves bananas.
And yes, he did eat a stink bug. Nothing like kissing a baby with stink bug breathe!!
He loves his big sister.
He loves to cuddle, just not before bedtime.
He likes his sleep. Don't think about depriving him of his mid morning nap!
He smiles more than cries.
He loves all things tools.
He ate his first french fry and then dove for the bag.
He's had a couple of stomach bugs, but has been relatively healthy.
He has the same belly laugh as his big sister.
He loves to chew on socks.
And of course, he looks great in a stache!

Around Thanksgiving, his grandfather gave him a mustache pacifier. I love this pacifier. It cracks me up. When we go out in public, and he is sporting his stache, he attracts the attention of all the ladies. Can you blame them? Look at that charmer!

In honor of Elijah and his stache, we decided to throw a mustache themed birthday party for him! We kept it pretty simple, after all he is not going to remember this one. 

First, the cake. Having seen the idea on Pinterest, I decided to do a mustache shaped cake. Actually we made two and they turned out pretty well! 

We also had mustache themed party games. 

A "Name that Type of Mustache" game for the adults.

And a "Pin the Stache on Elijah" game for the kids. 

And of course, what is a mustache party with out mustaches??

Family Stache Time

Birthday Boy!
He was not too thrilled to have his mustache on! I had to pin his hands down in order
to get the picture taken. Also, it must have felt very strange to him, because he refused to
close his mouth. He looks pretty dopey!  

Big Sister Stache

Daddy - Son Staches!

Hanging out with two of my very favorite mustached men!

Let's not forget the inaugural cupcake!

Happy Birthday Elijah!!

A little cautious!

He's hooked!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, smiliest, cuddliest little guy I've ever met. I love you very, very much!

Party #1

The day before C's big birthday party, we had a small gathering with my parents and sister.

Excited about her grandparents coming to visit!

Loving on Nonna

present time

Her favorite present was her tea set. Time for tea, daddy!!

What? No presents for me?!?

Time for cake

cake is yummy

sneak attack

the hair pulling begins

tight grip

revenge...  *poke*poke*

Hi GP!

Silly Birthday Girl!

They don't know...

They don't know a pre-9/11 world. 

Sometimes this thought stops me in my tracks. The majority of my life was a pre-9/11 life. I met my husband, moved out of my parents' house and became an adult in a pre-9/11 world.

I can't even imagine a post-9/11 childhood and yet that is the hand dealt to my children. I am a post 9/11 mom with post-9/11 children. That date, for them, will be what JFK's assassination or Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon was for me- not even a distant memory, but rather the memory of a generation before.  They will read about it, they will hear people talk about it, but it won't be real to them.

They will never understand how the world changed that day.

Look at me, being all crafty!

For C's 2nd birthday I wanted to do a theme. My husband had shot down my "Pride and Prejudice" themed party early on, which in the end was probably a good thing because ever since C was introduced to the Backyardigans, she has had no time for the company of Lizzie and Mr. Darcy. *sigh* There go all my hopes for a toddler with a British accent  and a Mr. Wickham pinata.

So, I settled on an owl theme, cause I figured that it would be pretty easy to put together and very adorable. With the enlisted help of my sister and some friends, I think we pulled off the theme very well!

Some of the ideas came from Pinterest. Some of them just happened as we were working.

gift bags - the trick to these was to make sure they didn't look angry.
The guy on the right looks pretty ornery if you ask me!

My sister designed and created each of the masks. 

puppets

We cut out 'feathers' and created wings for the kids to wear on their arms.
This was pretty time consuming. I wasn't thrilled with the outcome because
they didn't stay on the kids arms very well. 

owls for random decorations- these were a lot of fun to make. As you can tell,
we got more creative with the eyes as we went along.

the big pupils are cute

look deep into my eyes!

I strung them together, along with the extra feathers, to make
hanging decorations. 

napkin wraps

Photo wall - Owl 'month' stickers

Pinterest was my go to place for food ideas.

Owl deviled eggs - they walk the fine line of cute and creepy

THE BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!

I knew I wanted to do something fun for the cake so

when I came across this idea I jumped on it! My sister made

the cupcakes and my friend Emily decorated them. The final product

looks pretty close to the picture!

Birthday cake!

Along with the cake, I wanted to make individual owl cupcakes.

I am delighted with how adorable they turned out!

owl cupcakes

It was a lot of work, but it was fun to watch it all pull together.

Stay tuned to see how C enjoyed her Owl themed party!