MY CAMERA!!!!

Just in time for the Holidays, my camera has returned!!! YAY! And to think we ALMOST bought a new one this weekend!!!! Wahoo! Camera, I have missed you so!

11 months old and 3 months home!!!

Eli is 11 months old today. That means that in one month my baby will be celebrating his first birthday and well on his way to toddlerhood!!! Oh, he really is growing up too fast!!! He already has 3 words, can stand on his own (for a few seconds) and walks around the room pushing things! I know he's hoping to walk soon. In a way, I hope so too because he gets soooo frustrated he can't keep up with the "big kids," but I also don't know that I'm ready for 2 kids running through my house screaming!! Oh, it will be fun!!

Things this month have been great. Eli is sleeping through the night (about 12 hours, 7:30 to 7:30)! Not even making a peep most nights!!! He still needs white noise, but I like white noise when I sleep, too! Eli is working on experimenting with more table foods. He's not a huge fan of the texture of most things, yet, though. Avocado - no, pears - no, cheese - no! Haha! Toast is LOVED, though! As is pasta, rice, potatoes; he likes the starches! He also likes little (I mean tiny) pieces of chicken! Hopefully we'll get his diet balanced eventually. Until then he still eats fruits and veggies pureed, so that's good!

Maddie is also doing well. She's super excited about Christmas this year! Her school is doing a Christmas program on Thursday and a party on Friday (she gets to wear pajamas, yay)! Her vocabulary grows daily. Not simple words, no, no! Fancy, fun words! Like "splendid" and "gusto!" It's hilarious the things that come out of her mouth!! She was very concerned that our fireplace doesn't have a chimney (it's gas), because how was Santa going to deliver presents?! It took us a few tries to convince her that "Santa" would still deliver all of her presents and he'd come through the front door, we'd just leave it unlocked!!! But, this year she also realizes what Christmas is really about, which is great! She talks about baby Jesus all the time and wants to give him presents by being good. And she also keeps making little presents, packing them up in her sack and pretending she's Santa Claus and delivers the presents to kids in Ethiopia because "they don't have toys and I have lots to share." She's a blessing!

Hopefully I will post a video before Christmas from Maddie's program. If not, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I should have a new camera by then since it will be my birthday present AGAIN this year from my husband. Maybe I won't lose this one!

Spirit Night!

Tonight is Spirit Night for Maddie's school. Pretty much that means that we can go to Mario's and buy salad and pizza (well, we can buy anything, but we usually get salad and pizza) and a portion of the sales go to Church School! In other words, it's an excuse to not have to cook tonight, which I'm really excited about!

It's about time to register Maddie for Preschool for next year, so we've been talking about which school she wants to attend full-time next year. Currently Church School is the winner, but it is tight. I thought Woods School would be the winner, but I guess I underestimated how much she loves the bouncing purple dinosaur at the Church School playground!!!

Eli is doing great. He should start working on getting in his top teeth any day now. They usually come in 3-8 weeks after the bottom ones, at least. He definitely says "Dog" and "Doggie." Both quite clearly. He also LOVES to say "Uh-Oh" after he drops a toy or falls to his bum. Quite adorable! He says "Dada," but not just in reference to Ben, it's just fun to say! He still can't make any consonant sounds other than Ds and Gs on a consistent basis, so no "Mama" or "Maddie" in our near future, I think. Hopefully he'll get a hang of the Bs and Ms soon so we can start branching out in his vocabulary! Otherwise I see a speech therapist in our future (which doesn't sound like fun, especially since none of it would be covered under the kids new insurance policy).

Maddie is doing well. She got great marks on her "Report Card." We were told that she excels at academics, but needs to work on her gross motor skills. She got her Dad's brains and her Mom's (lack of) athletic ability! Hopefully her Ballet class (starting in January, for her birthday, shhhh, it's a surprise...though she's been BEGGING for them for years now) and soccer in the spring will help her out some! Only time will tell!

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving. We ate and played and watched football. This past weekend Maddie and I got the Christmas lights up outside. Now every time we pull up to the house she tells me how much she loves our house and how pretty it it! It's sweet! This coming weekend we will probably go get a tree. Maddie already has HER tree up and decorated, but we need the big family one (which will be barricaded back in the corner due to the newest addition to our family).

I pray that everyone also enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and is gearing up for the Holiday Season! We have had on Christmas music since Thursday (well, actually, we played it in the car starting Monday of last week, but don't tell anyone)!

Thanksgiving Party

Here are some pictures from Maddie's Thanksgiving Party that I helped host. They were taken by her teacher, of course, since our camera is still MIA! I have pulled out the old camera and taken a few pictures, but it's definitely not as good as MY camera. Oh well, my birthday is coming up, so I think my dear husband will get me a new one...of course we'll find my camera as soon as I have the new one, but what can you do?! I HAVE to have a camera for the kids' birthday parties in a month!!