Are you kidding me

It took Eli about 6-9 months longer to say mama then it did for him to say papa. He would even say "no papa" when you would ask him to say mama. The last few month he finally started to say mama, until this last week. He has now started to call me Kari, are you kidding me. Mike thinks it is sooo funny, it break my little mama heart. As of today, everyone is to call me mama to help my cause.

A Dancer???

Eli's new love is dancing. I am sure this is normal for all kids at this age, but Mike might need to get him on a sports team ASAP just to be sure he does not pick dancing over sports. The other day I put on some music and when I came back this is what I saw... too stinking cute! You can tell his brain is not processing the song as fast as they are singing it.

The GREAT PUMPKIN

At last the great pumpkin was cut from the vine and carved. It was quit the event with great food and family. It look dad and I a long time to get the top off as it was very very thick. I think it was a drywall saw he used and it still was not deep enough. It looks so great in front of the house... but most everyone thinks it is fake until they get close.

Proud farmer Papaw!

Eli was so helpful as we tried to get the top off.

We had to cut a hole in the back to punch out the top

I think he was a little confused by this large thing

He did warm up to it

... and then he kissed it

Papaw really wanted Eli in the pumpkin

Eli thought he would fight his way out with a stick... I guess he does not want to be an Ann Geddes model.


It was a fun day with only a little attitude :)

FALL

Our first big fall event was a festival at Memaw and Pepaw's church with Eli's cousins. This is the best picture we have. Eli has started into terrible twos so everything is a little more challenging these days.

After the festival we went to a corn maze in the dark, there are some pictures of that on the Doran blog (link is on the right hand side of our blog). Ryan knew his camera better then us so he was able to use the night setting... I was not that smart in the dark. I did get a pumpkin and carved it that night, Eli loved the cat!


A week latter or so we went to a pumpkin patch with Christina and Tyler Dooley. Eli was again very difficult, so this was also less then fun and resulted in only a few decent pics.

With the challenging has came the very cute. Here is a nice fall morning Eli and papa spent looking out the window for squirles.

few house updates

My dad finished painting the outside of the house a few weeks ago. It turned out great! Thanks Papaw!

We also have been working hard on Mike's "man cave". The after picture is not the most recent but is the best I have downloaded at this time. We have added a big horse-shoe to the end of the room and a "brick wall" to the other end that we are working on covering with ivy (to look like Wrigley field). We also did some work in the staircase... pictures to come!

Perpatrating Thoughts: Politics as usual

I love presidential elections, especially the debates. The spinning, the analysis, the polls, etc. are all enjoyable (especially since I don't take it overly seriously...heck, I wanted Ross Perot to be president way back in the day). An idea came to mind that has been perpatratin' my own thoughts. What if there was a candidate that was actually humble, honest, and had a disdain to finger point? How far could that candidate go in the current mud-slinging type of political environment? How nice would it be if a candidate openly admitted to mistakes, but pointed out lessons learned and ideas for how to avoid future mistakes. Instead of pointing out negative things from the other candidate, perhaps deeper explanations of the candidate's own proposed policies, ideas, or solutions. Instead of dancing around a subject, being honest with saying "I'm not sure, but I'll find out". Or, "this goes against popular opinion, but I think..." (with clear explanations). Wouldn't that be refreshing? And SNL could still perform comedic parodies of that candidate all in good fun.

A month ago... Our Florida trip

Reading on the plane. He did great. We took the carseat so he just thought is was like a car and moving was not an option... very very smart mama!

Petting sting rays, he also fed sharks!

His very favorite... throwing rocks off the dock in Aunt Kelly and Uncle Kens backyard!

First boat ride. He did not get upset, but did not look too excited. He did however have to be held by Papa for this one, apparently mama did not make him feel safe enough.
The boys went fishing and the women and Eli got dropped off on a little island. It was perfect and Eli LOVED the waves!
... and the sand!
But most of all, he LOVED the birds!

I have to add that the "island" about disappeared before the boys made it back to get us. We had about a 2-3 feet sand bar left of this "island", and a storm on the way, by the time they came for us. I think we might have been a little disappointed they came back when they did. We were ready for an adventure!!!

We also spend a few days in a time share my sister and brother in law have each year. Eli got to spend time at the beach and the pool with everyone.


Can you tell he liked the pool?
Just one of the boys!
Eli, Nana, and Papaw on a walk.
Uncle Ken being silly!
We did have on incident with the undertow that resulted in a missing Papa and Toddler followed by a freaked out Mama... we might still be pulling sand out of Eli's ears and nose, it was not good.
The cousins... too cute!!!
It was a great trip... sorry it took me so long to post this. More to come with what we have been up to the last month in the next few days!

Bad Blogger

We have been working hard the last month on a makeover of our bonus room, leaving us little time to blog (more like little energy). However, I have a feeling we will get to it soon so don't give up on us!