Bad Bug!

This week was a tough one.
Mike was out of town and I came down with some terrible stomach bug. Thanks to a wonderful neighbor doctor getting me prescription to make me stop throwing up (we will leave it at that) I escaped going to the ER for dehydration... we have to LOVE her!
Needless to say it was not a fun few days for the mommy, but it was a great few days for Eli. When I started throwing up, with no husband in town to help, I called my WONDERFUL sister-in-law that came and took Eli for the next 36 hours. Eli had a great couple days with his cousins and I was able to disinfect the house before Eli and Mike got home which I think has kept them from getting sick (so far). Check out the Doran's blog to see the cutest pictures/video of Eli's last few days!
http://doranphotos.blogspot.com

Best kind of dog to have...

Over a year ago the neighbors came over and said, "We bought Eli a dog, but she will live at our house"... PERFECT kind of dog in my eyes. Over the last year Eli has come to love Roo. We go visit Roo sometimes during the day. They play in the snow together on nice winter days. We have treats at our house we take Roo every now and then. Eli and Roo exchanged Christmas gifts. And, on days we are going stir crazy I will hear "Roo, treat". Eli loves Roo and I love that he does not live at our house!

Christmas at home... then I am done with Christmas posts

And last but not least are the parts of Christmas that are at home and don't involve traveling.

We made cookies for Santa, who Eli called "T-tops" (we don't know why). He is still calling all men with beards T-tops or Moses. He did not really understand the Santa thing, but he understood that cookies taste good, even before they are cooked. We did not serve these to anyone else.

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We woke up Christmas morning to no heat... we chose to put on lots of clothing and ignore it as we did not want it to ruin our morning... after we opened gifts Mike fixed it (yes, it is not a typo... MIKE FIXED IT, I was a proud wife).

It was a very nice Christmas

Christmas with Nana and Papaw

Nana and Papaw got Eli a nativity scene of his own to play with, it does not have any dinosaurs but we was still very excited about it as you can see.
He still was not into opening gifts, but was very curious about the red rocket ship below.

This year my parents were in a Christmas Play. They were dancers and it was so fun to watch. It gave Eli another reason to wear his fancy pants seeing as Nana and Papaw were so dressed up.

For the last 3 years we Brian and Mike get a mini-lego set in their stocking and have a competition as to who can complete it the fastest. It is a highlight of Christmas at my parents.

Mr. Fancy Pants (continuation of Christmas)

A few weeks before Christmas Eli went to have his pictures taken with his Cousins. The girls did great, but Eli was successful in turning what should have been a 20 min deal into a 3 1/2 hour ordeal. We did get a picture... here are some unificial pictures of the kids playing in between attempts.

moving to new bed someday

I am so excited about this bed canopy I got for Eli to use when we move him to a big boy bed. Not sure when that will be, but I am still excited about this!

Christmas Part II coming soon...

I have a ton more to post from our many Christmas adventures, but had to take a break for the night... look for more in a few days!

Christmas Part I

Mike and Ginny (his sister) love to argue about how baby Jesus should be positioned in the Nativity scene. Eli was more worried about where the Dinosaurs went.

I would have to say Eli's favorite part of Christmas was the Nativity scene. Don't all kids sleep with it at night???

We celebrated with Mike's family the weekend before Christmas. Eli was not real into opening gift, he was perfectly happy playing with the toys Mike played with growing up, singing in the bathtub with Aunt Ginny, and running around Memaw and Pepaw's bedroom with the girls and Uncle Ryan.

He did sit still long enough to watch a Dinosaur movie the Dorans bought him!

And, what holiday would be complete with out eating ornaments out of JELLO... I was challenged to do this and feel I came through with a strong product!

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

Eli most likely says "dinosaurs" about 100 times a day. His obsession has not let up. A few weeks ago papa and I had a dinosaur making contest. Eli was the judge and it was assumed the first one he went to play with was the winner, I am sure you can guess which one he picked first? I would post a picture of him playing with it but I realized the only picture we have is of him playing with the funky looking purple thing Mike made and I would hate to not accurately represent!

Over a month late... Turning 2!

Eli's Second Birthday Party

Eli had a "BIG DINOSAUR PARTY" as he called it. It was simple with 15 family members and a magnificent cake that papa decorated!

After everyone had gotten a piece, the kids played with it for a long time. It is the most fun I have seen kids have with a cake! (We threw it away after this, in case you were wondering).

As many of you know, I don't like to eat JELLO but I LOVE to make things out of it. So no party is complete with out some kind of JELLO mold. I made JELLO eggs with little baby dinosaurs in them you had to eat out, the girls loved them. Eli is more like his mama, he liked the idea but not the JELLO.
He had a great time and cried when everyone left (it was about 10pm and he was ready to party all night!)