We've had some unbelievable February weather! And boy are we soaking up every bit of possible sunshine that we can! We spent the day with friends at the park yesterday. It was absolutely the most fun Eli has ever had at a playground! He is getting BRAVE! I stood there in disbelief as he made his way to the top of the biggest playset by himself, and didn't even think twice about it! It really shows how much he's grown up even since the fall.

He went up and down a million times. Smiling bigger each time!

If you ask Kres who his best friend is, he proudly shouts 'ELI!!!' Melts my heart to see him making such sweet friends at this age.

After he mastered the smaller slide, he ventured over to the big kid slide. Keely was sweet and decided to go with him the first time.

Then he flew on down by himself!

Macey took a turn with Eli too.

This was the only time he stopped!

I've said it before, but I really love this age! Just for my memory's sake, here are a few funny/favorite things that Eli's saying and doing:

*Trying to count with his fingers. He works so hard to get those 2 fingers up!

*Some of my favorite words he says: Heiney, minute, outside(si-side), heart, highchair, ouch, baseball/basketball, jacket, pits(chips), golf club. He'll pretty much repeat anything you ask him to now, which has made things really fun!

*Phrases he can put together: "keys to car" "go down slide" "go fast" "Where mommy go?" "Hit ball" He begs to "drive car" anytime we leave the house. "Duck, Duck, Goose" He says "bye car" anytime a guest leaves our house.

*He labels everything he sees by the person it belongs to. His favorite being 'PopPops car.' He remembers people by their cars! If he sees a tan Tahoe while we're driving, he immediately says PopPops car, etc. He very rarely ever sees PopPops car, so we have no idea how he remembers that.

*He's learned to whisper, and its one of my favorite things he does! He says things like...'shhhhhh dada sleeping,' and then goes off on a whispering gibberish tangent. Something about it makes us laugh everytime! Him putting his finger half way up his nose as he says 'shhhh' makes it that much better :)

*He still loves to sing and dance. His singing consists of high-pitched words that don't make any sense. But it's still cute!

*Mimi got him a new Nike hat, and he won't leave the house without it. He stands at the front door with his hat and jacket when he's ready to go outside. Everyone says that he really looks like Danny with his hat on.

I love that boy!

Mimi to the Rescue!

We were blessed with a last minute visit from my mom last week! She literally bought her plane ticket on Monday afternoon to fly out on Tuesday morning. It was just what we needed! The perfect distraction during a long week of baseball. Constant entertainment for Eli. The perfect shopping partner. Sometimes you just need your mom, no matter how old you are! We stayed busy the entire week. We hit all of our favorite restaurants and shopped our brains out! The weather couldn't have been better, so we kept Eli busy with outdoor fun during the day. We hit the Farmer's Market and enjoyed Downtown Bluffton, spent a morning in Sea Pines at Lawton Stables, spent an entire kid-free girls day in Savannah(amazing!), and went for many walks with the boy.

Mimi came bearing gifts as usual. Eli's favorite...his big red bus from London!

My mom ended up flying into Jacksonville. She had a rental car for the week, and Eli begged to 'drive it' everytime he saw it. It was quite the eye sore to us, but a treasure to him!

We went to our favorite church in downton Bluffton and took a few pictures.

Visited a few precious children's book stores.

Played ring around the rosie over and over and over.

Who knew laundry baskets could provide such entertainment?!

We ate lunch and enjoyed walking around the Farmer's Market on Thursday.
We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch!
I will forever love this picture of Mimi and Eli!

We couldn't let her leave without a trip to Lawton Stables. She's never been with Eli before. We made the mistake of mentioning a trip to see the 'neigh neigh's' that morning, and that was a big mistake! He didn't stop whining and begging until we got there! He loves animals, especially horses right now. He talks about horses the most, but gets a little intimidated by their size in person.

He shows no fear with all of the other animals. We're shocked he still has any fingers left.

We can't wait to see Mimi again in April when she comes for Eli's 2nd birthday! Thank you, Mom, for such a memorable week! Eli is still asking 'where Mimi go?'

Big Boy Bed

Last night was a big night in our house! Eli slept in his big boy bed for the very first time. He LOVES it! He's been begging to go upstairs and get in his bed since he woke up this morning. He went to sleep surprisingly fast, and slept through the night! We're still working on the ground rules, and hoping that he catches on fast. He hasn't tried to get out of bed yet, but the bed rail keeps him pretty contained. We're hoping that the transition continues to go smoothly!

Eli helped daddy put his new bed together. He couldn't wait to climb up!

We all got in bed with him after his nap to take a rest and try out the bed.
Isn't his car bedding just precious?! We couldn't have found a better match for our boy. Everyone knows that he has a serious passion for cars. We still have a lot of rearranging to do in his room. His crib and changing table will be moving over into the guest bedroom soon.

I'm thankful that my mom was here to be a part of this! All 3 of us were in tears when Eli hopped up on his new bed and layed his head down. I don't think we were as ready for this as he was!

I snuck in late last night and took a quick picture of Eli asleep in his big boy bed. I never thought this day would come so soon! Once we say goodbye to the paci and diapers, there will officially be no more baby left :(

Valentine's Day

We had an unusually quiet Valentine's Day. Dan and I had our date night last weekend to avoid the restaurant madness this past weekend. Mimi had sent a fun Valentine's package for all of us, so we enjoyed breaking into that! Eli was so funny pretending to read his cards over and over. He loved his special heart doggie too!

Eskimo kisses!

Mimi also sent a fun new toy that Eli hasn't been able to put down.

Later in the day we got a pretty large Valentine's day delivery...


We sold my car last week, and Dan very quickly found a truck that he liked. We had to move quickly, as being a one car family during baseball season wouldn't work for long. Thankfully everything fell into place, and the truck was delivered to our house yesterday afternoon! Eli has wanted to spend every waking second in his daddy's new truck! This boy dreams about cars, trains and trucks! Thankfully the weather has been BEAUTIFUL, so the boys have spent a lot of time outside playing with their new toy.

Superbowl Sunday

We didn't care much about the game, but we sure did enjoy the good food and fellowship! Our Journey Groups got together and had a big time together last night. There's just nothing like football food! We're so thankful for this amazing group of friends.

Neely had the boys riding ponies. It was too funny! Eli walked around saying 'Neigh Neigh' for the rest of the night.

I love this! Eli and Kres are still the best of buds. They talk about each other all the time. They kept hugging last night. I love that the Langhals kids affection is rubbing off on Eli some :)
We got home just in time for halftime. We watched the terrible halftime show and then put Eli to bed. We did end up enjoying the second half of the game.

We've had a very quiet rainy day today. I'm praying for sunshine tomorrow!

Down Time

Happy February! The end of January and February always prove to be less than exciting. Other than a few blissful days of sunshine, the weather has been pretty gloomy. We've been staying inside and catching up on things that got pushed aside during our crazy holiday months. After lots of traveling and time away from home, it's felt so good to get back into our normal routine.

Eli has been keeping himself well entertained, which has allowed me to really catch up on work.

Baseball season is underway, so we're adjusting to that new schedule as well. I'm so thankful for such sweet friends. Between lunch dates and plenty of playdates, the days seem to fly by. I'm just ready for the Spring! We're ready to get back to playing outside again. I know Eli will be excited about all of the time spent at the baseball field this Spring too. He's so into baseball, and has learned so much since last season. We just know that he'll be running the bases after games this year!

We were able to spend a few more days with GG & Goomba last week. Eli was very confused when he returned to Nana & PopPop's house and it was kid-free and spotless!

Like I said, things have been quiet, but we like quiet sometimes! I'm usually one that prefers to be on the go, but sometimes you just need a little break.


Eli just loves his friend Charlotte! He takes such good care of her. I love how he's so gentle and loving around little ones. She keeps right up with him though!

I can't believe he will be 2 in just a few months. Didn't we JUST have his 1st birthday?! He's turned into such a big boy. The past few weeks he's started putting more sentences together, showing major signs that he's closer to potty training, and we're talking about getting him a big boy bed soon.

That's about it. Life has been uneventful, and we're enjoying that!