I love PUPPIES!

I dropped the camera the other night and thought I broke it.....hence I broke my picture a day goal. whoops. Moving forward with as many pictures as we can get this year goal instead :).

This weekend we drove to Thompson to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa "NEMO". Let me explain the name. My mom has a little fish figurine that looks like nemo and everytime Eli sees it he makes a fish sound. Then he learned how to make a PUPPY sound. We had been working on signing "puppy" for awhile so this was a nice addition. THEN.....He learned to make a sssssssnake sound. So cute! It just amazes me everyday what he picks up on!

We spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa looking at the puppies outside. He just loves those dogs!

Family Fun

Saturday we spent the day/night in Fargo swimming and spending time with the family. Elijah went swimming and went down the slide at the waterpark. He had so much fun! Then we spent time in the suite coloring and playing with the cousins! Elijah is so lucky!!!

Out with the old......

We finished what we had started yesterday.....cleaning out Elis closet. All the baby stuff....all the sweet memories :) We put all his 12-18 month (tear, tear) clothes on hangers and folded on the shelves. This kid is so blessed he has enough clothes to last him until he is in 4T! He has a secret closet in his closet that we are clearing the stuff out of, packing away and putting in the basement so we can make it into a little hideaway for him. uff! A ton of work, but so well worth it when it was done late this morning!

In the process we found his newborn hat he got in the hospital, my how he has grown!

I left for 30 sec to go brush my teeth in the bathroom and this is what I came back to........

yup. Those are wet wipes. So we picked them up, toothbrush still in my mouth. Clean room, clean baby.....not too much can happen while I go rinse and spit right?..........

wrong.

I don't know how he does it, but he can turn a room upside down in 2.3 seconds!

So Folks....this has been our day so far. Clean.....make a mess....clean.....make a mess........

January 5th, 2012

Today has been quite the busy day! Elijah was in the kitchen this morning and managed to get into all the drawers and empty them as well as make his way into the laundry room and unravel the toilet paper. I actually enjoyed watching him move about like that! I like to see him explore his surroundings. I can clean a mess :) We cleaned out his closet and packed up all his old clothes and baby items....tear tear :( and moved them into the basement. Then we decided to make a fort in his room. Boy did he love that!

Then he made his way into the hallway from his fort and found yet another basket....and fell in!!!!

It has been such a nice day out today that we went for a two hour stroller ride after lunch. We have been working on napping after lunch but a train decided to interrupt that schedule today. We went to the park with sam and let him run around and I pushed Elijah on the swing. I love hearing him laugh every time he swings up :) These are such precious moments I want to capture them all! We received a camera for Christmas so I will be trying to achieve my goal of a picture a day for the rest of the year. It will be fun to look back next year and see what we did everyday!!

New Year!

Happy new year!!!! I have to admit, new years is one of my fav holidays. I actually dont like new years eve all that much, just Jan 1st. Why you ask? Well, I love putting all of our numbers together and looking back on the goals from last new year to see all that we accomplished. I have always loved goals, setting goals, achieving goals. working towards goals. There is just something very thrilling about the whole process. So this year, I am going to share what we will be working on the next year!!

Personal-
1. Read at least two books a month-This is my "me time" and I need to make sure I make time for it.

2. Try something new every week- whether it is a new recipe, a new trail, a new craft, project....whatever! It just has to be something we have never done before!

3. Mark off one of my projects a month off of the to-do list.-This includes, refinishing our kitchen table, night stands, finishing our bedroom, starting our garden..........

4. Take a photo a day for my Life Project-Elijahs book

5.  Read through the whole Bible

Relationships/Ministry

1. Make sure to call and write to friends and family more-To often we get to busy and put this last

2. Make date night a priority-once a month and it doesnt have to involve going anywhere or spending any money.

3. Make fellowship a priority- having more people over on a regular basis.

4. Continue to attend church, bible study, prayer groups, play groups ect...

5. Make time for at least once a month for Elijah to spend time my side of the family as well as Johns.

Is Christmas your Idol?

How many of us have Christmas traditions? Maybe a present we get for someone every year? Opening presents on Christmas eve/ Christmas day? What we eat? I could go on and on.

What is Christmas really? If you are a Christian or raised in the christian faith you could probably answer this. Its the day Jesus was born, right? BUT, if you really reflect on this and then look at your Christmas traditions....its very very convicting.

Whenever I read in the old testament about how the people would have idols and pray to them and bring them sacrifices I just think to myself how anyone could do that. Really? Worship a big golden cat?

I just get a kick out of Christian families who have BIG Christmas celebrations. Yes, we need to celebrate our Lords birth....it changed the world and our Salvation, BUT how are we celebrating? Did we really take Jesus's birthday and make it into a big golden cat? Did we really take the ONE who gave us eternal life's birthday and make it about US!? Really guys?

Ok, take a look at Jesus, how He lived his life, who He hung out with when He was on earth. He didn't only hang out with "Holy" people, he hung out with prostitutes, liers, thieves, tax collectors. He lived His life SERVING others. You do unto the least of them you do unto me.

So where in the world did we ever come up with the idea that God would like us to celebrate His Sons birthday by giving to OURSELVES. Let me repeat this verse again....."You do unto the least of them, you do unto ME". Guys, I am going to be blunt here......WE. ARE. NOT. THE. LEAST. OF. THEM.....Sorry....

I pray that this convicts you. If this doesn't, please watch the video at the top. This Christmas celebrate our salvation through Jesus by living and giving the way the Bible teaches. SERVE and WORSHIP fully this Christmas. Lets not be the ones who take CHRIST out of Christmas without even realizing it :)

Im back on the blog!

Ok...so I needed a break from the blogging world. A whole month I guess! :) BUT I AM BACK!!
So what have we been up to for the month of October you ask? The weather for October couldn't have been better around here so we have been enjoying being outside most afternoons! My little man loves playing with the leaves that have fallen from the trees, so after lunch we will go outside and just explore the back yard. Walks are still a big part of our day also, we just love getting out and enjoying nature at its finest!
November is here (I cant believe how fast this year has flown by) and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I love Thanksgiving because it reminds me to remind myself each day of all the things I am so thankful for. I think it is very easy to focus on the negative and so hard to think about the positive. Each day for the month of November I am posting via Facebook one thing I am thankful for. It is so encouraging for me to do this because it reminds me how lucky I am to have what I have. Its so easy for me to "wish" I had more or better things but in reality I am soooo lucky, blessed and rich to have what I have! I encourage you to think about and write down what you are thankful for this month, it truly is rewarding!