happy birthday eli

eli turns the big 0-4 today. we celebrated a few days ago with a bowling party. it was a lot lot of fun and the kids had a blast.

at times i thought i should have rented a wrestling ring instead of a bowling ally. that's the birthday boy on the bottom of the pile.

they gave him a pin to have his friends sign. he says it's his trophy for "getting points."

we love you so much eli! happy birthday!

the adventures of lyla and Jesus

as i wrote last week, i had to take lyla out of the service during worship because she was singing "winkle winkle" too loud. this week we managed to stay for the whole worship time...but not without some input from lyla. after every song she would say (quite loudly) AMEN!!! with impeccable timing.

she has big things in store for her. her and Jesus are already good friends. she takes Him for rides in her stroller, puts necklaces on Him, and here she is feeding Him some for her cheese...

taking Him and the necklace for a ride in her stroller...

i pray they remain good friends.

zoo

it was a little cold, but we still a good time. this is lyla's new favorite place. my shoulders are not good enough, it has to be daddy.

on the left, the monkey exhibit. on the right, lyla wearing the hat i made her. instead of a flower like i would normally do, i gave her a fish...because of her love for them. the owie on the her nose is from a shovel accident in the sandbox. but she's healing nicely.

lyla only knows two songs...

...so no matter what song is being sang, she chimes in with a little "winkle...winkle...star...
e-i-e-i-o...donald...winkle...e-i-o...winkle...donald..." last Sunday at church i had to take her out during worship because she was singing "winkle winkle" with all her little heart. i've tried teaching her Jesus loves me, but to no avail. she does sing along with me though, "winkle, winkle..."

our Christmas tree

this weekend we went up to robie creek to cut down our Christmas tree. it was a really, really fun family day. we cut down the tree, did a little sledding and had a picnic on the snow. the kids sat on the sled and we sat on trader joe's bags...it was such a good time. a beautiful, sunny day also helped.

love these ones of the kiddos...

ummmm...

sledding...

on the left, us in front of our tree. on the right, adam and eli cutting it down.

strong men...

cheese!

tying it on and going home.

what a good day.

the movies and the potty

adam and i went to see "the blind side" tonight. we loved it. besides having a great story, it was touching, inspiring and clean. see it!

my parents watched the kids while we had our date night (thank you!). i'm trying not to get too excited, but lyla used the "potty" for the first time, well, three times. i'm kinda sad i missed it. and it's kinda sad that i'm kinda sad that i missed it.

this picture has nothing to do with either of the two things above, i just like it.

good ideas

me: what are you going to get your dad for Christmas?
adam: um...
eli: a gun? rifle? sword? bow and arrow?...a tiger?