la jolla

la jolla...ahhhh. just writing the words makes me happy. i love it there. we went out to lunch with tommy and lenore and then for a walk at the cove. eli had fun chasing seagulls...and daddy. lyla did not do so well. she as yet another ear infection. that has made the trip a little difficult. she is on antibiotics and hopefully on the mend.

we also went out to dinner with our good friends corrie and mike. during dinner corrie asked me, "did you guys really leave? it feels like you never left." yes, we did, almost five years ago. that's what's great about good friends, you pick up where you left off. it was great seeing all of you!

boys

eli - boys are cool
me - yeah? why is that?
eli - because they have coolness

on our way

eli...
- in nampa, 45 minutes into our 17 hour drive..."is this it? are we in california?"
- in caldwell, 55 minutes into our 17 hour drive..."we've traveled a looooong way from our home."

lyla stayed in her car seat for the whole time...straight through. we stopped 4 times, but i don't think we ever even turned off the car. the kids were pretty amazing, a bit of fussing from lyla, but other than that it was smooth sailing.

we had a really, really great Christmas. presents and breakfast at adam's dad's, presents and dinner at my grandma/pa hobb's.

we are staying with adam's dad and step mom. it has been nice to spend more time with them. eli has been so cute with grandpa scott. this morning we went to this awesome breakfast place in pacific beach called konos. we were walking on the boardwalk to the restaurant and eli kept reaching up and holding scott's hand, it was so sweet.

eli is having the time of his life with his cousins. lyla is a bit overwhelmed by them. on Christmas Eve she would cry every time a new person came in. but it was a fun night for us.

it's been a great trip so far...and we still have a lot more to go, wahoo!

Merry Christmas!

bring it on!

we had a snowball fight today with some boys from the hood. we threw until all the snow in our front yard was gone. eli was in heaven, he loves playing the the big kids. it was super fun.

spying out the enemy territory

play

eli got a new playmobil gladiator set with two fighters and a tiger. we were fighting with them when lyla wanted to join in. eli said she should be the tiger. so everyone had their fighting figure...ready to go. eli and i started waring, slashing each others guy with our respective weapons, then lyla put the tiger up to my guy and said, "kiss." she's not so good at waring, but she's really good at being sweet.

snugging with her favorite baby...

i love our kitchen. it's my favorite room of the house...especially when it snows. the field and foothills look beautiful covered in white. this morning a few hundred geese landed in the field. they were flying around above and eating grass below. it was a cool site. the kids thought so, too.

about 4 feet

the kids were wrestling on the bed when adam heard lyla say, "again!" he looked up as eli grabbed her by the waist and threw her about four feet across the bed...she laughed. adam did not. good thing we have a king bed.

happenings

eli took his first communion today. then he told the little boy next to him why we take communion. he talked about "forgive in Jesus" and how He died on the cross for our sins. i'm so thankful to God for his tinder heart. i'm sure a lot of his desire to take communion stemmed from curiosity...wondering what it would taste like ("it was foamy"). but what really matters to me is that he knows why we do it, to remember Christs sacrifice on the cross. praise God!

it has been a fun day with him. a few things i loved about today...

i love that he said, "mom, you're the best cooker in the world," after i made him french toast.
i love that he called me, "the bomb."
i love that he still calls "california" "costa rica."
i love that when i asked him what he thought of a friends new baby he said, "she's sooo beautiful," in his sweetest voice.
i love that he is still thanking us (two days later) for his early Christmas presents.
i love that he loves making lyla laugh.

it was a good day.

little miss independent

i have a (pretty strong) feeling that lyla is going to be an "i do it" kid. she wants to dress herself...though she is unable to, but gets really mad when i take over to do the job. this morning she ate a whole yogurt...by herself. i'm not surprised at the quantity, because she is a massive consumer of food products. i'm surprised because she physically spooned it into her own mouth without making an enormous mess, getting about 90 percent of it to it's proper destination. yay lyla!

ice cream anyone?

eli and lyla were wrestling on the bed tonight, which is pretty much a nighttime ritual, when eli said, "lyla, don't get me! don't give me a sherbet!" (zerbert).

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.

eli's fantastic friends...and eli in the middle of "i don't want to take a picture!"

the bowling ally 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..."