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..."