A Funny Trick

Last night I was giving Matthew, our youngest, a bath while his 3-year old brother waited for his turn. Elijah was disrobed and playing in his room when he came into the bathroom.

"Dad, my bear is wet."

"Really? How did he get wet?"

"I peed on him."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I peed on my bed. And I pooped on my bed. It was a funny trick. Let me show you!"

He wasn't kidding.

Birthday Marathon

The boys both had birthdays recently. Elijah (July 16th) had his celebration at Zoo Montana. He and a bunch of his friends pet a goat, played on the the playground, and enjoyed a nice sugar buzz. A good day, all in all.

Matthew (August 17th) had his celebration this past Saturday. It was a bit more laid back. Just a bunch of water toys and some friends in our back yard. As you can see, he especially enjoyed the cake.

The Great Outdoors

I know. Been awhile. This should get us back on track.

Eli went on his first fishing trip this summer. Here is his first fish. Whopper.

Matthew getting in on the act

We also went camping with Shane and his girls again this year. here are some pics:

Matthew trying on his brother's hat

Eli was the traiblazer. He hiked almost three miles before I had to carry him.

Taking a lunch break.

Releasing the animals into the wild

It's been ridiculously warm here the past couple of weeks. With the exception of a little covering of snow on Sunday, the temperature has averaged 50 degrees during the day. So the boys have been spending a little time outdoors:

Eli is the one on the right

Our little Lawn Gnome

Picasso in training

Conquering the Throne

"I dub thee Sir Elijah, Knight of the Diaper Free Realm, Keeper of the Porcelain Chalice, and Protector of all that is dry."

That's right- Elijah is officially potty trained! He did a great job, and last night we went to Target to get his reward. He picked out a bag full of rubber snakes (Mom was pulling for cutsie frogs), and has been carrying them around ever since. We're happy to be through this rite of passage!

Why is embarassment so much fun?

So our house went rollerskating last night. You remember, that junior high social event where you strapped four wheels to your feet, rolled around in circles, and yelled at each other over really loud music?

There was a twist, however. We all drew names, and then we each were alotted $5 to spend at the local thrift store on whomever we drew. So we all got to dress up one of our community members in the Thrift-Store outfit of our choice. The wreckage is revealed below.

The boys in the picture were a random addition- they thought we looked "like clowns" and hung out with us the whole night.

I took this picture of us WHILE we were skating.

Elijah tried on a bit of everyone's costume before we left. Screwball.

The Fruits of Christmas

A bunch of family members went in on a toy train set for Elijah this Christmas, so I wanted to post a picture of him with it, proving that he really does play with it a lot. Here's also a picture of Eli driving his new tractor...on the couch.

Matthew's milestone

So Matthew had his first experience with solid food-well, semi-solid food- last night. We gave him some rice cereal to see how he'd take to it. He wasn't so sure, but I think it'll grow on him.

The first of many wonderful, tasty things to come- like squash, lima beans, brussel sprouts...

Staring contest. Matthew won.

Christmas 2007

Most of you know that we spent this Christmas on the road. We travelled to Moose Lake, MN, Pardeeville, WI, and then back to St. Paul, MN. It was truly good to reunite with family and allow the boys a chance to meet their people.

I've posted a bunch of pictures below, including a few from Christmas here at home with Grandpa Emerling. These pictures are a hodge podge of all of our stops:

A Star is born

This Sunday Elijah was in our church's annual Christmas play, performed by all of the kids in the church. He played the important role of Sheep, along with all of the other two year-olds. Eli took it upon himself play the more specific role of "lost sheep," and happily trotted around the stage and out into the crowd during the performance. I guess I didn't think of the fact that my kid might one day be "that kid," you know- the one who doesn't follow the script and has his own agenda.

I couldn't have been prouder. :)

Eli the sheep

(one little girl thought she was a cow and mmoooed during the whole performance)

Notice my son staring at all of the little conformists sitting on the stage

The Sunday School lady "helping" Eli back to his spot....hehe.

Catching up

I was out of town on business last week, so I took Monday off of work to be with the family. Eli, Debbie and I spent the afternoon decorating Christmas cookies.

This is a random photo of Matthew tucked into his car seat...I just didn't want him to feel left out.