Visit to the North Pole (aka, Bass Pro Shop)

Today Eli and I had quite the big adventure...we went to Bass Pro Shop to get his picture made with Santa Claus. If you have been to Bass Pro before, then you know that everything there is BIG! The store is big, the fish are big, the animals are big, and the line to go and see Santa is...you guess it...BIG! We have been meaning to go all month, but time somehow slipped away so it was now or never. We went up there this morning around 10am and got a pass to go stand in line to get Eli's picture made at 11:30. So, for the next hour Eli and I had a great time exploring all the wonders of the great outdoors. Eli loved the "wawa" with all of the big fish, but didn't really understand why I wouldn't let him get in the tank and actually touch the fish. :) We sat in tents, "rode" on fourwheelers, and "oohed and aahed" over all manner of bears, moose, and deer. That hour flew by surprisingly fast and all was going well.

At about 11am we went back to "Santa's Wonderland" to wait for Santa. The good thing was that Bass Pro was not oblivious to the ways of kids. The had plenty of distractions to keep the kids amused while we waited. There was a table to color pictures, a big remote control car table, and plenty of other fun christmas decorations. Nonetheless, even with all of this a boy has his limits.

At about 11:45, we finally made it to the front of the line and it was our turn! By this point, however, my little boy was about ready for lunch and a nap, and most certainly did not want to be passed away from Mommy to some strange man, even if he did look like Santa Claus.  So there we were...the moment was finally there, the culmination of the last 2 hours of waiting, hoping for one good picture that we can look back on for years to come and smile. You can see our picture below, but just between me and you, I definitely think we got that picture. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Checking out the lights

"Whoa..."

"Mommy, look at that!"

"Really Mom!  I can tell you are still taking pictures, but you have got to see this!"

"Check out the SIZE of that fish!"

"I am speechless."

Time for a little camping. 
And if you are wondering, yes, I am walking my son on a leash. :)  But especially in a store as big as Bass Pro at the busiest time of the year, I wouldn't have it any other way.  This little backpack is worth it's weight in gold!

Loving the tent

Petting the raccoon.  "Boy Mom, this guy sure is still..."

Riding on his first Fourwheeler

Eli with the big bear

Friends :)

Just giving him a little bear hug ;)

Coloring the Choo Choo Trains

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Eli roasting by an open fire

"What?!  Is that a real fire?"

Big car table

Remote Controlled Cars = Awesome

"Now that's what I'm talking about."

This is what Eli does when I ask him to "say cheese."  For a while he would actually look at me and smile with his finger to his cheek.  Now he just says cheese and puts his finger on his cheek while he keeps doing what he was doing. :)

"Do you think Santa will let me add one more thing to my wish list?"

Drumroll please...
Here is our awesome, 2011 picture with Santa!

Eli + Santa = Love :)
Merry Christmas Everyone!!

The Wheels on the Bus

The latest craze in our house is "The Wheels on the Bus," or as Eli likes to call it "Yellow Bus!"  There is a little video of this song that Elijah loves to watch over and over.  Then we will sing it together and go over the motions.  Tonight as I was getting Eli ready for bed, he kept doing all of the little motions for the wheels on the bus.  I ran and grabbed my camera and got a few little clips of my sweet little singer. :)

With Mom's Guidance...
FYI, he is doing the following: wheels go round and round, wipers go swish swish swish, horn goes beep beep beep, doors go open and shut, money goes clink clink clink, baby goes wah wah wah, mama goes sh sh shh.



Eli's Solo Version :)

My Poor Neglected Blog

As you may have noticed, my blog has not gotten a lot of love lately.  I have been hanging on by a very thin thread to try to get it updated every so often, although December has been rather rough on the poor blog.  That said, a neglected blog means that we have been having a lot of fun!  We have had lots of Christmas parties and get togethers and just fun hanging out and playing together.  Elijah is getting SO much more vocal and I love this stage.  Every day he continues to say new words that impress me and understands things that I wouldn't expect him to.  He is so much fun to spend my days with and I am thankful for my little buddy.  I feel like we have a ton of pictures that I haven't posted lately, so I am going to really try to weed them down and give you you a little taste of what we've been up to lately.  So without further ado, here we go...

PJs. Beanie.  Iron.  What else could a little boy need to be this happy?

Just working out all those wrinkles in the rug.  Thank you, buddy!

It has finally cooled down here in Dallas after a very hot summer.  Eli's interest in the pool, however, has not waned.  One day we were out playing in the backyard and Elijah kept calling out "blue pool!" (which sounds more like "boo pooo").  I tried to rationally explain to him that it was too cold and we would play in the pool again next summer (aka, a lifetime away!) but believe it or not, that tactic did not seem to be very effective on a 20 month old.  So, we got a little creative and brought the boo pooo inside.  Eli found it to be just as much fun without water. :) 

Crawling across the booo pooo.

"Mommy, check this out!"

Now playing in the pool sans water in the nice warm house.  Good idea mom! :)

Ahh, the always popular pool tent!

"Come on in, guys, there is lots of room and it is SO fun in here!" :)

When we were in San Antonio for Thanksgiving, Nana gave Eli this very special Christmas present.  It is the book "The Night Before Christmas" and she recorded herself reading the story for Eli.  He LOVES this book and I think we will all have the book memorized before long. :) 

Eli loves listening to Nana read to him.

Fun with the yellow school bus.

Just can't get enough of that sweet smile!

 

Our annual tradition of Ethan putting the bow (since we don't have a star) on top of our little tree. :)

Eli was very interested in the Christmas tree the next morning!

"Ooooh, what is this one?!"

"I know I'm not supposed to touch it, but what about just this one..."

This picture is of Eli watching the video of himself on the blog.  He LOVES to see or hear himself on tape.  We must have watched the video about 10 times in a row and it was this awesome each and every time!

Cute new PJs from Mamie

Family breakfast at Biscuits Cafe on a Saturday morning

My boys

The most childproof plate they had :)

After a nice breakfast, we headed next store to the hair salon for Eli's second hair cut.

"Oh boy, I can hardly wait!"

Eli "read" his way all through the haircut and did great.

Thank you, Dr. Seuss, we owe you one.

This time we told them to just trim it up and leave some of those precious curls intact.

We forgot to take an after picture, but he looks very handsome of course.

Storytime with Dada before bed

Eli sitting on the big potty

Interest in the potty is definitely growing for Elijah.  The other day, he wanted to sit on it when it was open.  I set him up there for a second, and then decided that it was time to go him a potty of his own that he could sit on.  While he is not really potty training yet, he loves to sit on is potty and it is certainly a fun toy for the time being.

Last night Eli was sitting on his littly potty and it was so cute.  I wish I had my camera but wasn't able to grab it at the moment.  He was sitting on his little potty, completely naked, and kept saying "Ei peepee potty, Ei poopoo potty."  We sang a little potty song and he was grinning as big as could be, naked on his little potty.  For his sake, it may be a good thing that I didn't get any pictures of that, but it is a fun memory that I will certainly keep.

Elijah's Sunday School Craft :)

We posted his beautiful nativity scene on the refrigerator.  He loves to walk up to it and point out "baby Jejus."  It melts my heart every time!

Another current obsession is driving mommy's car.  These next few pictures were all taken yesterday and Eli was just having a ball "driving" my car.

I have a little voice recorder that has become predominately a toy for Eli.  We will record him saying different things and then he plays it back over and over again.

"Watch this, Mommy, I can drive backwards!"

"Can you do that?"

Watch out folks, there are crazy drivers out on the roads this time of year. :)

"Alright, where to Mom?  I'll drive you where ever you want to go."