Birthdays and Recent Happenings

We hope that you have been enjoying the gorgeous weather lately, as it has been beautiful here! We have loved getting to play outside and soak up this awesome time of the year where it is not too hot and not too cold, but just right as Goldilocks would say. Hmm, maybe I have been reading the story of the 3 Bears a little bit too much. :) Anyway, we have been having a ball lately. We are exceedingly grateful to God for every good thing He has put in our life, for surely they are many! Here are some recent pictures of Cislaghi life.

 

 

Jen's Birthday

 

 

One September 20th, I turned the big 31!  Me and my handsome hubby went out to Pappadeux's for a delicious dinner to celebrate.

 

 

The next day we went to the A&M vs SMU game.  It was here in Dallas at the SMU campus, which made it much easier to have someone watch Eli for us.  We loved getting to go and cheer on the Aggies in person for the first time since I was a few months pregnant with Eli.  Now I am just about as far along with number 2, so the "kids" will be even with Aggie games attended in utero. :) 

 

This was a great game to watch, as the Aggies blew the Mustangs away!

 

Ah, the Aggie Band...just like old times.  We of course thought of how much Eli would have loved to see all of those instruments. :)

 

 

 

On my actual birthday, Eli and I had a great time hanging out together.  We started out the day at Starbucks with my free birthday drink and a cinnamon roll...yummy!  Go figure, Eli loved the cinnamon roll and ate most of it. :)

 

We then had quite the interesting afternoon.  We went to Old Navy to look at maternity clothes for me and see if there was anything cute for Eli.  We were trying on clothes in the dressing room when Eli found my half full coffee cup.  Sure enough, he happened to slip at that moment, the top popped off, and caramel macchiato flew everywhere!  The good thing was that the coffee was cold by then, the bad thing was that all of our clothes were soaked.  So, I grabbed some paper towels, cleaned up the mess, and stripped my screaming kiddo down to the diaper.  We then went out in the store looking for clothes to buy and wear out that weren't soaked with coffee.  Since all of the fall wear was out most things were long sleeve, but it was still a pretty hot day.  I found this shirt and these shorts for $5.  I found it ironic that the only short sleeve tee I could find said was "Happy Birthday to Me!" but when I read it it seemed quite appropriate. :)    

 

Ah, sorry these are sideways.  I will try to remember to go load the flipped ones.  Here we are singing "Happy Birthday" to Mommy and Eli.  You can guess which one of us got to blow out the candle. :)

 

My sweetest birthday present indeed, thank you Lord!

 

Rainman

 

Our little fireman all suited up for the rain.

 

 

Another rainy day.  We had built a "campfire" previously which Eli loved.  There is a Curious George story that we read often where George goes camping and builds a campfire.  We never got any fire really going, but it made no difference to Eli...he thought it was great all the same!

 

 

 

Another sideways one, but super cute.

 

New Friends

Eli with his new friends Mr. Danny and Mrs. Michelle.  Our church hosted a pastor's conference recently and we had this sweet couple stay with us.  We were so glad to get to know them and look forward to going to visit them soon when we are down in San Antonio.

Danny and Michelle surprised us by leaving gifts for us in their room.  Eli got a fishing game and it was instantly a new favorite.

Puzzles and Cars

 



Lately Elijah has been much more interested in puzzles.  I have to help him get the pieces in the right order, but he loves two train puzzles (numbers and abc trains) that he got from Mamie and puts it together himself.

After building the train, it becomes tracks to push his cars back and forth on.

Fun times with my little cutie!

Getting some "Extersize"

What every kid needs to have fun outdoors...a plunger (aka hammer) and a toilet seat (aka nails).  Go figure, we get some strange looks by the people driving by. ;)

He likes to swing his plunger like a sledge hammer against a tire.  Jillian Michaels would be so proud. :)

 

Boomerang, the ever faithful companion, helping out.

 

So expressive.  "You going to help me Mommy or just stand there and take pictures?"

 

"All in a hard day's work..."

The More the Merrier

For our morning walk yesterday, Eli insisted on taking all of his friends along for the ride: Teddy Bear, Ranger Bear, Doggy Star, and Ranger Pillow.  Go figure, Eli named his animals himself.

 

Who could say no to that sweet face?

 

After our walk, we realized that we had a man down.  Ranger Bear managed to slip off the stroller without being seen.  Eli asked me if I thought Ranger Bear was walking home to our house.  While I'm sure he was probably heading our way, we went to find him in the car as it would be quite the walk for a little teddy.  Thankfully we found him and Eli was very glad.  He gave Ranger Bear a big hug and a kiss when we found him, and even shared his celebratory Starbucks milk with his found friend.   

 

 

Batter Up

Playing baseball on the front porch.  After hitting the ball, Eli would turn around, run all the way across our house to the laundry room door, which you can see in the back, fall on the ground, and run back.  A good way to wear out a little energetic toddler for sure!

"Hey batter batter, swing batter batter!"

"All right, let's see what you got..."

"Home Run!"

 

Money Man

 

We cannot pass the "coin chest" without putting money in.  I am glad Elijah already has a little heart to give.

 

Pops's Birthday

 

In Anna with Pops, Mamie, Amber, Eric, and cousins to celebrate Pops's birthday.  Abram is zeroes in on those cupcakes. 

Pops with the grandkiddos

Cheese!!

Eli still gets a little upset after blowing out the candles :)

He quickly made a turnaround after relighting the candle, getting the seat of honor on Pops's lap, and eating some delicious cake and ice cream.

Carlos's Birthday

 

Eli with his little buddy, Carlos, who lives across the street.  We were celebrating Carlos's 3rd birthday at a park nearby.

Boys will be boys.  My favorite thing is that Carlos pretty much only speaks Spanish, Eli pretty much only speaks English, and yet the two have a blast together!  It is so cute...guess you don't need words at all to be buddies when you are 2-3. :)

Eli's goodie bag from the party.  Yoshi not only held all sorts of delicious candy inside, he made a great friend and toy to play with!

 

Toys R Us

More time with Garfield...a favorite past time of ours.

Getting in some practice driving early

 

 

Sand Man



Playing outside at the park on a gorgeus day.  Eli wanted to take off his shoes and socks and play in the sand.

So messy, and yet so wonderful.

Breakfast and Bubbles

 



Blowing bubbles outside while eating his granola bar (aka "gro bar") for breakfast.  Way to start theday out right!

 

"Here Mom, let me show you how to do it."

 

"Oh boy, I knew she wouldn't get it right."

 

Kindermusic

 

Since Eli is so into music, we signed up for a little music class that we do together on Wednesdays.  We are really enjoying it!  Most of the time I am participating with him and can't really take pictures, but during story time I got a free moment.  He is such a good little listener and is pointing out the kangeroo hiding behind the tree. :)

 

Kroger Pumpkin Patch

Picking out pumpkins at the "Kroger Pumpkin Patch"

 

Our family pumpkin portrait:  Clockwise from top left- The Daddy Pumpkin, The Mommy Pumpkin, The Eli Pumpkin, and The Baby Pumpkin. :)

Picking Mushrooms

Eli and I discovered a large patch of mushrooms on our walk a few weeks back.  Here we are stopping to smell the roses, aka stopping to pick the mushrooms. 

 

Love from Nana and Papa

 

At the beginning of September, we made a trip in to SA for a quick visit.  I forgot my camera, but here are a few cute pictures my mom sent me from the weekend.

Eli getting love from his Nana and Papa, and loving it!

Playing his sweet new guitar from Papa!

Project Life



My good friend Karrie finally convinced me to start a new keepsake project called Project Life.  I like to think of it as a scrapbook for dummies. :)  You can google it to find out more info if you are interested.  Eli loves looking at pictures so much, and while I will post them online I have been historically bad at printing them out.  This helps me to organize, print, and preserve fun family pictures and memories.  So far it is going well.  Thanks Karrie for introducing me to this cool idea!