9/19 - Daddy is back

A few days after the last post I let the boys play in the pool naked and with the slide. The slide was a bad idea. It's really fast and the ground is pretty hard when you come down that fast. I'm omitting the video of Aiden going down the slide and crying.

Eli has learned how to blow on Aiden's train whistle. He loves it.

I'm also trying to teach Eli how to use the snack cup. He will stick his hand in there but doesn't understand he needs to grab the stuff in there. Instead, he plays with it and then takes his hand out and then tips the cup like he's drinking out of it. A few fall out and then he picks them up and eats them. I'm hoping he doesn't think this is how he eats out of it.
Non-napping Aiden fell asleep in Nana's arms. That little booger is killing me with the naps lately. I let him (and Nana) sleep for about 30 min.

The picture at Aiden at the dinner table with his arm over his head is his new thing. He does this when he thinks he is in trouble or not answer me. It's kinda funny and I have no idea where he learned it from.

Aiden was cracking me up last week. He put his chair in the recliner chair and decided to wear his sunglasses. What a special boy!

Brad came back on the 9th after 6 weeks away. I picked up Brad from base and then we went to get Aiden at daycare. Aiden was so happy to see Brad. He ran up to him and said, "daddy," and gave him a huge hug. It was so sweet. We then went to pick up Eli and he was also glad to see daddy. Daddy coming back = total success. We went home and enjoyed the rest of the day.

I bought Aiden a new Gator outfit and he didn't like it. He said the letters "hurt" and were "too tight." I washed it and he'll wear it now thankfully. I had to take it off and put on his Jersey so he could be in the gator spirit last week.

Both boys wanted Brad's attention and they got it. Aiden and daddy wondered around in the back yard. Our neighbor helped me put up

Daddy and Eli enjoyed some time together too.

Eli has been standing up in his hippo lately looking outside. There isn't much to see besides our neighbors house but he still likes to look.

Aiden spent over an hour playing with Play-doh the other day. He was having lots of fun and Eli wanted so bad to see what Aiden was doing. Eli eventually went back down to the floor and played with a car.

Brad was invited in to the pool by Aiden last weekend. Aiden really wanted Brad in the pool. They had fun playing with the hose.
Daddy also got to see the new nerf water gun Aiden has and was squirting him with it. All in all, good times were had by the boys in (and out) of the pool.
I thought it would be fun to take a picture of Eli in Brad's boots - no reason. It just sounded like a fun idea.
Aiden has the game Memory and has started to want to play it all the time. He plays a modified version and I'm not sure he'll ever learn a different version because he likes to play his own. He puts them all out on the couch and tries to find a match and puts the match in the box. It keeps him occupied for a while but he freaks out if Eli comes close to the couch and yells "no touch!"
I've been having a really difficult time with Aiden and napping lately. He wants to have his lights on all the time and wants to just play during nap time. I'm getting so tired of it. The other day, Brad found this in Aiden's room when he went to go tell him to lay down in bed. This picture is of a partial clean up already. He had powder EVERYWHERE - even on the walls. I had to vacuum powder out of his bed, off his curtains, inside his legos .... everywhere. I have started a prize box and if Aiden follows the rules during nap time and bedtime, he gets to pick a prize when he gets up. It's working at bedtime but not naptime yet. Hopefully it will catch on soon.
With my mom in town to watch the boys, Brad and I escaped to the Jags vs Broncos game. We were minorities of course even though Tebow had a decent following. It was so hot when we got there. I thought I was gonna sweat to death and I've been to dozens of games in G'ville and this rivaled for the hottest game ever. With the heat index, it was about 100 degrees when the game started. After about 1 hr in the blistering sun, some clouds rolled in and it was great...until it got really dark and started to lightening. They stopped the game and we decided to leave before we got soaked.
The second picture was taken on our way out of the stadium. I did spray paint my hair orange for Brad.
When we got home, Aiden wanted to go outside and take Bronco for a short walk. It was raining still but Aiden insisted upon going.

Eli is starting to feed himself some. It's great. We have to put food on a fork and then put it on his try. It appears, as of right now, we may have another lefty on our hands. We aren't sure of the statistics but it's got to be pretty amazing that two right handed people, who both have parents that are both right handed, have to left-handed kids!

When we went in to check on Eli the other day, he was sleeping and cuddling with his angel so I had to take a picture of it. Too precious.

We did celebrate Eli's 1st birthday yesterday and I'll post info about that in the next day or so. I've been behind with the blog since Brad has been here (which I am SO thankful for).

9/6 -Lots of playing

We've been enjoying the backyard lately. Aiden is loving throwing the ball for Bronco and pushing his trucks around outside. He gets a great workout with the hill in our backyard.

Eli and Bronco have been bonding. Bronco gets so excited when I bring Eli home and Eli chases him all over the house until Bronco finally gives up and allows Eli to headbutt him (headbutting is a sign of affection in this house). Also, Eli has learned to blow whistles and I've included a little video of him blowing his Pooh rattle whistle.

We were excited to see part of the first Gator game of the season on Saturday. We were all dressed in our Gator apparel except for Aiden. He picks out his own clothes now and he didn't chose a gator shirt (in his defense, he doesn't have one in his size although he does have a jersey).

Eli is starting to actually push cars/trucks around and it's so cute. He often gets one that is too fast and face plants on the floor but he's learning.

Aiden decided it would be fun to try and pet Pouncer all day so he followed him around the house. Poor Pouncer. He actually doesn't mind but I think he was feeling double-teamed from Aiden and Bronco.

Although both of the boys are sick, we still went to church on Sunday (we missed last week). Eli is learning to play with finger puppets.

Aiden is a little fruit monster (not a bad thing) and he was feeding me cantaloup yesterday. Aiden picked out the yellow shirt and khaki pants and wanted Eli to wear the same thing.

Here is a happy Eli playing with a car. I'm still not sure if he has an ear infection. He keeps pulling at his ears and is fussier than normal but it could be teething. The only reason I somewhat think it's not teething is that he just got 2 teeth and I don't see any other teeth on their way down/up.
We were reading bible stories last night out of the kids Bible. Aiden could listen to stories forever. It's so cute. Eli even sat there for quite a while.
I don't know why I'm having such a hard time remembering to brush Eli's teeth when we brush Aiden's every night. Anyway, Eli did get his teeth brushed last night. Thankfully I brush them before he does because his finger is over the bristles in this picture.

Here is a short video of the boys ... being boys. Aiden going kinda crazy and "jumping" on the couch (he still doesn't know how to jump) and pushing Eli down (not nice) and Eli not caring at all.

Brad comes home in a few days and we are all so excited.

8/31 - Eli's 1st haircut

On Sunday, we all stayed home. Aiden and I were feeling pretty yucky and I didn't want him the boys to spread germs around just so they could get sick again next week. We were feeling pretty cooped up after staying home all day so we went out in the late afternoon and tried to ride the train - again. We were successful!!

Aiden and Nana went on the train ride and I stayed back with Eli (I know I'll have lots more chances to ride the train with him). Aiden had SO much fun. He had a huge smile glued to his face the entire time. He wouldn't even really let Nana take a picture of us since he wanted to get in and ride so much.

Aiden and Nana went on the train ride and I stayed back with Eli (I know I'll have lots more chances to ride the train with him). Aiden had SO much fun. He had a huge smile glued to his face the entire time.

The boys played in the play area for a bit. They were glad to get out of the house for a bit.

I tried to get a video of Aiden saying his name, especially his last name. It's amazing what he is learning in daycare! He's doing so good. He's known all his color and most animals for a while and he's counting now and even knows some letters. He knows ideas such as high/low, close/far, now/later, etc. Anyway, he's a smart little boy and I tried to get him saying his name.

Eli is so intrigued with Bronco and follows him around everywhere. Bronco is so good with him.
I bought the boys the same jammies the other night. They both love them and look so cute in them.
We had a pretty good day today. Aiden is still pretty sick so he was glad to be home with us today. He still gave us a few smiles today although he decided not to nap today and he woke up over an hour early for the third day in a row.

They had fun watching me blow bubbles today and trying to catch them.

Eli had some pictures taken today but he wasn't very happy since he is sick and it was his nap time. My cousin Rachel is taking pictures in a few weeks and I'm SO EXCITED about it. We are going to take pictures outside and some as a family. It should be fun. Eli had a few decent pictures but none that made me really happy.

Remember how I said Aiden didn't nap ... that was true until dinner time. He was SO TIRED that he actually fell asleep at the dinner table. All he had for dinner was corn so I bet he'll be starving in the morning. He was such a nightmare to put to sleep. He woke himself up knocking his fork off the table and cried ever since. I tried picking him and carrying him for a bit and he still cried. I tried sitting with and he cried. Needless to say, he cried with everything I did. I finally put him to bed about an hour early and he cried for about 20 min yelling "mom." I calmed him down and the second I got up to leave, he started balling again. My mom finally sat with him until he fell asleep while I walked the dog. I have never seen him so upset for that long.

While Aiden slept during dinner, I cut Eli's hair for the first time. It was also the first time he has ever had a lollipop (he loved it). I think it turned out pretty good. You can see the before and after here.

I took this picture in the middle of the haircut. He did great and sat on Nana's lap the whole time. Hopefully Bradley is satisfied with this - I've been getting lots of "hippy" comments from him in regards to Eli's hair!

Hopefully Aiden will have a much better napping day tomorrow. Oh yeah, Eli got another tooth. He now has 8 teeth at 11.5 months!! He's ready for a steak.