9/29 - MIA

It's been a while since I've been able to post. I had a really rough week last week and wasn't around from Tuesday to this past Monday. That said, some of these pictures are a few weeks old. Here is Eli opening his birthday card from Nana that sings to him. He loved it.

Aiden got one for his birthday too and we saved it so they both played with their musical cards for a while.

As you can see from this next picture, little Eli was pretty worn out. He was so grumpy and almost falling asleep sitting on the couch.

You can see Aiden below sporting his new Awana Cubbies vest. It's supposed to last them 2 yrs but I think we ordered him the wrong size. I think it just might be a really short vest though too. He's excited about it. He's done a great job at trying to memorize his verses for the week. His memory verse for this week is "God created the heavens and the earth."

This next picture cracks me up because I was taking pictures and Aiden was insistent that I take his picture. He was saying cheese but he doesn't exactly looked too thrilled.

I have Eli and Aiden playing below with the hangers on video. It was too funny. Eli was belly laughing hard because he thought it was so funny to push one side of the hanger and watch it go around the knob on the closet door until it fell off onto the ground. The things that amuse kids are just amazing sometimes.

Grandma and grandpa Hoyt mailed Eli his birthday present and Brad waited until I got home from the hospital on Monday for Eli to open it.

Aiden did such a good job of being patient and realizing that it was Eli's present. Eli was really excited about his new truck and didn't want to share at all.

Tuesday was my first full day back at home and I had the boys. It figures that neither of them wanted to nap. Actually, Eli fell asleep in the van on the way back from a dr appt for Aiden and stayed asleep on the couch once I put him there while I went to make lunch. He looked adorable but he thought that 15 min was the same as a 2-3 hr nap. NOT! Aiden didn't nap at all. Needless to say, we had a difficult evening because both of the boys broke down at about 6:15pm from exhaustion.

Wednesday was my first day back at work. It was great even though I just administered an exam. I can't wait for Friday when I actually get to lecture again. I got home really late on Wednesday (around 6:30pm) so Brad picked the boys up from daycare. Eli got some stickers for his birthday from Aunt Pat and went a little crazy with stickers.

Brad and the boys have really bonded. He did such a great job of taking care of the boys while I was gone over the past week. I'm so proud of Brad. Becoming full-time daddy for a week wasn't what any of had planned but Brad did such a great job.

I just enjoyed sitting in Eli's room watching the boys play on Wednesday after I got home. These boys are so precious!

Brad is so good with them. Eli is FINALLY starting to like books and I'm so excited. He made me quite nervous for a while. He LOVES to sing songs (he tries at least) and do the hand motions. Here are the boys (Brad included) doing Itsy Bitsy Spider.

I have definitely missed Brad. My sleep is still crazy off and I'm not sleeping much but I'm so glad to be home.

This morning we had Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) but I had to drop Eli off at daycare because of scheduling problems with Aiden's therapy on Thursday afternoons. Eli was excited his class was out at the playground when we dropped him off. Aiden had fun at BSF although I was disappointed that he couldn't even tell me what he learned.

It's great to be home. Oh yeah. Eli broke my nose on Tuesday afternoon. Little stinker. It's very sore and kills to wear sunglasses. Life is an adventure. God is starting to do some amazing things in my life and I'm so excited. It's gonna be amazing - I can just feel it.

8/31 - the end of August

I'm so far behind in the blog. I started teaching at UF right after we got back from Iowa and am just not settling in (and I start teaching another 2 on-line classes starting on Tuesday). Here is a shot of Aiden being crazy with a pull-up on his head.

We got the play-doh out the other day and the boys loved it. Eli just likes dumping it out and putting it back in. He likes to stab at it and occasionally takes a bite of it.

 

Aiden cracks me up in this picture because he was having fun but looks totally bored because he's resting his hand on his head. He's actually getting a little better at touching and using his hands with the play-doh. I'll need to do a separate update on Aiden and his special little self soon. 

Eli is now in his big boy race car bed like Aiden. In this first picture, he is not very happy that he just got the lecture that he has to stay in his bed when his bunny is sleeping.

He is pretty excited and it only took 1-2 nights since we came back from Iowa to get him re-conditioned to stay in his bed. He's great now and actually hasn't picked up on the fact that he can get out of his bed when his bunny wakes up and he won't get in trouble. He just waits until we come in and get him.

The boys have been coloring/drawing a lot lately. Aiden still can't even begin to color in the lines of something (I'm not sure if that is normal or not). Eli is starting to like scribbling too. They do not like sharing notebooks to color in though. Actually, Aiden doesn't like to share.  Eli still often ends up with marker all over his legs and face (for some reason he still tries to eat it).

Eli loves copying his big brother. We are very fortunate that Aiden is the big brother and normally listens and does pretty safe stuff and is a good example. Here are the boys playing and hiding under their blankets.

Aiden found his Cars case that is full of cars which he hasn't seen in about a month. You would have thought it was Christmas around here with how long the boys played with the "new" cars.

I love this picture in black and white of Aiden. Look how long those lashes are!!! Amazing! 

The boys played with cars on our table for a while. They even asked daddy to play with them. That's a pretty special  invite.

I'll write more soon and update again ... much sooner than last time. Teaching at UF is awesome. I miss being in the classroom. I have a class of 60 and about 50 of them show up on regular basis which is amazing given it's a 7:25am class and I do not grade or even take, attendance.