12/9 - Christmas outfits

I just have to say I love this cat. Pouncer keeps me company when Brad is gone and gives me something to snuggle with at night. He'll even talk to me.
Eli is such a cute little guy. He LOVES to play peek a boo behind the curtains in the living room. He's too cute.
Since neither boy wanted to nap the other day, I took turns playing dress up on them. I put Aiden in his new Christmas church outfit to see if it fit and he looked so cute and handsome. I then put Aiden down for a nap and 5 min later Eli was up (he only slept for 45 min) and was wide awake. I decided to play dress up with him too. They both look adorable and their outfits fit!

It's been pretty darn cold the last few days. Aiden's daycare hasn't really let them go outside much so he's got a little cabin fever. He tried riding his scooter around for a bit but said he was "scared" he was going to fall off.

I got to have a pretty fun day today. I dropped the boys off early to daycare so that I could get a workout and shower before I met my friend, Crystal, at a pottery studio. After the pottery studio I went to a doctor appointment where they removed suspicious mole. I go back in 1.5 week to get the stitches out and will pray for normal results!

Eli's molars are starting to break through so he's constantly munching on his fingers. I hope he doesn't have this many problems with his eye teeth.

The boys were a little unruly tonight because they were both tired. This is 2 days in a row Aiden did not nap. He was yelling at Eli because Eli was trying to touch the tree (which is a no-no). Aiden just wanted to stay at the table after dinner and play. Aiden isn't feeling so well and is catching Eli's cold too.

Below is a video of Eli attacking Aiden tonight before bedtime. Aiden just wanted to watch a Christmas program I taped for him (although he had me turn it off a few minutes later because he was "scared" of the talking snowman). Poor Eli just wanted some loving and Aiden ... didn't.

Tomorrow is Gymboree day so I'm continuing to pray the boys feel better. I've been feeling like I'm getting sick but I'm still kicking to we'll see!

12/6 - Playing in the backyard

Eli has been feeling a tad under the weather lately. He's had runny nose and is pretty cranky from trying to get a molar. I think it's gonna break the skin any day now. I need to find another kazoo for him because he loves this one. I've also posted a video of him just walking around blowing it (even coughing a few times). I then start taping Aiden who is excited about the card Nana sent for Halloween. "H for Hoyt" is what he says time after time.

After I finished up some dishes, I found Eli sitting on his play table watching Sprout. The boys are up to about 40 min of TV a day when Brad isn't here and I have them all day. Sometimes I just need a little time to get dinner/lunch ready and/or dishes again.
When we were outside the other day, a big plane went over and Aiden waved hi to "daddy's friends." It was too cute.

This video of Aiden cracks me up. He was walking around the house saying, "me so cute." He does hear me say that quite often because it's true but it was so funny to hear him say it. I wanted him to say the whole thing but by the time I realized what he was saying and found the video camera, he didn't want to do it anymore.

Aiden helped me decorate some more. Nana sent some window clings and we picked some out to put up on the mirrors and sliding glass doors.
In the package she sent, she also sent a coloring book. Aiden is just starting to understand trying to stay in lines and attempts it for about 1 min and then goes back to his normal coloring. Aiden and I have been doing crafts quite a bit lately.
On Saturday night, I went to our sunday school church party. It was lots of fun but I wish Brad could have been there. We did a white elephant gift exchange (<$10) and I was a little frustrated when I picked the Cinderella puzzle that I think I saw at the dollar store. Needless to say, no one wanted it. However, when the last person got their gift and didn't want to exchange with me (shocker), someone said for me to open the puzzle. I did and beside the bag of puzzle inside the box was also a $25 gift card to a restaurant!! Score!

This next picture is Eli carrying around his bag of dirty diapers. I also uploaded a video of Eli carrying this bad around. He was pretty focused on it for a while.

After nap time yesterday, we went outside for a bit in the backyard. Aiden can actually hammer in these nails on his workbench. I was a bit surprised.

He then wanted his rake to play with a former ant mound. This kept him busy for a while until he broke his $1 rake. He was very upset and wanted me to fix it. I told him that while many things can be fixed, some can't and this one of the toys that can't be fixed. He was sad :(

Eli was all over the place playing with everything. Aiden is still learning how to share and Eli still has no idea that he can't have everything. It's is ongoing battle and I'm sure it will be for a long while.

I cut Aiden's hair while Eli was playing outside. I was going to cut Eli's too but the trimmers needed a charge. Aiden said he would cut Eli's hair with his saw. It was too funny. Eli wasn't so sure about the whole thing and thing and then wanted to grab the saw which then made Aiden very upset.
After we ate dinner last night, I changed the boys into their jammies and we headed out to see Christmas lights. We did this a few days ago but I told Aiden hopefully there would be more lights up after the weekend. We saw some cool lights but need to go out one more time to finish looking in our area.
This last picture is the boys in their new jackets. Eli's is big but I figure I'd rather have it big than small. I got Aiden's a Gap Kids on Friday. I showed up to Gymboree early and had to wonder around the mall for a bit. They had their sweaters and jammies 50% off so we got it for $12.50. Nice! He picked out the blue.

We were hoping to see Brad tomorrow but they that's not gonna happen. We'll have to wait another week or so until he comes home. I made an Advent calendar off of familyfun.com and Aiden and do it everyday. We have the day stared when dad comes home and he know at the top of the tree (the 25th) is when we get to have to have a birthday party for Jesus and open presents. He's pretty excited about the present part and wants me to make a fish cake (pretty appropriate) for the birthday party for Jesus (that was his birthday cake too this year if you missed it).

12/2 - Brad's gone again & Christmas dec. are up!

Brad left on Tuesday for Norfolk. In the first picture, you can see Aiden playing with Brad's dog tag. Aiden and Eli both have a dog tag that matches one that Brad has (it was in a package the USO hands out for kids). Aiden was looking at Brad's special tag.

We have finished putting lights up. Brad was sick before he left so that left it up to me. I think our house looks pretty good. Most of the houses on our block look great actually. We had a penguin in an igloo but he wasn't working right so we sprung for a new animated toy for the front yard. The boys love it. The back wheel spins around and the elf on top also spins around.

We got a smaller Christmas tree because we are going to be gone so much (about 2 weeks) in December. It was a very rough first day with Eli and the lights but he's doing much better now. Aiden makes sure to plug the tree in when he gets up and unplug it when we leave (I have to remind him about that part). He also turns on the outside lights every night!
Aiden has been wanting to sit on the potty some lately. I'm not pushing it because he's not too interested but he likes sitting on the potty so he can get a treat (yeah, I know that's bad but oh well). He's been standing at the potty more often at daycare but he's still never peed while on/standing at the potty.
He wanted to call nana the other night so here is a picture of him talking to her. The video is of Aiden talking on the phone to nana. He's getting so much better about talking on the phone and skyping.

Little Eli wanted to brush his own hair after his bath last night. It was too cute. He carried around the brush until bed time.

I had a long day at work today but felt like doing something fun with Aiden tonight. After he finished his dinner, we painted for a bit. He got the hang of it pretty fast and did a nice job.

I'm exhausted. Tomorrow Brad actually leaves on the ship. We will go to Gymboree in the morning and Aiden really wants to play with the neighborhood kids tomorrow. We get home from daycare right as they are going in so he misses out quite often.