Elijah's new trick

I have been dreading this day, but I knew it would be coming. Just watch the video.

Annual Reading Festival

Over the weekend we attended the Annual Reading Festival that Knox County Library puts on. Last year was fun but SUPER hot, so we were excited that it was nice and overcast. We went with a bunch of our friends, and everyone had a great time. Lydia's really into people telling stories, so I knew the story teller booth was going to be a hit with her. I literally had to tear her away from her chair to move on to the next area (Eli was not into the storytelling, so we could only listen to one 10 minute story). The next area we went to was the music booth, where they sang songs to tell stories, which both the kids LOVED.
Lydia is a HUGE fan of Super Wy, and this years theme, so Lydia was very excited to get to listen to a book being ready with Super Wy himself. You can't tell in this picture but Lydia is rubbing his foot, she wouldn't keep her hands off of him.
Lydia rubbing Super Wy's foot... I think I'm going to teach her how to rub mine ;)

Lydia with Princess Pea, she' doesn't look excited but she was....
Again, Lydia being serious while getting her rainbow on her face
Eli painting the town... or just the sidewalk
Lydia couldn't contain herself with the water, and despite it not being very hot, and the water being icy cold, and not having her swim suit, she still had to get in.

War time

As many of you know, Michael has joined the Army National Guard and has been going for his weekend drills in Sparta, TN. He's attending OCS (officer candidate school) and the kids always miss him like crazy when he's gone. When Michael comes back from his weekend away, he always brings his military stuff, which Eli has really taken an interest in. He's currently obsessed with Michael's helmet (head cover) which weighs a TON. Here's Eli sporting the helmet with the help from his daddy, since the weight literally knocks him down without his help.

Morning entertainment

Mornings are usually pretty crazy in our house. Eli always wakes up, acting as if I have starved him for days, and Lydia demanding what she wants for breakfast. Thankfully, the kids have a new distraction in the morning that gives me a little time to get breakfast thrown together before the tears start flowing. We have bunnies! As soon as Eli wakes up he runs to the window and wants the blinds pulled so he can try and find the bunny. Though he's not usually there when we first wake up, he always comes to have breakfast at some point while we are eating.

Eli waiting, oh so patiently, for the bunny. He's usually the best at spotting the bunny.
The bunny enjoying our wonderful clover yard, and star of the show
Lydia can take or leave the bunny, she's more worried about her toast (in hand).

The Little Ponderosa

Michael has been gone for a long weekend doing his Officer Candidate School training, so when he got back he wanted to do something fun as a family. We decided to got to The Little Ponderosa, a local petting zoo that you can pet and feed all kinds of different animal. The kids LOVED it. Eli of course called everything a puppy, but he loved feeding all the different animals and petting the little sheep.Lydia, needless to say loved all of it. We will be going back.
At first I thought this was a Bull, but after I looked at the handy little sign, I saw it was actually a Yak. Of course he wouldn't stand up to show off his long hair, but his presence was still known.

It may look like I was a hundred feet away but I wasn't, I just wanted to show the difference between little Lydia and the HUGE camel. The camel was actually the highlight of the day in that he was so smart. You see I was trying to get him to let me pet him, so I was feeding him from one hand and had the cup held against my body with my arm, while my other arm was petting his neck. Of course he snatched that cup up so fast and gulped down the remaining feed that was in the cup and then proceeded to throw the cup at me, as if asking me to go get him some more. The kids thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Eli in the "spitting zone" of the Lama'sLydia on her pony ride, which she LOVED.

I think Lydia's favorites were the ducks, she actually got to pet them in another area while she was feeding them. I don't think I'll ever get her to stop chasing the birds now when we go to Market Square.
The boys with the Zebra, which was the sweetest animal there. He was so gentle! Don't let the picture fool you, he was quite tall, he's just in a ditch.
Lydia feeding the goats. She really wanted to feed all the little ones, but of course, the big ones would not allow it.

Updates

I know, its about time I make some posts, but sorry to disappoint, I'm just doing the one. The reason for my absence it that its so BEAUTIFUL here! We skipped spring for the most part and went right into summer. The temperature has been in the 80 most days so we have been outside nearly every day.

We recently went for Lydia's 3 year and Eli's 18 month check up and they both are doing GREAT. Lydia has almost made it to 30 lbs and Eli is only 1 1/2 pounds behind her. They both are the picture of health and in the 80% in height. Eli has slimmed down some and is now in the 60% for weight, while Lydia is holding steady in the 30 percentile. The doctor was kind enough to warn Michael he should start investing in shot guns, that he will be needing them to keep the boys away from Lydia.



Lydia has really taken on the roll of Big sister and LOVES it. She always wants to help Eli with whatever he could possibly need or want. She also is big into Matching. This cracks me up. She can find similarities in everything. She is all girl too, which Michael loves. Everything has to be pink or purple. One of her favorite past times outside is finding me and everyone else she can think of, flowers. I tend to get the purple ones "since they're my favorite". She also is the sweetest and most loving little girl. She does everything with all her heart.
Eli is really so opposite Lydia it's comical. He loves to sleep, eat and get dirty... maybe not in that order. He is so manly, we often get people stopping us to tell us how handsome he is and how he looks like a miniature man, not a little boy. Eli loves to give hugs and kisses too. I really have been blessed with two very affectionate children, I just hope they stay that way. Eli loves to play ball and Michael wants to move close to my brothers so they can really teach him so stuff, since Michael throws like a girl (but that's just between me and you ::wink wink::). My favorite thing that Eli does that makes me laugh the hardest is he hides food! Not only does he hide it, but he goes back and gets it when he's hungry. From Easter he had some gummy worms and he shoved them all in a car, and ever day I would catch him eating 2 or 3, this continued for almost a whole week! His recent hiding spot is behind the couch where I found him stashing some M&M's for later.