A boy and his daddy

We had a rather quiet weekend over here.  The weather has turned bitterly cold and so we're spending many of our hours indoors.  Eli has been quite a rascal lately and makes me want to tear my hair out on occasions.

But, as so frequently happens in all species that don't eat their young, he has moments that just melt your heart, and make you decide not to put him on ebay.

After a day just FULL of naughtiness, Eli was an absolute doll during the time right before bedtime, and I let him stay up super late just because I was so craving his hugs and kisses after all the crud we'd done all day.  I don't think he's been feeling well, and he's been spitting out his juice all over and trying to turn over furniture - just being a boy.  I think he's starting to get a little too pent up in here, and I have to try better to remember that just because Ben and I enjoy staying indoors, nice and snuggly, all winter long, that little boys don't necessarily feel the same.  I need to try to get him to burn off more energy.

I had a cookie exchange with my MOPS group tonight, and so Eli and daddy got to spend some time together.  Ben was running late at work, and I needed to go by work on the way to the exchange, and so I bundled E up and brought him to Ben's job and we exchanged E.  Then the boys went out to Burger King for a special treat, and then went and played in the mall play place.  It sounds like they both had a great time, and Ben appreciates all the cookies I brought home !

And then, as Ben was tucking him in at night, he apparently said quite clearly "Night night " !!  This is very exciting to me - E isn't a huge talker, even with words that he already has said, and a new word is a big deal here... especially a sweet little phrase like "night night".  He has been melting me and saying "Mama, mama !" more often now.  

I wish I were a better photographer.  I was trying to take some artsy photographs of my Christmas decorations tonight, and they stink.  I wish I had an eye like my sister-in-law Casey does.

Oh well.  I've been trying to think of a cute name for having a regular weekly update on my sewing projects, and I'm trying to come up with some time to create my header for this blog.... maybe after Christmas !

~ Libby

A chocolate milk story: by Eli

Mama and I went to McDonald's for a special lunch today.  I got nuggets and dipped them in ketchup. I took my chocolate milk home to finish.

I loooove a chocolate milk.

At first I sipped it like a good boy, but then I started to get goofy with that big bottle

So mama substituted in a straw - which worked really well for a while. . 

Then - the inevitable

I spilled the milk !

So I grabbed a towel and wiped up my mess, all by myself.

The end !  ~ Eli

One more sleep

We're getting excited around here  - Ben has his annual holiday party tomorrow night.  We're looking forward to the door prizes.  I think that officially makes us boring - most people who are 25 would be looking forward to the open bar, but nah.... Target gift cards sound AMAZING to us.

I'm thinking of posting weekly a picture of crafting/sewing that I'm working on - I'm trying to think of which day in my life I"m most likely to carry through on that. It would be good for me to communicate what I kind of have going on in my craft room. 

Managed to divert disaster in fabric-world lately.  I was prewashing my flannels that I'd bought on Black Friday, and the one I liked the least bled all over on the one that I absolutely loved (isn't it always that way !?).  Well, after several different remedies and another washing... I've restored the loved flannel to its previous glory.

We have our tree up and fully trimmed.  I'll try to take a picture tomorrow.  When we went to Menard's yesterday, Eli decided he needed an Elmo and a Big  Bird ornament.  Ben wanted him to decide between them, and of course I'm a sucker and my heart melted.  He adores them and wants to carry them around most of the day.  We also have a big stack of already wrapped presents under the tree.  Whenever we get a present in for any of Eli's cousins or I finish a project that is a present, I just wrap it and get it under the tree.  Eli has no interest in them once they're wrapped.  I realize that this is probably the only year I can ever get away with this strategy.

Tomorrow I need to go to the DMV and get a new driver's license.   For some bizarre reason, I had taken mine out of my wallet and (of course) forgot to put it back in, and instead just put it in the pocket of my hoodie.  Well, now I can't find the hoodie.  I'm pretty bummed out about it actually too because I really liked the hoodie - it was pretty much brand new.  I know that I'll go get a new license, and that'll be the day that I find the hoodie.

Tweakin'

I think I'll continue to tweak and add features over the next few days, but I'm much happier with the look we're going with right now.  Here's a newish photo of Eli, taken by a lovely lady from our church:

Don't you want to be my friend ?

Starting afresh

I've been thinking of revamping this blog and posting regularly again. If there is anyone in the world who reads this, stay tuned for possible large changes !