catching up (part 2)

1. Elise is growing up so very, extremely fast! She is NINE. MONTHS. OLD! When did this happen? Where was I? She's been crawling for a couple of months now and has even started to pull herself up to stand a couple of days ago. She's still cute, sweet, and pretty dang happy all around. Luke still can't seem to control his excitement around her and she still gets ultra excited whenever he's around. We love, love, love her!

A few things that she does, that I love, and need to capture on film before it's too late are: 1) She sucks on her lower lip when she starts to get hungry or tired - it's a sure sign that she is needing something. 2) One of my favorite things that she does is blow raspberries when she is on the verge of getting cranky... almost like a warning signal... I love it. 3) She does this funny squirming thing with her little body when she's happy. I call her my wiggle worm because of the way she wiggles from side to side... so cute.

2. One thing I love about my boys is how good they are at telling us how much they love us. How can you not feel good when you have 3 little shmoozers expressing their love for you constantly. The way Asa says it is too sweet: "Mommy! I sure (sir) love (wuv) you." And Luke... well, let's just hope his feeling never change: "Mommy, I love you. I'm sure glad you're not dead."

3. Isaac's got some mad skills. So, our DVD player broke a while back, and I set it aside to through out, but for some reason, never did. Isaac asked me if he could take it apart and try to fix it - I said sure, figuring it would keep him busy for an hour or so. Well, wouldn't you know it, the little handy man fixed it! Even at one moment when Adam told him to just through it away because it wasn't looking so good, he persevered, got it back together and we now have a working DVD player again. He was quite proud of himself, as was I.

4. As we were driving down the road, Isaac asked me if the van we passed was a police van. I told him that I thought it was a van full of convicts doing community service. Of course, he needed further details, so I told him how some people in jail have to do good things to help make up for the things they did wrong. Isaac's reply, "And sometimes they have to break rocks." You know, like the prisoners in the cartoons do... so funny.

5. So, my first Ragnar experience that I "trained" for? A big, fat DNF. I was so excited/nervous for the big race and in the end, I got sick and couldn't do my last leg. It still frustrates me to think about it. Really, the only reason I wanted to do the race was to get one of those stickers to put on my car to earn the respect of the general public. But it looks like I'll have to wait for next year to redeem myself and earn my sticker.

Life in pictures:

The boys first T-ball game... can you feel the excitement? Note the yawn from Isaac... and then there's Luke. Luke just refers to it as "Isaac's T-ball" now since he refuses to participate. At least Isaac finds some fun in it though.

Nap hair... but, still cute.

The boys scored some sweet trophies from Fast Track and Luke has carried his around with him non stop. He loves it so much I saw him trying to ride his scooter with it.

Elise's first time standing.

Asa's footwear choices are quite comical. Usually he grabs whatever pair of flip flops are by the door (I'm impressed at how well he is able to keep Adam's on), but I guess this time the only thing nearby were these knee pads. Why not? And, he didn't want a picture because he was mad that I took a hammer and nail away from him.

Elise is such a good sport - she puts up with Asa constantly insisting on holding her.

I had to include this picture, because it showcases Asa's LOVE of avocados (babacados). If Elise is eating some, he makes sure to stay close so that he can clean up any leftovers. And, when we have guacamole, he will always finish up whatever is left in the bowl.