.eighteen months.

11.4.19 Eighteen Months

Eli turned 18 months old on Monday. I've been looking forward to this day because it means I can officially sit in church for an hour by myself! Haha! (Although he doesn't like me leaving him in nursery so that won't actually happen until I can get him comfortable!) We sure love this boy! He is pretty good at holding his own against his siblings. He definitely has his own little attitude and he is so stubborn! He says "uh oh" "mom" "mama" "Bull" (Bullet) I think "esh" is for the kids. Yesterday he was looking through my camera and he kept saying "eese!" (cheese). He signs please and he gives THE BEST kisses and hugs. Every night at bedtime he goes around to all of us and passes out our kisses. I've even noticed the other kids passing out hugs to everyone...including each other...which is kind of a big deal since they usually turn down affection from their siblings! He can almost keep up with the big kids! He likes to chase them down the hall growling or whinnying or flying with them, which usually ends in tears for him because the big kids aren't always that careful...especially Axel. He has a pretty good pout when he's not getting his way. He pikes his bottom lip out and folds his arms with a little *humph*. It's so cute!

He loves to play with cars and he is starting to show some interest in coloring. Unfortunately, his favorite thing to color with is markers and somehow he always manages to find the one marker that his sisters didn't see when they were putting their coloring supplies away.

He is such a busy body. He doesn't like to sit still for more than a few seconds. Unless it's bedtime. He loves to wrap himself up in his blanket while we are changing him into his jammies and then the first chance he gets, he brings himself all wrapped up and plops himself into my lap, unless Dad's home, then he sits himself in Dad's lap. He LOVES his daddy! He gets so excited when Matthew comes home from work. It doesn't matter what he's doing, as soon as he hears the front door close, or the sound of Matthew's voice, he drops what he's doing and runs, squealing to his dad. It's probably one of my favorite things about him! 

Eli has a sweet tooth just like his Mom and his brother. He loves suckers. The first place he runs when he wakes up from his nap is to the pantry where our treats are all stashed. He is a pretty good eater...at least in the sense that he will try anything. He doesn't always like everything but he always tries it...for now. He is getting really good at operating a spoon and can eat a whole bowl of cereal by himself (which is kind of a bid deal for me.) He keeps crossing all these milestones like putting himself to sleep and sleeping through the night, which he has obviously been doing for quite a while now, and walking and feeding himself, and I am celebrating each one of these milestones because the selfish side of me is looking forward to not having to do these things anymore. But then there is a part of me that is breaking because it means I don't get to do these things anymore. My babies are growing up!   

Eli loves to be outside and he loves his puppy. He gets so excited every time we let Bullet in the house or when Bullet comes downstairs with me to get Eli out of his crib. He goes straight to the stroller whenever we are leaving the house and gets mad at me when I put him in his car seat instead of the stroller. He would rather walk than be in the car. He wants to do everything that everyone else is doing and wants to be where everyone else is. And that's just fine with me! I sure love having this kid around all the time!

We love you sweet boy!! Happy half birthday!

{11.4.19 - 11.10.19}

These are the types of things the kids are doing inside the house right now...so it's probably a good thing that Matthew is building them this awesome playhouse! They are so excited about it. I'm excited to see it done, too!  

I decided it was time to take some pictures for our Christmas cards this year but the day didn't go quite as I had planned and we ended up leaving the house during Eli's nap...so this was basically his mood the whole time.  

And then by the time we were finishing up Axel was just done too...and let's be honest. So was I. Eli was just not having it.  

But we got a couple cute ones...and one the might just  be it. We will try to go out again this week and see what we can get. I guess that's the good thing about doing these pictures myself...I can go as many times as I need to! (The kids probably don't love that about it, though! Haha!) 

I have the opportunity this year to donate a piece to the Festival of Trees. So I made this cute little guy and I hope it finds a good home and I hope it can give a little to Primary Children's Hospital! I think it turned out pretty darn cute! 

{10.28.19 - 11.3.19}

It was spirit week at school this week and one of the days was "Crazy Hair Day." We got on Pinterest and the girls helped me decide how we were going to do their hair and I think they turned out pretty cute. I think the girls had a lot of fun with it. Lyla kept telling me she wanted a tree in her hair every day. // Axel had to get in on the action with his target head.  

Lyla's palm tree hair // Alya's bird nest hair.  

We carved pumpkins this week and Alya refused to touch any of the seeds. She was so grossed out by them.// Axel was very helpful in carving his pumpkin and had a lot of fun stabbing it over and over again with a fork. 

Eli wanted to help too...although it would have been much easier for dad to gut his pumpkin with two hands. // Lyla loved everything about gutting her pumpkin and she poked the holes that we followed for carving.  

Alya's dragon, Eli's scary face, Lyla's owl and Axel's ghoul. 

Axel wanted to be a ghost for Halloween so I made a poncho for him. He tried it on and then I found him curled up on his couch like this. // As soon as Eli woke up the morning after carving pumpkins Alya picked him up so he could see them all. 

We got to watch the girls in their Halloween parade at school. It was pretty cute!  

Happy Halloween 2019! The kids are all dressed up and ready to go Trick-or-Treating! (Eli got to stay home with Dad and Grandpa) 

Alya went as Hiccup and Lyla went as Astrid (from "How to Train Your Dragon")

Eli went as Charlie Brown and Axel went as a ghost.  

Grandma and Grandpa came down and spent some of the day with us. The kids loved Trick-or-Treating with me and Grandma! // Axel looked so creepy!  

My boys both love bath time!  

I just love his pudgy little fingers!!

Anything is a horse for Eli these days. He found the top of our blinds that broke a while ago and ran around the front room yelling "neigh!" So cute! 

{10.21.19 - 10.27.19}

We finally decorated our house for Halloween this week. I haven't been very good at all this year about decorating for holidays so they were pretty excited to have the Halloween decorations up. We pulled out my witch hat and Lyla instantly made it part of her outfit. (She even wore the slip under her dress like this to school.) The kids went outside to play one  day and I looked out the window and saw the kids running up and down the sidewalk on their broomsticks. Oh man it was pretty funny and so stinkin' cute! // I love Axel's mop as his broomstick.  

We painted our tiny little pumpkins this week too. // Alya and her little pumpkin! I think she might always have a scar from when her tooth went through her lip. 

I don't remember why Matthew was on the floor tonight, but Eli didn't waste any time dragging his blanket over and sitting in dad's lap.  

My cousin and I took our kids to the local pumpkin patch this weekend. We had so much fun, but this is the best picture I could get of all the kids together! Obviously Eli wasn't having it!  

I don't know if this kid can get any cuter. // He was so proud of himself for climbing up the giant hay stack.  

I think the corn pit is the favorite place to play for all the kids. // That, and the picking out a pumpkin part.  

I love Lyla's little pose! // Cute little Mr. Eli. 

Lyla loved her little pumpkin! I think her favorite part was the fact that she painted the stem. // Axel with his little pumpkin. Too cute.  

Alya in the corn pit. // Lyla in the corn pit.  

I burned this beautiful piece for Jeni to give to a friend of hers. I'm thankful that Jeni is so supportive of my little business! I am also so proud of this little piece. I think it turned out so nice! 

                                   

My two little witches and my one little warlock. I sure love them to pieces. 

{10.14.19 - 10.20.19}

Axel was so sweet to take Eli on a walk in the wagon one day this week! It was so cute! Eli was thoroughly enjoying himself until I took over the pulling and asked Axel to give Eli a hug for a picture.  

He loved his wagon ride! // He's just such a natural little poser!    

And just to prove my point here are a couple of pictures of how he's posed himself on our couches. Just so chill! I think it's darling! 

Maybe he gets it from his sisters. (Alya)  

I burned myself a little keychain of my little monsters! The girls love that I made them their favorite colors!

This video. Axel is just so funny! "I was saying what you were saying." Hahaha! 

I love when I get to hang out with my sisters!!

{10.7.19 - 10.13.19}

The girls got to go on their first field trip this week!! They were so excited to ride the bus! I'm glad that the boys and I were able to go with them! 

They said they were really glad that I could go with them because they were a little nervous about it, but you'll notice that I don't have any pictures of Alya...that's because we got to the pumpkin patch and she didn't even turn around to make sure I was there. Which is something I'm glad about, believe it or not! I love that she can just go and have fun!  

The kids have a habbit of slamming our gate and they get in trouble for it everytime they do. I was downstairs one morning putting some clothes away and I could hear the gate slamming. So I was on my way up to yell at whoever the culprit was and I heard a loud band and Axel say "uh oh." When I got up the stairs he was trying to put the gate back together. Thankfully Eli doesn't need the gate anymore. It's so weird to not have it though! After about six years with the gate it seems so different to be without it!  

Eli loves it when Bullet gets to come inside. Bullet is so patient with Eli, thank goodness!  

Oh Axel. He just cracks me up! I had put his regular clothes on him as I always do, but next thing I know this little pink blur ran right past me. I walked into the front room and found him like this! // I am so proud of these little trees I burned!!  

You know, pre-church shenanigans. I sometimes have an internal struggle with situations like this, because I am just so glad they are all getting along but I'm afraid of someone getting hurt if it continues!  

Eli loves popcorn as much as the rest of his family. Probably more-so than some of his family! I love it when he just climbs up next to me like this. I love his chubby little fingers and his cute little feet! 

{9.30.19 - 10.6.19}

Eli loves to help! Whenever we are cooking he likes to get his own spatula and try to help us stir. Or when Matthew is swatting flies, Eli gets a spatula and uses it like a fly swatter. Spatulas are good for everything when it comes to this kid and it's so cute! // He has been super cuddly the last little while. I think he's getting a couple of more teeth (because that's my answer to everything when they are this little. Haha!) but he is still SO happy all the time...he just needs some extra loves and I'm not complaining about it...and I don't think Matthew is either.  

Axel is outgrowing his toddler bed so he got to come to the store with me and pick out his own sheets to put on his big bed! // We love it when we get to see Baby Turner! He is six months old now and doing things that a six month old should be doing, but he's still so tiny - his stats are honestly what my two/three month old babies stats were. He's darling!  

We got the girl's school pictures back this week and I am so in love with them! Left: Alya, Right: Lyla 

I love this brown eyed boy! He likes to have his blanket with him if he is on the floor at all. He likes us to lay him on it while we change his diaper and put his pajamas on him and he always reaches his little arms out to his side and grabs a chunk of his blanket and then wraps it around himself. It's so cute! He's just so cute!  

Look at him, just all snuggled into Daddy! It makes my heart melt!  

This kid is such a character! He is doing so good at pottying in the toilet. We are still working on the other stuff and if I have to wash it out of a pair of undies again we are going to have to try something else. He loves his Minnie Mouse pull-ups someone gave us...we'll probably have to go back to those! Haha! He is so funny though! He loves to pretend that he is a dragon...a girl dragon named Abro. If he's not a dragon he's probably a sparkly unicorn. He loves his pink and purple pull-ups (the hand me downs someone didn't need anymore, and who am I to turn down free pull-ups!?). Matthew tries so hard to get him to be more boy-ish things but he just won't have it. He loves to wear his Spiderman costume, but he makes sure to tell me that he's not Spiderman. He's Abro when he wears it. 

He says the funniest things! Some of my favorites lately are when it's windy outside he thinks he (or his bike, or the groceries as we walk to the car, or whatever is outside at the time) is going to "wind away." He tells me a lot that his "heart is telling me that I want (a specific show, or a treat)." He gets really serious, usually right before I am going to get him into bed and he says "Mom, I need to tell you something first. Gohno and Speeno rhyme together." And then he just crawls into the bed and that is the end of it. He's so funny! I have saved a couple of conversations he's been involved in that made me laugh. 

Axel: Mom, I peed and pooped. Will you change my bum? 

Me: Why didn't you use the toilet buddy?

Axel: Cause. It's the best I could do. 

Axel: (telling me about our family of fire dragons) and my father is red and I am red and every-nother-body is red.

Matthew: (helping Axel say the dinner prayer) We're thankful for Jesus.

Axel: We're thankful for the cheeses. 

He loves to sing. He catches on so easily to the words of a song and is really good at filling in the words he doesn't quite remember! He loves to sings "Gethsemane" and "Speachless" (from the new Aladdin movie) mostly because the girls like to sing those ones. His favorite songs are "Somebody that I Used to Know" by Goteye, "Sounds of Silence" and "Zombie" by The Bad Wolves. He tells me that he likes the boy songs. And he loves it if the lyrics sound funny to him...like when the artist takes the end of the word and just repeats that ending sound, or when they sing a different language. He thinks it's hilarious! He can put his own words to the tune of almost any song he's singing...which I think is pretty amazing for a three year old! 

He loves his little brother and it will be so nice when Eli is big enough to handle Axel's love. They play so cute together until Axel tries to sit on Eli's back, or lays on top of him, or runs around a corner and takes Eli out. They are so cute to watch together though. Eli loves to chase unicorn-Axel up and down the hall, and I love the way they just laugh with each other. It's darling!

Axel is so sneakily stubborn. He usually always gets his way just because he's patient enough to wait for the right moment. The best example I can think of is at dinner when he doesn't want to finish eating he will ask if he can be done. Of course we usually say no, or at least ask him to finish something on his plate and he just sits there quietly until we aren't paying attention and he just quietly gets down from his chair and walks into the other room and the next thing we know, we can hear him plunking away on the piano, or we can hear him talking to himself while he's playing with his toys. 

He is my little buddy and he is just growing up way too fast!