Blessing Day

Today was Elijah's blessing day. We've given all of our boys names that they share with our ancestors - Lincoln and Peter are named after an uncle and a grandfather on Andrew's side of the family, so we decided to find a name on my side of the family this time. Eli is named after two grandfathers in the Bardo line - Elijah after his 5th great grandfather and Charles after his great grandfather who passed away in February. According the the genealogy fiends in my family, there are also several Charles' on Andrew's side of the family as well. We are so grateful for the good examples that our ancestors have given us and for their testimonies of God and his blessings in our lives. As our children grow, we hope their names will remind them to look to these examples and be inspired by the lives of their forefathers.

Economizing

Rather than give our kids each their own room,
we decided to give them each their own cubby... maybe this will help them learn to keep the clutter to a minimum.

On Thanksgiving

We were lucky enough to have family visiting us last weekend, so we took advantage and had our turkey dinner on Sunday. This means that we've been eating our Thanksgiving leftovers all week long, so we weren't really in the mood for another traditional meal. Instead, we started our day with a big Austin tradition - the Turkey Trot!
I took Leah and Lincoln downtown early this morning to run in the Kids K (of course, I forgot my camera) and after we spent a couple of hours jumping in the bouncy house and making turkey hats and sand bracelets. We had a great time and it got our day off to a nice start.

When we got home, we piled the rest of the boys in the car and went driving around town looking for a place to eat - we settled for Steak 'n Shake where we enjoyed some yummy burgers and fries and even yummier milkshakes.

Sometimes it's really nice to just slow down and enjoy your family and realize how blessed you really are to have such wonderful kids and an amazing husband and good health and get to live in this great country. I am indeed thankful!

Hooray Peter!!

Yesterday we celebrated Peter!

Hooray!!

It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was a wee little one...

And now look at him...
Can't you just see the mischief in those two-year old eyes???


Peter loves all cars, but his favorite of late has been the fire truck.
So we made a fire truck cake...
which Peter thoroughly enjoyed!
Then we moved on to presents - although it took a little to convince Peter that it really was his turn to open them. And what was the first thing he opened?
A fireman outfit!

Just the thing he needs...
to ride in his fire truck!

We still need to work on the pedal action, but who needs motion when you can make your own motion sound effects?

Thank you Grandma and Papa and Uncle Brent for coming up to celebrate with us!
And thanks to all those who sent such wonderful presents to play with...
Vroom! Zoom!

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

We love Sesame Street around here! Where else can both kids and adults be so entertained by good clean fun!? So, for your viewing pleasure on this day that should be a national holiday... Here are links to some of our favorite clips :)

Meal or No Meal

My Triangle

Time to Say Good Night

I Don't Want to Live on the Moon

ABCDEF... Cookie Monster!

Law & Order: Special Letters Unit

RSI: Rhyme Scene Investigation

Captain Vegetable

The King and I

Enjoy!