Margaret Who?

Today is my Dad's birthday, so Jason and I had the family over for supper. I made my usual chili & cornbread. We had a wonderful evening visiting, eating, and watching a little college football. Mother's best girlfriend from high school, Becky, is in town from Geneva so she came for the party. And, my standing joke is that Eli is SUCH the center of attention in our lives these days I refer to our baby girl Margaret as 'Margaret Who?' cause it's truly all about Eli! Here are some pictures from our fun birthday get together:

Eli insisted he help Daddy open his gifts:
Mother and Margaret Who:
Here's my signature dish, chili topped with cheddar, cornbread, sour cream and chives:
Jason, Me, and Margaret Who:
Hey, here's Darryl & Jesi w/ Margaret Who, I guess she did get a lot of camera time tonight:
Jason and Darryl playing pool before supper:
Sweet Josey puppy is also an oft forgotten member of the family in light of the true star, Eli:
Eli's favorite person at the party was BY FAR his Daddy Ron:
Here's Mother's girlfriend Becky with Margaret, Becky held MJ a lot tonight!

Another pool shot with the dining table & Jesi in the background:

Margaret Jane at Two Months

Margaret Jane had her two month check up yesterday and she is doing very well. According to the blasted growth chart (which you know I hate), she is on track to be tall and skinny. We'll see. She was just sweet as pie for her appointment, up until it was time to give her three shots. She quickly calmed down, then slept for several hours afterward.
If you've been anywhere near my daughter, you've heard her breath. Even if you've been down the street from my daughter, you've heard her breath! (If you recall, Eli was the exact same way - loud breather and he got over it completely -- eventually.) The doctor hoped her breathing would have gotten better by now, so he wants us to take her up to Children's Hospital in Birmingham for a heinous battery of tests to see if she has a problem. He does not think she has anything serious and he believes this will clear up soon. So, we're going to wait about 6 weeks until we take her up there and pray it clears up in the meantime.
Margaret is a very content baby who eats and sleeps well and smiles a lot.

Happy 2 Month Birthday Margaret!

Kids Are Funny

Had to share these three funny things our kids said lately:

1. I cooked some Toaster Strudel for breakfast this morning. I cooked them in the oven, and Jason asked me if we have a toaster. I said, "No, we got one for a wedding present but it caught on fire". Hugh's eyes got really big and he said, "It caught on fire at the wedding"?

2. Eli crawled up onto the couch to sit by Jason. Smelling him, Jason said, "Eli, you stink". At that point our little one year old looked up at him and said, "I know, I pooped".

3. Since they live with two girls, I've been training our older boys to knock before they open any door. I was in the nursery when Hugh came in and asked, "Is anyone in the bathroom"? I said, "I don't know, did you knock"? He said, "Yes, but no one answered".

Kids are funny.

Eli & Margaret Jane

Daddy's Girl

Happy Halloween!

Last night we took the kids to the Fall Festival at our church. Eli isn't quite old enough to get what is going on, but he sure got that people kept handing him his favorite treat...Tootsie Pops!
Eli dressed up as Scooby Doo. We taught him to say Rut Ro (he couldn't get the Raggy part). He was very cute in his costume and didn't even mind the Scooby hat on his head as long as the strap didn't cover up his mouth and prevent him from enjoying his juice. Margaret Jane was a pumpkin as you saw in the pictures from the Pumpkin Patch. Hugh & Grant were ghosts this year, we stopped by and Trick-or-Treated with them on our way to the church.

This is Scooby in his carseat en route to the festival:
Eli wasn't sure who was behind the masks...he had to lift up Grant's mask and when he saw who it was he just giggled with excitment!
Daddy Ron met us there to enjoy the fun:

This is Margaret Jane and her cousin Thomas. No, that is not a ghost standing behind them, I had to edit out a random woman who got in the shot and I'm not very good at iPhoto editing.

Life with two babies

It's been an adventure having two little ones to take care of every day. Two in diapers makes for an entire day of holding, feeding, changing, playing, etc. Some days are just plain exhausting, but every day has it's funny moments:

Here Eli is doing his favorite disobedient act, climbing up onto the coffee table and walking around. He knows he's not supposed to do this, but it seems any time I'm feeding Margaret Jane, this is just what he wants to do. Sometimes he'll stand up there, raise his arms in the air and say "Get DOWN".


Then there are times when sweet Eli decides he will help me clean house and he'll dust the table:
The other day I tried to take some cute pictures of Margaret, it was not going well anyway...
And then Eli came onto the scene and it was over!