This Morning...

We are just beginning to deal more and more with training in righteousness, and one of the tools we have incorporated into our discipline for Elijah is the "spanky spoon" which is a small bamboo rice spoon that Elijah is getting to know (too well on some days).

So at our family worship time this morning we were talking about Cain and Abel and how Cain let his anger burn within him, not repenting and asking God for help in dealing with it, and ended up killing his brother Abel. So I asked Elijah, "What should Cain have done when he was angry rather than killing his brother?" And Elijah, responded, "spanky spoon". Absolutely true. Cain should have gotten the "spanky spoon" from his parents which most likely would have set his heart straight.

It is really funny to me what sinks in and what passes over Elijah's little mind. We are just praying that all that is good sinks into his heart as well.

Lakeshore Fun

Within a few minutes drive from our home is a big lake with lots of fun lakeshore. Recently, David and Elijah went scouting and found a somewhat secluded place with lots of rocks, sticks, and shells. (Elijah brought lots of these shells home to me for my Mother's Day gift!)

Last weekend we did a little family outing to this lakeshore. Elijah found a big stick and really enjoyed poking everthing with it.

Then we spent some time throwing rocks. Elijah really got into this!
Elijah loved picking up rocks, the bigger the better! He threw them into the water and splashed all of us.

Elijah just loves being outside!

So proud of his big rock.

Morning Family Worship...

Each morning (and each night) we have a family worship time. This time has evolved over the two years of Elijah's life, and I am sure it will continue to change as our children grow and mature in their faith.

For now, we are reading through a devotion book created for families called Long Story Short by Marty Machowski which we really really love. Each week has a theme, and there are 5 devotions per week. Days 1 and 2 introduce the theme, day 3 connects it to Christ, day 4 continues on the theme, and day 5 looks at a passage from the psalms or the prophets to learn about Jesus. We have read through lots of other children's/family devotion materials, but this is definitely our top pick. The greatest thing is that it goes through the Bible in its entirety which means you have devotions for a 3 year time span. Love it!

So we start out by reading the passage, the devotion, and discussing the questions that go with it. Then we usually work on our memory verse which is one we have chosen to go with the theme of the week. For example, this week, we are memorizing Romans 1:20 to go with the theme of creation of people. Then we sing a song (we sing the same song each day for one week to help with recognition) which is also one we've chosen to go with the weekly theme. Then we pray to thank God for all that He has done and for what we are learning about, and for other needs as they arise.

These times have been so sweet over this past few weeks, and we have really been able to worship well as a family together each morning at the breakfast table.

So recently Elijah said a couple of cute things during these morning worship times that I simply must jot down:

*I shared with Elijah that God gave Adam the responsibility of naming all of the animals and how neat of an experience that must have been. I then asked Elijah what he would name the animals if he got to name them. He thought about it a minute and then said, "moo!".

*I let Elijah look through one of his picture Bibles while David read the story of God creating man and woman. When I pointed out the picture of Adam and Eve in his Bible, he pointed to their fig-leave-only clothed bodies and said, "bubble bath." Pretty appropriate I guess.

Elijah-isms

I love to hear about all the cute things little children say. It is really fun to get a sneak peak into thier little minds and to wonder what they are really thinking. Here are a few of the things Elijah is saying that are just so funny:

* When asked what song he wants to sing during our nightly worship time he declares, "Jesus McDonald". I'm going to go out on a limb here and translate that to "Jesus Messiah" instead.

* When we were in the market the other day, Elijah saw some tractors, and of course said, "tractor." I said, "yes, honey that is a tractor" to which he responded, "pet it". For the record, we have reminded him over and over that you can only pet animals, but he still gets confused and wants to pet many things including buses, bikes, and the moon.

* Yesterday I was playing cars with Elijah in our living room, and all of the sudden he got up and went to open the front door. When I asked him where he was going, he turned to me and said "Mal-Mart" (Wal-Mart). Of course!

Our Little Handyman

We have been busy putting together furniture for the big transition in our home (pics soon to come) as we await baby #2. I love to let Elijah help out with any project I am doing as long as it is safe for him, and this time my project was right up his alley. He found daddy's electric screwdriver and went to work on the inside of one of our cabinets. Later he went around the house saying "fix it", and proceded to use the screwdriver on the underside of many of our cabinets and tables. I love the man in my little boy!

"Guo Lai!"

Recently I was working on something in the living room, and I heard Elijah in the back of the apartment yelling out "guo lai". This phrase means "come here". So, of course, I went to check out the situation. Turns out that he was up on a stool, leaning over our freezer, yelling to a dog that he had seen outside. I'm actually not even sure where he learned this phrase as we no longer have a dog, but either way, he saw a dog and wanted him to come to play.

Elijah's First Tricycle

For Elijah's birthday we wanted to get him something very special that we knew he would love, and that would give us lots of opportunities for making memories together outdoors. So after seeing his love for all vehicles that can be ridden, we enthusiastically decided on getting Elijah his very first tricycle.

He, of course, calls it his bike, and he is so very proud of it. He asks to ride it almost daily, and comes up with new ways to master the art of biking without being able to use the pedals often.

Recently, I attached a little plastic box on the back of the bike so he could "tow" things. Mostly he likes to tow rocks, leaves, and sticks, but occasionally he'll throw in a toy car or even mom's keys just to help out.

Happy 2nd Birthday Elijah!

On April 25, 2011, Elijah turned two! He is 36.5" tall and weighs about 31 pounds- definitely a big boy! Elijah is growing up so fast and doing so many cute and interesting things- he always keeps us on our toes. Recently, David and I have talked about what a joy it is to parent Elijah at this stage and what a blessing he is to our lives. We love you Elijah!

Elijah invited several of his friends to his birthday party.

We all did a door hanger craft together and had lots of fun!

Elijah loves strawberries so I made strawberry cupcakes for him. Yummy!

Mommy and Lijah

The kids had a great time outdoors coloring with sidewalk chalk and blowing bubbles!

This is one of Elijah's closest friends, YiLe.

Elijah loved this car cup! He asks to use it every single day!

Elijah is Two!- Birthday Videos

Easter Eggs

We had a wonderful time decorating eggs with all of Elijah's friends from his playgroup. This is the group of younger kids (2 and under) from the playgroup (the 3-6 year olds were in the front yard hunting eggs)- Juday, Reuben, Caleb, Roman and Elijah. I think despite their minutes long attention spans, they all had a great time coloring, painting and putting stickers on eggs.

Elijah wanted to put some car stickers on his egg- of course!

Time for the hunt! Elijah decided to wear his Easter
basket as a hat rather than carry his eggs around in it!

Reaching for an egg in the bush.

Laura L. made some delicious bird's nest cupcakes which Elijah thoroughly enjoyed.

Visit to the States- At the Beach with Both Families

We always love it when both of our families can be together to make some fun memories. On this visit to the States we were able to meet up at the beach and have lots of fun. We stayed in a huge, super nice condo in Gulf Shores, and we did lots of swimming in the indoor pool, playing on the beach, and even made a trip to the local zoo. Everyone had a great time!

Lijah and Xander- definitely my two favorite little boys in the whole world!

I got some craft supplies for all the kids to make sun visors. They all loved thier creations and wore them the whole time at the beach!

Three best friends with their hats on!

Elijah played in this little fountain by the front desk everytime we walked by it!

Elijah and Xander loved looking out of the glass elevator to see how high we were.

Mommy and Elijah swimming together. He just loved this little float we found for him, and it really helped him have lots of confidence in the pool.

One night we all did bubbles on the balcony. Elijah didn't quite get the "blowing" part, but he managed to have a lot of fun anyway.

Kylie and Xander at dinner- pizza night!

We had a little birthday party for Elijah since we were all together, and he loved being a fireman!

Lijah feeding mommy some birthday cake. What a sweet boy!

Playing in the sand with his truck. He usually ended up putting lots of sand all over himself and me, but as you can see some did eventually make it into the truck.

We all had such a wonderful time together!

Visit to the States- At Nana and Papa's House

After a wonderful visit with Gigi and Pops, we headed to T-town to spend time with Nana, Papa, Kylie (or Kykie according to Elijah) and Xander ("Dander"). We had such a great time, and Elijah just fell in love with his cousins. He learned so many things from them including lots of new words and even how to go down stairs on his bottom. He had lots of amazing experiences like fishing, tractor riding, crafting, riding all kinds of toys, and even watching Blues Clues. It was an incredible visit and one that will leave memories for many years.

Elijah loved his first fishing trip.

He probably enjoyed playing in the water more than catching fish though.

Elijah and Papa on "The Land".

Papa teaching Elijah how to fish.




They caught one!

Papa and Elijah just loved being together!

Papa took Elijah for a long ride on the 4-wheeler. He loved it!

Elijah learns how to use the "dozer". It was a huge machine for such a little man, but he thought he was pretty tough to be able to handle it!

Riding in the boat on the lake!

Nana bought some crafts for the kids to do. Here she is helping Elijah with his.

More crafting with Nana.

Cruising in the mustang with Xander. Look at those faces!

Snuggling together with "Kykie". These two were seriously like two peas in a pod. They were inseparable!

This tractor was one of Elijah's all time favorite things to ride while at Nana and Papa's. Elijah especially loved when Papa filled the wagon up with sticks for Elijah to haul.

And while indoors this was a favorite pastime for Elijah- pushing his cars around in Kylie's stroller! I mentioned to David that we ought to get one for Elijah once we got home, to which he promptly replied, "not a baby doll stroller for our man". Sorry Elijah. Maybe when Auburn Grace comes along you can play with hers.

Visit to the States- At Gigi and Pops House

In March we had the wonderful opportunity to travel back to the States for our vacation to spend lots of time with our families. We had lots of fun times, great food, and just loved seeing Elijah get to have all kinds of amazing experiences with our families. These pictures are from our time with Pops and Gigi in Pensacola, Florida.

This was by far one of Elijah's all-time favorite things to do while at G & P's house. He rode this little bike all day everyday rain or shine.

This little rocker was David's when he was growing up, and Elijah just loved it.

Gigi made all kinds of memories with Elijah including teaching him how to pass things with his teeth.

One morning G & P took Elijah to a park in Fairhope to feed the ducks. He had such a fun time.

Gigi snuggling with Elijah after bathtime.

Pops took Elijah to see a Blue Angels show in Pensacola. This was such a special treat!

Gigi set up this little pool for Elijah, and he absolutely loved playing in it.

Our little man on the porch.

Pops and Elijah at Cock of the Walk restaurant.

Elijah in the cockpit of a plane "practicing" his flight skills.

Elijah loved his little fireman hat. He wore it all the time.

John, Gigi, and Elijah coloring with sidewalk chalk on a beautiful day.

This was so funny. Elijah loved to put his little lifevest on and climb in the laundry basket proclaiming it to be his boat!

This was at a little park that David used to play at when he was little.

Elijah playing in the sand at Pensacola Beach.

Our family at the beach (no comments on the prego-suit please).

David used to ride this little tractor when he was a little boy. It is so neat that G & P saved this for all those years just so Elijah could ride it too!

Pops gave Elijah his first chocolate bunny. Needless to say, he enjoyed it thoroughly!