11 mths old! and A New 'Do!

There have been a couple of milestones in our household this week! First off, Elena is now officially ELEVEN months old!!! Uh- I want to cry just thinking about how quickly the last year has flown by. I can't believe she will be a year old at the end of the month!!!

The other milestone we hit was Elias asking for a haircut! He has always been terrified of haircuts and cries bloody-murder the entire time the buzzers are buzzing. So when he spent several days saying "Today I want to shave all my hair off and look like Daddy", I decided we should go ahead and grant his wish! We normally buzz his hair all short for the summer, but I decided to leave some curls on the top and try to "fade" it into the shorter sides.

BEFORE AND AFTER...















When I was all done we gave him a mirror and said "Do you look like Daddy now?" And he said "No, I look like JACOB!" And he was so excited that he wanted to go to Texas to show Jacob his new haircut.

The 7 Year Itch

They say that there is a "7 year itch" in any given marriage. You know, the type of thing where one (or both) people realize they are missing something or just want to go explore what else is out there. I guess there are higher rates of marriages gone amuck at the 7-year marks (7, 14, 21, etc) than other years.
Well, let me tell you folks something. Adaryll and I just celebrated our 7 year Anniversary yesterday and the only itching going on here is the one spot on my back I can't reach but he so kindly loves to scratch for me! I mean, there are always adventures sharing your life, house, and kids with another person (add to the mix that we are both sinners and know it!), but I would not trade my wonderful husband for anything in the world!
He is a great guy and a terrific Father. He makes me laugh and he laughs with me. He works hard and goes in early so he can spend the evenings with his family.
I used to say "E.L.A!" when people did unexpected things for Adaryll. For example, he was once upgraded to first class on a flight after making conversation about music with an airline employee and giving him a CD. Another time he was out to dinner and started talking to the manager (realizing they were both from TX), and ended up with dinner and dessert on the house! "E.L.A." stood for "Everyone Loves Adaryll!" and it is so true! He has a charm about him that people love and are drawn to- and customer service people crank out the favors when he turns on that charm!
But noone loves Adaryll like I do! And noone could scratch my itchy back like he does! So here's looking forward to another 7 years... and then another and another and another and another.....

Growl Baby Growl

Elena's latest signature sound is a growl. Not just any growl- but a 4-and-a-half-year-old boy's GROWL! It is obvious to anyone who hears this growl that she must have (and love) an older brother. I was able to capture the growl on video this morning and I have posted a link to the video. If you click the You Tube TV icon on the top right of this page, the video should play. She does the real growl about 15 seconds into the video. The rest is actually just laughing. Enjoy!

First Swim of the Season!

We have had some awesome weather here the last few days, so I decided it was time to pull out the old pool and see what kind of fun we could have! It was Elena's first swim- I use the term "swim" lightly, because there was less water in the pool than the kids have in their baths every night! Nevertheless, they both loved the opportunity to splash as much as they could in 2-3 inches of water!

Elena's Happy Place

Elena has a funny way of putting herself to sleep. She has done this ever since I can remember, so it probably started when she was just a couple of weeks old.
Does anyone remember the old joke where you tell someone that if their hand is bigger than their face that they are really smart- and then when they spread their hand out over their face you smack it into their face? (I know- not funny- I don't know how many times I got smacked) Well, picture a 10 month old spreading her hand out to cover her face like that. Then she cups her tongue into a U-shape (as if she were nursing) and then licks, not sucks, her wrist area. I think it all started because she has always slept on her side and her hands were just right there. Since she was a breastfed baby and liked the feel of flesh in her mouth, I guess that is what she did. I always thought that eventually she would find her thumb and suck it, but she never has. She is content with what I call her "licky wrist".
Soooo, all that to say that sometimes, even when she is in the middle of playing and fully rested, you will see her hand come up to her face and her head turn to the side to reach her wrist, and her eyes roll back for just a second. Then she snaps back to reality and keeps playing as if nothing happened. She just needed to go to her happy place for a second.
What is really funny is when she is super tired and nursing at bedtime. Once she is full enough of milk, she will let go of the breast, cover her face with her hand, and start licking her way into dreamworld. It is the funniest thing because I have to say to her "Honey- that hand is a substitute for the real thing, which is RIGHT THERE!" But it isn't even nursing that she wants at that point anymore, she just needs her happy place.

I Love You So, So Hard! and For All Ages!

Elias, being the typical 4-year-old boy that he is, often says things that strike me as funny. I am not exactly sure where he comes up with some of his sayings, whether he makes them up off the top of his head or hears them somewhere, but he often makes me smile with his creativity of expression.
Just the other day he was telling Adaryll good-bye and decided he needed to shower Adaryll with kisses. After many, many kisses, he finally grabbed Adaryll by the face and squeezed his cheeks together- forming funny fish looking lips- and then said to his Daddy "I Love You SO, SO hard!" and planted a big fishy kiss on him!
Another funny thing he has said for a while now when he can't find you or has been waiting for you is "I was looking for you for all ages!" or "I was waiting for you for all ages!" Again, no idea where he got that, but it makes me smile everytime he says it!
He is also very into using the words "perhaps" (which I think he got from the English-accented veggietale character) and "actually". I'm sure the entertaining speech will continue to grow as he gets older, but those are some of my favorites for now.

Her Mission: Search and Destroy

This morning Elias had his best little girl friend over to play, so Elena had to find something to entertain herself. What she found was a bookshelf. She proceeded to grab and pull down every book she could get her hands on. I would like to believe her motivation was her love of books and learning, but I think it was more like her love of bulldozing.

The "It's Not A Secret" Garden

Okay, so it is no secret- Adaryll and I are both born and bred Texan and proud of it! In case anyone in our neighborhood had a question about who our family is, we decided we could let them know without even having to ask.

The garden plan all started when we were in Texas last week and saw my sister's stone in the shape of Texas. We HAD to have one like it, so we got one, wrapped it in bubble wrap and boxed it, and checked it as luggage on the plane back. Then we began researching who was having what sales, what plants we liked and didn't like, etc. Dad had given us some Indiana gardening books (with pictures in them for people like us who have no clue what kind of plant is what), so with that help we planned a garden.

We decided to do a perinnial garden with some sort of focal point in the front flower bed. We couldn't decide if we wanted a bird bath or a fountain or a topiary tree, etc. But when we saw that boot at the feed barn down the street, we knew it was perfect!! Our neighbors drove by after we finished and said "It is so perfect- it is just so YOU!"

So, now there is no doubt who the TEXANS are that live in this house! I was thinking we should get a flag pole and then hang Cowboys, Mavericks, Stars, Rangers, etc. flags from it during each sports season. Or maybe just the Lone Star State flag. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was a really special day because it was Baby Dedication Day at church for Elena. She was born just a couple of weeks after the last one they had, so she was one of the oldest babies being dedicated. It was a really nice service (Elena didn't cry- that was all I could hope for at that point after the extremely late night she had getting back from TX Saturday!), and several people took pictures for us.

Thanks to the Millers for being part of our Indiana family and coming to our church that day! And to the Abbotts for being our guests at the reception (and to Jean for acting as human highchair to Elena and her boyfriend Isaac)! It means a lot to us that you guys did that! It is so special to see how God has provided family for us here- people who will stand with us in our committment to raise our children in a Biblical way and teach them about Christ.

All-in-all, Mother's Day was pretty good after church as well- the kids both slept from about 1pm until 5:30pm and then went right back to bed at 7:30pm. So we are slowly making up for the loss of sleep Saturday.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms in my life- grandmas, mom, sister, and friends (even those of you who are mothers to dogs!) :) I love you all!

Our Trip to Texas- Days 5-6

Friday and Saturday were somewhat of a blur! Friday night was the rehearsal dinner for Papa-G's wedding. Elias met the flower girl, Cora, and they got along great! He ran up to her and said "You look pretty" and then ran away.
Saturday morning we said good-bye to Honey, April, Jay, and Jacob and got ready for the wedding. Elias did GREAT in the wedding (I will post a picture as soon as I get one!). Elena had a running commentary of the goings-on from the second row pew, but at least she didn't cry! She wore her pretty dress I smocked and embroidered for her and she looked beautiful!
Our flight home was delayed and the kids finally made it to bed a little after midnight. It was absolutely an insane day (and I think the longest span of time Elena has been awake in her whole life!), but it was really nice that we got to be there for the wedding.
Now we are all home and getting back into the swing of "normal" and it feels so good!

Our Tip to Texas- Days 3-4

We spent the day Wednesday and Thursday with Aunt April, Uncle Jay, and Jacob. Elias and Jacob had a great time playing together at Jacob's house- they especially loved jumping on the trampoline together. It was like watching something out of a movie- the two of them bouncing up and down and giggling so loud we could hear them inside the house!

My mom (Honey) stayed with April and Jay from Thursday until Saturday, so we got to hang out with her too!

We also got to see the Potters, McCulloughs, and Armstrongs- yeah!

Our trip to Texas- Days 1-2

We made it to Texas Monday night around the kids' bedtime. Adaryll was starting to get sick, so we pretty much just went straight to Papa-G's and got everyone settled for the night. While Adaryll was in his Nyquil coma, the kids and I went to see my Meme in the nursing home on Tuesday morning. They both really enjoyed being with her and put on a good show of smiles for her. Meme went on and on about how sweet they both are and how blessed I am to have them. It was neat to hear her wisdom about how important family is and how we, as young parents, should just savor the time we have with our little ones before it is gone and they are all grown up.

How do you get to Monday?

We explained to Elias last week that Monday we would be going on an airplane to go to Papa-G's house. Flying on planes is one of his most favorite things to do, so he excitedly said "Yeah!!" and proceeded to tell us that we needed to wake him up the next morning and take him to the airport (usually we have early flights and have to sweep kids out of bed on our way out the door WAY earlier than they would normally get up). We explained that we would not be going until Monday, and his immediate question was "How do you get to Monday?" So I asked him what comes after Tuesday and he said Wednesday, then what comes after Wednesday, etc. He knows the days of the week, so he figured out how to "get to" Monday. Now it is Sunday and there is only one more day left- guess who is going to be excited today?!

For me, it will be a full day of finishing laundry, packing, sitting on bags to make them zip, etc. For Adaryll, it will be a FULL day of work attending service, 101, meetings, senior fuel, etc. For Elias, it will just be the day before he "gets to" Monday- what a blissful place to be!

The Choir

When Elena was a couple of months old (and super-colicky), we realized that whenever Elias met someone he would introduce his sister like this "This is Baby 'Lena- she's a cryer." Except his version of "cryer" came out "choir". She later outgrew the colic and we found out about some food allergies she has, so she really is a much happier baby now and not a "choir" at all, but it is still funny to revisit that memory.

Elena is 10 months old now and changing SO fast! Last week she began crawling on her hands and knees (she was an army crawler for the past couple of months and we thought she would never get that belly up off the ground!) and she cut her fifth tooth. She has so much of her brother's personality coming out in the last month- she has his laugh and recently has adopted his shyness when boys talk to her. It has been incredible to see her little personality come to life and watch the physical changes happen so fast. I can't believe she is almost a year old! She is such a gift from God- I can't imagine life without her!

The "Model" Child

Elias is 4 and a half years old now- where has that time gone?? He is such a sweet, sensitive, tender-hearted boy with a joy for life that is enviable. Obviously, he likes to have his picture taken! His favortite thing to do right now is reading. He loves to check out library books and then just sit on the floor in his room and read to himself (aloud, no less!). It is so neat to hear him in there making up voices for different characters or pronouncing words the way they are written as opposed to how they are actually pronounced (last night he had to say the "B" at the end of "comb" and make sure I knew about that B on the end). He also loves to play outside and ride bikes with friends. It is so much fun to watch him grow and develop. He has really become a performer over the past year, leaving some of his shyness in the past. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for him next!

Who Knew?

Okay, I have finally been sucked in! If ALI COUCH can do it, I can too!!! :) I have long thought about creating a blog- I believe I even set up accounts on a couple of different sites but never actually posted anything- so here goes!
Our little family is made up of Texans and Hoosiers, thus the name of the blog. Hopefully, through this site, all our family and friends will be able to keep track of what we are all up to and see recent pics of the Hoosier-babies (and Texan parents)!
I hope it is really as easy as Ali said cause it is WAY past my bedtime already.....