There's a Woody in my purse!

Elijah's current favorite toy is a small Toy Story Woody, complete with lasso and cowboy hat.  He is getting the full size one for Christmas because for some reason it was on clearance at Target.  It was originally $44.98 and marked down to $32.20.  Can someone say deal!!!  I'm still watching for Buzz Lightyear to go on sale.  Yes, I am already Christmas shopping.  So far his stocking is going to be stuffed with a Monsters Inc Pez dispenser, a small superman in a car, and a book.  

Anyway, this Woody toy is going everywhere with him.  Woody has been to the park, the mall, church, and out grocery shopping.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised he is appearing in odd places.  So far I have found him in the dog bowl, in my purse, and even buried in the comforter of my bed... It's starting to get weird!  If I find him perched over me whilst I sleep there will be screaming.  Anyone else have a toy following them?

Where is Elijah....

My 3 year old, Elijah, may struggle with his speech but he is quite a problem solver.  He loves to play with the water hose on the patio and apparently was determined to do so, with or without us.  One Sunday morning at approximately 7am, he crawled into bed with my husband, my 3 month old, and I.  As usual and we all went back to sleep and I was hoping for maybe an extra 30 minutes of rest before he started saying "Mama, wake up.  Are you hungry?".  The next thing I know, I wake up feeling rested.  I knew something wasn't right and my husband sat up and noticed Elijah is not in bed with us.  He jumped out of bed to go find out what he was up to.   Assuming he was just in the living room playing, I rolled over and checked my phone and panicked when I saw it said 10am.  About that time, Noah calls out to me that Elijah is nowhere to be found in the house.   My precious, active son was missing. My heart stopped.  I felt like I couldn't breath. Terrified, I was already thinking of all the things that could happen.  We have a pond with alligators behind our apartment, a pool down the street, tons of neighbors….  I flew out of bed, completely frightened and ready to start looking for him.  As soon as I reached the living room, Noah was dragging a soaking wet Elijah down hallway to his room as he scolded him.  Thankfully, Elijah had been found and had come to no harm.  He had been playing outside on the patio to play in a thunderstorm – it had been pouring rain with lots of lightning all morning.  Noah’s only clue to his location was a chair pulled up to the sliding glass door.  Apparently Elijah had pulled the chair up to the door, pulled the locking pin out, hid the pin, unlocked the second lock, went outside, and closed the door behind him.  He wanted to play with the hose on the patio so badly that he figured out his escape.  We can only guess to how long he was out there….  It took hours for my heart and Noah’s to return to normal.  There is a third lock on our sliding door and Elijah cannot reach it or figure it out.  It's also transparent, so he hasn't even noticed that's why he can't get out again.

Just want hold his hand a little longer

My 3 month old, Isaiah, quickly showed us that he was different than his brother. Where Elijah is serious, Isaiah is smiling.  Where Elijah was fine to be on his own, Isaiah knows the moment we put him down.  I have a ton of projects and chores to do but right now all I want to do is hold his hand and watch him smile in his sleep as he snuggles in my arms.  I love both my boys equally but I have to admit that I love moments like this.  I know they won't last forever! Cue sighs.

Brotherly love

My 3 year-old, Elijah, is very loving.  He gives hugs and kisses freely.  He tells us he loves us all the time.  He expresses concern when his baby brother, Isaiah, fusses and cries.  He even tells him things like "it's okay baby, don't cry,"  and will share his special blankets with him.  He will give Isaiah kisses on the forehead even!  Despite all this, Elijah does not want to sit for a photo with his brother?  So yes, I did indeed resort to bribery to document my two boys sitting together.  Now Elijah thinks that every time I take his picture, he is going to get a piece of candy.  Oh well, a priceless pic of my boys together is worth a few lollipops and sticky hands :)

Follower of Christ

I am doing some theology reading on Arminianism vs Calvinism and I find myself frustrated that Christians are so focused on trying to put God's word into a box. I personally lean toward one side but I cannot wholly embrace one or the other. Let scripture interpret scripture. To do this accurately, all Christians should know their Bibles. The debate has gone on for centuries and is sure to continue as finite humans try to grasp an Infinite God.

Favorite Books for my boys

We have a lot of board books and several cloth books.  I love books and there are so many that Elijah (age 3) could just care less about.  Any of the nice picture books that we have gotten are stored in the closet because Elijah went through a stage of chewing all books.  He is also pretty destructive and I just don't trust him to have them out.  He just has to read the books with me holding them.  Isaiah is only 5 months old so not too discerning yet.  These are the boys favorites thus far. 

1) Where is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox & Judy Horacek
    Elijah loved this book when he was a baby and he still enjoys the cute pictures and rhythmic story.  I love that the Green Sheep is fast asleep at the end.  It makes it a fun bedtime story.  We are already on our second copy of this board book since Elijah thoroughly enjoyed this one.  He was upset when it was finally to the point of no return. I think I've probably made him partial to this one because I love the illustrator and she actually was the one that inspired me to start outlining all my children's illustrations with black sharpies.  I don't think that is how she does it but I'm a sucker for sharpies.

2) Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
   We have several Boynton books and Elijah enjoys all of them.  He finds this one very funny and requests this one most often.  She has illustrated over fifty children's books and I expect we will one day own a large share of them.  He loves to 'read' it with me when we get to the "oops" parts. This one has actually helped me with working on colors for Elijah. 

3) Squishy Turtle and Friends Cloth Book by Roger Priddy
  This was a great buy for both boys.  It has Textured fabrics, bright colors, and cute illustrations.  Really helps develop the kid's sensory awareness.  

4) My First Colors: Let's Learn Them All! by DK
  I haven't introduced this book to Isaiah yet but it is a big favorite of Elijah's.  It has tons of great pictures that illustrate different shades of the color.  Elijah requests this one quite often and likes to tell me about the objects on the pages.  I love the tabs and it even includes pages of Silver and Gold!  I think this book will continue to be a must have for discovering and learning.  Any of the books in the series are great! 

5)  Penguin Says "Please" by Michael Dahl
  A great quick little board book that helps teach please.  Very cute illustrations.  I got it as a stocking stuffer last Christmas before Elijah turned 3 and he still enjoys it.