Monday, January 25, 2016

These boys

Aaron put together a workout plan for the year that included doing 200 push-ups each day for 2 weeks. One morning as Eli and I were cleaning, Eli paused and said, "I need to do my push-ups." He's still working on his form. And Mr. Austin has started pulling himself up on everything. Aaron lowered Austin's crib last week and now when I go in to get him after his naps, he doesn't look like a baby anymore!


Eli's lucky day. I finally had a penny in my wallet so he got to ride the horse at King Soopers for behaving nicely during grocery shopping. I vote every store has such an incentive for kids. :) Aren't siblings the best? Here is a before nap hug. They've started wrestling together and I love seeing them giggle as they pin each other down. 


I attended the temple one evening and I loved these words during the prayer - the temple worker prayed that those in attendance would have their fears diminish and their testimonies grow. I'm focusing on strengthening my testimony this year. Did I mention I teach a youth Sunday School Class? It's my dream calling. In one short month, I've already learned so much from the youth. A friend from church brought over a bag of books for these two. It was like a bonus library day, but they get to keep the books!


I came up the stairs in time to catch this moment after Aaron had finished baths with the boys! And poor Austin had a rough few weeks with new teeth coming in. He was waking up often and crying often. Luckily, he's back to himself now..but I know there are more teeth in there ready to pop out at any time. It's hard to grow up! I tell him often that with more teeth, he'll be able to eat more foods like steak and smile to show off his pearly whites. That really can be a life lesson - sometimes we have to go through tough times, like the pain of growing teeth, to better enjoy the sweetness of life later. 


Aaron and I put together a bowling group date with these fun couples from church. Why do I like bowling so much and I never even win?! I'm there for the laughs.


Monday, January 11, 2016

10 month baby, science experiments, the race

My baby turned 10 months old last week! 
A classic spaghetti dinner needed to be documented!  




Sometimes I find myself treating my home too much like a business - I have spreadsheets for our budget and Eli's preschool, I create cleaning charts and keep to a pretty strict schedule. I thrive best in this sort of environment, but then sometimes I look at my little guys by my side and realize they won't be this small forever and I toss our schedule and to-do list out the window to really enjoy the moment and create memories together - like running to the library after errands to check out some new books and play games!


We had two snow days last week so we busted out one of a science books Eli got for Christmas from Grandma Volk. This particular day we studied surface tension! We also learned about mixing color combos. 


Apparently I need to add toothpicks to my grocery list because I couldn't find any. Eli didn't seem to mind using a skewer. :)


Last Saturday Aaron ran a 1/2 marathon in western Denver! While he was running, the boys and I hit up Chick-fil-a. Being there so early meant they had the whole play place to themselves!



Austin's SO eager to follow Eli everywhere. You'll be climbing up to the slide soon, little one!


We also ran to Kohl's to kill some time. Eli is obsessed with Star Wars and it's pretty intriguing actually to see how advertising has worked on him. Have you seen Star Wars everywhere? Like even the Cheez-it and graham cracker aisle in the grocery store? It's working on this dude.


We rushed back to the race and made it just in time to see Aaron!
(And, truth be told, I may have missed Aaron running through the finish line because a girl ran through and was SEVEN months pregnant with her first baby. Yes, I said SEVEN! And another guy was 79 1/2 years old running. I don't know if they did the half, but even if they did the 10k, I'm amazed. And inspired!)

A dad hug!



Eli kept asking when he can run a race. Thanks, Aaron for being an inspiration to our little guys. They look up to you so much! 


Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year!!

We welcomed in the new year with a family party! Eli kept asking when the party was going to start. I reminded him that whenever we're together as a family it's always a party! ;)


Aaron made us a delicious dinner and Austin approved because he kept clapping through the meal.


Dinner was followed by pictionary - a new gift we received from Jenny and Steele!


Eli took his role as the time keeper very seriously.


Eli refused to wear a headband and Aaron rolled his eyes when I pulled them out, but in the end, he was a good sport about it. And then Austin was as excited as I was for the party decorations!!!




Here's our attempts at a family picture to remember the evening.




The evening ended with little fireworks and a movie. 


Hello, 2016!