for beth

well its not for beth, but I dedicate my first real sewing experience to her.(see, I told you beth!) thanks for helping me figure out how to thread my new sewing machine! - I swear, you need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out (ok so maybe Im not the brightest bulb in the box when it comes to sewing machines, but Im learning)

now dont look too closely, everything is uneven. and I didnt dare to post pics of the belt I made too small for jenalyn, and the bib that doesnt fit around eli's neck nor the little blanket with half a side un-done for their stuffed animals.

but thank you beth for all the great pointers!!! Im gonna keep practicing!!!

oh and what did I make, you ask? remember a while back, eli was chewing on his crib rail, well my make shift solution was sad-looking, and for a while he didnt chew on it. up until last week, so I decided to gussy it up a bit and make it decent. its decent right?

baby shower at the park

last sunday we headed over to my hometown for a friend's baby shower at the park. it was another hot day, but compared to where we live it was at least 10 degrees cooler. the party had a nice big craft table, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and toys for the kiddies. all which kept them very entertained. fun times in the hot sun!

pancake letters!

so as you know, Ive got these "eli-friendly" pancakes down, note to self - coconut milk works much better than rice milk. so I thought Id have fun today and make the kiddies some pancake letters.(oh and I got this niffty idea from a random mommy blog I found, sorry I cant find the link) just put the batter in a big eye dropper! ha ha, hubby knows my jokes. no, really I just used a turkey baster, its not like we're even using that thing, thanksgiving is only once a year... but I did get lazy and only did a few letters that came to mind,and with the rest of the batter I made good 'ol round ones.

oh and I made "eli-friendly" chocolate cookies.they dont look nice, hence no pics, but they are tasty. he's napping right now, but I hope he likes 'em when he gets up since we're all out of his store-bought-$5-for-a-box-of 12-cookies. these will have to do!

yummy art

you know, its been a year since I started this blog and while looking back at some of the stuff we did a year ago, I came across some good ol' yogurt finger painting. so what better way to celebrate than to find some yogurt in the fridge and go to town.
a year ago, eli wasnt old enough to finger paint. but now he is good 'n ready - and yes they are both using coconut milk yogurt since we dont want any bad reactions from any cow's milk stuff...
I really couldnt get any good shots of the two (I think I was paranoid about them throwing the yogurt on the floor) but needless to say they both had fun. eli all over the stuff and jenalyn very dainty, using only her pointy fingers.

in case you couldnt tell: eli's masterpiece is the top one and jenalyn made the two bottom ones - and the one to your right, my little artist calls it a "trop birdie" (tropical bird) or sometimes a "croggie" (frog). I forget what she calls the other one, but she calls it something. cute huh?

like father, like son!

oh my - hubby is an MJ fan so naturally eli has some Jordan gear. well since we rarely put eli in shorts, we just had to do this pic. daddy couldn't be more proud! now off to find a matching outfit for me and my little girl! (I'll admit, for some reason I always find myself wearing the same colors as she does, but I do this totally subconsciously)

last week was GREAT!

so much fun all week long! sunday started with a birthday pool party. they had an awesome wadding pool for the kiddies, which was great since I could get in and the water was only up to my calfs. it was a mighty hot day, so we kept eli inside while me and jenalyn took a dip! (sorry no pics of the pool, but its hard to hold a camera and watch an active toddler at the same time)but we did get pics of the kiddies running around the grass area. always the best part of any party! oh and eli's first ever attempt at a pinata. jenalyn, you ask? took the stick and walked away, pretending it was a flute!



the next day, we had a super fun visit from auntie sarah, jasmine and jayden. we headed out to the outdoor mall water fountain and let the girls run wild, me with the girls, sarah with the boys on the sideline. unprepared and since they were soaked, a good reason to stop by Gymboree and buy new clothes!(again no pics - can you tell I dont trust my camera next to water)
tuesday we got some AWESOME news from the ENT. (and for those of you who dont know, just ask me later) wednesday, Im sure it was great, I dont know if we did anything out of the ordinary but I was still on a high b/c of tuesday's news. thursday, an old friend of mine, in which I havent seen in a year, came out to visit us!she brought her beautiful daughter and new cute baby son. (I know, and I didnt even get pics - bad me!) I was probably b/c of all the catchin' up and chit chattin' that we totally forgot about pics. and finally, our weekend...so nice. we didnt have to go anywhere or do anything...just us - the family. oh but there was one glitch - the a/c in the van is busted! so looks like we're stuck at home til it gets fixed, hopefully by friday. but we did get a chance to have a nice family dinner outside at Cheesecake Factory before bringing in the van.

beach day!

last friday me and the kiddies, plus auntie, uncle, lola and cousin took a trip to the beach. it was actually MY first time with both the kids at the beach. it was totally fun but totally cold! of course jenalyn just loved loved loved the ocean! she loved how the waves would come up and splash her legs. no matter how freezing the water was, she wanted to stay in the water. and yes, the many times I took her out she yelled and screamed til she found interest in the sand.
poor eli - he was freezing. luckily I had brought and extra pair of clothes which I had him wear on top of his other clothes, as well as my hoodie I wrapped around him and a big beach towel. lola held him the majority of the time and since he was nice and cozy, he fell asleep for a good couple of hours.

pics of eli before falling asleep...



pics of jenalyn running wild in the sand...



and here she is "in the water" knee high only, waiting for the waves...