Sweet September :)

Sweet, sweet September has come and gone! I cannot believe it is already OCTOBER!! October means 2 of my favorite things:

1.) My favorite little man has a birthday coming up!! :)
2.) FALL is here!!

September was a very busy, but wonderful month!! We celebrated some very special birthdays. :)

My brother, Chris, turned the big 3-0 in August! We never got to celebrate due to conflicting schedules, so we celebrated in September.

It was so fun spending time with my family and celebrating my brudder's birthday!!

We enjoyed a delicious cake I picked up at Whole Foods...

I got to thinking about how EVERYONE gets "Happy Birthday" written on their birthday cakes and wanted Chris to remember his cake, so....

Needless to say, I am sure payback is waiting around the corner. HAHA.

Chris blowing out his candles...

The cake was REALLY good! It was a white cake with fresh berries and Chantilly Frosting. Eli LOVED it!

Making faces while eating his cake...

This is my favorite pic of the day...

I love you very much brother!! We had so much fun celebrating your birthday!! xoxo
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We also celebrated another August birthday in September: Mom Brenner's birthday!

Alison and David were so sweet to have us all over to celebrate. :) David cooked an AMAZING dinner--roast, potatoes, fresh baked bread--mmmmm... it was really nice!

Eli was fascinated because they have STAIRS. We do not have stairs at our house, so Eli thinks stairs are the coolest thing in the world when he sees them.

So thank you Auntie Alison and Uncle David for keeping the "Danger Zone" closed off--HAHA.

I am ashamed to say I didn't take photos other than Eli at the stairs. I thought about it as soon as I got in the car to head home.

I was happy Bob sent me this pic of Grammy in her apron (present from Eli)...

Happy Birthday Grammy!!! We had fun celebrating!! :)
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On September 26th, a very special little lady turned 2.... Sweet Sara!!

Eli had the best time at Sara's birthday party!!

They played in the pool...

They wrote with chalk...

They dug in the dirt...

They threw grass at each other...

They chased each other around trees...

And clearly they had a lot to talk about... (haha)

My little "Romeo" picked Sara a flower and handed it to her! Mommy has quite a little charmer on her hands....

Eli, Sara and Mason had fun playing together too! :)

Here they are banging on the garage door. Loud is fun! HAHA.

Haylie (Mason's big sister) is soooo good with the little ones! I can't wait until she is old enough to babysit. :)

Haylie and Eli...

Eli appreciates you fixing his cool shades, Haylie...

Anne, Sara, Eli and I...

Anne, Sara, Me, Eli, Stacy, Mason and Haylie...

Sara had such a lovely party!!

Everything was pretty in pink :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Sara!!

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Along with the fun stuff, work stuff has been busy too. We are already coming to a close on our 1st 9 weeks of school!

I really LOVE being back in Second Grade--it is truly where my heart is at. I just love that age. :) Also, my team ROCKS, so that is an added bonus. :)

It is that time of year where it is crazy at work and I am pretty overwhelmed, so a good laugh is always appreciated. Well, I am walking around monitoring my kiddos the other day and 2 of my students took it upon themselves to make little signs...

That made my morning. :)
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Sweet Eli is now 23 MONTHS OLD! Eek!! My baby boy is almost TWO!! He just amazes me...every day it is something new. I could just sit and watch him all day long. :)

Here is Eli's 23 MONTHS OLD chair photo...

Here are some things Eli is doing at 23 MONTHS OLD:

*Eli now likes to help with chores--unloading the dishwasher, brings Lulu her food--and is VERY excited to help. :)

*Eli really loves Lulu and now will check her water and food bowls. He will tell me "Need more" when her bowls are empty. It's vey sweet. :)

*Eli associates all things Charlie has with "Dada." For example, if we see a pair of boots (like Charlie's) in the store or a shirt (like Charlie's), Eli will say, "That's Dada's!"

*He is sleeping about 10 solid hours a night with a 2 hour nap during the day.

*Eli LOVES the outside! He would play outside all day long if you let him.

*He is fascinated by trucks, cars, balls, Elmo and Mickey Mouse.

*Eli gets worried during sad parts of books and movies. He will say "Oh no!"

*He now says HIS name! He has said the names of all of his friends, but never his until now. He now says, "E-yi" and it is sooo cute! :)

*He now responds with "Yes!" (HALLELUJAH!) The answer was always "No" for a longgg time, so this is exciting! Haha.

I just love this sweet little guy...

Already August....

While August meant a lot of fun things to do and celebrate, it also meant the end of my summer vacation with my baby boy. :(

How could I possibly leave this little face?

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Eli and I had so much fun over the summer! We got to spend a lot of time with friends. :)

One afternoon my friend Christen came over so her sweet girl Cora and Eli could play together while we chatted and caught up. We had such a nice time :)

Christen, Cora and Eli :)

Christen actually just had her 2nd baby--A BABY BOY named CHARLES :)--a few weeks ago, so CONGRATULATIONS to Christen and Jonathan!! I can't wait to meet Charles David!!
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We also spent a lot of time with Anne and Miss Sara over the summer. :) Those 2 are always so funny toegther!

One afternoon Anne invited us over for a beach day. It was soooo much fun!

Eli and Sara had the best time...

We let them play until the were both DONE. I love this pic of Eli and Sara after the beach. You could tell how worn out they are from playing so hard...HAHA

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One Saturday we went over to visit April and Aidan and to see BABY ZOEY!! Zoey was born on August 9th.

She is absolutely perfect!! Just beautiful!!

While Mommies chatted and loved on Miss Zoey, Aidan and Eli played and played...

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The weekend before teachers went back to school (workshop week), my girlfriends Courtney, Victoria and I went to Dallas to visit our friend Bre. :)

We had a lot of laughs and it is always fun to spend time with the girls!

While I was in Dallas, Grammy and Paw Paw took care of Eli. Thank you Grammy and Paw Paw!!

They took these pics for me and I just love them...

Thank you both for taking such wonderful care of him!!
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Our sweet Eli is now 22 MONTHS OLD!!!

Here is Eli's chair photo at 22 Months:

I really love watching all the phases Eli goes through as he grows older. It is so funny how all of a sudden he starts doing something and I ask myself, "Where did he learn to do that?"

This past summer he suddenly became interested in dressing himself... whether it was a pair of shoes, a hat on his head, a shirt...HE wanted to pick it out and put it on. These are pics of Eli just putting random stuff on and walking around the house.

I just love this baby boy...

Eli also started showing A LOT of interest in the potty. He would tell me when he had to #2 and would run to the bathroom. So after Eli using the big potty, I thought I should get him his own potty.

I made the mistake of letting Eli pick out a Cars potty, which makes "Vroom!" sound effects when you "flush." He really has no desire to use it as a potty, but rather uses it to store his toy cars in and pushes the handle.

The super cool potty...

Needless to say, I was premature on my potty training thoughts. I have been reading up on it and it sounds like I will see more signs when he is ready. I also need to make sure I will be home for at least 3 days to really start training him, so I think I may do that during Christmas Break. :)

Eli is also quite the little artist and loves to draw and paint. :)

Making his masterpieces...

Here are some of the things Eli is doing at 22 MONTHS OLD:

*Eli now brings you things when you ask (such as diapers and wipes) and will ask for a "high pi" (high five) for bringing the item.

*He can now take his pants off all by himself, which can make for a very interesting morning when trying to get ready for school. HAHA.

*Eli has a favorite bedtime book--It's a "Cars" book and he wants to hear it every day. :)

*He now points to his friends at school and says their names. :)

*Eli says a lot of phrases and sentences, such as "That a bird!" and "Love You Wu" (<--he says to Lulu and it is soooo cute!)

*Eli will say "Puh-wease" when he asks for something.

*He only uses his binky at night for the most part. He doesn't have it at all during the day when at school, so basically it is Mommy's fault that he even uses it at all.

*He is VERY long! All of Eli's shorts from this summer (size 24 months) are wayyyy too short.

*Eli now wears a size 9-10 shoe!!!

*Eli is so sweet and loves to sit and cuddle with Mommy and Daddy on the couch for a few minutes before he goes to bed each night. I just love Eli Thomas :)