On the Move

This is Ryan. He's a smiley guy. But don't let this sweetness fool you. He's a little man on a mission. Yep, Ryan has learned to "crawl." It started about a week and a half ago. He had been scooting and pivoting for awhile, but I noticed he was getting to toys further and further away. He always managed to get off the blanket I put him on.

He doesn't crawl on all fours- it's more of an army crawl. And sometimes he just propels himself forward. But he's mobile.

I don't think I'm ready for this!!

Family Pictures

Beth from Waypost Photography took our family pictures earlier this month. We try to have her take them twice a year- in the spring and in the fall. We really wanted to get a good picture of all 5 of us- and by good I mean that no one is crying or flailing around. Mission accomplished.

I was so excited to get the CD of pictures in the mail yesterday. Here are some of my favorites from the day.

Ryan



Urbana Fire Department Open House

Today we went to the Urbana Fire Department's open house.

Keyote, the Frederick Keys' mascot, was there

This was inside an ambulance bus. It was Eli's favorite emergency response vehicle to date. It was pretty incredible- it's meant to be used for large catastrophic events, and I was happy to hear that it has never had to been used for that. It can triage 100 people. We got to take a peek inside of it. Eli even got to sit in the driver seat.

They also had a hayride out to a small patch. Eli got to pick a free pumpkin.

Party Time!

Someone told Mina that they liked her glasses and she replied, "Thanks, they aren't real."
My niece is so fashion-forward!

Nathan and Katie surprised Eli when they showed up for the party

This is baby Sammy. Isn't he the cutest ever? I was going to steal him. Joe and Esther
have 2 other boys too. I thought maybe they wouldn't notice....

Eli loved it when everyone sang happy birthday to him.

The moment he was waiting for!

Train Cake!

We had a small family party for Eli Saturday afternoon. Kevin's cousin Joe was in town for David's wedding, so his family came. Kevin's cousin Lisa and her family also came. Lisa and Joe's parents also were able to come. The party was a train theme. I made a birthday banner for Eli- which I cut and glued on various week nights- I know, pretty exciting life huh? It was worth it when Eli walked into the kitchen, looked up and said, "Wow!"

 Eli requested a train cake for his brithday and here's what he got. My mom and I looked online for ideas. She baked a couple pound cakes for me and brought them down. We decided on a red engine (red is Eli's favorite color) and three train cars- a coal car, a zoo car, and an M&M car (because every train should have an M&M car!). The process wasn't too bad- we chilled the cakes and cut them cold on Friday. Then I put a crumb coat on each. On Saturday I iced them again and decorated them. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and Eli loved it.

I put the cake on a box covered in construction paper and plastic and piped on some tracks.

Birthday Morning- October 15

Eli turned 3 yesterday. I think I was more excited for his birthday than he was. Sure he was excited. We talked all week about his birthday, train cake, and party. But he didn't know what gift he was getting- a train table. It was a big hit. Here is the birthday boy coming down the steps after waking up. (He just had to wear the hat from the wedding the night before).

 He enjoyed opening all of his other presents too. My parents were here, so he opened their gifts too.

One of the gifts my parents got him was a set of construction utensils- a forklift fork, a
frontloader spoon, and a bulldozer. What a hit!

He spent the morning playing with all of his new toys while we got ready for his party.