Twas' the Night Before Christmas...

...when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. 

 The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes St. Nicholas would soon be there. 

 Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!   

Eli-isms

This list of Eli-isms is LESS than comprehensive because the last few weeks have been...hard for this mama.   Todd had finals and so things maybe just didn't feel funny in the moment (even though I'm sure to someone with a full tank they were hysterical) nor did I have the brain space to remember to write them down.    These however stuck with me...

*Anytime he takes a toy away from Anna, I always say"give her something else to play with" (because she doesn't really care at this point)  He always comes up with interesting alternatives...like his dad's dirty socks.   Anna is always thrilled (again because she doesn't care) but sometimes I need to draw the line.
*His vocabulary is so incredible at this point that sometimes I forget he still needs some help.   He told me one day he needed his muffins before we went outside.  It took me awhile before I realized he meant his MITTENS. 
*Piggy backing on the above...Todd was talking to him about snow angels.   Eli said Todd and I could make big ones, anna could make little ones and he could make "big-little" ones (because he is not big and not little, just big-little)

*Upon seeing the above sign Eli said, "LOOK DAD!  It says, "Look there's a car!  You better run..."

*Eli knows that I am not ready to see him in the morning until 7 am.   At 7 am SHARP he is at the foot of my bed, every day, without fail.   One day he said, "come on mom, get up!"  I said, "you know how sometimes you don't want to go to bed?  Sometimes I don't want to get OUT of bed."  His response (after a few moments of lulling that over) was, "Noooooooooo"  (as if that wasn't possible)
*Over the past month we've been working on Anna's crawling (this will be a whole other blog).  One day I put her down next to me to play and then I looked up and she was gone.   I was pretty scared at first (Like she was kidnapped or something) and then realized she had MOVED.   Jokingly I said to Eli, "how did Anna get over here?"  He said, "I don't know.  I guess she flew."  (He was NOT joking.)
*He asked for a TROMBONE (?!?!?!) for Christmas
*After helping me carry in some groceries he said in a prideful voice, "yeah...I'm strong like Jesus."
*For Anna's birthday we went to go and see the light display at Tilles Park.   It was awesome, but Eli's response was not as excited as I predicted.  At the end of the park there was a guy directing traffic.  With excitement in his voice he said, "LOOK!  That guys has an AWESOME light saber! " 

Message from Santa

Santa heard all about Eli, and wanted to send him a special message.  

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/9XgrgqI6Yy7XToLC8BACiA#

WONDERful!

Anna's next party was Wonderful!   After throwing my friend, Bailey, an "unshower" in October I just had to do a Madhatter Tea Party/Alice in Wonderland party for Anna.  I thought it would be fun celebrating with my sorority sisters since Anna's friend, Annie, would be turning one as well!  I was envisioning "Adults Only" (except for Anna and her friend Annie, of course) with a proper tea, fancy dresses and my china.  Well, we had all of the above AND MORE. 

One of my sorority sisters, Lindsay, works for a local magazine and pitched the idea of covering our party.   They loved the idea and after much prodding (o.k., absolutely NO prodding) I enthusiastically agreed for them to feature the tea party in their magazine!

So, the party grew into something even more amazing and fun than I imagined.    Once I started gathering ideas of what I wanted the party to look like, what food I wanted to make, ect. friends and family helped work their magic.   I don't want to share too many more details, because after all I wouldn't want to be redundant when you read about this in the magazine (details to follow), but lets just say I am in awe over how talented, creative and beautiful the people in my life are!   They volunteered their time, decor, and gifts to give my "baby" girl the most WONDERful first birthday party.   Thank you, thank you, thank you!  

The following pictures were taken by my friend, Krista (thank you!  She also made the cool cake), these are not taken by the photographer...those will have to wait.  These are pretty WONDERful though!!   

One year ago today...

....

Anna Davis Warren

5:06 pm

8lb 0oz

21"

We love your giggle, your hugs, your sass, your twinkling eyes, your contentment and your loving spirit.   We can't wait to see how many more ways God has uniquely created you!   We love you so much...

...and think you are 'tu-tu' cute. Happy 1st Birthday sweet pea!

Love,
Mom, Dad & Eli

Anna's FIRST first birthday

No, I didn't stutter.  Anna will have multiple first birthday celebrations.   No, she isn't spoiled. (o.k., well maybe a little but the experts say that doesn't matter until after one!)  Her Mom just likes celebrating and thinks everyone else does too!  Before I get ahead of myself I wanted to share about Anna's FIRST first birthday party in Kansas City with my side of the family.   We (I) decided that while we were already all together, why not celebrate?   Besides, you ALWAYS need more sweets after Thanksgiving, right?

After waking the Birthday Girl up from her nap, she couldn't wait to get her hands on the cupcakes!

 

Unlike her brother Eli, she approached the cupcake very carefully. 

She finally went for the gold! 

Sassin' her Dad for more ice cream.

Opening presents

This girl goes giddy when you put a baby in her hands.

When she saw the baby, she even said "Babeeee"  (yes, my family will attest to that!)

So after cupcakes, pumpkin gooey butter cake, cherry pie, TCBY and leftover desserts from the day before we...celebrated again 1 week later : ) (and stayed off the scale)

Gobble Gobble

For Miss Anna's 1st Thanksgiving we trekked to Kansas City, just as we did for Eli's!   We had a blast playing with cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunt, great uncle and grandparents.  I'll let the pictures do the talking... (Ok, & my captions)

Mr. Thanksgiving himself, my Uncle Jim.

Miss Thanksgiving, my niece Casey.

Jason (and Todd) fried 2 turkeys...yum!

The hostess with the mostess (my sister, Reebs) served us with delight!

Anna loved her first Thanksgiving meal!

...and a kiss from her cousin, Brett.

Todd and me

The kids decorating turkey cookies

Seriously the best cousin shot I have, little boogers (minus Brett who opted to play Wii)

Eli was THRILLED to see Thomas.

Making Christmas lists.  

Practicing crawling

Bowling

Seeing their GREAT, GREAT Grandma Moody (yes, Todd's Great Grandma is pushing 98 and going strong!)

After such a fun 1st Thanksgiving she is resting up for her 1st Birthday.