Happy Thanksgiving!

Here at our house we are thankful for pie... Check out Greg's blog and you'll see why.

Elisa Pictures

These pictures were taken back in September by a student for a photography project. He just dropped off the picture CD today, and we were so pleased with how they turned out. Check them out!

Life with Elisa

Some of the things I found around the house yesterday:

One of Jonathan's diapers, neatly stacked with the placemats.

A sippy cup put back away in the box where it goes, still full of water.

The little lamp off of the top of the TALL dresser placed carefully on top of the shelf headboard of the bed.

Lest you think that my little girl is always careful and organized, in the last couple of days she also:

Turned on the blender without the lid on while "helping" me make smoothies.

Dumped the pancake batter out of the bowl while "helping" me make pancakes.

Knocked the glass cup measure to the floor where it bounced three times before shattering into a thousand tiny pieces.

I can't really blame her, she's still just a one-year-old (almost a two-year-old!) Sometimes she drives me crazy... but mostly I'm amazed by her. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow.

She is starting to talk in little sentences. So much fun! Some of her most often used sentences lately: "Mommy hold you, Leesi." and "Leesi do it."

Potty Time

So Elisa has been showing a little bit of interest in going to the bathroom lately. Last weekend we bought her her own potty. She was really excited about it, and carries it around the house in order to sit on it in different locations. But both Greg and I realized after buying the potty, that neither one of us has any idea how to go about potty training. Anyway, this morning Elisa grabbed her diaper and said, "poop." I asked her if she wanted to go poop on the potty and she said yes. So we took off her pants and diaper and she sat on her potty. She kept on getting up to go get books for me to read to her. Finally after quite some time, she peed in her potty. I was so surprised. And I think she may have been a little surprised too.

Anyway, I'm not sure that we're going to start serious potty training yet. But I do want to make a plan and start getting ready to potty train. I'd welcome advice and recommendations for good books and websites etc.

Jonathan's Dedication

Jonathan was dedicated this past Sunday. It was a somewhat unimpressive event: 8 families lined up and the elders and pastors went down the line praying for each kid. We were the last family. Elisa has been in some kind of funk the last few days, so I was totally preoccupied with trying to keep her somewhat quiet and happy. She kept on climbing up the stairs to the stage as far as she could go while still holding my hand, then jumping back down the stairs. It was a really fun game. So, when the pastor got to us, and I picked her up, she started screaming (of course). But Jonathan was good as gold the whole time.

Even though the event itself was not very exciting or impressive, I'm trying to keep the meaning behind the dedication in mind. We are presenting Jonathan back to God and saying that we will do our best (with the help of our church, friends, and family) to raise him to love and serve Jesus.

Here's a picture of our family after church on dedication day. (Check out Jonathan's very cute sweater - he looked so grown up)

An Unfortunate Incident

So, I know that the grandparents want to see more pictures... especially of the little guy. I haven't posted any in awhile, but there is a good reason. It has to do with an unfortunate incident that occurred on Halloween. Our camera fell off the stroller and will no longer take pictures. However, it will take videos. So, you may start seeing a lot more videos and a lot less pictures on my blog. Here are a couple of pictures I took recently on a camera we borrowed:

Doesn't he look so surprised!

Just relaxin'

Here is a video of his first bath

Buying Beauty

Recently I read a book called Feed Me!: Writers Dish about Food, Eating, Weight, and Body Image. It was a collection of essays by various writers... and it was fascinating. It was funny, sad, and always thought provoking. Anyway, I looked up the editor's blog and on it I found this video. Just had to post it. Hope you enjoy!