Saturday, November 26, 2011

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

The usual day in our household to decorate for Christmas is the day after Thanksgiving. It's a rule that we can't do it before, so we set aside the day after and deck the halls. However, this year was different, instead we waited until two days after Thanksgiving so that we didn't have to go buy a new set of Christmas lights on Black Friday; we wanted to avoid the crowds of crazed money savers. 

Another rule in our household, which Kim broke early on this November, is that we can't listen to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving as well. This way we don't get tired of Christmas music too early on in the holiday season. As soon as dawn broke the day after Thanksgiving, Kim was playing Christmas music to her hearts content.

Kim made a special "Trim the Tree" playlist at grooveshark.com (her newly found toy), and we turned it on and got started. Chris put the tree up and trimmed it with lights. Kim started getting the ornaments ready to put on the tree, but when Elyas saw the lit tree and heard the music he started dancing. Here he is rockin' out to the Christmas music:






Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Although Elyas was getting a cold he was in a good mood this morning; that is until Kim decided it was time to trim his nails. Poor thing wore himself out crying. As soon as Kim was done, she picked him up from his booster seat and within seconds of putting him on her shoulder he was out. It was still early too, so this was an early nap and a surprise for us. Hey, we used this to our advantage.

Kim used the time to pick up the living room and get ready for Thanksgiving. She made her mom’s Dry Jello Salad, YUM, and Chris baked the crescent rolls. 

Before we left for dinner Elyas had to make a few calls on his cell phone.




A friend from church invited us to her Thanksgiving dinner and we were happy to go. We arrived for dinner at 2PM and had a big delicious meal. It was so nice being with family, even though the family wasn’t really ours, it felt good to be there.

Elyas and the kids got along really well. They played a fun game of catch; Elyas had a blast.










Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


Friday, November 11, 2011

Elyas Lately


Lately Elyas has been loving his stacking blocks. He has been picking them up and carrying them all over the house. He has to make sure that someone is watching while he is stacking his blocks because every time he stacks them he gets so excited he celebrates with a big excited smile and starts to clap. He looks at us for approval and to see if we are just as excited as he is.




















Elyas is also doing the following:

  • He is walking everywhere, sometimes running.
  • He is dancing whenever he hears music, whether it be blocks being knocked together, mama or daddy singing, the washing machine, a wind up flashlight, or actual music.
  • He claps all the time, but especially when he is excited or when he has just waved hello or goodbye.
  • He is cuddling, hugging, and kissing a lot.
  • He learned how to blow this week.
  • He starts laughing and hopes you will laugh along with him.
  • He whispers and talks all the time, in baby language.
  • He throws his arms behind him and runs, it is so cute and so funny.
  • When asked which is a letter and which is a number he points to the correct one.
  • He's still tackling the cats and cuddling them, mostly Koko, but he is starting to be a little more gentle.
  • He is pointing to what he wants to learn about, or what he wants us to get for him.
  • He learned how to tell us no when we ask him if he wants something.
  • He still loves books and will pick them up and read them as he walks
  • During story time he points to the pictures and helps us turn the page.
  • Elyas finally sleeps through the night, but he wakes up so early, he hates that we keep him in bed till at least 6AM, he is ready to be up by 4AM.
  • He loves playing catch, soccer, or even just running with a ball. He can't get enough!




Sunday, November 6, 2011

Snow Days

Winter is here in Klamath Falls. Boy we sure had a short Fall.

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011, Our first snow day:

The snow didn't last long, and it only stuck to the grass really. We had Elyas look out at the snow, and he turned to us with a big delighted smile.

Saturday, November 5th, 2011, The first day the snow stuck and stayed!
 



The above pictures were taken in the early morning. By the evening, the snow had really accumulated (Shown Below).  The snow would have been deeper, but our neighbor shoveled the walk earlier in the day.





Sunday, November 6th, 2011, Still snowing!



I looked out the window and what did I see? A big buck resting under our snow covered apple tree. 






The trees were so pretty with the snow covering their beautiful fall colored leaves.






It's 10 minutes to 8AM on Sunday morning and the snow is still falling. Break out the Hot Cocoa!