Sometimes too much of a Good Thing...

...is just about right. We've been experiencing this in several areas of life lately. In particular, I have been realizing that we just need to get back to the basics. These are such fun years in life and I don't want to lament how I spent my time during them when I'm older. We need lots of Jesus (Bible studies, church, worship music, prayer, ...), lots of hugs and kisses, lots of family time and play time, ... Lots of other things, too, but those are the ones I've been slacking on lately. The boys have been enjoying lots of good things lately, too.

First off, they've been enjoying lots of time in their new double stroller! It's amazing and works wonderfully for strolling and jogging. Yesterday, it even magically put them both to sleep (much needed sleep, I might add)... Come to think of it, I think that all Will does is sleep in the stroller. :)


On a related note, Elliot has been enjoying swinging in our tree swing lately, too. One afternoon (when he thought he had successfully eluded a nap), he fell asleep from "too much of a good thing." :)
During his waking hours, Elliot has been enjoying lots of "bubbies." He likes them in every form...bubbles in the bathtub, soap suds from the kitchen sink, blowing bubbles in the yard, ... you name it. He even tried to get me to steal the bubble machine from the church nursery when I picked him up the other day...silly boy...here he is popping bubbles in the back yard...

And, from sweet Will, we've been enjoying lots of smiles lately. He loves to be talked to, have his face and head rubbed, and usually rewards you with one of these sweet things in return...

Did I mention the sweet smiles...

...ahh...praying that you're enjoying too much of a good thing in your life today, too!

I love...

...the look on their faces when they sleep...

Summer Days...

After our trip home to visit friends and family and our Bible study cookout (which I highlighted in the last two posts), we've settling into a more relaxing summer schedule. This past week has been pretty warm, so Elliot has been playing in the lawn sprinkler a lot. He likes to fill up his sand buckets with water and dump them on my plants (which are much obliged I'm sure since it's so hot and dry here). Recently he's also discovered how to turn the hose faucet to get more water to come out (and thus raise the pressure in the sprinkler zooming water over the fence into the neighbor's yard...sorry Jim and Ann!).

We also got a new sprayer head for our hose (since I broke the handle off of the last one). Of course, Elliot wanted to test it out right away (I only got a little wet in the process). :)

Here's Elliot in his new surfer shirt walking on the rocks lining my herb garden. We thought the surfer shirt would be a good purchase since it dries quickly and he kept drenching all of his other clothes playing in the sprinkler. I think he likes it too, when it arrived in the mail along with a few other clothes, it's the one he wanted to put on right away.

He's also been enjoying our tree swing lately. My arms are getting a workout because he likes to "wing, Mama, wing" a lot. Will obliges him most of the time by napping or laying quietly by the tree.

Being outside so much has also meant that we've been eating a lot of homemade popsicles lately! I've really enjoyed trying out some healthy recipes...so far we've had strawberry-orange mint, blueberry yogurt, mango-orange, and chocolate pudding...okay, so maybe the chocolate pudding weren't all that healthy, but they certainly were tasty. :) After all that, at the end of the day, I sometimes look like this...

Did I say that summer has been relaxing? Okay, so maybe not so relaxing, but certainly a lot of fun! Jeff wins the "Best Husband Ever Award" because he went into work late this morning for the sole purpose of letting me sleep in after a rough day yesterday. It's a good thing too because before 10 a.m. we found a cockroach in the bathroom, both kids were screaming simultaneously as they were getting out of their baths, Elliot pee'd on the floor, and they were both ready for naps. The extra sleep (and God's grace) propelled me through the drama until I got them to sleep then I played "Slow Ride" on Guitar Hero a few times to recover. :) Then Elliot woke up and asked to poop on the potty (which he did), God is good, isn't He?!?

Elliot Self Bathing

We had a Bible Study cookout Thursday at our house (despite gale force winds...no exaggeration...we ate inside for the sake of our hair...welcome to Texas). :) Anyway, in preparation for the cookout, I had some extensive cleaning to do in my kitchen (as a result of some extensive cooking...strawberry pie, chocolate cream pie, homemade mint chip ice cream, and homemade vanilla frozen yogurt...yummy). Back on track, when I have extensive cleaning to do, I give Elliot a little more freedom to explore than I usually do so that I can accomplish the tasks I need to in a reasonable amount of time. Well, Wednesday was no exception, while I was cleaning the kitchen, he decided to bathe himself in the kitchen sink. Here's his mischievous grin celebrating my acceptance of his exploration or just the pride of it all together (zoom in on the leg...those are genuine blue dish soap "bubbies"...aka "bubbles" or "lather").

Here he is having his foot soak and deciding which kitchen brush will best exfoliate the dead skin cells off of his feet (his daddy would not be overly impressed with the male foot primping but would be proud that he decided to get the toddler stink off of his feet). :)

Rinsing, blessed, rinsing. Elliot loves to rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse. Water is fun.

Elliot's independence is bitter-sweet. It saves time sometimes and takes more time others. The self bathing episode fell into the latter category. I just couldn't handle the smell of a dish soap laden toddler (especially on his head...which smells like J&J baby soap for about an hour after a real bath and then quickly returns to the "wet puppy" toddler boy smell thereafter...I've heard this is not so with baby girls...sigh), so, anyway, we had to give him a "real" bath after his self bath to return things to a predictable scent at least.

Anyway, the post wouldn't be complete without a picture of sweet baby Will doing what he does best...

Oh, and one day left to vote...don't be afraid to vote for Jeff...he would like to make the point that his birdhouse is more "artistic" because he painted birds on it...your call...let us know what you think...

We need your vote!

If you read the last post, you know that Elliot and his Grandpa Lewis created a few pieces of art (a birdhouse and a butterfly house to be specific) in the workshop while we were in Ohio. After Elliot built the birdhouse, Jeff mentioned that he made a birdhouse for 4-H when he was in school. Though I had never seen his birdhouse, I assured him that the one I made when I was a kid AND Elliot's were better; he disagreed quite decidedly. So, we need your vote. We want to know which birdhouse you like better (and since I think Elliot's is better than mine...you'll just be voting on Elliot's and Jeff's...let us know what you think!).

Elliot's birdhouse:

Jeff's birdhouse:

Fun Times with Friends and Family

We've spent the past few weeks visiting friends and family in Ohio...AND celebrating Elliot's second birthday. We had SO much fun...here are a few pictures highlighting our trip.

Elliot had a few new experiences while we were in Ohio. He took a bath in Grandma and Grandpa Lewis' whirlpool tub, which makes HUGE "bubbies" (bubbles) when you turn the jets on!

He also got to ride an ATV for the first time (I'm not sure who's having more fun here, Elliot or his daddy). VROOM, VROOM, boys!

Elliot also visited a farm for the first time. In this picture, he's pointing to a HUGE cow for Uncle Super Heath.

Last, but certainly not least, Elliot got to use REAL power tools in Grandpa's workshop. They even made a few REAL projects for Grandma's flower garden...a birdhouse and a butterfly house.

We took Will, too; in this picture, he's enamoring Great Grandma Raymond.

Meanwhile, Elliot got tickles from Papaw Raymond.

And, of course, there were TWO birthday parties for our little TWO year old (one with my family and one with Jeff's). Here are the classics...Elliot eating his cake whole and tearing into his presents very meticulously.


That's all for now...stay tuned for the next post describing on our family's most recent great debate...

Our Morning...

05:45 a.m.
We were all sleeping peacefully like this...


...when Elliot awoke (1 hour earlier than usual) and visited us in our bed.

06:00 a.m.
Elliot threw up in our bed.

06:00-07:30 a.m.
We ate breakfast, bathed, and dressed.

07:30 a.m.
We canceled the babysitter (who also has a toddler boy since we didn't want Elliot to infect him, too) and started driving to our dentist appointments.

08:00 a.m.
Heather went to the dentist while Jeff drove around with the children in the car, praying that they would not scream the entire time.

08:40 a.m.
We swapped; Jeff went to the dentist while Heather sat in car nursing Will and letting Elliot pretend to drive like this...


09:20 a.m.
We swapped again. Heather went into dentist to have two chipped teeth repaired while Jeff sat in car holding will and letting Elliot pretend to drive some more (after all he is 2 going on 16).

10:00 a.m.
The dentist adventure is over (breathe a sigh of relief for us...no children were emotionally battered in the process and our teeth are clean and we didn't have to reschedule for 6 months from now because of a sick child). BUT, before we leave the parking lot Will has his first "mudslide" (if you're not familiar with that terminology...that's when your newborn shoots a yellow, seedy poop rocket from his bottom up to his neck, drenching his clothes and anything touching them...like Jeff's pants...with baby poop).

10:02 a.m.
Heather cleaned up the poop rocket mess and Will got back in his car seat (naked, of course, because since this is his first mudslide, we're not accustomed to carrying an extra set of clothes yet...sigh is it over yet...I hope so, too).

10:15 a.m.
At home and tired...I think we may all be taking naps this afternoon...