Eli dressed up as Diego and Cori was a monkey, but her horrible mother didn’t get a single picture of her in her costume.
It was impossible to get a good pic of the two of them. They both just wanted to play with the hay, which we now know Cori is allergic to.
Eli was enjoying feeding the goats so much that he just had a seat and stayed for a while.
Eli’s first pony ride! He rode “Lucky” all by himself and loved it.
Cori had been getting up on all fours for a while, but Eli’s green barbershop balloon finally got her moving. She started clapping at about the same time too, so it was pretty much the cutest thing ever. She would crawl a few “crawls” and then stop, sit up, and clap for herself. Check it out.
He didn’t want to sit in the chair by himself, but he was very happy to sit in Papa’s lap. Sherman gave him a great cut and, since he was a good boy, he got a sucker, a green balloon, and a first haircut certificate.
They grow up so fast. Cori can sit up by herself, swing in the swing, and eat rice cereal now. She is getting close to crawling too. She gets around pretty well just rolling and wiggling. She also sleeps in the crib now because Eli is back in his big boy bed. So, we can put them to bed at the same time in the same room. It’s great! In other growing up news, Eli is potty trained! He wore his last diaper on Sept. 13th. That was a Monday morning and when I got him dressed I put underwear on him and he has pretty much been in them ever since, clean ones every day of course :) There have been just a few accidents, but not many and in the last few days he has even started telling us when he has to go. I am super proud of him.
This year, Eli had the full Henryetta Labor Day experience complete with parade, turtle and frog races, fish scramble, a carnival ride, and fireworks. His favorites at the parade were the Shriners and of course the candy. He also loved the tiny turtle he saw and driving the motorcycle at the carnival.
The whole fam was at Mom & Dads house, so we had lots of fun there too. There was lots of football watching, swinging, swimming, and of course eating. Derek and the guys did get in a lake trip too and he did a surface 360, woo hoo. Derek and the uncles also had fun throwing Eli around in the pool, literally.
Cori loves to swing on the swing and sing songs with Grandma and Papa.
Derek is officially an American now, but he is still very proud of his heritage (even if they have been stinking it up on the rugby field). Go Springboks!
Cori always looks so cute on Sundays with her dresses and bows, but I feel like hardly anyone gets to see her.
Cori is a super happy baby. She likes baths, loves to suck her thumb, and thinks Eli is hilarious.
Eli loves playing outside. He usually just helps us with yard work, but he likes his new sand box too. One night after his bath he wanted to wear his towel like Daddy. We are working on potty training. Some days are better then others, but I can definitely see progress. Yesterday he used the potty 5 times.
July 22-24 we went to Grand lake with the Southward’s & Christiansen’s. Altogether, we had 8 kids under 5, so it was pretty crazy, but we had lots of fun. A few of my favorite memories are: 3 Moms on a tube, wake surfing, Cranium, Eli and Sam in girls shoes the whole time, and nursing with a view.
The first night the kids stayed up way too late.
Lots of tubing!
The boat was pretty full.
yummy watermelon!
We never finished bag game, but it looked like Heather & I were going to battle to the death.
We put on a ward youth conference July 9-10. The theme was M.U.D. (M ormons U niting to D o good). We did two service projects on Friday along with games and a fireside. The girls all stayed at our house, which was fun, and then Saturday we played in the Mud at the Toland’s and had a testimony meeting. Everything went well and I really enjoyed getting to know the girls better.
We also had a youth ski activity at the Toland’s the following week. Eli played in the sand, “skied,” and drove a 4-wheeler. He had a blast and didn’t want to leave. Bro. Toland taught me to slalom ski, so that was fun. Cori slept in the shade under a tree most of the time. I think the youth had fun too : )
We went to the library for summer reading program. There was a guy making balloon creatures and Eli requested a frog hat . It was pretty cute and Eli thought he was big stuff.
