Sylvester Easter 2014

Sylvester Easter was chaos and fun, as usual. We had such a great time talking and eating...and eating and talking. Aunt Tina made spaghetti and meatballs and everyone else brought a dish to coordinate. The food was delicious and we were stuffed by the end of the day.

Sylvester Grandkids and great-grandkids minus a few who are overseas.

Marley and Tinsley wanted no part of taking pictures. But, I kept laughing at what was going through Casen and Eli's minds watching the girls cry.

I tried to get a picture of my brother and nephew. They look so alike and were standing in the same pose with matching sunglasses.

Once the egg hunt began Chris took Eli around to get some loot.

I got to help our little guy out. I bought him the bunny onesie from Zulily and got his name put on it.

Just two cool guys in their sunglasses

The Lytle family. Marley was done with pictures at this point

Brianna and Marley acting like bunnies

Sweet mother and daughter picture

Our sunglassed family picture

We had so much fun at Sylvester Easter and were wiped out for the evening. It's always a blast getting together with our growing family. I love that our babies get to play with each other and grow up together. We are very blessed.

Easter Egg Dyeing 2014

On Good Friday, my sister had the family over to dye eggs for Easter. It was great to see my close family before all of the chaos of the bigger family get togethers over the weekend. The babies had fun playing together.

We were trying to get their attention for a picture and these are the expressions we got. Adorable!

On to the egg dyeing...Eli was not a fan of the process.

He wanted out of that seat. It was also his night-night time, so he really wanted his mom to hold him.

But he did like the texture of the egg in his mouth!

Om nom nom

Poppy fed him his bottle while we cleaned up the kitchen

Egg dyeing was fun, but I think next year will be a bit more interesting with the babies being toddlers!

Eli is Five Months Old

Our little Eli is five months old! 

This month has been such a fun one. Eli is growing and shows his funny and energetic personality every day. He doesn't meet a stranger by smiling at everyone he meets. He's a growing boy and slowly making his way out of 0-3 month clothes as his belly sticking out. He is also in size 2 diapers.

He's too big for the mesh in his bath tub that we put in the sink. He is now in the big bath tub with his smaller tub in it without the mesh. He loves to splash and play with his toys.

I caught him snuggled up to me one evening. He looks so peaceful and I could have stayed in that moment forever.

On one outing we put a hat on him and he looked older than I wanted him to look. Stop growing up so fast!!

My favorite sound in the world: Eli laughing

He's laughing at the dogs running around the house.

We had an ice day during March(?!?). We took him out to enjoy the little bit of ice. He didn't like the doggies licking him.

One morning while he was seriously lounging. I love that double chin.

Eli also had his first passport photo taken for when we go to the UK in the summer.

Eli enjoys his rice cereal. He is a good eater, as we expected he would be.

Chris needed to get some housework done and strapped on Eli to get it done. We didn't keep him in this position long, for anyone worried about Eli's bone development. 

I love this baby butt. It is so cute!

Here is Eli's progression from one month to five months. Our little boy is growing!

And his five month picture

You can see that he is sitting up on his own. He really didn't do this until after the five month mark, but I wanted to capture him showing everyone what a big boy he is.

Our Oasis

I said in my last post that I would show you what Chris was up to while Eli and I were away.

Well, here it is...

Chris had some fun doing some DIY and creating our backyard into more of an oasis for us.

He used his Boy Scout skills of knot making and hung this flower pot and tire swing.

He also hung a few baskets from the trees over the deck

He's using these flower pots for another project, but found good use of this old bathtub from our house. St. Francis found a comfortable spot, too.

This tree died a year ago, but we kept the trunk. Chris laced it with chicken wire and started a vine at the bottom that will go up the trunk.

 

 He boxed in the tree and planted some flowers around it. I can't wait to see what this will look like when it grows.

Smorgasboard #12

This past Saturday, I had a girls day with some of my friends from high school. We decided to go to Painting with a Twist and paint together. This is a very laid back atmosphere and we gabbed, laughed, and drank some wine. It was so nice to get together and see what everyone is up to.

Here is my painting after the first application of paint.

Kim and Lori working hard on their masterpieces

Mary and Ruth taking a break from their painting

Lauren, Lori, and Kim on a break

My painting at the halfway point

And my masterpiece!! I added the letters in the tree and the flowers around the tree.

All of us with our paintings

We went out to eat at El Fenix and Kacie met us for dinner. We proceeded with more conversations and laughter. It was such a nice treat to get out of the house and enjoy some time away from normal life.

But while I was having some fun with my girls, Eli was having just as much fun with girls, too.

My cousin, Melisa, kept Eli with her two girls. You can see how excited they were to play with each other.

Eli is a little social butterfly and loves to smile at everyone. Melisa said the girls loved having him around and wanted to keep him! I heard there was only one minor boo-boo and Eli took it like a champ. I hope for more time for him with his cousins in the future. 

In my next post, I will show you what Chris was up to while we were away...

Spring Break 2014

We had so much fun over Spring Break, but we also had a lot to do. Chris' mom and stepdad came in from the UK to visit the same week to meet Eli for the first time. This little charmer was full of smiles and hugs for his grandparents. 

It was Chris' mom's birthday while she was visiting and we threw her a cookout at our house. My family came over, as well as my aunt and uncle, whom they were staying with during their visit. Chris cooked burgers and hot dogs and we lounged on the deck enjoying the sunshine. 

We took Eli to get his passport taken care of in Waxahachie for our trip to the UK in July. While we were doing that, Chris's mom and stepdad enjoyed the sites of Waxahachie and we met up for lunch at the Dove's Nest. I had never been there before, but heard great things. It was a tasty cafe and so many neat trinkets in their gift shop to remember for friend's future birthdays.

Eli enjoyed playing with his Nan and proceeded to gnaw on her hand because of some teeth slowly coming in.

Eli enjoyed many lazy mornings with Mr. Bates during our break 

On their final day here, I got this picture of Eli enjoying his last few minutes with his Nan before she left. The next time he will see her, he will be almost 8 months old.

Spring Break was a break from work, but a much different break than last year with no Eli. I may not have had as much "me" time, but I cherished every moment with our little guy and family that came to visit.

Smorgasbord #11

Just some random happenings at Gilburtshire...

My hair dryer died a horrible death on Sunday. It was five years old and on its way out. I had been eyeing a BaByliss hair dryer for a few years and got a good deal on Amazon and free shipping thanks to Amazon Prime. (Amazon Prime is my favorite subscription right now.)

During Spring Break, I had had it with our garage door. It would slam so hard and sometimes got stuck. One morning it slammed so hard that I couldn't get it open and had to use the side door to go in and get Eli. The lock didn't work and there was a gap at the top of the door that brought in a draft. It needed to go!!!

We went to Lowe's last Thursday and picked up this white door that is fantastic. It doesn't slam, it has a switch at the bottom to hold the door open with your foot, it has an easy slide down screen, and it has a deadbolt. I love it!

I put Eli down for a nap and the doggies wanted to join him. I love that they all get along and that it shows Doris' nurturing side.

Brianna was out of town and we Facetimed with her. Eli and Marley were so funny and it looks like they took a selfie. 

Eli fell asleep on the couch and Mr. Bates jumped up to snuggle, too. Mr. Bates can be very gentle when he wants to.

Just a few things going on around here!