our Friday playdate

Yesterday we drove up to Oak Harbor (about a hour away) to visit a lady and her 2 children that we met in a internet mommy chat room. When I first met Tracey she lived in Florida but moved here with her husband who is in the Navy. Fun part is that Tracey is originally from Minnesota, and its so cute cause she still has her accent! Makes me a little home sick. Her son Conner is one month younger than Eli and her new son Evan is 1 week younger than Kai so it was really neat to have someone I can completely relate to in the 2 under 2 baby department. Her are some pictures of our visit.

Music class

To get out and meet others kids and mommies we joined a fun music and dance class every Thursday morning. Here are just a few pictures from today.

This is Brian the music teacher. He is really awesome with the kids and even the most wild (ahem: Eli) stop and listen to him.




Carter

Issabella

Pee Pee in the Potty!

we are not actvly trying to potty train right now, after all Eli is'nt even 2 yet, but last night he did it! He has been very curious about the happening in the bathroom so when we go we usually take him with us and set him on his potty chair. nothing ever happens, Eli just likes his singing toilet but last night I dont know who was surprized more Eli or Brian and I! I dont expect miricles and I am sure this was just a fluke but we will keep trying and in the meantme Eli got to put his first reward sticker on his potty chart!

Cupcakes

Eli's best buddy Vinny turned 2 on the 14th and for his birthday I got busy and made some cupcakes for the party. Melissa (Vinny's mommy) wanted a Cookie Monster/Elmo party so here are the cupcakes I made.





I also made chocolate chip cookies (Cookie Monsters favorite treat after all!) and wrapped them all up for favors.

Where has time gone?

Kai is already 3 months old? What? When did that happen?

The best part of going to Costco

at least for Eli is the berry smoothies! Yummy!

Day out with Jayda

Jayda was out of school today and she and Grandma Stephanie joined us on our tuesday visit to the museum.

What a little Monkey!

Eli just loves the trains


Running the sound board in the theatre

wonder what that big blue blob is?

Tada!



Look Twins!

You are my sunshine

It has benn raining so much here. If you havent seen the news (it went national) we have had 2 weeks of snow and ice and then a week of rain. It has caused flooding all over the place and it has been just plain nasty. I am so longing for the sunny days of summer.

So.

Today Eli and I made a sunshine to hopefully bring on the sun. So far its still raining but tonights weather report says sun is on the way!

Kai - like father like son

A moment of peace

Eli was in a real mellow mood and in that moment I noticed how grown up he can look. Is this a glimpse of the man to come?

Rock-a-Bye Bear

A Chandler family photo

We went to meet Griffin on Sunday for the first time. He is such a handsome little man. While we were there we got to video confrence with Grandpa Jerry in Texas and he was able to seee all of us in one spot at the same time. So since we had gathered together a photo needed to be taken.

so here we are
Me, Brian, Eli (21.5 months), Kai (2.5 months)Curtis, Dyan, Miles (2.5 years)and Griffen (3 weeks)

Can you believe the family went from 0-4 grandchildren in 2.5 years?

Kai learning bad habits at a young age.

Kai was checking out the football games on Saturday while lounging in bed.

Eli and the dirt bike!

Okay so maybe its just wishful thinking on his (okay and Brians) part but Eli looked great on his first 2 wheeler!

Maybe in a few more years.

Eli's first job and a bittersweet breakfast

We went to our usual Saturday breakfast haunt yesterday and when we were checking out Eli got to run the cash register to bill daddy. He had a blast helping Bree total our bill.





Now the bittersweet part. We have had the same waitress there for 4 years. We eat there every Saturday morning like clockwork. She was has seen us "grow" as a family. She has seen us get engaged, married, pregnant twice and have two little boys. Lisa knows our orders and always greets us with a smile and a cup of coffee for us and a great big hug for Eli. She has even taken him to "help" her when he was gettig fussy so that Brian and I can finsih eating in peace. Well yesterday she wasnt there!we were given the unfortunate news that she is no longer employed there. She was close to retirerment age but I am sure she would have told us that she was leaving so something must have happened outside her control. I plan to visit her sometime this week (yes we are close enough that we know where she lives) and find out the real scoop. In the meantime we will still eat there, the food is great afterall, but it just wont be the same!

I resolve to..........

Well another year has come and gone and now we are here in 2009. Last year was a big year in the Chandler household. Eli turned one (my how fast they grow.) We welcomed Kai to our family, and a new nephew too. I became a stay at home mom and welcome my new role and its challenges. We remodeled our bathroom, and bought new furniture.

People all over the world were making new years resolutions yesterday. Lose weight, eat better, work harder, make more money etc. It made me start to think about what resolutions I should be making for the up coming year.

I would like to loose 30lbs of course, but I make that one every year and every year I fail so I am not setting my self up again. I will however strive to live a more healthy lifestyle and eat better.

I would like to travel somewhere out of state this year. Maybe go visit some family with the boys or even just me and Brian go somewhere to get away for awhile.

I am going to learn how to ride a motorcycle. We have our beautiful Goldwing in the garage and I am tired of always having to be in back.

I am going to be a better friend to the people I hold dear to me.

I am goign to be a better wife to the man I love.

I am going to be the best mom I can be to my boys so that when they are older they can look back and know that they were loved.

I am just going to be me. I like who I am and I want to make sure that I stay that way.