"Kubby and Sophie play little bit?".....Kubby

Potty training has moved to the "big boy underwear" level. Still having some accidents, but he is doing well. He smuggles a toy in now and again.... After all,we are in there all day!

Well, this one is just cute. Sophie is doing well. She is going for the world record in colds caught in a single winter... She is still all over the place. She wants to be where Kubby is all the time.

Kaleb gets into the crib with sophie every day and it is becoming more of a contact sport. He likes to "hug" her. This consists of pulling her down usually, but she doesn't seem to mind most of the time.

I have no idea. Kaleb is developing more of an imagination. This is what i happened upon a couple of days ago after cleaning the breakfast dishes. They play together all day long. It is so cute... Kaleb says, "Sophie come here sophie"....or "Sophie where are you?"...." What doing Sophie?".... When it gets quiet i know to check on them quick!

Clifton's dad got married last week and in the grand tradition of who i am, my battery died after two shots. This is the best one i could get of the two of them. Kaleb was the ring bearer and shortly after entering, took his place by me and Sophie. He did well during the ceremony. He only made a break for it twice....

CIRCUS!

Dad took us to the Circus today. We had a great time. Although it go a little crazy towards the end. Dad would walk around the fussy kids, Michelle was feeding Luke, Stephanie was getting green beans every where, and I was getting sweet potatoes all over Eli. I would suggest 2 to 1 ratio. 2 big people to 1 kid. Enjoy the pictures...

Sophie grabbing on to Eli.

Daddy's little princess :)

Pop's with the boys.

Elephants!

At the beginning of the show.

Break time... they were every where!

Just hanging out in the back.

Luke and Eli. They usually hang out in Children's Ministry as well. Too cute!

Birthday, Park, and Snow Pictures

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. David, Judy, and Michael sent me flowers. I've never gotten flowers sent to my house before. It was very nice. Thanks again!

I thought this was a sweet picture. Kaleb watched Abigail slide down every time. Abigail is grabbing for his hand. AHHH :)

Eli swinging for the first time.

Kaleb swinging in the big blue swing.

Abigail, Michelle, and Kaleb about to come down the slide.

Go Kaleb, go!

Woohoo! Yee Haw!

Cute little Sophie and Stephanie.

Me and the boy.

Now this picture needs the Yee Haw.

Luke feel asleep, so Michelle covered him up.

Seriously Mom, get away with that camera!

SNOW!

Well, last weekend we had a little snow out here in Anderson County. This is Saturday morning for the first round. This all melted by the middle of the day. I left my camera at David and Judy's or I would have some pictures of Saturday nights snow. When it was all said and done we got about 2-2 1/2 inches. We couldn't get out Sunday morning for church. And Matt and I did make two big batches of snow cream! YUM!

Here is Matt salting the driveway. It helps, but we can't get out of our road when it snows.

Matt and Eli. Eli loves the snow and cold weather!

Eli loves to follow you around and just pull up on you and stand there till you pick his up. He's also getting where he pulls at Matt when he leaves to go places. Sweet and hard for Matt.

Sweet Eli face.

10 Months OLD!

Well, my baby is 10 months old today. I can't believe it. It goes by so fast! Happy birthday buddy!

Here's another one of Eli funny faces!

What is new with Kaleb and Sophie

As many of you know, i am a recovering computer illiterate. We went on vacation in November and I just located pictures from that trip that i had lost! This is a classic Kaleb face. He always talks about the ocean, so i would like to put this one in his room.

Sophie has a new trick, pulling up. This has to be one of my favorite things they learn to do, bc i love to come into her room and find her standing! Kaleb thinks it it pretty funny, too. Don't worry he has gotten a hair cut since this picture was taken.

Sophie has finally started to eat solids very well. She, like Kaleb, is a messy eater. I know why they sell those mats for under their chairs now. She especially likes to spit a nice big bite out all over me. Grabbing the bowl and spoon is also one of her specialties.

As many of you know, Sophie has a dairy ' sensitivity' and does not tolerate any dairy of any kind. At the advice of physicians, i began to reintroduce dairy into my diet, this did not go well and Sophie began screaming again and they even wanted to put her on medication. On top of that my milk supply has been diminishing and she had lost some weight at her last check up. Weeks of wondering what i had eaten, getting conflicting medical advice, and supplementing her diet, had left me pretty exhausted, so at Clifton's request, I weaned her to a bottle this week. I am grateful for Clifton's leadership, because it has been very helpful. She is happier and i do not have to wonder if I have eaten anything that is bothering her. God has been very kind to help us to know what to do and has been faithful to answer my prayers! I had to nurse her (after eating chocolate because i thought it was safe) 3 hours later, as predicted she began her screaming. I simply asked that God would heal her and within 5 minutes she stopped crying ( Not the normal course, usually she would have screamed off and on for at least a day). It is such a comfort for me to know that God cares about these details!

This is her latest maneuver. I found her this way after a nap yesterday. If you look closely you can see all of the residual snot from the recent Sluss family sickness. Kaleb is still snotty as well. It is amazing the amount of "boogies" ( as Kaleb calls them) that they can produce. God has been very kind also, in that i am not sick! I usually succumb to most every illness that comes along, but not this one!

Bundled up...

Well, I couldn't resist... This was Kaleb's and Steph passed it down (don't worry Michelle, I will give it to you , so you can get some wear out of it for Luke). We went to get the mail today and I put this on him. Also notice the red cheeks. He's gotten everything I didn't want him to get from me. The white white white skin, pug nose, and now the red cheeks.

New foods and new kitchen color

We had a busy busy week this week. We had our whole house repainted. I got this guy's name from Jenny Sanders and he was about $1000 cheaper than the other two guys, so we picked him. I had to get the whole house ready for painting and when he showed up on Tuesday he had about 10 guys with him and they painted our whole house in one day. They had to come back on Wednesday and finish trim and touch-ups, but they did most of it on Tuesday. I was amazed at how fast they painted. I would recommend them to everyone. The only thing was that they left the floors super dirty and I have to rewash everything I own that was out. But they had to sand some spots, so I guess that is why it was so dirty. Tuesday night Eli and I went to spend the night with Dad, cause we didn't want little Eli to smell the paint flumes. Here is the before and after pictures of the kitchen. The red is what we had before and the green is what we have now. Also, notice the pretty roses I got for Valentine's Day. Matt got me white, cause he thought they would look good in our new kitchen and they DO! How thoughtful!

Eli's been trying new foods all the time now. He's finally taking a liking to "real food." He can't really pick up the banana's in the first picture. That will keep him busy for a while! He loves ham and yesterday he tried turkey and ate it right up. Michelle also had some pears in a fruit cup and he loved them, so I went out and bought him some and then got him some peaches. Here are some cute eating pictures. Enjoy!

Cherry Valentine Shortcakes

I found this here... It looks yummy.

2 Pillsbury® Oven Baked frozen buttermilk biscuits (from 25-oz bag)
2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon butter or margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup cherry pie filling (from 21-oz can)

1 . Heat oven to 375°F. Bake biscuits as directed on bag.
2 . Meanwhile, in small bowl, sprinkle brown sugar over sour cream; let stand 2 minutes. Beat in whipping cream on high speed until slightly thickened. Refrigerate until serving time.
3 . Brush hot biscuits with melted butter; sprinkle with sugar. Cool 5 minutes. Split biscuits; fill and top with pie filling and sour cream mixture.

HELP! Maybe Trillia can help me...

OK... Matt loves Sweet Potato French Fries! Every time I make them, they stick to the bottom of the pan. I spray the pan, but I don't know what to do. Also, I would like them a little more crispy. They are kind soft. Maybe that's the way they are, but I need some help if anybody has any thoughts.

Trillia... I know your healthy and love to cook, so I thought you might know what I can do :)

Well, Eli is definitely growing up too fast! He can free stand for a long time and he walks around holding on to stuff. He also has finally started eating big people food. Yesterday I gave him some ham and he just kept on eating it and he also likes bananas now. He loves baby food bananas, but not until recently did he like whole bananas. Oh, I also gave him some eggs. He did OK with them. He's getting into everything. Wow! I'm so tired from chasing him around the house. Now, if I have to do something, I just have to stick him in his chair and give him some cheerios (HE LOVES CHEERIOS!). One of his favorite things to do is take a bath. He's so much fun.

He loves it when Daddy comes home! He can hear the garage door and goes to the top of the stairs and just jumps up and down and screams when Matt comes home. Super cute!

Here he is just about to walk. Stephanie, do you remember that outfit? I think Kaleb just stop wearing it last spring. I remember Kaleb walking around in it.

He's a big helper. He loves to help me with laundry! I.E... pull everything out and unfold everything!

Sanders Update

Yes...we're still alive at the Sanders' home! We have been staying inside with all of this cold weather. I feel like I have been wiping noses since Christmas! Abigail and Luke are really starting to play together. Luke loves his big sister. Today they played with a ball in the floor for a long time while I was cooking dinner...it was too cute! Abigail has a new "big girl" bed. We just recently moved her into a twin bed from her toddler bed. She had a rough time at first but she is doing much better. Abigail and I have been working on her phonics. Thanks to her aunt Shanon (who thanked Suzanne) we discovered www.starfall.com. She loves to get on there and play. She has a phonics game that she got for Christmas that we love to play as well (only if Luke's asleep!). Luke has officially said goodbye to baby food. His favorite food seems to be spaghetti. Last night he ate chicken tenders and bread from Outback (thanks to Grandma!). He is standing alone and is cruising from toy to toy. He just yells (more like grunts) when he wants something. He cannot stand to be in his highchair (you guessed it...he just yells!) so Jan suggested that I switch him to a booster chair. I switched him today but it doesn't seem to be any better. Luke also said goodbye to his infant carrier today...he has now moved up to a big boy carseat (he should have been out of it a long time ago!). Here are a few pictures...