A Party of a Weekend!

We had a very busy weekend full of party fun!! It started out Saturday with a PJ Birthday Party Brunch for Gavin!! Here's the birthday boy enjoying a sucker from his birthday cake! Beckett spent the first half of the birthday party crawling in Jen's lap. We're pretty sure he thought she was me because when he would see me he would look at us like we tricked him. It was super cute!

The highlight of the party was the fish pinata that wouldn't break!! All the kids took a turn hitting it with a stick and they were having a blast!

But after several attempts from some pretty heavy hitters, Gavin's dad, Ian took a swing at it and out came the candy and the kids wasted no time diving right in!

Of course there was cake which is always a hit with Kingston!!

All the party fun got the best of Bex and he had to have a nap in the middle of the party!!

When daddy got home from work I headed to my friend Rosanna's sleepover birthday party!!

Here's the birthday girl with her smokey eye birthday look!

We had such a great time playing catch phrase, doing each others make-up, gossiping and of course playing dance off on the wii!!

Rosanna wasn't the only one who got smokey eyes!! We all did!! Watch out Snooky!

Since it was Superbowl weekend Alfred spent most of his time at Publix! He decided to let his associates have off during the game so he worked. The boys and I were invited to a few parties but by the time Sunday rolled around we were all exhausted so we watched the Superbowl cuddled up on the couch which was perfect!

Of course Kingston had to get up to belt out the Star Spangled Banner!

And was speechless during the Half Time Show!!

All of that partying and staying up late finally took a toll on Kingston, Monday he started running a temperature that got higher and higher and finally maxed out a little over 104. He once again didn't manage to escape the flu even with the flu shot.

We seem to finally be on the mend today. His fever is still between 99 to 101 but he's starting to act like he has a little more energy, his appetite is starting to return and we've been able to skip a dose of Tylenol or ibuprofen here and there!! Now let's hope the rest of the Eller's don't get it because we have another Birthday party this weekend and my sister's family is coming to visit. Here's to another great weekend and no more sickness!!

America's Next Top Chef

Alfred is working late tonight so I decided to let Kingston make our main course!

His Gigi got him this cookbook for his 1st birthday and he loves making things out of it.
On tonight's menu...Cheese toast made with both Swiss and sharp cheddar on sour dough bread and cooked in the toaster oven.

Every young chef must consult the cook book often!

And of course there is plenty of ingredient tasting!

And finally all the hard work pays off and dinner is served!

The Chef enjoying the fruits of his labor.

It is a great night in the Eller house!

Huntsville AL

Although we love the Holidays around here they are very hectic. Since Alfred works in retail it's nothing for him to put in 60+ hours per week during the months of November and December; and since his birthday is January 9th we decided yet again to take a little family get away for his birthday so we could spend some time together. We chose Huntsville AL so we wouldn't have to spend much time driving and because we had heard such great things about the US Space and Science museum there. And everyone was right, this place is awesome! It has a giant rocket in the middle of the museum which Kingston thought was awesome!! The inside of the building tells the history of space travel and how Huntsville AL contributed to that. It has a ton of memorabilia and fun things to look at and do. There is a scientist that does experiments and a kids play area! You can get into a space ship and feel what take off would feel like. There's even a rock wall! It was really neat. Outside there are helicopters and even amusement park rides that are open in the summer. I really recommend this place to anyone with kids or without.

Of course Beckett got a little bored and decided to take a nap while we were there! So I guess it isn't the most fun place for an 8 month old :)!

A lot of our time was spent in the hotel! We decided on the Embassy Suites which was super nice! They had a really cool water feature in the lobby that Kingston loved playing on and throwing money into!

We spent a lot of time swimming since we have fish for children!

And a ton of time in the hot tub, hanging out!

Of course when we finished working up an appetite from our busy day playing we ordered Ruth's Chris room service and ate in bed!

Being on the 9th floor had the advantage of aweome views which Kingston took advantage of every chance he got by standing in the window!

All good things must come to an end so after 2 nights away and before the big snow hit we headed home where we ended our trip with some porch time playing with sparklers!! That's how every great vacation should end!

White Christmas

I love all things Christmas!! I love the lights, the music, the decorations, the time off work but my absolute favorite thing is the time I get to spend with my family making memories! This was the first Christmas that Kingston actually understood there was something different going on. He talked about Santa and Jesus' birthday and he knew something was different about this time of year. He doesn't totally get it yet but he was a blast!! He and I got really into tracking where Santa was and I took this opportunity to show him videos of other places around the world. I actually stayed up after he had went to bed and tracked Santa myself, I am like a kid this time of year :)! Of course we had to bake cookies for Santa and leave him a thank you letter so he would know we really appreciate all the hard work he puts in!

After the boys went to bed Alfred and I sat back and enjoyed a nice fire while enjoying the view of our stockings...

oh who am I kidding Alfred and I were up until 2AM helping "Santa" get his toys put together!! I hope we've learned our lesson about waiting until the last minute and thinking it will be easy because it wasn't!!! Of course it was absolutely worth it to see the looks on the boys faces the next morning!! And as an added bonus we woke up to this....

that's right a White Christmas. Being born and raised in the WV-Southern Ohio area I have seen many of these but they never loose their excitement. For the boys however, and yes I mean all the boys including my GA raised husband this was their first White Christmas! It really did make everything better!!

Of course the boys enjoyed their toys and we spent the better part of the morning upstairs in our PJ's reading letters from Santa, playing with toy cars walking around the bonus room with Beckett and his new toy and just enjoying being together!!

Finally after a wonderful Christmas dinner cooked by Alfred we ventured out to Yogi Bear Camp Ground to see an amazing display of Christmas lights set to music! We had such a good time, even if the roads were a little treacherous on the way home!

It was a great Christmas!! And the end of it all the boys were worn out beyond belief!!

I hope your family had a wonderful Christmas too!

Beckett's Bio-8.5 months!

Well my sweet angel it's hard to believe you are 8 1/2 months old. Where has the time gone? You can roll everywhere you want to go! You get up on all fours like your going to crawl but you haven't done it yet!! Yesterday you finally got your first tooth. Your poor gums have been swollen for weeks so we have been patiently waiting and finally yesterday you got a tooth. and it was Festivus so what perfect timing!! We are about to celebrate your first Christmas and mommy and daddy are so super super excited!! I weighed you on our bathroom scale yesterday and you weigh 21 pounds! You currently eat between 24 and 32 ounces of formula and you eat solids 3 meals a day. You love waffles, your favorite baby food is anything with mangoes, and you would eat your weight in yogurt. You just this week started feeding yourself puffs and shredded cheese but it really frustrates you and you would rather have us do it for you most of the time! You practice drinking water from a sippy cup and you do pretty good. Anytime mommy, daddy or Kingston is eating you try to pull whatever it is out of our hands, it's super funny! You had surgery at 6 months old to repair a hernia and some other issues and you did great! You were a little confused when you woke up from surgery and you were screaming but as soon as you saw mammy and daddy and we got to hold you, you were fine again. You healed wonderfully and so far it looks like everything was successful, We won't know for sure until after your 1st birthday. We celebrated your 1/2 birthday with a 1/2 cake and you loved cake!! You had a great time celebrating with us!! You had your first earache 2 weeks ago and you got fifths disease which is basically a rash that looks like someone slapped you on your face and body that goes away in about 48 hours. Through it all you continued to sleep through the night and you weren't fussy at all. You really are a great baby. You say "Dada" and "buba" all the time. You dance every time music is on and you LOVE to flirt with the ladies!! You are an absolute joy to have around!! We love you so much and can not wait to see how you like your first Christmas!

Kingston Chronicles-2 1/2 years old!

On March 24th you turned 2 and 1/2 years old. You currently weigh 26.8 pounds on our bathroom scale! The opportunity came up for us to go to Gatlinburg so we decided to take you there for this big event! We had a wonderful family vacation and it was so awesome getting to spend 5 undivided days with you and your brother. You are such an awesome little guy. You are hysterical and you say so many things I know I'm going to want to remember forever. Some of them are very frustrating coming from a 2 year old but still hysterical-The best one is when we put you in time out and you say "Oh no what am I going to do" the entire time you're there. Or every time we get into the car and you ask, "Are we going to wreck.' Or when you say "You snap out of it" and try to snap your fingers. John David and Avery are your friends from school and you talk about them all the time. You call them "my John David and my Avery". You still talk about driving Noah's boat even though we haven't been out on the lake in weeks. You are very good about saying your prayers before bed and you are thankful for so many things, your friends, your feet and legs, your Jesus, your bubba, your mommy and daddy, your food and so many other random things. You are learning to go to the potty and you are doing pretty good. You go many many days in a row with out a pee accident and then sometimes we have a rough day but for the most part you're doing good. We are still working on the poopy though but you will get it. You hardly ever use a sippy anymore unless mommy makes you because we're going to be in the car. You aren't a very picky eater but the new food you are in love with is peas and you ask for them all the time. You love to run and you always ask mom and dad to race you and of course we do and of course you win :)! You love accessories, you won't leave the house without your sunglasses and sometimes you want a hat. You have a very strong opinion about which shoes you wear. You are very head strong and know exactly what you want. You are happy all the time. You wake up happy and you go to bed happy! You know your alphabet and your numbers to at least 10 in both Spanish and English. You can look at objects on a table and count them up to 5. You know more songs than I can even keep track of. You still love music of all kinds and we started you in a music class that you love!You love your stuffed animals and call them your babies. Sometimes you end up sleeping with 10 or more (good thing you have a queen sized bed). You are a great brother and Beckett thinks you are the coolest person in the world. I could seriously go on and on, it's so hard to fit everything I feel for you in a few paragraphs. I know all of this is going to pass me by so quickly and I want to remember every minute of it. You are one of a kind and I'm so glad I get to experience your growth sweet baby boy. You are amazing and awesome and all other words of affection rolled into one. Since you came into my life 2 and 1/2 years ago my life has gotten nothing but better! I love you and I thank you!

Franklin For the Cure

This Saturday I did the Franklin for the cure run in the West Haven neighborhood. We did this race last year because my friend Steve lives in West Haven and we knew it would be a great opportunity to see his fantastic neighborhood and hang out with him. Little did we know how much "a cure" would mean to him this year and how special this race would become to me! Earlier this year Steve was diagnosed with cancer, I would tell you which one specifically but the name is so long I can't pronounce it much less spell it, I do know it is extremely aggressive and Steve was put on a very brutal chemotherapy treatment for it. 6 rounds of chemo lasting 5 days a piece with roughly 3 weeks of rest in between. Steve is the first person I've ever know while they were actively going through chemo and although it has been very difficult for him at times he has remained positive and even calls his treatments "chemopolooza"! A friend of his sold shirts in support of Steve and his fight, Jodi and I thought this would be the perfect race to sport our shirts for our wonderful friend! And even though Steve finished his last round of chemo last Sunday and wasn't feeling the greatest he came out to cheer us on!

This was also Beckett's first official 5K stroller ride!! I was going to push them but Jodi decided she would walk and push the boys so I could run the race, the boys were great for her! Of course when you grow up in a jogging stroller I guess you get used to it!

Kingston is becoming quite the little athlete and he completed in the kid's 1/4 mile fun run! Here he is at the start line. He was doing stretches before the race and trying to get some of the other kids to stretch with him. One of the other parents said "You can tell his parents are runners" and I smiled because I've worked hard to earn that title!

And he's off!!

Rounding the turn!

Crossing the finish line and getting his medal!!

I sure was one proud mama especially when I asked him if he wanted to be picked up after he told me he was tired and he said "No I'm a runner." And he kept saying "Mama you can do it"

What a great day for a race! I left West Haven feeling full of hope and love and realizing once again how very lucky I am! It sure is great to be an Eller!

Beckett's Bio-4 Months Old

You are 4 months old today and it has been way too long since I've updated!! On one hand I can't believe it has flown by this quickly, on the other hand I can't believe it's only been 4 months. Daddy and I were talking today and it seems like you've always been here. You have had such an exciting 2 months since my last update. You started daycare full time at 12 weeks and you really like it. You kick your little feet every morning when I go to drop you off in your class room. They love having you there too. They fight over you and are amazed that you never ever cry. Which is another thing---you never cry! I thought your brother was a great baby but you are amazing. You are always in a good mood! You started sleeping through the night on your own a few weeks ago. You go to bed at 8 and get up around 6, we hear you stir sometimes at night but you always put yourself right back to sleep. You gave up your pacifier and switched to your thumb which made it so much easier on mommy! You went to Mimi and Pawpaw's in Ohio for your first overnight away from mommy and you stayed for 4 nights. It was hard on daddy and I but you had a blast and they had a blast having you. Your cousins couldn't get enough of your cute little self. You rolled over a few times on 08/09/10 at daycare, from back to front. Miss Rachel says you really wanted a toy but you've yet to roll over at home or in your crib. You still love your big brother and he loves you. You have been to Chuck E Cheese, Cracker Barrel, visiting friends-it doesn't matter where we take you, you just take it all in and have a good time. You are amazing my sweet little baby! You have your 4 month well visit next week and we will find out how much you weigh and how tall you are but since your wearing 3-6 months and about to outgrow those it's safe to say you're a pretty big dude. You are as laid back as they come!! You amaze me every single day! I don't know what I did to get lucky enough to have you but it makes me so so happy to be your mom! Happy 4 months on Earth Bex!!

Kingston Chronicles-2 Years 3 Months

Well sweet boy you are 2 Years and 3 months old and you are a funny funny little dude!! You have grown up so much in the last 3 months. Partly I'm sure because you're not the baby anymore but also because you are learning to do so many new things. The biggest change we've seen has been your vocabulary. You can say complete sentences and any word you want. For the first time you don't just repeat what we say you actually have thoughts and express those. And boy do you express those opinions, you talk from the time your feet hit the ground in the morning until your head hits the pillow at night! You say "I like that, or I not like that" about everything! You are really funny!

Mommy has had the pleasure of staying home with you for 12 weeks while on maternity leave and we have gotten so close. You are my best little friend. We do so much together. We hang out outside a lot, we do art projects, we dance in the living room with our Beckett's (mine being the real Beckett, yours being mommy's cabbage patch which Mimi gave to you and you pretend is your Beckett), we made up a dance routine because that's how we roll :) and you remember all 32 counts of it,we call it Oh My Goodness because there are some spots where mommy lifts you up and you say "Oh my Goodness", we cook dinner and you have actually gotten very good at stirring and scooping and staying away from the oven, we take care of Beckett, we do laundry which you love to help with, we go shopping and to the lake, we meet friends for lunch and play dates, we do workouts and you even use little cans of tomato paste as your weights, you love when people come to visit especially Jodi! We watch videos on YouTube, you love ACDC and can't stand Nirvana, you could listen to Cold Play as long as I let you watch Chris Martin play the piano, we watch the Swagger Wagon video more times than should probably be allowed and every time the commercial comes on TV you say it's my Swagger Wagon Family. I have loved being home with you and although I'm very sad to go back to work I know you have a good time hanging out with your daycare friends too and you talk about them all the time because you do still go there Tuesday and Thursdays.

You did your First Triathlon this month and you did so good. You can't reach the peddles on your tricycle but you wouldn't let mommy push you. You looked at me half way through and said "Mama this is tough" but you kept going and you got a trophy which you couldn't wait to take to the Music City Runners group and show Stephen, our coach. Mommy, Mimi, Beckett and Jodi all wore shirts that said "We support the King", and Susan came to watch you, we were all so proud of you!

We took you to your first Circus on Father's Day and you loved it! I'm pretty sure you would have ran away right then and joined if we would have let you. You didn't take your eyes off the performers. You road an elephant with Daddy and your friend Noah and his daddy and you boys loved it!

You are a little OCD. You hate to be dirty. You won't drink chocolate milk unless it's completely stirred up because you think it's dirty. You have to be buckled into your booster seat even though you don't really need to be. You are obsessed with people wearing shoes and shoes in general. You take a paper towel and wash your cars everyday because you think they're dirty. Things have to be where they belong or it stresses you out. You ask us to wash your hands a lot! People think you're Mr. Safety because all baby gates have to be shut at all times!

There is so much more I could write about you but this is already pretty long! I just don't want to forget a moment of your sweet life and you are such a busy little dude it's hard to find time to write it all down. So when I get a chance it's a lot to fit into one blog. You are special and an individual, everyone you meet loves you, strangers even tell mommy and daddy how silly and handsome you are. But we already know that! You truly are one of a kind and I'm so glad you're ours!!

Beckett's Bio-2months old

On June 12th you turned 2 months old and you are an awesome little dude. You smile all the time and you even laugh sometimes. You love to coo and your Bubba makes you the happiest. You love when he lays beside you and makes faces or plays where you can see him. You smile at everyone but he makes you smile the most and that makes mommy and daddy very very happy! We can take you anywhere and you will just lay there and look around at all your surroundings and you hardly ever cry. And if you do it's because you're hungry and as soon as we feed you, you are happy again. You have been sleeping in your own room for a few weeks now and you are doing very well. We put you in there wide awake and you put yourself to sleep. You still wake up 1 or 2 times a night to eat but mommy and daddy love those moments with you so we haven't pushed for them to be over. You usually take showers with mommy and daddy and you love when the water hits you. Mommy and daddy take you and Bubba in the double jogger on walks and runs almost everyday and you absolutely love it! You are so calm and happy just like your brother was. I have enjoyed everyday of the last 2 months and I am so glad I get to be your mom. Every time you smile it melts my heart. Every time you lay your little bitty head on my shoulder I am turned to mush. You are amazing and I can't wait to see who you become!

Today you went for your first well visit at the pediatrician and with that comes your first set of shots. When the nurse gave them to you, you turned bright red and let out the worse scream ever. It broke mommies heart that I had to see you like that but I know it's for your own good. You also got weighed and measured today:

Weight: 12lbs. 12oz. 70%
Height: 23.5 inches 66%
Head Circumference: 40.5cm. 58%

It appears to me you are going to be a big guy and will probably catch up with your brother rather quickly!

Happy 2 months on earth baby Beckett I can't wait to see what you do next!

Much needed Family time!

Alfred recently became the meat manager of the new Charlotte Pike Publix so he's been working 6 days a week and long hours getting his old store ready for him to leave and getting the new store ready for the Grand Opening. Although we are so thankful for the promotion it hasn't been the same without him around here. He finally got the weekend off and it was much needed. We had time to lay around being lazy. And he had time to help Kingston work on his art. And we both got to see the boys being silly brothers!
We went out to eat at Friday's with our running group. Here's a picture of Kingston with our trainer Stephen Taylor, and yes Kingston has a Jersey like his triathlon team.


Saturday we went to our friend JoJo's 2nd birthday party and had a great time. We were able to get the rare family photo.

And Kingston had a blast playing on the play ground.

And look what this guy has been doing lately...

That's right! He's been smiling and laughing and cooing! It's so so cute! I could watch these little baby smiles all day long!

We had a great weekend and we have a pretty busy week planned. Mimi will be here Thursday so she can see Kingston's first ever triathlon on Saturday. I'm sure there's a post coming about that and Beckett turns 2 months on the 12th. It's so hard to believe. Thanks for checking in on us! Have a great week!