My New Ottoman

Here it is!! My new ottoman....

This is very exciting, probably not for you, but for me! I REALLY want a red rug now to go under my ottoman. Here are a few pics I snapped after it was delivered.

Now I just need some new pillows, a new end table and a red rug!! Oh and money to pay for it! Ha!

Anyway, in other news...We have finally booked our hotel for our first family vacation to Abilene, TX!! I know it's no Disney World, but we are super excited. Its our first family vacation and we get to see a lot of friends and family we haven't seen in a while. We will leave the day after Memorial Day, drive to Lake Travis outside Austin and stay 2 nights in a B&B. We have been told by the owner that there is a lot of fun stuff for Elijah, like feeding the deer at dusk! Should be fun. Then Thursday we drive to Abilene. We have finally booked the hotel. It took so long because we thought we could use our credit card points to stay for free at least part of the time. Well we found out we needed 20,000 points to stay at a certain hotel. We only had 17,000 so around March (when we found all this out) we started using the credit card like crazy (but don't worry, Dad, we paid it off every month) to try and get up to 20,000 points. Well, we did it and I went to make the reservations and found out you have to have atleast 25,000 in your account to use any of the points!! There is no way we can spend $5,000 in a week (and pay it off in a week), although Beau did say he would saccrifice and go on a spree at Home Depot if need be. So I started looking for places for us to pay out of pocket.

What we really wanted is a suite with two separate rooms so Elijah can go to bed at 8pm as normal and we can stay up and watch a movie or whatever. Well all the "suites" I found were not really suites, they were just oversized rooms with a sitting area or a partial wall divider - not really going to cut it. Then I found the Elegante Suites that used to be Embassy Suites. (I'm almost done, hang in there) but the rooms were like $150 a night. I didn't know if it was worth that, but really wanted to do it. While I was thinking about it, and waiting for Beau to get home to ask his opinion, I got on the Abilene Visitor's website and low and behold under "coupons" is a coupon for Elegante Suites - $92 a night!! That's over $100 saved after 3 nights!!! So we booked it! We're really excited.

Wow, that was long. Sorry. I'm home alone, no one to talk to....better go shower, I stink after Zumba (my salsa dancing aerobics class)!!

A look into our future???

This first picture is actually from yesterday. Aimee and Grant came over for a few hours to get out of the house. Elijah was napping most of that time, but when he woke up he wanted to be in the chair with me and Grant. I think this looks pretty good...(If you haven't figured it out I'm trying to pump myself up for 2 babies)
Then today, Aimee left her first born in our *very capable* hands to be the first babysitters while she took a test. Grant is still alive and Elijah has not poked his eyes out!! I call that success. Here are a few shots I took...


Elijah would stand next to a sleeping Grant and scream "BABY!!!" and Grant wouldn't even move!!

Then Elijah would point to Grant's nose and say "nose" then "eyes" and "mouth"....on and on and on....

We had a great time. Thanks for letting us keep him Maimee!!

My New Chair!!!

My new chair came first thing this morning!! Its not quite as "cushy" as the one in the store, but Beau assures me it will get that way after being used a lot so I take that as my duty to sit in it as much as possible. What I love about it is, for one, it rocks, so I can rock my babies and its big enough that Elijah can sit next to me and we can read his books.

Elijah loves to sit in it. Before we went to the gym I snapped some pics...

"This is great!!"

"This is much better!"

When we got home and had our bath this is what I found him doing....

"I know this is what Mom uses to get on Veggie Tales"

"Its not working...can you help me?"

My new ottoman/coffee table comes next Wednesday!!! Yeah for new furniture. Goodbye Granny Chair.

Can we say OCD?

Elijah seems very "organized". He loves to put things in order. Beau took some pics of Elijah during his bath...

My Day Out

Sorry...again...no picture. (I promise I'll post some this week)

Saturday I went out shopping, by myself...all day!! Do you know how long its been since I've done that!? A long time!! I went everywhere! I got some clothes for Beau and Elijah at the sale at Macy's. I bought myself a new leather chair for the living room!! Say bye-bye to the granny chair!!! (I'll send some pics when it comes on Wednesday) I had lunch by myself at La Madeleine's - I don't think I've ever eaten at a restaraunt by myself before, but it was great. I shopped for some stuff for the back yard, but didn't find what I was looking for. I bought Elijah a potty chair and went grocery shopping. I went to a lot of places that are hard to take a 18 month old to. It was a great day. I came home, cooked for my boys - we ate outside in the backyard - then Beau and I watched a movie. What a good day!!

Today we had the Farewell Luncheon for John and Rita Savage - we will really miss them! I made a casserole and I had told Beau I had noticed no one had brought banana pudding to any of the luncheons lately so I got up early today and made REAL banana pudding (my first time). We show up for lunch and there are 3 others!! Ha! It always happens like that. Oh well, can anyone say leftovers!!

This week will be same-old-same-old. Just the way I like it. More later.

18 Month Check-Up

Sorry, no picture...

Elijah had his 18 month check up today. Here are the stats:

Height: 32.5 inches (52%)

Weight: 23 lbs (14%)

Head: 19.5 (89%)

So we continue to have an average height, skinny boy with a giant head! Elijah did not enjoy this visit. He was leery of everyone who came close to him and did not care for Dr Quillin at all! He screamed whenever Dr Quillin tried to do anything and as soon as he said "okay that's it" Elijah immediately quit crying! Apparently Elijah is doing great, he is using a cup, eating all table food, can point out parts of the body and, according to Dr Quillin, his vocabulary is beyond 18 month range - making him super smart. I could have told him that!! Of course our boy is brilliant!! :) There was one thing though....the doc would like to see Elijah with a little more meat on his bones. He asked if we were doing whole milk and I said "no, 2% only at breakfast" and he said if I didn't want to do whole milk I could do milk throughout the day and fattier snacks like cheese. If only Dr Quillin could see this kid eat...he shovels it in, sometimes eating 2 or 3 full servings. I think he is just going to built like his Uncle Jon, but we'll try a few things anyway. If only a doctor ever told me he would like me to drink whole milk and eat more cheese!! Ha!

Elijah had to have one shot...DTaP. He did okay, he doesn't mind the shot as much as having to be held down.

We don't go back for a check up until October! I doubt we'll make it to then (my boy has allergies and...oh yeah...he's a boy...bound to take a trip to the doctor!)

Hope everyone is doing well. The Ballards are great!!

Dinner with Frankie

Frankie was in town this week for work and was able to come to Alvin Tuesday night for dinner.

Max was in a very *spunky* mood. He ran, yes ran, all around the yard while Elijah chased him and screamed. It was really funny.

These are their serious faces.

At dinner Elijah grabbed the lemon out of my water. He wanted to eat it (he loves oranges and I think he thought it was one). I tried to tell him that it wasn't good to eat, but he wouldn't listen.

He stuck the whole thing in his mouth and was really proud of himself.

Once he tasted it he spit it out and looked at it like, "what kind of orange is this!?"

When it was time to go Elijah had to give Grandpa Frankie "bye bye kisses".
We had a good time, thanks for dinner, Grandpa Frankie.

Family Retreat

We left Friday evening for our annual Family Retreat in Columbus, Texas. Friday night there was no hot water, Elijah was up crying all night and I didn't check the weather so I froze all night! With little sleep, no shower and chill bumps we faced the day. Saturday ended up being great. Beau saved the day, though. As I said, I didn't check the weather before I packed Friday. It was so hot Friday and I guess I assumed it would be the same throughout the weekend. I hadn't even watched the weather all week since we were busy with Grants arrival (maybe I should blame Grant for all this!) Anyway, luckily, Friday while I was packing Beau said I should throw in a jacket for Elijah b/c it may be chilly Friday night. I went to his room and grabbed a jacket and a pair of sweat pants. Good thing because it was cool and very windy Saturday until around 1pm. Elijah would have been stuck inside in his shorts, t-shirt and sandals. Anyway, here are some pics from Saturday during our breaks.

The fields were full of pretty flowers and Elijah smelled (and pulled up) most of them.

Just taking a break in the grass.

Papa teaching Ligy how to SeeSaw.

Just hanging out watching Papa play softball.

There are tons of trees with very low limbs and Elijah loved climbing on all of them.

Please Welcome Grant Scogin...

Grant was born this afternoon at 1:34. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. He is beautiful! (just like his mom). Here are a few pics. For more visit Aimee's website = www.scoginfamily.blogspot.com

Before....

After....

Grant is so cute. He has strawberry-blonde, curly hair. He was great while everyone passed him around, he never cried!

The new and improved Scogin family ~ Gary, Aimee and Grant.

I brought a birthday cake and after Grant made his arrival we cut the cake and sang Happy Birthday, it was great!!

The Big Boys' Table

We had the Youth Group over here for Devo tonight. I looked outside and saw this, I thought it was so cute and gave me a glimpse into the future. Elijah loves the Fair and Florez boys at church. Not that they're not great guys, but the only reason we can come up with to explain why Elijah has - from Day 1 - loved these guys is maybe because they look like Beau (dark hair and eyes) ??? Anyway... I guess the guys (being teenage boys) thought it would be "cool" to sit at Elijah's toy box. Here's what happened...


"Hey Evan, whatcha got there? Can I have a bite?"

This is Elijah's new toybox. I've not shown it to y'all yet, I've tried to restrain from taking backyard pics until we're completely done, but I guess I can show you this now. Its really cute, the picnic table is attached. I can just see Elijah and Grant sitting there having a snack after an afternoon of digging.

Speaking of Grant...he's scheduled to make his appearance on Wednesday. I know Aimee is both excited and nervous (mostly tired) so please keep Gary, Aimee and Grant in your prayers this week.

For Juju and Pawpaw

For those of you who don't know, this is Rascal. He was my favorite stuffed animal. For Mom and Dad, I hope this brings a smile to your face.

Elijah walked in holding Rascal...


I asked if he wanted to give Rascal a kiss...he seemed to be thinking it over...

Then he planted one on him!

Big hugs! We love Rascal!

New haircut for my little stripper!

I know I usually try to blog more often than this, but we've been pretty busy. I came home from work last night and saw my boy, Beau cut his hair. He did a good job, but its a little shorter than I probably would have done it. It makes him look so old!! Elijah's latest trick is taking his shirt off. He's so pleased with himself. Today, he was in the middle of pulling it off and heard Dora coming on and just stopped. He ran around like this until I pulled it all the way off.

Mandy was laughing at me when we were at her house a few weeks ago. Elijah loves to watch Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, and Handy Manny. All these shows teach Spanish. She said people may start accusing me of letting him watch too much TV if he starts speaking Spanish before he's good at English!! Ha! Speaking of Elijah talking, he talks ALL THE TIME! Most of it makes no sense, but he will carry on a "conversation" with you for long periods of time. He gets really serious and like to tell you exactly how "it" is. I have no idea where he gets it??? :) Later.