From Baby to Big Boy

Ian turned 1 1/2 yesterday. He is doing so much, constantly on the go. He has become rather 'bossy', demanding "carry me", "puffs", "outside" and "no"! His language has really blossemed, I no longer have any concerns about it. He is so brave, climbing anything he sees without any hesitation. He is starting to enjoy cuddling and will even sometimes asked to be rocked! This morning after I got done teaching I checked my cell phone and I had a picture message from my husband. He had taken Ian to the barber and gotten his hair cut! We have gotten Ian's hair trimmed three times, but it is SHORT! He no longer looks like my baby, but my little boy. Here are some pictures before and after:

Lounging

I love that our dog is so mellow!

Licking the Beaters!

Generally the job of licking off the beaters when I bake is reserved for Eli and Joe, but last Friday both of the older boys were gone and so Ian got the treat and he loved it!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! The boys all went for their baskets at the same time and I didn't have the camera ready, so I got a few pictures of Eli looking for his and Ian after he had already found his. Joe already had his basket torn apart before I got to him.
Ian threw everything out of his basket and stopped when he found his chocolate bunny and ripped it open!
Eli found his and was most excited about his new Woody Story movie!
He had messed with his old movie and it was no longer playing, so he got the newly released edition. Joe got Toy Story 2. They all got other small things and I'm sure they will get more later today from the Grandparents.

My Dream Home

Today we bought our dream home....it is something we have dreamed of buying for years! Scott and I were finally able to purchase it and we closed on it today! Here are some pictures:


This is the house that is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to ours. I swear it wasn't this bad when we bought our house. We plan on beginning demolition next month.

Not that our house is anything fancy, but with our "new" house gone, everything will be much better! All of our neighbors are thanking us! Here are some of the other homes in our neighborhood:

Across the street from our "new" house.

Across the street from our house.

And this is our house, nothing fancy, but it's home! We are thinking of adding on in the next two years. We have been planning on residing it and relandscaping it, but that will wait again since we now have room to spread out to the south and I don't want to do work now and then again when we remodel, so we'll just wait!

Wrestling

My son is going to be a wrestler. I'm not talking about just messing around with his brothers and playing, but I am talking about a technically smart, dedicated wrestler. My husband was a wrestler in high school and has been putting Eli in "holds" and having him "escape". Eli loves it and Scott is amazed at how smart, strong and determined he is. Ian has also begun to enjoy this game. My nephew Clint just finished his senior year of wrestling and made it to the state wrestling tournament. Eli LOVES his Daddy and Clint and wants to be so much like them. The local Y had a wrestling mini camp for three year olds and we signed Eli up. They learned basic moves, the common courtesy of wrestling and an introduction to the equipment. My mom took Eli because the program was held in the mornings while I was teaching and Scott was at work. This is the first time that Eli has done anything like this. He was a bit nervous about seperating from her, and she was just sitting at the edge of the gym, about twenty feet from her! He did progress each week and is now asking when he gets to go back and wrestle. The last week I saw the program coordinator that afternoon at swimming lessons and he told Eli and I how proud he was of him, that day Eli had sat on the mat without hesitation, did a great job listening and the PC was pleased how Eli had progressed and listened even when the other boys in the program were messing around. Here are some pictures!

Sledding!