Flat Stanley

I don't know how many of you have heard of "Flat Stanley," but my niece from VA (actually, my only niece) sent him to us this past week. It's for her class at school, to go along with a book that they read about him. Flat Stanley is supposed to go with us for a week or so and we take pictures of him at different places and send back the pictures and a story of what we did while he was visiting. So, here are our adventures with Flat Stanley...

His first adventure was definitely his biggest! John asked me to go indoor skydiving with him for his birthday and we took Flat Stanley along for the ride. :) (this picture is of the instructors, though, since they could do much cooler tricks that mom or dad could) It was a lot of fun and Eli especially had fun watching mommy and daddy "fly!" He was outside the wind tunnel yelling "go, daddy, go!"

Then, Grandma Marcie came to town to visit and we all went to the zoo. Eli's favorite things to do are to ride the train and the carousel. Maddie like the train too. Of course, we also visited lots of animals while we were there. Charlie the giant ape is definitely the most fascinating, though.

And, last but not least, Flat Stanley came with mom and grandma to the Brown Palace downtown for tea. The doorman was a good sport and posed with Flat Stanley and a passerby commented that she remembered doing the same thing when her kids were in grade school.

Well, it's time for Flat Stanley to go back to VA now, but we had fun with him while he visited. Hope you enjoyed his adventures too. :)

We're On a Roll

OK, so I finally feel like we've got a rhythm going with the 2 kiddos. Eli enjoys his little sister and wants her to "play" with him now - in the tub and on his swingset and on the couch - he thinks she's pretty cool. He's even learning how to "share" with her (which basically means giving her something he's not playing with and taking what she has, but it's a start). And little Miss Maddie has come alive - she's laughing at us and grabbing for things, sitting up with a little help AND she just figured out how to roll across the room! No more staying still, she loves to roll now - watch out. ;-) Here are a few pictures of the little cuties who are growing up so fast.

By the way, some word adaptations by Eli - calls himself "you;" calls anyone he doesn't know "guy;" won't let anyone eat unless you hold hands and "pway" first; loves to "march" with hockey sticks, golf clubs, and musical instruments; favorite game is still "chase"...just a few things I don't want to forget... :)

5 Months Old

Wow! The last 5 months has flown by. It's hard to believe that our little girl is already 5 months old (or was yesterday, anyway). Here's a look at how she's grown - she's still a little peanut, but a bigger one than she used to be. :)Newborn

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

We love you, Maddie!

Easter

Happy Easter (a little late)! I must say, I didn't think about how difficult it is to explain what Easter really means to a child until I was in the middle of trying to do just that. I wanted to let Eli know that Jesus rose again on Easter and that's why we the day is so filled with hope and joy and excitement. But, to explain that He "rose from the grave" means trying to explain why He was in the grave...I finally got to the point on the way to church where I said - "maybe we'll see Jesus at church today." And, He showed up (He's pretty cool like that). We brought Eli into our church service for the songs and there was a slide show with pictures of what Jesus might have looked like while words also came across the screen. And, what do you know, but Eli says "Jesus." See, Jesus makes Himself known to little children, even if we adults struggle with how to "explain" who He is. :)

(Eli wasn't too thrilled about having his picture taken, so you don't see his normal cute smile here)