The Highlights
There honestly has not been much big activity around here lately. We have just been chugging along at normal every day life and knocking off to do list tasks before Dadford is gone for round two of deployment training. We are looking forward to crossing this one off the list because then he is all ours for the holidays until the big "see you later". Life around here lately has been filled with lovely things like GRE test taking and preschool parents night. Brad took the GRE once more and improved his score by a few points in each category. His application is due very soon for one of his biggest military career goals, and I truly believe he has done everything in his power to make it happen. We are really proud of him and praying for a big celebration after the new year. We also attended parents night at Eloise's preschool and thoroughly enjoyed hearing her teachers talk about the spark they see in her. I am so thankful for educators who value her the way we do.
We have squeezed in a little fun too! We hosted our friends Harrison and Rose and their son for Friday night chili their first week here at Fort Carson. Harrison and Brad were in the same company at West Point. I actually just found their wedding thank you note while doing some basement organizing in which Rose wrote she hoped our paths would cross again somewhere down this wild Army ride. A handful of kiddos later, here we are! It was a riot to see Harvey and Henry, who are just a few months apart, playing together. We attended a bowling birthday party too for the daughter of one of Brad's coworkers. It was a little tough at times for my littles to fit in with a gaggle of first graders, but watching Brad guide both kids made it worth while. Eloise would tell you the dirt cake was
Now that Eloise is in school, I really wanted to make a Mommy-Harvey activity a priority. Second child syndrome is so real. He has spent his entire life just happily shadowing Eloise while hanging in dance studio waiting rooms and on the soccer sidelines. This week Harvey took his first gymnastics classes! I am still torn between gymnastics or a library storytime for our time together, but it sure was a blast to see him running around the gym as fast as his little legs could carry him. He is working very hard on mastering the art of jumping. No actual air yet, but my heart could burst watching him try to get those chubby feet off the floor. I also finally signed both kids up for one-on-one swimming lessons starting in December. I had a tough time enrolling them with the instructor I had my eye on this summer. I figured I would wait it out and try again this winter. No one is really thinking much about swimming lessons in December, but I figure it will be the perfect timing to hopefully get them both water safe in time for summer fun at Nana and Mickey's pool.
The Small Moments
I declared Friday a stay at home and catch up on laundry day. We decided to bake our favorite new banana muffin recipe for breakfast. Eloise decided they needed to wear their super hero capes while baking for best results. Their capes were given to them by St. Louis Children's Hospital when Harvey's aneurysm was first diagnosed. It makes me smile seeing them get so much play time and love. So much love that Grandma Sue had to sew snaps on last time she was here to replace the worn out velcro. Harvey will even come to me with his in his hands saying "super, super, on, on." Super Eloise was an excellent baker while Super Harvey was excellent at scattering tupperware all over the floor. It was my kind of morning with my favorite people.
As a way to encourage her to get to know her classmates better, Brad told Eloise he would give her a candy corn for every new friend's name she can recall after school. She'll say, "I have four names today. Micah, Logan, Abigail, and Emily. Candy corns please." So stinking adorable. And mad dad props to Brad for thinking of a clever and fun way to get her to engage in conversation and work on her memory. As if she has a single shy bone in her body or trouble making friends, right?
As I was pulling out of the garage for a girls night, I was surprised by the sweetest departure view. Brad had hurried the kids out the front door, and they were all sitting on the porch waving goodbye and blowing kisses. I had to stop to snap a picture. Sometimes I still feel overwhelmingly grateful that I have been entrusted with this beautiful family. One of those what in the world did I do to deserve this much happiness kind of moments. Whatever I did, I am thankful for it. I am, of course, thankful for Ruby pup too. She makes this picture complete.
The Ways We Grew
New Harvey words: dinner, hungry, sit down (said while running to his booster seat as soon as he sees me prepping food), eat, scrub (when washing hands). Notice a trend? Dude loves meal time. Although he has gotten significantly pickier lately, but I am blaming it on teething. He has 10 teeth now including four full molars. He is showing interest in learning his letters and colors, although for now he declares just about every letter to be H. Room for improvement! Another new one and favorite of ours is "yep". It is so cool to hear him verbally reply when we ask him questions.
My Eloise Mae. Sometimes it is tough to think of the ways she grew because Harvey's are just much more obvious at this age. Her imagination is beginning to run wild. She loves to tell and listen to made up stories. At every bedtime we are all together Dadford, Eloise, and I all each make up a new story. Last time we FaceTimed with my parents she insisted Papa and Sue both make up stories on the spot too. My dads was about an elephant in the circus that needed a name and Eloise won the contest to choose a name for him. After he ended the story he asked real life Eloise what she named him. Without missing a beat, she said his name is Kazookie. A perfect name for an elephant. She is hide and seek obsessed right now too. Some of my favorite moments of the week come from the four of us playing together. It is usually a toss up as to who gives away the most hiding spots, Harvey or Ruby. Eloise's squeal every time she is found is music to my ears. Brad's schedule allowed him to take Eloise to school this week, and I'm not sure who was happier about it, me or her.
The Witt-isms
I felt the need to change this from strictly Eloise-isms because Harvey is making us laugh just as much now too with the adorably hilarious things he says.
"Did you poop?" -Me
"Yep." -Harvey
Let It Go comes on on Spotify
"MOM. This is your JAM!" -Eloise
Let It Go comes on on Spotify
"MOM. This is your JAM!" -Eloise
"Beep, beep, beep." -Harvey, backing up
"BEEP!" -Harvey as heard through the monitor after someone honked their car horn outside
"Chitty chitty bang bang, we love you." -Brad, singing in the car
"What'd you say? Chicken nuts? Squirrels eat nuts!" -Eloise
October arrives tomorrow! My cider lane candle is burning nonstop and pumpkins are in every corner of the house to celebrate. We have also finalized Halloween costume plans. If you know me well, you know I do not care much for Halloween. As fate would have it, it is one of Brad's all time favorite holidays. I think somewhere in the fine print of our marriage license Brad snuck in that I will get on board with family costumes each year. So far I have actually had a lot of fun planning and making them. Year one we were safari guides with a baby elephant Eloise. Pregnant me was Pooh Bear, Brad was Christopher Robin, and Eloise was Piglet for year two. Last year we were all Mary Poppins characters. Stay tuned to see what Halloween 2018 will bring! Hint: staying true to history, we have let Eloise's interests and opinion determine our family theme. Unfortunately Brad will be gone, but I have promised our trio will not let him down. He is using his engineering skills to build a component of our costumes to make sure a piece of him comes along for the trick-or-treating fun.
The napping house
Note: Scout the green dog tucked into the bed she made for him
He is using the blanket she was first swaddled in as a newborn
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