smiley pooch

i love this dog and am always amazed at how smart he is!

...doesn't he have a beautiful smile?

a photographic "thank you"

well, thanks for ALLL the opinions on my last post!! y'all inspired me to weed my facebook garden. :)

i'm down to about 1000... but i'd REALLY like to be at about 700... we'll see....

so, as a "thank you" for all of your help, i thought i'd share some of our latest pictures...

...what's that?

oh... yeah, and because i PROMISED i'd share pictures with you!

here's some different angles of our new "home within our home"...the swingset!!

 eden's LOVIN' it! seems like we're out there all the time! mama and daddy have sweat a lot and eden has been graced with the cool breezes of swinging back and forth!

 this next one is from the back corner of the set (looking back towards our deck that you can't see)

you can see the back window with the flower box and the door with the 1/2 wall and even the completed 1/2 wall under the slide/climbing ramp

 mama took e's picture from inside the play house... PEEK-A-BOO

e and her daddy (oh, yes, and the snack cup) before the pool!

ok, so i knew she would love the pool... but not THIS MUCH! she saw the big kids going down the slide and she had to do it too!! 

puh-LEASE click to enlarge and look at her face in this picture!! 

 dunk her under water...

pick her right back up...

 and she points to DO IT AGAIN!!!

...and again

...and again

...and again!!!

when the lifeguards blew the whistle for break, she wandered around making new friends and finding out what sort of snacks everyone brought. she eventually settled with some perfect strangers (well, strangers to her--i knew them!) and enjoyed their goldfish and sugar wafers! 

 she had ZERO interest in hangin' out with mama and "aunt" emily and aunt lisa... 

and this last one i just think is too cute!

eden loves spaghetti... annnnd so does the dog :)

love those blue eyes!

we're headed back to the pool this afternoon...

catch y'all later!

mini update and a memorable moment

uh oh... yet again... i've slacked. i never did a birthday post for lee... and i've missed posting a lot of pictures and i'm still hoping to post pictures of eden in her pool(s). honestly, i'm realizing as we're approaching summer, the computer is on less and so is the tv... we're enjoying being outside and i've taken a liking to working in our yard. and goodness gracious, there's a 14 month old around here who is an absolute blast... and i don't want to miss one. single. second. with her. and when she gets to bed... i'm pretty darn exausted too.

life is crazy... life is great.

eden is growing so fast you can watch her. talking up a storm, walking relatively independently--just missing a little bit of confidence ;) and LORD HAVE MERCY... she has fallen in love...

with ELMO! she hugs it, squeals when she sees it, and likes to ride with it in her lap.

tonite, as i tucked eden in bed, she did her usual jibbering but then i noticed that she was calling nershi "nerrrrr" and barking... yes, she was trying to get nershi to come upstairs. those two are quite a pair.

and last but certainly not least, my mind has been boggled by the world of swingsets. perhaps this topic will get its very own post later.... but, no promises.

bye bye, baby food

in the stresses of unsuccessfully attempting to ween eden off of her bottle,

i've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to transition her out of baby food

...so easy, in fact, that i didn't even realize i'd done it!

it was one of those "transitions" i wasn't focusing too much on at the moment

because she's a great eater (she really LOVED her baby food!)... 

and well,

according to the doctor, she shouldn't be entirely on "chewable food" 

until she has SOME teeth on the top.

poor girl STILL only has her two bottom teeth!!!

but she's become a master of fruit cups, pasta, steamed veggies, macaroni & cheese, 

bojangles biscuits, french fries, mashed potatoes, pizza, rice, peanut butter (and honey) sandwiches,

applesauce, animal crackers, pancakes, yogurt, and even the occasional chicken nugget or two!!

and good gracious--the cheese quesadilla!

now, she always gets a few bites of whatever i'm having (whether its listed above or not)

and if she gets a "better offer" than what she has in her mouth,

she takes it OUT of her mouth and replaces it with her "better offer"

she's also gotten really good at sharing her food

whether its what she just pulled out of her mouth, or something she didn't want to begin with...

she loves to share with us and she REALLY loves to share with

you guessed it...

nershi!

he's always very gentle

and sometimes unsure if its ok to eat it because

"she's sharing"

or if he's about to get in trouble because he just took food out of her hand...

sweet boy!!

just look at those ears laid back :)

melt my heart...

this is short... but i just wanted to tell y'all that my sweet little girl has melted my heart...

we walked in* from kristin's house today, i set eden down to change clothes so we could get outside and go for a walk with "aunt" shellie... and my precious gift, eden, started blowing nershi kisses. y'all... i wanted to cry. i love it when my babies love each other.

she later blew me kisses when we were getting out of the car, when she was eating her dinner (smearing applesauce up to her eyebrows), when she was in the tub (cleaning off said applesauce in eyebrows), and when i set her in her crib for bed... she freely blows kisses to almost anyone...

but there's just something about her blowing kisses to nershi that really got to me...

*i often wonder what nershi does when we're gone and he's got the house alllll to himself... surely he doesn't sleep ALL day... well, maybe he does. but, today, when i walked in the house... on this BEAUTIFUL 70 degree, breezy saturday, somehow he managed to open the backdoor (that was probably left cracked) and spend all day in his backyard kingdom--frolicking in the fresh air and chasing helpless birds... and come in for water and a nap on our bed whenever he felt like it. hmph. no wonder he's been zonked out all afternoon...

...i think i'll go join the dog in my bed. g'nite y'all.

lookers

eden: hey nershi, lets switch windows.

nershi: are you sure... you've got the best one!

eden: nershi, i think you were right.. that window is better

eden: well, this window isn't better if i close it.

nershi: whoa! wait a minute...

nershi: i'm outta here...

eden: hey! come back... i'll open it back up

eden: see ya! mom said lunch is ready.

nershi and eden

i know i've told y'all before, but nershi and eden have a very special relationship. tonite, after dinner, nershi was making his usual rounds cleaning up behind eden and seeing if lee and i dropped something... when all of a sudden, eden got a SERIOUS case of the giggles...

what was she giggling at?
well, nershi was playing peek-a-boo with her...
they're both juuuust tall enough to see over top of the seats of our kitchen chairs (counter height...so they're a bit taller than normal)
she. couldn't. stop. giggling...
...one of those moments that i didn't want to end... so stinkin' sweet.

(i jumped for my video camera... battery was dead.)

...and since i've started typing this (2 minutes ago)... eden decided that while nershi was eating HIS dinner, she would sit beside him and play in his water bowl. lovely... now daddy's started her bath :)

goodnite!

...but wait! it gets BETTER!

the cherry on top of the best christmas ever was

going to be a fun "day after christmas" shopping spree for me and eden...

my little sidekick.

because i'm normally working on the day after christmas--

but we're not open on sundays!!

however, there's only one acceptable alternative when my plans didn't work out...

SNOW!

nearly a foot of snow!!!

(its actually more than a foot in some of the "drift" type areas)

enough snow that lee didn't have to work today! woo hoo!

even nershi got in on the action... he had to jump around...

the snow was almost as deep as he is tall

lovely white natural light sure does make for some great pictures!

i love this girl!!

sporting my new coat from nana... perfect timing!

so, yes, i'm bummed that i didn't get to scoop up some

cute ornaments for eden's christmas tree that

i bought on clearance friday and get a new tree skirt....

but to trade that in for a foot of snow

....i think i'll get over it ;)

playtime at a glance

so, i've snapped a few photos of playtime these days...

eden loves being tossed in the air...

heck, i think we'd ALL love being tossed in the air,

but there comes a point where thats no longer feasible.

...i think its so sweet that as lee's doing this he's sporting his "grateful dad" shirt.

check out that grin on the next picture!! (you may wanna click to enlarge, if possible)

"hey mom, did you see that?!"

and this next picture is definitely worth a thousand words... starting with something like "who cares about all those toys piled up in the background, i'd rather play with nershi's rawhide bone..."

its never too early to learn about sharing.

if he likes to chew on it and it makes his teeth feel good, then it must be good...

hey, you can't argue with logic.

"so, nershi, you say its better to chew on this end?"

...don't worry, i took these pictures rather quickly then returned the bone to its rightful owner... he then scurried to the sofa where eden can't bother him. yet.

bless his heart. nershi is always so patient and understanding... he just lays there with her and gives me a look every now and then (like in the last picture)... "mom, do you think you could get that back to me"

just loungin' around...

...what? your dog doesn't do this?

busted.

...in regards to a previous post.

remember this post?

...well, when eden wants nothing to do with nershi,

nershi chases eden...

begging her to come back and play!!

its such a two way street around here ;)

a new dynamic

any ideas why nershi would be in the corner with his bone?

because

SHE can't get to him there...

...yet.

nershi has exceeded my highest expectations for how he acts around eden... on all counts.

but, now that eden is VERY mobile,

this poses a new dynamic for their ever-blossoming relationship.

she LOVES him... and his bone.

she loves to crawl after him... as he lays in peace. or as he chews his prized bone.

she reaches out and pets him very lovingly & surprisingly gently.

sometimes he's startled.

sometimes he rolls on his back.

sometimes he's annoyed.

sometimes he hears/sees her coming and looks at me like "really, mom?!"

he's VERY patient with her...

and when he's done moving from spot to spot and playing along

...he knows where to go.

...either here or our bed.

well, for now. :)

small group

we hosted our small group tonite from church...

and a great time was had by all!

here's kimberlee with owen & eden

sweet owen... the dog bowl is always a main attraction for the babies

lee & nate on the sofa... erin with eden & jonah enjoying a new crop of toys! :)

linebacker, cheerleader and their dads :-D

nershi and bo chasing each other around

click here to see all the pictures!