Every Day with Eli

January 22

My dad picked up some hats and gloves for the kids, and Lily immediately claimed this one as her own. These pictures are too cute not to share!

Last year, Chris and I were invited to attend a fancy gala with several of his co-workers. We had such a great time, and were delighted when we were invited to attend again this year! Luckily, my mom was available to watch the kids, so Chris and I got all dressed up and had a fun evening out!

We had so much fun!

January 20

Today was inauguration day.

The thought of our new president makes me feel hopeless and ill, but I am trusting that God has ordained even a presidency such as this. I'm also hoping to show my children the importance of respect for our leaders, so today's school was mostly inauguration-related.

As we watched the lead-up to the swearing in of our new vice president and president, the kids and I found a drawing tutorial and made our best attempts at portraits of the new president.

This was the end result.

Caleb's features a pirate with a sword, saying, "ARR! Donald Trump!"

Mine is pretty awful.

And Daisy's may or may not look more like a terrifying clown than our new leader. Both children said his hair was the most fun to draw. Ha! Later, Daisy began coloring in my drawing and she immediately reached for an orange crayon to color in his skin. I promise I tried wholeheartedly to help the children produce good results, and did not coach them in the least!

Lily tried to follow along with us at first, but ended up drawing swirls and circles.

Eli made a mighty scribble.

Caleb was pretty proud of his work!

I think Daisy knew hers was a little bit goofy.

And then it was time for the actual ceremony.

We popped some popcorn, sat on the couch, and watched as our new leaders were sworn in. The kids were mostly unimpressed, but they gave it a valiant effort!

Then we headed to the library, had lunch, and the little ones went down for naps. Lily was exhausted after her throw-up session last night, but it appears to have been entirely too-much-cake-related, and not stomach bug-related. Praise the Lord.

While the little ones napped, I popped a movie in for Caleb and Daisy, then joined a video chat with a babywearing educator in Hawaii to complete my skills assessment.

^^^This?^^^

This is a girl who passed her test with flying colors. Oh, and also the two heavy babies who made the assessment possible, since Eli is really fighting being worn about 90% of the time. My evaluator said I did such a good job that she didn't even have any constructive criticism for me. (That's probably thanks to the excellent coaching I received from Amber. Thanks, friend!) I'm still waiting on the official paperwork, but it looks like I am finally going to be a Volunteer Babywearing Educator for Babywearing International. Yay!

January 19

Today was Lily's half-birthday, and since it seems we started a tradition with the half cakes on half birthdays, Lily got one, too.

She told me at naptime that she wanted a strawberry and blueberry cake. After a bit of discussion, we settled on a strawberry cake with blueberry icing. Once she was asleep, I headed into my kitchen to figure out how on earth I would make that happen. I thought she would just ask for chocolate or vanilla!

Caleb and Daisy helped me, though, and we came up with a recipe modified to yield a single 9" round cake. Cut in half and doubled up, it turned out alright!

No food coloring - just blueberries!

That is one happy three and a half year old!

Sweet girl.

Personally, I thought the cake tasted more like a quick bread than a cake, but she didn't mind.

Oh my goodness - I can't believe I caught this moment! I told Eli to give Lily a kiss, but she didn't want one. He grabbed her and gave her a great big smooch on her cheek.

He was so proud of himself!

Is that adorable, or what?

And then everyone got back to work eating cake.

After dinner, Caleb and Daisy painted their Pinewood Derby cars. (Caleb's Boy Scout pack allows siblings to race cars in a special race after the scouts are finished, which is so sweet.) There was even enough wood - though not enough wheels - so that Lily could have a car, and she was so happy! The three big kids worked hard at their cars, but I don't have any pictures because they were all painting topless to minimize ruined clothing.

It was a fun evening, and at bedtime tonight Lily told me that the best part of her day was painting her car and eating her cake.

An hour later, she screamed from her room that she was throwing up. After she was done emptying her stomach, she told me, "Next time you should not give me so much cake."

Duly noted, child.

Hopefully it's just a cake-induced fluke, and not a stomach bug that will make its rounds through our household!

January 18

We had a busy day today! Amber and 3/5 of her children came over, and the kids played while Amber helped me practice for the babywearing skills assessment I have scheduled Friday afternoon. It was a remarkably productive playdate, likely because it was warm enough for the children to run around outside like crazy people. Outside children = moms who can focus on what they need to do.

After lunch, the kids were goofy. Lily gave Eli this stuffed dog of hers, and he was so happy!

Look at that face! I love that my children are finally starting to learn to be generous with their things, and that they are experiencing the joy that comes with giving. Eli now has a crib full of stuffed animals, thanks to his generous siblings. He loves it.

Looking out Lily's window with big brother.

I mean, seriously. Look at how happy Eli is! He has his new stuffed dog, and his big brother's attention. I love this kid.

Caleb and Daisy snuggled in Lily's bed, too.

Then it was time for naps! Once the little ones were down, I got to work setting up for my first "studio" photo session. A friend hired me to do 3,6, 9, and 12-month photos of her son, and today was his 6-month session. Caleb and Daisy helped me practice my light setup.

Gosh, I love these pictures! Then Caleb asked me if I could use the remote so that I could be in a picture with him. How could I say no?

My sweet boy.

Love him!

The jury is still out on how the studio session went - I've glanced at the pictures and since they're my first real attempt, I'm happy with them. Definitely room for growth, but they are fine. I think.

January 17

You guys.

After five months of waiting for absolutely no reason, I finally get to take my skills assessment to become a Babywearing Educator. It's not a huge deal, except that I set out to do it so long ago and have been forced to wait due to circumstances out of my control. It's fun to finally have the opportunity to see this through to completion! My big test is Friday afternoon.

I get to have half of my babywearing group's lending library at our house for a few days, which means playing with all the carriers. Unfortunately, Eli won't let me wrap him

But Lily will!

She had such fun choosing the carrier she wanted to go up in. This one had starfish, seashells, and bubbles all over it.

January 14

This whole weekend was a Winter Storm Warning. MODOT urged everyone to stay home, schools were cancelled on Friday, even Chris' bank closed early.

It was a dud.

We got a lot of rain, some of it froze, but it was not the Icepocalypse they predicted. But we enjoyed having Chris home for an extra day, especially the Friday before a 3-day weekend! We ended up staying home most of the time, which made for a lot of moments like this:

Eli is suddenly really into building with Duplos. He makes lots of "ships", and he is so proud of his work!

"Look! Is ship! I did it!"

In the afternoon we realized that the chance of treacherous weather had passed, so I went to the gym. When I got home, I sent Chris off to the gym and the kids and I went for a walk to see the ice storm that wasn't. Lately Lily's favorite request is to walk down to the neighborhood playground, but she always asks at inopportune times - right before bedtime, when it's raining, when we're on our way to church... I was thrilled to finally be able to suggest that we walk to the neighborhood playground.

Very little ice. Lots of muck. Rain boots were necessary. But look at the trees in the far background - they look ghostly and magical from all of the ice still crusting their branches.

The playground equipment was mostly water, though. Good thing I brought towels!

Eli found a few fallen icicles on the play structure.

Daisy rode a frog.

Eli ate some ice.

Daisy found a tube-shaped piece of ice.

Ice on trees is pretty.

And then we walked home, taking the "shortcut" that isn't really a shortcut at all, but involves walking through fields so it feels really special.

In this case, "special" meant "mucky and sludgy and disgusting". But Caleb spotted deer tracks and dog tracks in the mud, so...yay?

January 13

Friday the 13th.

Last night was a full moon.

And we are under a Winter Weather Advisory for an ice storm that could be treacherous.

I convinced Chris to work from home today, so that made things better. Since the ice wasn't supposed to come until late morning, the kids and I met my mom, Emily, and Emily's little boys for breakfast at Denny's. It meant that Chris had a few uninterrupted hours to work, and the kids got to do something exciting before being cooped in all weekend. Perfect.

No pictures from that, though. In fact, the only pictures I have from today are these cell phone pics:

Off to the side, you can see that Lily insisted on wearing her Christmas dress today. Meanwhile, Eli wore the shirt for his Christmas jammies, a diaper, and these hilarious knee socks that Chris' mom gave him for Christmas.

And he's playing a ukulele.

This boy is too much.

(And he loves those socks. LOVES them.)

Lily drew this picture of her friend Naomi today. People are her new thing. Yesterday she surprised me with a drawing of our family, which was adorable. I suppose I should photograph that, too.

January 12

One of my photography goals during the slow season is to learn how to use an external flash with my camera. My first two DSLR cameras (Canon Rebel xs, and then Canon 60D) had flashes on them, just like any camera does. But when I upgraded to a full-frame DSLR (Canon 6D), I learned that pop-up flashes were no longer an option. I've just done without a flash for the past year-ish, which wasn't much of a sacrifice since I typically hate the look of flash photography.

But almost all studio photographers use a flash of some sort, so I've decided to learn how to use one so that I have options. I bought myself a really inexpensive flash, wireless trigger and remote, flash stand, umbrella octagon soft box, and a faux wood backdrop. I got everything set up today, and the kids were eager to be my models while I practiced.

At first, Caleb was the only child who wanted to play with me. He was so patient and cooperative as I tried to figure things out!

This was before I realized that I needed a reflector to fill in the shadows opposite the flash.

The shadow on the left side of this picture is because I was too lazy to move a big chair.

This was when I realized that he needed to be sitting farther away from the backdrop.

Then Daisy saw what Caleb was doing, and she decided to play.

Maybe I should have told the kids to go change into nicer clothes and brush their hair first, but they were being so excited and cooperative that I didn't want to do anything to risk ruining that.

I suppose she still looks a little gray here, but that's a simple fix.

Lily's turn:

Daisy chose Lily's outfit today, and Lily was very happy with it.

Gosh, she's adorable!

As I took these pictures, Eli was right off to the side, slowly inching onto the backdrop because he wanted his turn right away!

As soon as I told Lily she was done, Eli plopped down and did this:

Is he cute, or what?

He's so funny!

I had to include a "fingers in the mouth" picture, because that's all he does lately. He has gotten so many new teeth in the past month, and he is constantly chewing on his fingers!

After that, I told the kids we were done. They had other ideas, though, and wanted to keep going. Who was I to stop them?

Man. They are so cute - I just wish I had dressed them and fixed their hair! But let's be honest. This is what they look like 99% of the time. I suppose this is for posterity's sake.