Happy Birthday

Although Elijah's birthday isn't for a few more days, we wanted to have a party today to best accomodate all our mom's with young children. It actually turned out great and everybody had fun even though it was stinkin' hot. The party was from 10:00 til noon and the tempuratures started at 100 and reached 103. It was nasty!

Elijah came in my room this morning asking if he could eat his elmo cake. He had tried to dig in yesterday when he woke up from his nap and saw it. He actually got the corner and mommy had to do some repair work. So, he was ready to party this morning. We had a few children over (mostly boys) to splash in the pool, play with water balloons, run around, eat pizza, cake and ice cream, break an Elmo pinata and then go home for nap time. It was a fun morning and Grandpa even came home during his lunch to join in the celebration.

We even had some special guests at the party including Aunt Alexa (Elijah absolutely loves to say her name!) baby Christopher, Susanna and Alison. They just came to celebrate with us and it was great to have them here. Thanks guys for coming to make it a special day.

The Wonderful Aunt Alexa and baby Christopher!
Yum yum Pizza and cake!
My favorite Grandpa!

A Weekend Full of Fun

This weekend we have been running around like crazy going to various events and visiting with people. Some of you know our friend Charlie, his wedding was on Saturday and we had the pleasure of watching it. For those of you who were too far to make it, I thought you guys might enjoy experiencing some of the photos. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding with a nice sit-down reception. Some of the pictures may look a little hazy and that is because we are in the middle of the Northern California fires. The smoke had mostly cleared by the time the wedding began, but there are still some remnants. They were brave...Melissa and Charlie sang a duet and then Charlie surprised her with a love song. They didn't even cry (at least not during the music)! Mr. and Mrs. Charles Frederick Cazin IIThe First Dance Elijah has become fascinated with Grandpa's motorcycle. For the first weeks he was satisfied just watching Grandpa come and go, but soon he wanted to join in the fun. He finally got enough courage to go down the driveway on the bike with Grandpa and looks forward to Grandpa's return so they can sit on the bike together every evening.

Moon and Crack

There is something so innocent and adorable about little naked kids. Elijah loves to be naked, but rarely do we allow him to go outside and play in his birthday suit. Yesterday was a rare occassion. He wanted to get in the pool and rather than go through the entire episode of changing him I just stripped him down and let him play. He soon decided to get out and do some real naked play time in the dirt pile and on his bike. Before going back inside he got blasted by the hose to get dirt out of most every crevice.

It's just been too hot to make him wear clothes all day.

New Toys

This week has been filled with the adventure of making new friends. Elijah has had the opportunity of having two special little ones over to the house for playtime. The first was a 5-year old boy who brought him some 'new toys'. Elijah has enjoyed the variety and is learning how to play with other children (again). Today, we had a special little girl come over who is 1 1/2. He thoroughly enjoyed hugging her which usually ended up in a not-so-gentle tackle of her. They played in the pool, dumped water on each other, played with more toys and ate snack. It was an eventful day!
Like most children (of all ages) Elijah enjoys 'talking' on the phone, pushing the buttons and listening to the beeps, but it must be a real phone. The other day we were at Staples getting a few little things when we discovered the phone recycling bin on our way out. I felt a little silly asking, but I approached the manager and briefly explained my child and his fascination followed my the question. He kindly obliged to giving us a play phone. We searched the pile and found a phone that would charge on Grandma and Grandpa's charger and made our selection. Elijah enjoys his new phone daily and has discovered it plays music as well. It is quite humorous to watch him dance to the random tunes saved to the phone.
So, parents...keep a look out for ways to get free toys because they truly are easy to find, and often the children want the real thing anyway, not the toy version.

What Happened?

We often have to ask Elijah this question and sometimes get an answer that makes sense. Over the weekend Elijah was on a bike ride with Grandma and Grandpa in his trailer when he started crying intensely. They stopped to check on him only find he had a burn on the palm of his hand. After some proding and lots of questions we discovered that he had somehow reached outside the coverd trailer and touched the wheel. It left a burn on his palm and he popped it a couple of days later when he fell and put his hand down to catch himself. During the day he will often take a good look at his hand and say "touched it...the bike wheel...hurt". He is very aware of how it happened and that it hurt pretty bad. When you ask him if he supposed to touch the wheel he still says yes. That is a work in progress. This picture is for Daddy. Here's your growing family! We love you and miss you! Mommy is at 24 weeks and still expanding. Don't forget to check out the new videos of Elijah on the video bar to the right.