You be the judge

These are a couple of pics of Eli and one of my mom a little older than him right now. It's so funny how I see Chris and his dad a lot in Eli's face but this pic of my mom shows how much he also looks like a Blackburn (which is my mom's family).

Like father, like sons...

We have been enjoying Christmas break and having Chris at home for a few days before baseball season gets into full swing. All this time with daddy has been packed full of shopping, playing, looking at Christmas lights, attending Christmas parties, etc. We are worn out from all this daddy time! I took these pics yesterday while we were driving back home from Gwinnett. Looking around as I was driving, I couldn't help but laugh at how much they all look alike as they slept.

since i'm a shutterfly freak...

here is 1 of 2 of our christmas cards. most of you who read this blog will be getting a different card so it will still be a surprise. hope everyone is enjoying the christmas season. my goal this year is to enjoy and savor and not get stressed. we shall see if that happens.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Crazy days

Well... We have celebrated Chris's 30th birthday, our 6th wedding anniversary, had a stomach virus make it around the whole Bluster family, (no Thanksgiving for the Aks), got our Christmas trees, celebrated my Papa's 80th birthday and his and my Nana's 60th wedding anniversary, visited with family and good friends, oh yeah, and have had 3 ear infections! So we have been quite busy which means no time at the computer. Here are some pics from our adventures.

This is my grandpa's good friend greeting him at the Rexall Grill for his 80th surprise birthday party.

Ella showing us how good she can sit up.

Cute little family of four. Rob and Mere with their Christmas tree.

Fiddle playing 101. Mere is determined for Eli to play the fiddle. He is very musical...we shall see if he can pick it up.

My best friend from high school, Shelly, (still a bestie!) and our kiddos.

Eli reaching the top of the tree.

Holland and Eli warming up to each other.

brotherly love...

and they say only girls go to the bathroom together! i'm pretty sure eli was imparting all the wisdom he knows while these two sat upon their thrones. they are coming around and beginning to love each other. eli loves to say "hey ty, hey buddy" in the cutest little voice over and over again. and ty loves to just be in eli's presence. he will sit on the floor and watch eli play with his toys and is content doing that.

ty is also starting to try his hand at crawling. he has been working real hard at it and has a great coach in his brother. eli loves to get down beside him and show him how. he hasn't quite figured it out yet but has been getting closer and closer each day. i'm not so sure how i feel about this. on one hand, i'm ready for him to be able to play well with eli but i'm also not ready to have two little ones mobile. but i guess they will keep me running around and maybe i'll lose some of this baby weight!

this picture makes eli look so little! but i promise, he is bigger than his brother. and yes, eli is playing with a "peepee tee-pee" in the picture below. he loves going through my diapers, wipes, and such. i have to say these boys are such a delight. we laugh so hard at the things eli says and does and find great joy in watching these little men grow up before our eyes. here are a few facts about each of them:

eli...starting to say little sentences like, "what you doing?" "hey mommy" "hey daddy" and whenever you ask him what he did that say his reply is "a football game, baseball game." he still loves trucks and loves going on rides in trucks. he is very observant and knows all the landmarks of our town and knows how to spot each of our friends' cars..."amy car!" "boo truck!" etc. he is also starting to eat more. and he will finally watch a couple of shows on tv: elmo and super why!

ty...is growing and rolling over and over. he isn't really into eating solids. every time i try to feed him he gives me the whole body shakes. he is quite spoiled and loves to be held. he also loves being in the baby bjorn facing out. he loves attention but also has quite the temper as i mentioned earlier. he puts everything in his mouth and screams when he is really happy or really mad. i hope he will start liking foods soon. we have tried rice cereal, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes. maybe i should just go straight to the fruits.

what we've been up to...

lots of cheering on the raiders. 

and watching the band...eli is in love with the drums.

this friday starts the playoffs!

go raiders!

ty wasn't that excited with the game.

we've been watching the leaves change. they were beautiful.

one saturday we met the youssefs' at the pumpkin patch.

we tried to take some photos.

We went trick or treating and handed out candy at home.

The gorilla wanted to eat his banana.

We had lots of fun during October. Eli and Chris even carved their first pumpkin! Our month was booked with loads of activities and it seems November and December are going to be the same. Hopefully I can keep up with the blog during this time. As for now, its off the finish up Chris's birthday surprises!! He is turning 30 on Wednesday. :)

america...take 2

here is chris's favorite take. sorry to bore you with the same thing. he has just been on my case to add this one.

america!

well, we may have an entertainer on our hands. he keeps us laughing all day. unless he is screaming before he falls asleep. :) and by the way, can you tell he is gaining some weight? 

this ray charles version of "america the beautiful" has been playing on a commercial during the world series and chris and eli have been going the house singing it. here they are in action.

i also have another shot of the same song i'm going to upload since chris and i differ on which is the best. :)

obsession

the other day eli was playing in his room with his cars. he was moving them through a line and saying something we couldn't quite make out. then chris figured it out when he said, "juice box. mommy drink." yes. he was playing drive-thru at mcdonalds. we laughed so hard at his imagination. now we can't hide from chris how often we hit up mickey d's for lunch. can you tell this boy likes to eat chicken nuggets and fries? oh yes, for the record "chicken" sounds more like ketchup to the common ear.

this video is daddy taking the drive-thru experience to the next level. he also has a mcdonalds drive-thru set at nene and boo's house complete with the frying machine that makes noise when you put fries in it.

p.s. the apple juice detox is working. eli is eating more and even had cereal this morning with whole milk! i'm pretty sure he is gaining weight. he still asks for apple juice daily but is ok with water. i do give in at nights before bed after a good day eating and give him a little juice.

brainwashing 101

*please note who is doing the brainwashing in this video
and eli's hand is cracking me up!

detox program...

we are in a serious detox program right now. if anyone knows my firstborn, they know he LOVES apple juice. well, at his 2 year check-up he weighed in at a whopping 22lb 10oz. when you look at the curve the doctors use to show growth, he is WAY below the whole chart, almost off the page. this shows some concern for the doctors since he has only gained 3 lbs since he was 9 months old. so i have 3 weeks to beef him up and if that doesn't work, we will have some tests run for poor weight gain. and guess what step one to beefing him up is: to get rid of all apple juice! the doctor says this curbs his appetite and causes him not to eat as much.

now, in my defense, he only gets a tablespoon or two (depending on how generous i'm feeling) in each cup of water. but the doctor says any flavor at all will keep him from eating enough! who knew! so we are now in day 3 of our detox program. after we left the doctor on thursday, we went all out and got a juice box with our chick-fil-a meal. straight apple juice...you could say we went out with a bang! and since, we have been putting less and less juice in his drink. now, i am just pretend to pour juice in his cup if he's watching. and i believe its working. he is drinking less and eating more. hopefully soon we will turn this kicker into a quarterback...since i don't think he'll ever be "lineman healthy". we will leave that position to his little brother. :)

in brighter news, eli did hit a growth spurt and is now in the 55% percentile in height! that's huge considering he has never been over the 20% percentile before. we will keep you updated as he beefs up.

big truck birthday

eli turned the big 2 yesterday and we celebrated BIG! all of our family came up to help us make the jump from a one year old to a big two year old. this birthday was a lot of fun. eli got lots of great presents and enjoyed the company of lots of family and a few close friends. here are the pics from the day.

entrance to the party

cups

blowing out the candles. thanks to daddy for refurbishing the tonka truck so we could put our dirt cake in the back.

future construction workers...if not coaches. :)

birthday jersey

new toy. i love his face in this pic

trying to ride the horse himself. lol!

elmo!

elmo's guitar.

another great face.

daddy enjoying the new toys

we are so grateful for all the love our family has for our boys. they showered eli with lots of gifts but most of all with lots of love and attention. to say he is spoiled rotten is an understatement for sure. and all day i was so happy i could enjoy this birthday since last year i was sick as a dog being pregnant with ty. :)