Finishing the year cute as ever...

Playing with his new magnetic letters. Pre-hair cut.

Always climbing into something...

Post-hair cut. Trying to put Daddy's keys in the front door.

Love them :) Elijah sitting on Daisy and singing.

Christmas Morning at the Teston's

Below are some pics of little E enjoying Christmas morning...

Here with his favorite gift... the m&ms :)

Giving Mommy a thank you hug for his Santa Mr Potato Head

Getting help from Daddy

My love

Our little family

Peeking through Daddy's Wii tower

It goes on my feet...

Shoes...

Wrapping paper...

Bear slippers...

The... the... the... THE GRINCH!

Wagon

A ride in the wagon?...

Nah, I'd rather do the pushing...

Thanks for the wagon Nana :)

Baby no more

Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday with their friends and family. We did just that :) Elijah understood Christmas more this than last (obviously as last year his big Christmas accomplishment was keeping his eyes from going cross when looking at the tree). After 3 presents though he was done. He was perfectly happy with just the three. His favorite gift Christmas morning... m&m's. And he doesn't even know it's candy - he just liked the package! As the weekend went on he finally opened all his gifts and is loving and exploring them all.

I realized going through the pictures of this weekend how grown up my baby is. Just since his birthday 6 weeks ago I think he grew up! We took him after Christmas to get his hair cut. The first was just getting length off (which all grew back) so this time he actually got it "baby styled". And the big news... we cut off his curl in back! Anyone whose seen it knows how much I loved it... I think Adam thought I was going to lose it right there in the hair salon and melt to a bucket of tears. I didn't, but I did bring part of it home.

Below are a couple pictures from this weekend. I'll post more this week as time allows. Look how big!

Merry Christmas Eve

He's only 1 year old, but Elijah must have sensed the excitement in the air this morning. As I was preparing his lunch for the day he was in the other room tearing open the presents under the tree. A firm "no" and several pats on the butt later and he was still ripping through them. Then I caught him trying to pull the tree down! (think he was actually trying to reach an ornament, but the tree was tipping!) And I thought I was done wrapping presents.. ha. Guess I'll be re-wrapping tonight! Merry Christmas everyone :)

December Fun

Getting into the Christmas spirit

Meeting Drexell. Elijah thought baby D might want to play slinky with him... he didn't :)

This is why Daisy tolerates his contact climbing on her... for the food

Getting into his cheddar bunnies... one of his favs

Playing with his Mickey Mouse music instruments

Christmas Light Looking

We took Elijah out tonight driving around looking at Christmas lights. It is probably my most favorite childhood memory and I love that he is enjoying it as well.

Also, I realized tonight as he pointed at all the lights and babbled on about them, how much his speech reminds me of an episode of FRIENDS (yes, everything in life reminds me of an episode of FRIENDS). When Joey has to learn french for an audition - he thinks he's speaking it but no one understands him. This is totally Elijah trying to talk :) Love him.

Pure Happiness

I believe that children make the world better. With Elijah's first birthday, the Shave's expecting baby #2, and the birth of baby Drexell, what better time to give thanks for these precious little ones. Praise God for his love and his most perfect creations. I am in amazement every day when I hold my child and realize that the enormous amount of love that I have for him doesn't even come close to God's love for us.

Tonight we got to meet a very sweet baby boy :) Welcome to the world Drexell. We are in love with you already.

Drexell Nathan Tefft

Love them :) Nathan, Andrea and Drex

Thanksgiving and Christmas Tree Shopping

Although it wasn't his first Thanksgiving, this was the first year that Elijah was able to enjoy the food :) He loved it! Especially the stuffing.

Other exciting milestones... we have turned his car seat around so he's facing forward (loves it! he can now look out the window and see where we're going); and we went and got our Christmas tree (first live tree we've had).

Elijah's current favorite things:

Climbing on everything

Singing and dancing (together)

Walking backwards (learning to go "beep, beep, beep")

Reading books

Cleaning up (throwing away trash, putting his toys away)

Could he be any more perfect?

Drexell Nathan Tefft

Last night the world got a little better... Andrea and Nathan welcomed their baby boy into the world. Drexell Nathan Tefft.

Andrea and Nathan... we are bursting with excitment, love, and happiness for you. You are such great friends and we know you are going to be the most amazing of parents. Congratulations.

Family Christmas Photos

Shelbie came by a couple weeks ago and blessed us with our family Christmas photos :) All 100+ came out so perfect, but here are a few of my favorites.

Thanks and Congrats

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such great love.

I am especially thankful for Shelbie as I trust her everyday with what I hold most valuable, Elijah, and she never disappoints.

Congratulations to you, Jay and Desi for new baby Shave on the way!

I've got my nose

We've past the one year milestone and here we are, two weeks later, I am just starting to recover from it. Elijah has, in the meantime, gone on to learn more and more new things. Just wanted to share a moment that brought a smile to my face...

Yesterday, while eating lunch, he had a piece of chicken stuck to his nose. When I said to him, "Elijah, you have chicken on your nose" he pointed to his nose. Genius :0)

Elijah's 1st Haircut and other Cuteness

Took Elijah to get his first hair cut today! Nothing big, just trimmed to get it out of his eyes and off his ears and neck. He was so good and got a 1st haircut certificate and his first lollypop.

Before

After