Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Blog Header Revisited

And just to follow up, Russ finished Janel's blog header yesterday and even threw in an extra button/banner thingy. Click here to check it out in real life.

Or here to head back to Russ' blog to see prices, etc.

And I'll leave you with a little Christmas cheer from ye ol' St. Louis Zoo Wild Lights exhibit:

Feel free to comment on the VERY CUTE HAT RUSS GOT ME FOR CHRISTMAS.

OH THE CUTENESS.

Don't try to break into my house to steal it cuz I hid it.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Catching up

Oh, so behind! We've been unplugged since Thursday and couldn't have been happier about it. No offense, but uh...

So as I get caught up, I have to share a couple stories from the last few days that I don't want to forget. During the Christmas Eve service at our church, Eliot was sitting in my lap. We were all the way up front so he could "see daddy?" There were a few kids running around in back and it made a little pitter patter noise.

E: Mommy, did you hear that?
I nod.
E: What was that?
M: I don't know, what do you think?
E: Was it baby Jesus?
M: No, I don't think so.
E: Oh. What is Santa?


On the way home, we were talking about Jesus' birthday, how Santa's kinda like the party planner, etc. I asked him how he wanted to celebrate Jesus. He said we should get him a present and when I asked him what he wanted to give him, he thought quietly for a moment and answered "Lightening McQueen".

Thursday, December 24, 2009

And the winner is...



Janel! I used the fayn-cey random number integrator thingy, adding my comments, then Russ's and 26 came up!

Janel, email Russ (russ AT fundamental elements d0t net) this week to get things moving!

Congrats, and have a Merry Christmas!


P.S. Fun story since this post became an impromptu Janel highlight: we used to teach together a few years ago. A group of us did a secret santa exchange in 05 and she got my name. People, let me say one thing: Gold.Mine. One thing she gave me was a mini-scrapbook made from brown paper lunch bags. If you know Janel, it doesn't surprise you that she could whip up something so cute w/ something so common. She's got mad skills. In the scrapbook was this note:

Can you read that last line? It reads, "I KNOWgood things are going to come for you in 2006." Ya'll, she just might be a prophetess. In 2006, we decided to adopt, decided on Guate, Eliot was born in May, we met him in July, and I moved to Guate w/ him in November, Russ joining me for that Christmas. You might say it was a good year.

Anyway, I found this little treasure when we packed last December and stuck it on my shelf when we unpacked. Just thought I'd officially thank Janel publicly for it!

Merry Christmas one and all, even if you didn't win the very cool new blog header!!!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Eve of the eve.


With plans w/ the fam coming up, we had to adjust our little family unit plan. So, as far as we're concerned, "Christmas" is tomorrow and Christmas is Friday. See the difference? Great.

(Our very sweet NEIGHbor came over today and brought this for eliot! He LOVES it!)



The Christmas Eve pj's tradition lives on!

And this, my friends, is how Russ is spending the rest of his evening. It's pretty adorable. The fatherly dreams of decal stickers and tiny plastic parts are finally coming to fruition. Warms the heart.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Tis the season for secrets...

The boys picked me up from work yesterday and this was the conversation that occurred upon entering the car:

E: Hi Mommy!
M: Hi El!
E: Hey mommy, Daddy bought mommy some pajamas!

pause...as R takes a deep breath, shaking his head.

R:Eliot! Remember how we talked about surprising mommy?
E: Shhhh! It's a secret!


LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the holidays with a 3 year old!!!

DON'T FORGET THAT TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY FOR THE FREE BLOG HEADER! (click here if you're confused.)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Mohr than Eye Candy.

If you have learned the value of following directions well, you've already seen Russ' new blog last week and his mad skills of a graphic nature. (That came out wrong.)

Well...behold! My new blog header! Does it just kill you?? (Google readers, come on out and take a looksy, it's worth the extra click, I promise!)

A new blog, a new blog header, the spirit of the holiday season...it's all adding up and the sum looks a little like a giveaway! EGAD, this is 7 kinds of fun! {Cue lights and balloon launch.}

Russ will give one ever-so-fortunate commenter a free blog header. You get your name in the drawing once for commenting here ON THIS POST,and once for commenting on this post on his blog. Your deadline is the stroke of midnight Wednesday. (meaning you have until Wednesday night, not to confuse you.)

He will soon be announcing pricing on custom blog headers but for now, this is your chance to earn yourself a little free Christmas cheer.

Comment away!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Frost Yourself.



Don't know if you remember our adventures at Melissa's wedding last November, but one of them included one of her many adorable siblings pointing out that my diamond was no longer in my ring. Blessings of blessings, it was on the floor directly below where we were sitting. I tucked it safely away and moved my anniversary band over to hold it's place. How else would I ward off all those potential suiters?

Knowing that we bought the ring in Little Rock, I assumed I had to take it back there to get fixed. Long story short, there's a local jeweler owned by the same company. EGAD! 12 months later, I take the ring in and get it back w/in 2 weeks.

I'm giddy. Like a newly engaged 21-year-old! So excited that I'm even willing to post this disporportioned pic of myself.

And did I mention Russ' new blog? Cuz, it's awesome.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Mohr news!

If you haven't heard yet, we've got some news. This is unexpected but let's roll w/ it, peeps.

Russ has a blog.
His own little bulletin board showcase of all things Russ. Well, not really ALL things but all creative-russ things.

The truly miraculous thing about it? He's blogged more than me in the last week. Y'all, that is whack. And I don't use that phrase freely. Miraculous and whack in the same paragraph. That's what this is about.

Today he posted a peak of the Christmas cards he made in the last week. Get ready to freak out.

Leave him some comment love, then throw that little addy into your google reader.

Comment love or I'll hold my blog posts hostage.

click here. Go go go!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Wish granted. Sort of.

For all of you who have pleaded, begged, prayed, fasted, or simply asked for Russ + Christmas music, there's a bit of an appetizer available to you. It's like the cheddar bay biscuits at RL. (mid-afternoon munchies much?)

The Fundamental Elements have recorded a Christmas Song and MADE IT A FREE DOWNLOAD. Hello.

Merry. Christmas. To. Me.

Head over to their blog to get the FREE download.

More news coming soon. Or should I say Mohr news.

Never gets old.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Snuggle Sundays

Wanna peek into our Sunday afternoons?

Done. Peek accomplished.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Earning his keep.

This week marked a first for our little man. He learned a new word. (Thankfully one that he can use in public...) Chores. Yes, he's only 3 and 1/2 but that means he's practically 4 and that makes him not that far away from 12, really, and then it's almost time to decide what to get him for graduation. Sweet mercy, where did the time go?

So, yes, chores. Or chore, as the case may be. His job?


Canine food management (i.e. filling Daisy's food bowl).

With each full bowl, he claims (and shakes) his booty. He gets a coin to put in his piggy bank. And because this teacher can't let go of teachable moments, we talk about what the coin is and how much it's worth, etc.

(excuse the unexcusebly bad picture. yikes)

Eventually we'll start separating into save, give, spend but for now it's all in one bank while he learns a little responsibility. Also, for now, his "allowance", if that's what you want to call it, is earned by chores. In a few years, it may move to books. We're definitely throwing around the idea.

I once heard John Maxwell speaking at an Arbonne conference and he shared how his kids earned their allowance by reading. When his kids found out that their friends earned theirs simply by taking out the trash, etc, stuff they were already expected to be doing, they got mad and asked why they had it differently. Dr. Maxwell explained that on one hand, they didn't need to get paid to be an active and responsible part of the family, on the other hand, he said, "If I wanted you to become garbage-men, I'd pay you to take out the garbage." Hence, paying them to read.

However, if we paid Eliot for reading books at this stage, we'd have to take out a sizable loan. So, perhaps once he's older and into actual reading, specifically books that take more than 2 minutes to finish and don't include Lightening McQueen as the main character. Kaaaaa-chow.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Laugh Out Loud Wednesday

This line from this blog made me Laugh Out Loud today,

"If you ever grow concerned that your prayer life isn’t what it should be, I totally recommend watching your child take pictures with someone else’s very expensive camera."

What made you laugh today?

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Legit

Finally my Christmas giddiness can come to fruition! Instead of just showing you pics from our night-o-decorating, I thought I'd throw in the similar shots from years past, just for kicks. Christmas kicks are my favorite. I promise yule enjoy some of these little throwbacks!

My boys two years ago vs now-a-days



Yesteryear vs yesterday

And the rest of the photo fun:




That's it from this round! Mohrry Christmas!!!

Happy St. Leon's Day!

(Inside family joke, sorry!)

Over Thanksgiving my family also celebrated Christmas since our schedules don't really allow for another hang out time any closer to the 25th. So, we held Thanksmas/ Chrisgiving/ St. Leon's Day.

Enjoy the photo journal:

Hang out time with Aunt Dawn!












Sunday, November 29, 2009

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Speaking of Chocolate Chips...

Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. I'm too attached to a couple of the other ones though to officially declare it as so. I like that family is gathered. I like being thankful. I like eating olives with my Dad.

And ever since 3 years ago, the holiday is the anniversary of the best one-way ticket I ever bought. You can read a little tidbit here or here from the year before that. You'd think I'd come up with new material once in awhile but it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to. You would cry too if it happened to you.

Now that we've established that...

Happy Thanksgiving, blogees!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Link to the Love.

There's a few blogs I read that feature great deals, one of them being Saves for Six which happens to be written by a local blogger. Again, blogees, add it to your reader and be amazed. Link to the Love.

Today she posted a code to get 3 free songs downloaded from Amazon. Combine that with Amazon's $5 Black Friday Week deals and you can get an entire album for less than $2. Peeps, the internet was created for this moment.

Click here for the goodies.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Adoption controversy?

The other night we watched Meet the Robinsons. When it originally came out, the buzz was how anti-adoption this flick was. If you haven't seen it, the cliffsnotes version would be a story of 2 "orphans" and throughout the movie you see couples come in and interview the kids. During the interviews, the kids blow it and in one scene the chairs are actually spinning with how fast the couple gets out of there. So, yeah, those parts of the movie don't color the process beautiful, making prospective parents out to be a tad heartless and disinterested.

HOWEVER! For the last ten minutes of the movie, Eliot hugged me. While he's only 3 and doesn't fully grasp all the messages snuck into this film, something caused him to respond with affection. I'm not trying to read into this, but not only did he suddenly feel super affectionate, but when the main character gets to {spoiler alert!} go back in time to watch his birthmom dropping him off at the orphanage, Eliot ran over to the end table and pulled out the picture album of "Tiny Baby Eliot" (what he calls it) of his baby pictures when we met him at 6 weeks old. He wanted to look through it WHILE WATCHING THIS PART OF THE MOVIE. Random? I think not.

In conclusion:
*Does Eliot "get" adoption already? I think he does more than we give him credit for.

*Is "Meet the Robinsons" anti-adoption? I'm going to rally on the side of no. {spoiler alert} and {speculation alert}If the main character had ended up with any one of the many couples who came to interview him, he wouldn't have become a wildly successful scientist/inventor.


P.S. This is the face that leaned over into my ear at church and whispered "I'm your chocolate chip."

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Nov. 19

Some of you lurkers may not know that for a season of our lives (and ever since then, actually) Russ was a youth pastor. A few nights ago we ran into a guy who worked alongside Russ during the same time and watching them talk about this youtube video was like hooking up the flux-capacitor. The majority of you won't care about this but for those who have ever been in youth ministry or for those "kids" of ours, watch and enjoy if you haven't seen it already.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Hmmm...can't decide...


which shoes with this outfit?

AND, my bloggees, you got distracted by the Ginko tree funk and forgot to acknowledge the following paragraph:

While browsing a new blog, I enjoy a section off to the side that highlights reader 'favorites'. I'm thinking of adding such a section and was curious as to what posts have stuck out to you for whatever reason. Was it funny, heartfelt, cute Eliot story, good hair day, whathaveyou?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Input and suffixes.

Firstly, thanks for all the encouragement (i.e. talking me off the 'WHY-ISN'T-MY-KID'fill-in-the-blank ledge). You guys are the best. I will, uh, tell my friend about your suggestions.

Secondness, please know, we have a stinky ginko tree in front of our house that has lovingly bestowed it's fruit all over our front walk and yard. And, frankly, there's no easy way to say this: it stinketh. The fruit is desribed as "attractive in appearance, but contains butanoic acid (also known as butyric acid) and smells like rancid butter (which contains the same chemical) or feces when fallen." My point in sharing this? I was simply looking for an excuse to tell you that Eliot yells "Poopy balls!" everytime we leave or arrive at the house. Entertainingment.


Thirding, while browsing a new blog, I enjoy a section off to the side that highlights reader 'favorites'. I'm thinking of adding such a section and was curious as to what posts have stuck out to you for whatever reason. Was it funny, heartfelt, cute Eliot story, good hair day, whathaveyou? Feel free to experiment with your suffixes when you respond.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Hypothetically...

If your 3 1/2 year old were to still wear a diaper at nap time and night time, often peeing through the diaper at night, what might you do to make that stop?

And, uh, I have a friend who's almost-4-yr-old, might possibly still be drinking milk from a sippy cup when he or she first wakes up. Any ideas there? He or she is not super attached to it but it's still a habit. Err.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Linky Love

Last week, a friend's blog directed me to this blog which has $50 Fridays (complete outfits). I heart it. Click on the link, add it to your google reader and have a great weekend.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Nov 11

Please tell me you read about this.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

'While You Were Out' throwback!

Remember that show?? Eliot and I did a little version of it ourselves this week. Russ was o.u.t. so we took matters into our own hands. Since moving into this condo, our bedroom has been my least favorite room. We've not done much {read: ANY} decorating to this place. Sometimes looking at white walls everyday makes me want to bang my head against said walls.
Before:



Have tape, will work. For candy.


What, you don't paint sans pants?

Here's a few 'Afters':


I'm not 100% done, we still need new pillows and curtains but those will come. For now, it feels a lot more homey, a lot more intentional if that makes any sense.