Birthday Bliss

This is Elliott's birthday countdown. He started asking months ago, so we finally made this so he could cross a day off, and then count how many days were left. He was so diligent in keeping it up. It was the first thing he did every morning.

We had some fun birthday parties with our fam and Elliott's first friend party.

This is Elliott begging to open his presents from Grammy and Grandpa and his aunties before we were even finished with dinner.

I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said, "round" so I made my favorite- chocolate!

E didn't end up eating much cake- but oh..the frosting! ;)

We had a "Speed Racer" birthday party for his friends since Elliott is obsessed and since he was turning five and the car is named "Mach 5." So we played a little race car game and had yummy red Mach 5 (strawberry) cake.


Elliott loves his friends and had so much fun- but it was so crazy and LOUD! Thank goodness Linds stayed to help me out.
We got Elliott a ramp, (he was always asking to use the neighbors) and a skateboard. He likes using the ramp with his bike every waking minute that he can. 

He has been practicing his skateboard a lot too. We have these awesome little neighbor boys who we watch skate all the time, so he already wants to do it like them. It will be a while before he can use it on the ramp though...

"The Launch"

This is his latest trick (No legs!) along with his "one hand" riding. He really loves his bike!

Little Elliott turns 5!!!

Happy Birthday to my big 5 year old Elliott today! We have been counting down the days for the last month- he is so excited to be 5. It really does feel like yesterday that he was born, although it's hard to imagine life before he was in our family. I've often thought what a funny relationship a first kid has with his parents, because we are learning and growing at the same time he is. Elliott is a very thoughtful, smart, energetic, interesting boy...and sometimes a stinker. We love him so much! 

September 8, 2003   9 lbs 6 oz.

Big eyes since the day he was born. Everyone we ran into- even strangers would tell us how big they were, but maybe now he's growing into them a little more. (I'm sure the camera flash didn't help things in this pic.)

Three days old, and still in a little newborn ball.

2 Weeks Old

1 Year 

2 Years

3 Years

4 Years (with cousin Kenzie)

5 Years!!

"Picture of the Year"

This picture is so funny to me. It hardly needs an introduction because Ollie's face tells all! :) 

Preschool

On Tuesday, Elliott started his first day of preschool for this year. He was really excited to go, which is opposite of last year, when I had to talk him into it for the first few months!! He is going to our neighbor's preschool a few houses up, so he's really excited to ride his bike every time. He misses the kindergarten deadline by a week, which is okay, but it's weird seeing some of his little friends go to the big school already. 

Elliott isn't very picky with clothes, but had to buy this shirt from Old Navy and insisted on wearing it the first day. I love that he's standing in the flowers. I told him to go stand by them, not on them. Oh well. What a cutie.

Little Ollie was convinced he was going to school too. So he carried our rolling suitcase up to Miss Jody's and back... and wanted his picture taken too. What a funny little boy. I remember wanting to go when my sisters and brothers went to school too.

Swiss Days

We went up to Midway this weekend to spend some quality Swalberg family time and go to the best craft fair ever- Swiss Days. It was a lot of fun. We have gone every year for the last 6 or 7 I think, so it's fun to see all of the regulars who sell things there.

The little stream at the condo is always the boys' favorite. We went there many times and saw little baby fish. The boys loved to throw rocks and leaves in. Heaven for them.

This is my one big "find" that I'm really excited about, although Adam doesn't share in my joy...

Eating yummy beef roast and cherry pie! 

Grammy and Grandpa with Elliott, who is eating vanilla ice cream.

The sweet boys. Ollie, of course, is wearing my sunglasses.

Megs and Steve

Grammy helping the boys out with the new sticker book she bought for them. It was so fun- I'm already looking forward to next year! ;)

Ollie O

This little guy...has to try on every pair of sunglasses he ever sees.

Loves huge ugly cars! He stops by all of them and tells us it's the coolest car he's ever seen. Adam even bought him a hearse to be funny and he carried it around for weeks!
Music lover? He has learned to "rock" which is what he likes to call his new dance move. He's also very good at recognizing music and songs and where they came from, i.e. "that's Daddy's phone ring" or "this song is on my baby show!"
Is a silly cute boy. Everything he does and says is so dang cute. Except that he has to do EVERYTHING himself now, which includes getting into the car through my door- it takes forever! Oh yeah- and those loud tantrums aren't so fun either, funny- yes, fun- NO! We love our sweet little Ollie so much!

Mmmm...

A new favorite snack I had to try since it involved peanut butter...so yummy! 

Holly the Dog

We were able to watch Adam's parents' dog, Holly for a few days last week. And other than banning our kittty to the basement for a few days, it was really, really fun! She is such a gentle little dog and the boys LOVE her. She definitely got her share of walks from Elliott, although for Ollie, the second she started pulling on the leash would pawn her off on one of us. So this got me to thinking. I've always wanted a dog, although I have never had one growing up. When we got married, we got a cat soon after, and always thought we would get a dog later. But now that our house feels like a zoo already, and I know dogs are a lot of work, (seriously- one more thing to clean up after???) we have no desire to get one anytime soon. So these are my reasons for wanting a dog- a friend for my boys, clean up crumbs from the boys, and bark if there are intruders. There is a list of cons that I won't go into- but they sort of outweigh the pros. But this is the perfect alternative! We can borrow a dog for a few days, the boys love the newness, we can love, walk them and play non-stop with them, we only have to clean up a few poops and deal with barking for a couple of days, and then we give them back! I think this may be a little how grandparents feel about grandkids. So if anyone needs a dog sitter- we are available, but only if your dog is as nice as Holly. We can't wait for the next time she comes!

Texas Roadhouse BBQ

We finally went to Texas Roadhouse BBQ for our first time last night- you know, the place over by Southtowne Mall. It was SO good! So my favorite food on this planet are potatoes (any kind) and get this- they will "load" them for you, which means they will add butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon to any  of them! So you can order mashed potatoes, a baked potato, fries (huge steak fries- yum) or sweet potatoes and load them up. Seriously- my dream come true! And let's not forget the pulled pork and ribs! Oh man- they are so tender and tasty! They serve warm rolls at the beginning with cinnamon butter too. They gave us a complimentary onion blossom appetizer since it was our first time, and another coupon for a free appetizer next time we go. Another great thing is the prices are pretty good. The kids meals were only like $3 and $4, and the bigger meals are a good deal too. I had a yummy "cowboy" drink that has strawberry lemonade, cranberry juice and sprite in it.  The wait was only 35-40 minutes, but we got there at 5:40, so I think if you go later, the wait would be longer. Try it out- it's one of our favorites now! (Thanks again Amy and Cody!!) We ate the leftovers for dinner tonight and they were just as good.

Wilco

We went to the Wilco concert at Red Butte Gardens last night. It was one of the best concerts I've been to- they gave such a great performance! 

Jeff Tweedy- the lead singer.

Jason, Rachel, Linds, Adam and Rich

We stuck together while the boys went up to rock out in the front.

Adam and Rich- and I can't believe I included the "dancing queen" in this picture- we were laughing at her moves the whole night!!

They played for a long time and even came back for TWO encores! It was an amazing show- and if you don't know Wilco- you should check them out. (I have them playing as the first song on my playlist- a song called Kamera.) I love that he always uses "honey" in his songs- I think it's so sweet! ;)

Blah...

Do you ever have one of those crappy weeks (or days, or hours) that you just can't seem to shake the funk? And then you go to church and it seems like everyone's lesson is exactly what you needed to hear, like they prepared it just for you? I love that! It gives me a new perspective on my attitude, problems, whatever. It really enlightens my mind and helps me be more positive for the next little while. What if I wouldn't have gone because I felt too depressed and not in the mood? I totally would have missed out! I'm thankful for the gospel and beliefs that I have so I can see the bigger picture! And to all those teachers who are wondering if their lessons even make sense to people, or touch them in any way- thank you! I'm sure this happens every time they are teaching- someone definitely needs their lesson today! :)