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I am a month late on this but I wanted to get photos of Elijah's 4th birthday posted.  

On the day Elijah turned 4 we left early in the morning for a 2.5 week trip to our homes in MO and IL.  So most of his birthday was spent in the car but I think he enjoyed it anyway.

He got the balloons just like Josiah did this year on his birthday.  He just had to enjoy his when we woke him up at 5:30 am.  Believe it or not all of the balloons still had air in them when we returned home 2.5 weeks later!

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We celebrated at our hotel in Dayton that night with a Thomas cake that he chose in the bakery at WalMart.

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Here is his 4 year 'watch me grow dads jersey photo.'

Noah turned 8 months yesterday.  He is so much fun right now.  He smiles all the time and loves to watch everything that is going on around him.  He isn't a big belly laugher but Elijah seems to be the one who can pull it out of him every so often.

He is starting to get mobile.  Last weekend he started doing pushups to his knees but isn't crawling yet.  He does know how to roll and pull himself to something he wants to get though.  He will dig his toes into the floor and pull with his arms to get there.

Yesterday was the first day that he got up on his knees on his own and sat himself back up.  He has done it 3-4 times since then to my knowledge.  I will make a big deal out of it and then Elijah and Josiah will make an even bigger deal out of it and Noah will look at us like we are crazy and then have moments of excitement himself.  

He is eating a little bit of baby food but he is kind of sporadic on whether he wants to eat 3 bites or a whole jar.  We also tried some pieces of yogurt melts the other day.  He just liked playing with them more than eating them but it is a start.  Here is a photo of them stuck all over his face.

6 Months (July 23)

We had told Elijah all summer long that we were going to take him miniature golfing this summer and after many different attempts we finally did so this past weekend.  Since this week are starting to pull out our long sleeves and temps are dropping into the 40's at night we figured we better get it done or we would not be able to take him.

We weren't quite sure what to expect out of the boys.  Josiah was young enough to be free but we were going to be paying for Elijah so Shane gave him a pep talk before we started that we were paying for him to play so he needed to be sure that he was going to play all 18 holes.  There were a few moments when I wasn't sure if we would make it to the end but we did.  

Josiah was the only one with a hole in one (Shane helped him when he took that stroke) and also the only one who lost his ball when we weren't watching on 16.  He told us it was in the water and when we couldn't find it we told him he was done playing but another guy behind us ended up finding it in the weeds for him.  

It was a good family outing and it enjoyed in our 70 degree weather.

I love how that sign says "Do not walk on bricks"  

The 'Elijah tongue'

He got it in!

Elijah likes to know everything.   He is always asking questions about things.  He is also nosey.  Shane will tell you that he gets that from me.  :)

But seeing this yesterday (he had been watching a guy outside our building fixing some siding that had fallen off)...

immediately reminded me of this (watching the garbage man outside picking up our trash).  

And the reminder of what 3 years difference can make.

PS- 3 homes later that is the same toy bin to the left of the window and the wall color in 2007 is the same colors Shane used on the dresser in the 2010 photo.

Elijah had his first dentist appointment yesterday.  He always asks at the end of the day 'Where us going tomorrow?' and when he asked Monday night I debated on whether to tell him or not and decided that I would so I wouldn't be hiding it from him.  He was immediately nervous and asked me what the dentist was.  I explained that it is a doctor for your teeth and he told me he didn't want to go teary eyed.  I told him it would be fine.

Tuesday morning that plan was for Shane to stay with Josiah and Noah at home and I would take Elijah to the appointment at 8:30 but Elijah was anxious and decided at 7:50 that he would feel better if everyone went.  So we rushed to get everyone dressed to leave a few minutes after 8:00 to drive to the appointment.  

They let me go back with him and he nervously got into the big chair.  If you know Elijah that means chewing on his tongue and not talking.  :)  The lady who cleaned his teeth showed him everything and was very easy with him and he did a great job.  No tears were shed and he has 20 very nice teeth.  Hopefully he will maintain that for years to come.  If genetics work for us it will be good because I have had 1 cavity (a couple years back) and Shane has had 2 (a couple years back) so we have pretty good track records.

Here are a few photos of the trip.

Anxiously waiting.  Elijah would tell you that that is the cup he used to spit in that sink.  :-)

Getting his teeth brushed.

Showing me his blue toothpaste teeth.

His new toothbrush.

All done in the waiting room with his new toothbrush and his hotwheels car from the prize basket.  As you can tell Noah was highly amused by it all.  :)

I love to read and Shane introduced me to BookSneeze.com, a book review site.  They provide a book free of charge in return for a review of the book on your blog.

One Hand, Two Hands is a children's book with beautiful illustrations talking about how we can use our hands.  How we can use them to help, show kindness, and love those around us. Unlike some of Lucado's other children's books this one is very short and simple.  A quick rhyming read that will hold a young toddlers attention to the end.  A great way to initiate conversation about how we can use our hands to do tasks around the house, help those in need, and thank God that he gave us these hands to be used for him.  

Our boys loved the story and participating with clapping, waving, and other actions.  They also loved the pictures and pointing out the objects.  It will be a book to add to our out of reach books since it is a hardback book and would easily be destroyed in little boy hands but, is a great book to add to our collection.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

When we changed my web hosting a few weeks ago we ended up canceling the old one to soon and therefore all of my photos are gone.  The text is still there but the photos will no longer pull up.  I still have all of the photos saved in our photo program so all is not lost but the stories won't have the same meaning without the pictures to complete them.  So, no your computer is not having trouble opening them.  In this cyber world of ours nothing is safe.  :)