moments with elliott

Last night Elliott was not happy with us and truly showed his temper.  A while later he asked me to come up to his room, and he said in a very truly remorseful tone that he was sorry.  I asked him what he was sorry about (sounds like torture, huh?).  This was his response:

"You know, for losing my temperature and all that"

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.  Thankfully he thought it was funny, too.  Love that boy!

it's official....

Fall has arrived at our house.  If it's a Saturday between now and January, you know what we're doing.

july in pictures

moments with Ethan

Found this on my camera last night, obviously filmed by Elliott, and the idea was most likely a collaboration by the two.  Where do they come up with these things?

By the way, that's a McDonald's apple pie box slipped over the straw that he is drinking/humming out of.

driving

I love the drive out to our friends' house.  You turn the corner and you're pretty much in the country, and my claustrophobia starts diminishing.  It's really just pure beauty.  Rolling hills, green trees, fields, creeks, meadows, houses with some privacy - you get the picture.

So on the way out there, the boys were finding shapes in the clouds and it reminded me of the Bible lesson from FirstLook this Sunday so we started talking about how God showed his people where to go when they were leaving Egypt by putting a cloud in the sky for them to follow everyday, letting them know that He was always with them.  We talked about how when we look at the clouds we can be reminded that God is always with us, too.

Then on the way home we were graced with this beautiful sight and another reminder of God's promises....

It was truly more beautiful in person.  I was kind of perturbed with myself for not having the "good" camera with me, because this one wouldn't let me go wide enough to get the whole rainbow.  It was actually a full rainbow and you could see it from end to end.  It was even a double rainbow in some places. 

Elliott kept asking if we could go find the end of it and get the pot of gold.  They were both incredibly curious about what a rainbow was made of and why it goes away and how it starts and what's at the end and how you get there.  I was extremely glad Brian was there for the science lesson - that's definitely his thing! 

Then Elliott decided that leprechauns aren't real - it's just a person who sneaks in and messes everything up.  And Santa isn't real either - that's just a person who leaves presents at the door in the middle of the night.  Ethan countered that with the fact that we SEE Santa every year at Grandma's so he knows he's real - DUH!!!

a moment with Ethan

On the way home from the S family's house (thanks for the spectacular rainbow,  fun tire swing rides and new vocabulary, by the way - ha!), I started to continue a conversation that Ethan and I started on the way home from school earlier this afternoon......

Me:  So Ethan, do you sit with the Spicy Enchiladas now? (sidenote:  his class tables are divided and labeled by continents and his teacher calls the kids who sit at "South America" the Spicy Enchiladas)

Ethan:  Yep.

Me:  Why did you move?  (he used to sit in Europe)

Ethan:  I guess because everyone wanted to talk to me and they just kept talking to me and I couldn't get my work done.

Brian:  It wasn't because YOU were talking?

Ethan (with a bewildered look):  No.  Everyone at that table just kept talking to me.

Me:  So the kids at South America don't talk to you?  It was just the ones in Europe?

Ethan:  Yeah.  Nobody talks to me at the Spicy Enchilada table.

Me:  How long have you been sitting there?

Ethan:  Mmmmm......one day.


You're laughing at this if you know Ethan.

cousins, birthdays and golf carts

This summer has been full of cousin birthdays for us.

Eli turned 2.

He doesn't like his hands to be wet or messy, so I'm thinking this little smidge of icing that got on his finger was not the most exciting part of the day for him.  Look at his cute cake!  Erin is so creative and made that for him.

Eli was not so sure about the whole pinata thing......

but Elliott was (of course).

And then this little guy turned 1

He's looking at Erin with that "what just happened?" look because she had just swiped his hand away from the oh-so-enticing light coming from the burning candle.  C'mon Mom, it's way cool to stick your finger in a burning flame!

Ryan was trying to show Ben how this whole "dig-into-your-cake-and-make-as-much-of-a-mess-as-you-want" thing was supposed to be done.  From the look on Ben's face, he wasn't buying it.

I just love this picture.

Pure. birthday. joy. 

So if you are a Hosselton grandchild, you know that when you go to Grandma and Grandpa's there is a golf cart ride just waiting to happen. 

This was actually the first time Ben would ride in it. He loved it! So much that he didn't want to get out.

 

You were wondering where Elliott was, weren't you?

And they rode off into the sunset.  And it was quiet.  For a few moments.