Elias photo shoot

I realized it had been a while since I have done a photo shoot of Elias. So while we were at Todd's parents the other day I took advantage of some nice scenery.











and the best one of all... the most ridiculous pj's I have ever seen. We bought them at a garage sale and the top and bottom button this way. also the top is way short. All we could do was laugh and take pictures..... click to see full effect of funniness..

I love my friends!!!

Last weekend we went to a cookout with Todd's softball team and the families. Some of Elias' good friends were there and I was able to capture some great moments. Elias especially loves his friend Kennedy as you can see from the pictures. I have some more that I may share later, but here are some of my favorites.


Can I hold your hand?

yes you can.....

kennedy, elias, and brendan


i really love kennedy....



so much that I am going to give her a hug....

Olympics and Visiting with College friends....

First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of recent posts. Much of my time over the past few weeks has been spent watching the olympics. To be honest it has taken over most of my regular responsibilites and lost lots of sleep from staying up WAY to late. Nonetheless, Todd and I have throughly enjoyed watching it all and wouldn't trade our two weeks of negleting everything else. We are ready for them to be over this weekend though, so we can start catching up on all the sleep we have lost. So, far the greatest moment was when usa won the 4x100-meter freestyle relay! AMAZING!! I loved this moment and in case you didn't see the celebration, I wanted to include a picture. Priceless. I also really enjoyed seeing Nastia Lukin win Gold in the gymnastics all-around..


Last week Elias and I took a trip to visit a couple college friends Ashley and Julia and thier kiddos in Northern Indiana. It was a great time visiting and allowing the three "E"'s (Ethan, Evan, and Elias) to interact together. It was a great time hanging out and catching up with such wonderful friends that I don't get to see often! Hopefully we will be able to get together again soon!

Neighborhood Cookout!

This past weekened we hosted a neighborhood cookout in our cul-da-sac. It was a lot of fun meeting neighbors and hanging out. Todd also enjoyed being a grill master for the evening. Elias enjoyed playing with the other kids and being introduced to chalk.

Todd started back to school this week and the kids come tomorrow. We will all now be adjusting back to this new schedule. Elias is such a funny little kid. He is saying new words all the time. A few new words he has recently added to his vocabulary are fish, Mimi, mommy (finnaly!), keys, bubbles, Bible, baby, and outside. It is so fun to see him learning new words and beggining to communicate more with us. He is also running now which is fun except when he is running from us! :)

The Grill Master...


The food and Todd eating...


Todd eating again... :)


Elias playing with some of the neighbors


Checking out this chalk thing with the other kids....



The aftermath....

Fun with Family

Last week we had a great times visitng with family. Keet, Hillary, and Cole were in from Wisconsin for a week before moving to Nebraska here soon. We were glad to spend time with them before they move and learn a few more games from them. Even though we are sad for them to move farther away we will now have a reason to venture out to Nebraska in the future for a visit. Then my cousin and her three kiddos came to visit from Tennessee and stayed with us for a few days. We enjoyed spending time with them and going to the Children's musuem. Elias loved all the kids around to play with. Then we headed to Rushville for the Redden family reunion and my 2nd cousins wedding. We are blessed with such great family it is wonderful to spend time with them since many live far away. Elias had a GREAT time dancing at the wedding. Check out the videos below on last post.


We took Cole and Elias to the waterpark. ELias sat down to take a break and show us something... ;)


Elias and Cole loved playing on this slide together. Cole taught Elias to walk down the slide instead of sitting down. Thanks Cole! ;)




Aunt Hillary and Elias playing Peek a Boo--- soo cute!


Elias saying "Boo" a little early...


Elias and Cole playing at the children't Musuem


Elias playing with Marshall and Caroline when they came to visit.