my new favorite website

etsy. i can't get enough of it. maybe it's been around for 50 years. i really have no idea. all i know is that i'm in love. if i could wear something knit everyday--purchased off of this website--i would explode (in the best way possible), i think. (note: upcycled=new favorite word for the year 2011). here's my favorite find of the day. if brent and i were forced to choose wooden plaques to best describe us (say, perhaps to pose w/ for the church pictorial), they'd look like the following:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62720984/geek-recycled-wood-sign

why i can't make that into a hyperlink, i'm not sure. anyway, there you have it.

pictures of our amazing, white christmas in iowa w/ my family are still to come....as soon as my dad uploads them from his camera (hint, hint).

sending much love!

just a lot of pictures

elliot's FAVORITE activity: time on daddy's shoulders

elliot assisting with laundry.....

elliot and daddy playing elliot's first guitar

how i find elliot in the mornings and after every nap....chubby arms slung over side of crib


taking a ride on nana's shoulders =)

crawling IN the coffee table....yes, in. this boy is drawn like a magnet to the coffee table.

elliot in his formal wear from baubie and poppa

an older pic (but i just managed to get it from my phone) of elliot and uncle davey from our visit to iowa for his and breeann's wedding

elliot and precious aunt breeann

picture of my picture

my phone is a little bit temperamental (and that's what i use to take my pictures), and so it sometimes takes me a while to post these days. anyway, here it finally is! i'm certainly no picasso, but the picture filled the space in my living room that i needed it to w/ the colors i wanted. plus, more than anything, i just wanted to make lindsey stamm proud. mission accomplished? lindsey?

mommy and elliot

here's a rare mommy/elliot pic just for fun. i've found that i have hardly any pictures of the 2 of us b/c i'm usually the one holding the camera. anyway, it's not that it's so great, but it's value is in its rarity. =)



in other news, i've been hard at work trying to make our sweet little house a home. i've done a lot of nailing and--as of late--i'm quite the painter. it's not that i'm really that great, but i have done a LOT of it recently--and not just painting walls either but i did paint an actual canvas (pictures to come). now, if you've seen anything i've made from my 5th grade art class (which is pretty much the last time i painted anything), you'd find it difficult to believe that i'd paint something today that would be voluntarily hung in our home. i discovered, though, that i CAN paint straight lines--albeit w/ the help of some painter's tape--and so i went to the craft store, bought paint and a canvas and went to town. the fun part about painting something yourself is you get to choose the colors, and so if you want to use obscure colors, you can totally make that happen. anyway, my 3 days of being an artist were a delight. now back to the real world of laundry. =)

thanks a lot

if you live in arizona, you've been a part of the stormy weather we've been having--and if you used to live in the midwest but now live in arizona, you're loving every minute of this weather. anyway, yesterday, i was walking around our block w/ elliot (whom, i'll add loves taking in every bit of his surroundings) when a rather...spirited woman pulled up next to us and yelled at me, "it's gonna rain, foo!" (yes, i said "foo.") thank you, m'am. i do appreciate your very perceptive insights given the heavy rain clouds that i would have failed to notice had you not taken the time out of your busy day to alert me to them. people are so thoughtful.

in other news, elliot is crawling! well, most of the time. he typically starts off the day crawling (when the energy level is high and the diaper freshly changed) and then quickly reverts to scooting because, well, let's be honest, crawling is dang hard work! we're so proud of him.

he also loves it when i say different words in my over-articulatled "stage voice," i call it--words like "blueberries" and "pear" and "oatmeal" (clearly, most of this talk goes on while i'm feeding him). he laughs and makes me feel like the funniest person on the plant. what a kid. we do love our little man.

brent's really gotten into referring to elliot as "the stinky" which seems more and more appropriate as his solid food intake increases. (btw, to all of my literary friends out there, what's it called when you take an adjective--stinky--and make it into a noun--the stinky? i just can't remember.....please help! my skills are quickly vanishing) anyway, it's so sweet to see my 2 favorite boys together. i love it so much.

teeth! and so much more!

oh my gosh. i can't believe it's been this long. i feel like at this point, i just need to post SOMETHING for all of my obsessive fans just to keep them at bay. or at least for my mom, who--let's be honest--is my only loyal reader.

anyway, since i last wrote, elliot and i took a trip to iowa to visit my parents (elliot's baubie and poppa), and my dad visited brently, elliot and i here in az. 2 precious family members celebrated birthdays, mama k (nana to elliot) and cousin kylee. yay! elliot is scooting like a madman, although he would almost always rather be in his walker and standing on his tiny, precarious baby feet that aren't meant to be stood on yet. he's now eating bananas, peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal. last week, he cut his first tooth and then yesterday, he cut a second tooth! wow. big boy. these are sharp little guys, too. elliot bit brent's finger the other day and left an imprint. not too shabby.

anyway, one of elliot's most favorite things in the world to do is ride on his daddy's shoulders. he smiles and smiles and throws his head back laughing. hilarious. we love our little man so much. enjoy the pics. sending love.

more weddin' pix

davey's and breeann's wedding

what an incredible time in iowa. my little brother married his best friend and a wonderful girl, breeann. here are a few moments from the time away.

ho ho ho hosannah =)

elliot thought this song was hilarious. i've sung it to him since he was born, but yesterday, he couldn't get enough of it. i tried to stop singing at different times so you could hear him laugh, but i couldn't get all of them. anyway, here's a taste of our musical moment yesterday. =)

elliot's new toy

sorry for not posting for so long! where has the time gone?? anyway, here's just a fun little moment captured of elliot playing in his underwater jungle. =) i was hoping his new toy would be quite the source of entertainment, but as it turns out, he'd rather get up and walk around.....not that he's even sitting up at this point, but i think that frustrates him. i really do think he's a toddler in the body of an infant. he'll sort of bat at the hanging toys for a minute or 2 (sometimes less) and then start rolling off the pad. funny boy. oh how our love grows for him. =)

sick or not sick? that is the question

yesterday was plain awful (a line from "annie" but oh-so fitting here). elliot had his first temperature preceded by his first cough. ugh. he slept in bed with us (i know; we're breaking all the rules). he alternated between coughing and sneezing and just trying to breathe through his nose all night long. poor little elliot. we love him so. thankfully, he's doing much better today. here's a video i took of him last night before the awfulness started. i was trying to cool him down with a cold rag on his forehead (his temp was 101.8). this is the footage that followed. silly boy. you decide if he was sick or not.

the reason we want you to buy our stuff

God has made a way for us to move! we're not moving far away--from scottsdale to phoenix--but it's a GREAT move. we love our new little home, and can't wait for the closing date on june 15th. please pray that God will arrange the details so that this could happen smoothly. brently has been working so hard--taking some classes, working full-time (w/ summer camp coming up quickly), being a husband and a new daddy--and he's also been managing the apparently crazy details of a short sale. soon, though, it'll be over, and we'll be on our sweet little street w/ a sweet little name. the home is tiny--but it does have one more bedroom than we have now. the upgrades are great (it was actually built in '51), and is close to move-in ready. i keep picturing elliot riding a tricycle on the laminate floors. =) the house was under-priced which is the only reason we're able to live in this particular neighborhood. it has a beautiful pool (well, the shape is lovely, but it's not usable until it's been cleaned....and it's REALLY dirty right now) and a backyard if we wanted to extend the house later. anyway, it all seems like a dream after life in a condo for so long. we'd be only 5 minutes from camelback bible church and more central to friends--which we'd LOVE. thanks so much for praying that God's will is done--whatever that is. love to each of you!

our stuff

is anyone in the market for a glass-top table, neutral-colored couch or oak desk and bookshelf? we just happen to be selling all 4. want 'em?

he rolls over!!

what a joy. our little man is rolling over. i'm amazed and thankful that God wove his little body together in such a way that everything functions as it should. elliot continues to develop well, and he is SO much fun. =) here is some proof. =)

craig's list

the free stuff on craig's list really is good for hours of enjoyment. for example:

if you need ham. yes, that's right, ham.
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/zip/1754453285.html

or whey. as in curds and...
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/zip/1754201801.html

or perhaps you need a simple red sweater. yes, just a red sweater. here's a whole post about one:
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/zip/1752762477.html

retirement??

could it be true?? could this good-looking man really be ready to RETIRE? hard to believe. this post is in his honor. we love him. we love him so much. johnny boy (as my brother and now my husband lovingly call our dad) is a wonderful man--wise, intelligent, Jesus-loving, gracious, funny, and a million other things. waterloo schools recently had a luncheon that he and my mom attended. what a beautiful couple, huh?? we love you guys so much!!

giggling

oh, how we love elliot's smiles. priceless. here's a glimpse:

kaydee's wedding

my beautiful and precious sister-in-law got married in march (ok, i'm a little late w/ this one), and i wanted to post a few pix. congrats kaydee and keith!!

he dresses better than us.

i'm quite sure that neither brent nor i own any calvin klein shorts. but our 11 week old son does. so it goes. that's parenting for you, i guess. (and great shopping. i bought these at a secondhand kids' store in scottsdale.)

chubby cheeks

this shirt says it all.

papa and elliot

i'm sad that i didn't capture more of this on video, but it's still such a precious thing. this is a clip of my dad singing to little elliot. he was completely mesmerized by his papa, would stop crying immediately and just watch him intently until he finished singing! (here, he's singing "Jesus loves the little children") we think he's gonna be a lover of music for sure. =) we already KNOW he loves his papa.

elliot's first bath

lest you think to yourself, "this kid's gonna be 10 weeks old tomorrow....and they're just NOW giving him his first bath??" it's an old video. so don't worry. i'm just NOW posting it though.

e

oh, and elliot's all swaddled in his adorable bath towel from aunt lana. i LOVE it.

photo shoot

denny collins, a friend of ours from church, did this beautiful photo shoot for our family. it's basically elliot's 1 month photo. clearly, he had an unhappy moment but mostly good. sweet boy.

http://www.dennycollins.com/Site/Welcome.html