Eliana's Words

Our little elly bean is starting to talk more and more, but she still isn't putting a lot of words together. she also still babbles a lot, which we think sounds a whole lot like a little ewok from star wars. (you know, the little teddy bear creatures) anyways, i thought it would be fun and help me keep track as well to write out all of her words for your reading pleasure!

more
bye bye
no
daddy
mama
melmo (that means elmo...she's totally in love with the red monster)
draw (crayola wonder markers are the best invention EVER!!)
diaper
poopoo
strawstraw (that's ewok for strawberries)
booberry (another ewok word for blueberries...we'll be sad when we have to say good bye to those in Asia...no booberries in our city! :( )
baby
strower (stroller)
car
choo choo (train or really big truck)
truck
lao lao (my mom)
papa (grandpa...or we're trying to get her to say papa pookie much to my father's disapproval! she also says the same thing for Vip's dad who is gampa)
nanny (vip's mom)
Bible
book
juice (pretty much any liquid in her cup that isn't milk
cracker
bread
cheese (this means either cheese or please...have to look for the sign language to distinguish! she signs please when she means please and doesn't when she wants cheese!)
milk
raisins
bu bu (bunny bear...her "lovie" she sleeps with
pray (she has started to just randomly fold her hands and ask that we pray throughout the day! it's so sweet how young they start to pick up on that!)
song
tickle
slide
bath (she loves the water!)
squirrel (her recent favorite is feeding the squirrels the nuts in our backyard. this can entertain her for at least 30 minutes!)
dog (usually combines the english with the asianese we know)
kitty

and, i think that is about it. i'm sure you are bored of reading it by now too!!

we are continually thankful for our little girl and continually humbled by the responsibility we have of raising her. i just finished a really good book called Feminine Appeal by Carol Mahaney that walks through Titus 2 and what it means to be a wife and mother according to the Word. It was all stuff i knew and had heard before, but it was just a good reminder. what a challenge and a huge responsibility Father has given us to raise up our children in a way that points them as well as those that watch our families. another good book i'm reading is "don't make me count to three" by Ginger Plowman. she has a lot of good stuff to say about heart oriented discipline. so, do you have any good stuff you are reading?? i'd love some recommendations as i'm trying to stock up on some good books to take back with me. I'd also love to hear about any good parenting resources you've found.

vacation ideas

So, i'm starting to plan a family vacation for us sometime in January or February and was wondering if any of you had any good recommendations for a fun family vacay with a toddler. We've thrown around the idea of a cruise, but aren't sure if that will be as fun as it could be with Eliana still needing a nap during the day and an early bed time. basically, we're just throwing around a lot of ideas right now that all sound like they could possibly be a lot of fun!! So, please throw your ideas or experiences at me!!

check out this fun new video. we found this totally cool website where we just put a few of our pics and they made the video for us...for free. check out animoto.com

another belated post

i have no idea why i can't stay up to date with this blog here in America, but all the traveling and fun times catching up with our friends and family just seems to leave me with no time or energy to get on the computer very much. sorry! i'll try and do better...promise!!

here's some pics of our recent travels to Lousiana and Virginia as well as just some fun times here in Dallas lately.


My 2nd cousin Kelsey came over for a play date, which Eliana loved!! she is totally enamored with all four of her 2nd cousins! They even had fun with a tea party! eliana got the water everywhere, but we had lots of fun and giggled lots!

sweet girls smile!!


Eliana and I went to my cousin's church to speak to the kiddos, so Eliana modeled her cute little outfit!


she still loves her daddy!!




We celebrated Vip's birthday September 21st with a small party with our family in the area. we pulled our resources together to make a taco feast and then i made a carrot cake with real cream cheese icing! it was so fun getting to do something like this for my family with such ease! I walked right into target, got all the ingredients and was back within the hour to get it all ready! for all my people on the east side, you know what a treat that is!! :)


and, as i'm sure you can tell by my mom's pose in the background, there was a very lively rendition of "Happy Birthday" for vip.


One of Vip's bday presents was the use of my cousin's bike and a bike seat for Eliana! how fun! Eliana was a good helper (in that she provided entertainment and didn't let Daddy get bored) while Daddy attached the seat!


"hmmm, i wonder what these pliers would taste like??" (don't worry, we didn't let her actually put them in her mouth!)





another present that Vip was really excited about was his Jim's Pizza shirt. i've mentioned my uncle's restaurant before (on 380 in McKinney...not far from 75), and we have always loved his pizza. but, the love affair with uncle Jim's pizza has increased these last two months. i guess absence made the heart grow fonder!!


the family closed out the birthday party watching the cowboys game in our living room. this was pretty fun for us. we were like, "whoa, haven't done this in a long time!" I guess we had forgotten how much everyone likes to get together for games around here.



Vip and I continue to enjoy weekly date nights courtesy of the grandparents! again, what a blessing! this picture is from a Shane and Shane concert we went to. they are one of our favorite bands, and the concert benefited work overseas, so we were super excited to get to go and enjoy a special date night at their concert!


Eliana is in love with keys. it's really an obsession, but oh well.


and, since the tea party with Kelsey was so fun, we have since had a couple more. who knew you could have so much fun with an old ice chest, water, and a plastic tea set??


Eliana modeling her new bike helmet


and, she's learned to bend over in this very attractive pose! peek a boo!!


during our time with nanny and gampa in Baton Rouge, we went to the zoo!


and did lots of playing with nanny and gampa!


and, of course, kept celebrating Daddy's birthday!! look at that cookie cake!!



elly Bean helped daddy route his team on!


while in Virginia, we got to introduce Eliana to all her aunts, uncles, great grandmother, and 2nd cousins. they had a fun time playing together in great grandma's yard!


we got to feed the ducks at a friend of nanny and gampa's house. as soon as the ducks came up to Eliana to get the food she was holding up, she would start backing away. it was pretty funny


also got some good time on the playground in and caught up with some old friends who live in Richmond. we all started dating around the same time, so it was pretty neat to see them again now that we are married with babies about the same age.


when we got back from our Louisiana/Virginia trip, we hit the ground running and went to another birthday partay for my 2nd cousin, Lindsey (sitting next to me, who was my flower girl!) and her dad, William. very very fun!