Josh turned 1 on April 26th!  Of course we had a big birthday bash for him.  He was much more enthusiastic about his birthday cupcake than Isabelle was about hers a few years ago.We had tons of family come to Josh’s birthday party and we really enjoyed having everyone together.  Isabelle especially enjoyed it since Andrew and Hunter were both able to come.

Shortly after Josh’s birthday, on May 7th, Kyle and I celebrated our 5th anniversary.  Looking back, we’ve managed to pack a lot of living into five years of marriage.  We’ve been to Savannah and grad school; moved to Hiram; survived Kyle’s rotations; bought a house; and had two kids.  I’m looking forward to the next fifty plus years with him, because if the past is the way to judge they should definitely be adventurous!

Isabelle finished her first year of preschool in May.  She had such a fun year with Ms. Diane and Ms. Karla at school.  She loved the opportunity to make new friends–as evidenced by her “Most Popular” superlative from her teachers!  She came home every day talking about Lucas, Bella, Kent, Lincoln, and Brody.  Isn’t it lovely that four out of her five friends are boys?  Kyle’s going to have his hands full in a few years if that doesn’t change!  She learned so much this year and had a blast doing it.  The school had a great party on the last day of school complete with and inflatable slide, jumpy house, and obstacle course.  Isabelle loved it!  This is us at the party.

We also acquired a dog during the month of May (I told you we were busy)!  Meet Samson, our Cane Corso.

He’s about 8 weeks old in this picture.  He’s going to be a very big boy, probably between 100 – 120 pounds.  He’s a trail, simply because he’s a puppy, but we love having a dog.  He’s great with the kids and I think he loves their toys as much as they do (unfortunately)!

The next weekend, May 14th, my sister, Amanda, got married.  She and Kevin had a beautiful wedding down in Pine Mountain.  I don’t have any pictures, but it really was pretty.  I was the maid of honor (I refuse to be called a matron), Isabelle was the flower girl, and Josh was the ring bearer.  I don’t have any pictures, but if you follow the Elliott Family Photos link on your right, and check out the Videos (2011) folder, there is a video of the processional that shows Isabelle and Josh.  They were adorable and they both did a wonderful job!

The kids spent the night at Papa and Mama T’s on Wednesday night, and Josh took a few steps for Mama T on Thursday morning, but so far that’s all we have on the walking front.  He’s getting there, but he is taking his sweet time.  He’s gonna have to speed it up a little though because he’s getting too heavy for me to carry around!

Perhaps the most exciting news in my world lately is that Isabelle is finally potty trained!  It is so nice not to have to worry about diapers with her anymore (except when she’s asleep).  It’s definitely helped our grocery budget out a lot!  And it has helped me to feel like I do more than change diapers all day!  All in all, life is pretty great here in the Elliott domain!  Here’s a few pictures of the kids to finish off the post!

Isabelle absolutely glows when she talk about her date!  Many kudos to Chick-Fil-A for doing this event!  Kyle said that when they walked in they were directed to a table to sign in where they gave Isabelle a pink carnation and a stuffed cow.  Then they went to the counter to order, got their drinks, and were taken to their assigned table.  Mind you, not an ordinary Chick-Fil-A table, a date night table, all decorated in pink with a flower in the middle and balloons overhead.

After Kyle and Isabelle finished their entrees, they were served ice cream at their table.  Isabelle was even able to pick out special date night sprinkles for her ice cream.  Once they finished their food, Kyle and Isabelle went outside for a horse drawn carriage ride.  Kyle said that Isabelle loved this part (even if she doesn’t look like it in this picture)!

Thanks to Chick-Fil-A for providing such a great opportunity for Kyle to take our daughter on a date she absolutely loved!  You can see all the pictures from their date night on our Picasa!

Isabelle exploring the inside of the fire truck

Coming back from her first ride in the fire truck

Isabelle & Papa on top of the fire truck

Isabelle with a real firefighter!

I know she really doesn’t look to excited in any of these pictures, but she really was happy.  She was slightly overwhelmed and we went in the middle of nap time, so I’m sure that contributed to the poker-face in most of these pictures.  Anyways, thanks to Papa, Mama T, and the firefighters of Dekalb County Station 19 for one of the most exciting experiences thus far in Isabelle’s life!

…he likes Santa.  He likes Santa a lot!

Shutterfly really does produce quality prints.  I’ve gotten roughly 8 million pictures from them over the years.  We also use Shutterfly for photo books.   I love their photo books.  They have such vivid colors!  And they make wonderful Christmas presents for parents and grandparents. At least, our parents love getting them for Christmas.

Anyway, when I heard about this promotion I headed right over to Shutterfly to decide which Christmas card I was going to get for our family this year.  I liked this card because I thought I could put one family picture and then one picture of each of the kids on the front:

I really do like this card, but I decided I wanted something a little simpler this year.  So next I found this card.

I think this is a really pretty and sophisticated Christmas card and I put it on my short list of possibilities.  But then I realized that it is red and black, UGA colors.  So that card was a no go for us.    I love this card,  but unfortunately it won’t work with the picture that I want on the front of our card.  But someone really needs to order this card and send it to us with your family’s picture on the front.

So, the winner of the Elliott 2010 Christmas Card Competition ended up being this card:

I love the yellow snowflake and writing because it’s not traditional and because our Christmas card picture is one of us in our Georgia Tech gear.  So there you have it, a sneak peek of the Elliott family Christmas Card for 2010.  Don’t forget to head on over to Shutterfly and take advantage of their amazing 50 free Christmas cards deal!

We had a really fun Halloween.  Isabelle really loves the concept of getting candy simply for saying “Twick or Tweet!” Isabelle dressed as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street and Josh was a sumo wrestler.  He was supposed to be a bumblebee, but he wouldn’t fit in the costume so I had to whip up the sumo outfit at the last minute.  Anyway, here’s a picture for you to enjoy!

That’s right…I dragged Kyle all the way down to Orlando because I wanted to see the Harry Potter section of Islands of Adventure.  Kyle wanted to go too, but not nearly as much as I did!   And let me tell you…it was totally worth the trip! The attention to detail in the Harry Potter section was amazing!  I felt like I was in Hogsmeade and at Hogwarts.  We got to drink Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, wander through the Hog’s Head Tavern and snake our way through Hogwarts (in line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey).  Seriously, the line for Harry Potter and the forbidden journey is great!  You start out in the dungeons, then weave through the greenhouse, and then walk through the castle.  In the castle you pass through the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Dumbledore’s Study, the portrait gallery (where the pictures talk to you), past the sorting hat, and into the Great Hall where you board the ride.  And the ride itself is awesome!  So much fun!

We also had a blast at the other theme parks.  We’re going back to Busch Gardens next September with Isabelle and Josh.  They have a Sesame Street section that I know Isabelle will love!  We may even throw Disney World in the mix next year.  I must say that September is definitely the time of year to go to all the theme parks.  The average wait for rides was less than 30 minutes, usually around 5-10 minutes.  And it wasn’t too hot either, which made it much more enjoyable!

Anyway, you can check out the rest of the pictures on our Picasa page (I hope to have them up by tonight).  You can also see the pictures of Isabelle’s first fishing expedition there!  Enjoy!

Our small group finally started meeting again.  We only off for the summer, but it felt like forever–I really missed our meetings.  We have three new couples in our group this year and each of the couples has one child.  However, two of the ladies are pregnant and are due by the end of the year(well, one’s actually due on December 31) so by the end of December (hopefully), we will have added six adults and five kids to our group.  That brings our numbers to twelve adults and eight kids (soon to be ten).  It’s definitely tons of fun on Sunday nights!

College football kicks off this week!  This is a BIG event in the Elliott household.  We love college football.  At least Kyle, Isabelle, and I do.  We’ll be introducing Josh to the wonders of college football this season.  We’ve been working with Isabelle and she’s learned quite a few new football signs since last year.  She can show you the signs for touchdown, first down, holding, personal foul, off-sides, and face mask.  We’re thinking about teaching her false start next, but I think she might get it confused with “The Wheels on the Bus.”  She also knows to say “Go Jackets!” when we ask who we cheer for; when we say, “When I say yellow you say…” she will respond with “Jackets;” and when we ask her “how ’bout them dawgs?” she will say “poop on ‘em!”  I’ll have to get a video up here soon.

Isabelle started art classes and preschool this month.  She’s taking art at Gymboree (but only for four weeks, that’s all the gift certificate covers, and I’m certainly not paying $70 a month for her to do art).  But anyway, she seems to really like it.  They’ve done some very cute projects.  She loves going to preschool.  She cried the first few times I dropped her off, but I think she’s figured out that I’m going to come back and get her, so now she heads into school without a backwards glance.  It definitely makes it easier to leave her when she isn’t crying for me to stay.  She really likes having Lucas in her class, but they get into a little trouble when they’re together.  Her teacher told me the other day that she was going to have to separate them because they are “too silly” when they are together at snack and lunch.  It made me happy that she has a friend that she can get into trouble with.  Is that weird? I’m not happy that she gets into trouble for not listening and obeying, but I am happy she has a “get into trouble with him” friend.  However, I do want her to make new friends too, no matter how much she loves Lucas.

With Isabelle in preschool, I have a lot more time to spend with Josh.  I think he’s enjoying it–I know I am.  He is such a happy baby.  He’s even happier and easier to deal with than Isabelle was, which I didn’t think was possible.  My only complaint with this child is that he isn’t sleeping through the night yet.  I’m really looking forward to that day.  But he does do really well with self-soothing.  We can lay him in his crib wide awake and he will just talk to himself until he falls asleep.  It’s really wonderful because we had to teach Isabelle to self-soothe by letting her cry it out and it was pure torture, so Josh has been a dream in that department.  Josh loves to smile and laugh at pretty much anyone that talks to him, but his very favorite person in the whole world is Isabelle.  I LOVE it!  She sings him songs and dances for him and shows him how to do things (like walk) and he just laughs and laughs at her.  It is absolutely the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen!  And Isabelle seems to like him a lot too.

Anyway, we had Josh’s three month pictures and Isabelle’s two years pictures made about a month ago.  Here are my favorites:

I love this picture because it is so Isabelle–pure happiness!

My happy boy!

I call this picture “American Gothic Revisited.”  Don’t they both look thrilled to be having their pictures made?  I love it!

I love that his eyes are kinda crossed in this picture!  It is my absolute favorite picture of him!

In my opinion, this picture is the epitome of Isabelle.  I love that smile!

People ask me how Isabelle does with Josh.  This picture just about sums it up.  She is very fascinated with him (and he likes her too).  I’ve started telling people that if she kills him it’s going to be with kindness.  She doesn’t quite seem to understand that he’s not as rough-and-tumble as her (yet).

Anyway, those are my favorite pictures of the kids.  Many thanks to April for such wonderful shots (especially since Isabelle wasn’t in a very cooperative mood)!

I like you.  I really like you a lot.  You have finally enabled my son to sleep through the night.  It also seems like you’ve cut down on his spitting up.  Don’t get me wrong, you haven’t totally eliminated the spit-up, but at least now it’s only a gallon a day instead of five.  I’m hoping you’ll continue to improve his spitting up so that he can finally lay down to sleep (instead of sleeping in a swing) and so that he can start sleeping in his own room (instead of mine).  You truly are the miracle worker that people laud you as.  However, as much as I love you, I have a few bones to pick with you.  First off…you cost too darn much.  $25 for a 16 oz. can?  Seriously?  That’s a little bit much for my tastes (thank God you’re covered by our insurance since Josh will be going through multiple cans a week).  And you don’t come in a larger can and there is no off-brand Alimentum formula.  That’s a real downer for me.  You also stain everything that you touch, especially if you reappear as spit-up.  That’s no fun for this mom, but I’m sure the company that makes Shout stain remover thanks you for that trait.  But my biggest gripe with you is that you smell.  Really, really smell.  Your smell makes me think of moldy cheese topped with rotting eggs being held by someone with a scary toe fungus.  It’s nasty.  And, even though I didn’t think it was possible, you smell even worse when you are regurgitated.  And that makes my child and my house and every burp cloth we own ridiculously stinky.

But really, I do love you for all you have done for me and for Joshua and for the sanity and well-being of my family.

With deepest love and affection (and prayers for a stopped-up nose),

Amanda