Picture with Santa 2013

It looks like she's just interested in Santa but it's kind of like I tell our youth group when talking about Bible passages..it's all about context.  This picture was snapped in the midst of the fit she was throwing to get down and run and play.  Luckily Santa played along and we have a usable picture.  The rest of the pictures have Kim's head in the background or me trying to move Elise's legs.  Good times...I have to say this is exactly what we expected though so no surprises :)

Thanksgiving and Washerball

The last few years, we've done Thanksgiving evening at Kevin and Alicia's home.  But, this year, Chuck, Alicia's mom, had some health issues and they were in Columbus much of the week.  Needless to say, hosting Thanksgiving would have been pretty difficult.  So, last minute, we decided to have Barbeque courtesy of Mark.  His brother Brad and sister-in-law Kim got him some goodies from his favorite BBQ joint in South Carolina a while back and he's been saving it.  Well, yesterday was apparently the time to break it out and we dined like the Pilgrim conquerors we are!  I kid.  We had a great meal though and personally, I enjoyed the BBQ more than I do traditional Thanksgiving food.

On top of the BBQ, the other non-tradition we partook in was hosting the meal at our home.  It was kind of fun.  Unfortunately for Kevin and Mike though, they missed the REAL fun.  They had just left and Elise had gone upstairs.  Kim and Sharon were up there and eventually, me and Mark made our way up.  Between Elise's room and Liam's future room, there's a small portion of wall that we put the newest addition to Elise's toy collection in front of.  Kim had an old toy washer and dryer from her childhood sitting in a storage room and we got it out a couple of weeks ago and cleaned it up.  Last night, I opened the lid to the washer and started shooting balls from the ball pit into the washer.  Then, Kim joined in.  Then, Mark joined in.  Sharon rebounded for us and Elise LOVED it.  We've dubbed the game: Washerball.  Here are some samples...

This was how we decided to clean up and put the balls back

Halloween 2013

This Halloween we had a little kitty with us.  She had a great time walking around the block..she even collected a little candy!  She's getting too big too quick.  Kim was able to wear her "Boo" shirt through yet another pregnancy.  I'm super proud of her for that accomplishment :) Notice that I sported my Jaguars shirt around the community.  If only they would make me proud to wear it...

Kim's Jack-O

My Jack-O

4th of July (Old Pics!)

It's been another few months since the blog has received any attention, but alas, here I am posting pictures again.  4th of July was a while back, but here are some pics.

Elise waving in the car

This was one side of the flag for the float..Mad props to some of the guys in the youth group for helping me get this beast built and painted!

Float in the parade

Fireworks!

Cute baby in the sun room

Family Pic

Strolling

This is why we typically don't put her in the stroller anymore...

 Red faced after some time in the sun

Best Father's Day Yet

I was a little torn on whether to name the blog post "Best Father's Day Yet."  My reasoning is that I hope each one is better than the year before and I won't be able to use the same name on the next year's post.  Anyways, this Father's Day was great.  I enjoyed time with Kim and Elise.  We spent some time with Kim's family.  And we called my dad and talked to my granny as well (Papa is deaf so I told granny to tell him Happy Father's Day).  Here are some pics.

 This is my gift from Elise.  It's a photo album of the two of us from her birth til now.  I actually knew about the other couple of things I got, but this was a big surprise and I love it.

The back of it

Inside flap

My new Crocs.  I've been wanting a pair of white crocs for a while.  I got some off brand crocs when we were in Myrtle Beach a couple years ago and I loved them.  But, they got dirty over time and I've been wanting another pair. 

I got this tuner too.  I actually have the same one on my other guitar because this guitar has a built in tuner.  But, I like to be able to look down at the head of the guitar while I'm turning the tuners.

We ended the day by going to the Athen's Lowes to get some organizing stuff for the garage.  Not only did Elise drive the #48 cart, but she drove BOTH steering wheels at the same time!  Our kid is going places.

Me and Elise in the front room of the house.  She's my little baby girl and makes being a dad the most amazing thing in the world.

Mother's Day 2013

Kim and Elise in my office

Elise with a big smile

This is the gift we got for Kim that I originally didn't think we would be able to do because of the location of the joists and small space we had to work with.  But, we were able to get hung and she was happy!

Here is my beginner's Photoshop work for Kim.  Elise is really into a cartoon called Word World so I did the background with that theme since this is technically from her.

A little wind chime I thought she would like

Easter 2013

This is pretty late to be posting, but I thought better late than never!  Easter was great this year especially with Elise getting her first Easter basket!

I have to say that I'm a blessed man to have such an amazing family!

Kim and I at church

Meet Esther.  We named the doll Esther because she got it on Easter Sunday.  Esther has become the go to doll for Elise now.  Anytime we go somewhere, even if just a walk, Esther has to come.  

Of course she wouldn't care about the toys...It was the colored Easter grass that caught her attention.

Easter with Pawpaw John and the grandkids

My 1st Easter

Mommy and Elise at church.  One of favorite pictures of them.

Even the dogs got Easter treats.

The irony in this picture is that she will NEVER wear those sunglasses.  We put them on her and she laughs and takes them off.  While the sun glares in her eyes.

Halloween

These pics are a little late, but here is Halloween (well, trick or treat night for Racine).

We were a little late on our fall decorations, but last year, we got them up early and by Halloween, they looked all run down.  So, this year we put them up just before trick or treat night.

Here's PawPaw Mike with Ellie the Elephant.  

Here's the baby girl again.

Elise with her mommy

The spread of goodies

Our pumpkin carvings were probably the most difficult we've done so far.  I was actually too intimidated to take on this one, but the Frankenstein template I chose instead was too big, so I had to go back to this one.  But, it didn't turn out too bad

This is Kim's pumpkin.  The curves, eyes, and spots where you have to leave just a notch of pumpkin on the edge are hard to accomplish.  Kudos to Kim.

After the festivities

 

Sammie wanted in on the love

Grace had her Halloween toy out