Bath tub photo shoot

After careful scrutiny of the pictures to follow, I decided 2 things: (1) they are modest enough to post without worrying about "naked baby pictures" and (2) they are TOO cute NOT to post! So enjoy the product of Elijah's Bathtub Photo Shoot...he obviously enjoyed me taking the pictures!

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And my new favorite picture of him:

ouch!

So I fell off the treadmill this morning.

I'm okay...just a few bumps and scrapes.

I'm still trying to figure out how this happened.

I think maybe I wasn't fully awake, because my foot slipped off the part that moves and hit the non-moving part on the side. With my right foot now stationary and my left foot still running, it wasn't pretty.

Basement floors are quite unforgiving...

...and chilly.


God must have known what He was doing when he gave me blonde hair (HA! I said it so no one else can!!!)

voting

Today was my first experience voting with a 15 month old in tow. He was good for the most part, until he got away from me.

Yeah, that was interesting...

I think next time, I'll go alone

Cool play doh

Elijah is napping right now but he wanted me to post these pictures for you:






He was so excited that he drooled graham cracker on his chin, as evidenced in the final picture!

Thanks, Caitlin! I promised Eli we would test it out after his nap. We'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and by the way, I almost didn't open the package! It was super bulky and I didn't recognize the return address. I was trying to figure out what it could possibly be. Since it wasn't ticking, I decided it should be safe!

Kitchen helper

Elijah was having one of those nights...he really just wanted me to sit on the couch and hold him. Unfortunately, I was really trying to make dinner so Adam had some good food to eat when he gets home tonight. Elijah wouldn't let go of my legs so I gave in...and took the child lock off the cabinet with all the Tupperware-type stuff. So here is Elijah helping me cook dinner tonight:




He even took his chair down the hall to mom and dad's bedroom! What a helper! OK, seriously, I don't know WHAT was up with dragging the chair down the hall but I told him it was a good idea. Besides between "reorganizing" the cabinet for me and "rearranging" furniture, he was happier than our cats with catnip!

This is actually Elijah being naughty...he knows he's not allowed behind the couch (too many power strips!) but he kept sneaking back there.


Elijah acting secretive and "Jedi-like"!


Stuffing his face during dinner tonight...

A different view of Valentine's Day

Not Like it Used To Be

February 14 is Valentine's Day. Although it is celebrated as a lovers' holiday today, with the giving of candy, flowers, or other gifts between couples in love, it originated in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop.

For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his sexual companion during the remaining year.

In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes.

Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in AD 270 had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius.

Claudius had determined that married men made poor soldiers. So he banned marriage from his empire. But Valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine, he first tried to convert him to paganism. But Valentine reversed the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When he failed, he was stoned and beheaded.

During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was taken to his death, he signed a farewell message to her, "From your Valentine." The phrase has been used on his day ever since.

Although the lottery for women had been banned by the church, the mid-February holiday in commemoration of St. Valentine was still used by Roman men to seek the affection of women. It became a tradition for the men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentine's name.

The first Valentine card grew out of this practice. The first true Valentine card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time.

Cupid, another symbol of the holiday, became associated with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards.

TAKEN FROM THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE: http://wilstar.com/holidays/valentn.htm