Happy 6th Birthday Elliott!

On this day 6 years ago our family was forever changed. Elliott Wood made his appearance at 10:55 pm.  I worked that day. It was so hard to concentrate on my patients.  After every patient I would call over to L&D to see how my sisters induction was going.  I remember one of my co-workers took my 4:00 cleaning so I could get over to my sister before Elliott arrived.  I was afraid I was going to miss it.  Little did I know that via C-section that night we would come. Oh how much I love this kid.  He has turned into the biggest sports enthusiast I know.  He knows more about football, basketball, the Steelers, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Nascar than any 6 year old I know.   He's such a great big brother and cousin.  We love you Elliott!

Martial Arts Testing Day

On March 11th, Zachary and Elliott had their first "big" martial arts testing.  It was the day they would test to go from a white belt to a yellow striped belt.  We had practiced and practiced for the past 6 weeks for this day.  We were not sure what to expect but we knew the boys needed to have "super focus" and discipline to earn their new belt.  We talked about it ALL week.  The day finally came and boy were the boys focused and excited.

Here's Elliott getting ready for a drill

 Here's Zachary doing a "Bob and Weave"...sounds like hair styles to me.

 Zachary showing off his side kick with Mr. John

 Elliott doing his side kick with Mr. John

 At the end of testing, Mr. C calls each child up one at a time. He would get down at the childs level and ask them....are you obeying your parents at home? Are you keeping your room cleaned? Are you listening to your teachers at preschool?  Then he would turn to the parents and ask us if Zachary deserved his new belt.  The parents gave a thumbs up or a thumbs down.  If you look close in the mirror you can see Kevin, me (taking pictures, Aunt Rachel, and Uncle Matt.  We gave the thumbs up and then Mr. C had the child run over to us to hug us and then we gave him his new belt.  The look on Zachary face was priceless. I thought he was going to bust out of that uniform with pride.  As silly as it sounds Kevin and I had tears in our eyes and were very proud too.

 Then it was Elliott's turn.  This is when Mr. C and Elliott were looking for the thumbs up.  Can you see Rachel and Matt with their thumbs up?

 He was so excited too!

 After class they took a class picture with their new belts on.  Zachary and Elliott are on the far right in the second row with YELLOW striped belts on. 

I was so proud of the boys for their accomplishments.  They worked super hard and showed super focus!

Elliott's 5th Birthday

My nephew Elliott turned FIVE on January 30th!  I can't believe he's FIVE!  Time has gone by so fast.
This year Elliott had a Kung Fu Panda party at Martial Arts USA. Let's just say it was the best kids birthday we have ever been to.

Mr. C allows the birthday person to cut the cake with a samurai sword.  All of the party goers had the biggest smiles on their faces.  It was priceless!

I'm so proud of the person that Mr. Elliott is becoming.  He is a very talkative guy who loves to call people on the phone.  If he hasn't talked to you or seen you for a few days he gets worried about you. He is very compassionate for being such a young little man.  He worries about peoples feelings and their well-being.  He loves puzzles, books, Eagles, and HIS TEAM the Pittsburg Steelers.  He is the biggest fan of his baby brother Jerrytt.  He his excellent sharing his toys and favorite things.  I think I am one of his biggest fans. I love being around him.  Elliott Wood I'm sorry I am late posting your birthday.  I think you are an amazing guy and I am proud to be your Aunt.  I love you! Howie

Just me and Jerrytt

One morning my sister & nephew had eye exams so Rachel dropped Jerrytt off with me. Zachary had already planned to go to my in-laws house for the morning so I got Jerrytt ALL to myself.  I loved it. As you can see Jerrytt had a great time too! 

Jerrytt at 7 months old with two teeth and his Aunt Howie

I had to add these pictures too....here is Elliott at 7 months having a playdate with a very pregnant Aunt Howie.  You can definitely tell they are brothers!

3 boys at 3 stores with 2 dino books

The other day I had the priviledge of having three boys for the afternoon.  I had my son, Zachary and my two wonderful nephews, Elliott & Jerrytt.  I had some errands that I needed to run so I just took them with me.  Boy, was I blessed. I really think they were on their very best behavior because they wanted me to see how "easy" it was with more than one child so that I will have another one. HA! No just kidding. They really did great in the stores.  We went to three places....Kinkos where we pretended they worked for me at the copy machine. Both Elliott & Zachary had a blast making the copies and runing them to me to cut them. Meanwhile Jerrytt slept in his carseat. I thought well..that went good lets go to store #2. SONIC...not really a store but it was 1/2 price drinks and I knew Jerrytt's hunger time bomb was about to go off.  So we got sonic slushes and fed Jerrytt at the same time.  Again the boys were EXCELLENT! Next stop store #3....  Gordmans...yes I took two 4 year olds and a 5 month old to a store that has a ton of home furnishings and breakables. Needless to say a very little bitty cart to place a baby carseat on.  We survived!! The boys were so good that I told them they could pick out a pair of new pjs & book for each of them.  They found these dinosaur bone books that I thought was a great steal.  Zachary & Elliott could not wait to return to my house to put them together. The only problem was that I needed to fix dinner because my sister was coming to pick them up and to be honest.... I DID NOT WANT TO BE THE ONE HELPING THEM PUT TOGETHER A MILLION DINO BONES. No thank you. 

I felt bad for not doing the books but I thought it was definitely a task for a son & father.  So after dinner and after my nephews went home, Kevin & Z put together Mr. Dinosaur.  Kevin said it was easier than he thought it was going to be.  

Here is the final product: 

Z loves him and talks to him like he is alive.

After the dino was completed it had to do everything Zachary did. It watched Z take a bath. It watched Z have a snack. It watched Kevin read to Z and finally it watched Z go to sleep. Until Zachary called me into his room to remove him because he was scared.  Crack me up!  Kevin and I are still shocked that the dino is still in one piece.  I think it was well worth the $1.50 I spent.  I hope Elliott likes his as much as Zachary does.  :)

Last minute things with my only nephew!

As my second nephew is about to be born...I am finding myself yearning for more one-on-one time with my nephew Elliott.  I just can't imagine what it will be like when Jerrytt arrives.  I can't wait to meet him, love on him, and of course spoil him.  As an aunt that is my job right?  I love my two nieces, Brynn & Karsen, and my only nephew, Elliott so much. I know I will have that same amount of love for my new nephew Jerrytt too.  Until he arrives I am starting to crave more time with E.  Last week, we joined Rachel & Elliott at Krispy Kreme for an afternoon visit. The boys love watching the donuts being made. I love spending time with Elliott. 

Zachary is SO excited for Baby Jerrytt to arrive.  He loves kissing him, touching Aunt Rachels belly, and hugging her belly.  Jerrytt is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday May 11th at noon...unless he decides to come before then.  I'll keep you posted.

 *** I scheduled this post last Saturday on Automatic post. UPDATE: My sister's water broke in the middle of the night. After I realized what her phone call was about and came to my senses I rushed to the hospital. I am glad I did because my nephew, Jerrytt was born at 3:45 a.m. on May 5, 2010. He is perfect. I can' t wait to do an entire blog about him but until then enjoy this post that I previously made.

Boys and their toys!

Elliott came out to play the other night and Zachary was so excited because it was nice! After dinner we took the boys outside to play. Boy, did they play! They really are best friends but they are at the age when they are super competitive and they want to do EXACTLY what the other one does or says. They are more like brothers than cousins because they argue one second and then hug in the next second. These photos crack me up because they were zooming so fast on the gator that I thought there was going to be an accident.

I am sure most people would not put helmets on their children when riding in these vehicles. However, I am married to the safety police. After about 1 minute I realized the helmets were a must. These two boys can't drive very good and they were dangerous :)

As I was taking this picture Z stepped on the gas...I thought E was going to get run over.

Suprising Elliott!

My nephew, Elliott has been a thumb sucker since he was conceived. He sucked his thumb in the womb, while he was in the carseat, and when he slept. To say he loved his thumb is an understatement. The past four years my sis & BIL have asked us several times how to get him to stop. Kevin said that thumb habits are hard to break. Well, Elliott went to our pediatric dentist and she recommended a "THUMB GUARD". Rachel looked it up online. I showed it to Kevin and he said it would never work. Well, we are all proud to say that it worked. 22 days of Elliott wearing the thumbguard he no longer even craves his thumb. It was a miracle! Before E started the "thumb guard" I told him to pick some place he wanted to go when he no longer sucked his thumb. Immediately he said "Incredible.Pizza". As soon as the thumbguard was off Elliott was begging Aunt Howie to take him to I.P. Well, it was about a week before schedules would permit but this past week we surprised Elliott with a balloon and toy and "kidnapped" him to take him to I.P. HE WAS EXCITED! We are so proud that Elliott no longer sucks his thumb. He is all grown up now!

*Zoom in on the first pic to see Elliott answer the door. He was so excited. You would have thought that we were with Ed McMahon with a $1,000,000 check.























Zachary praying for dinner. I could not help myself. He had the longest prayer. I had to snap a pic.




The game of the night was the "cannon' game that shot cannons at clown faces. I am not sure who loved it more...Kevin or the boys?



















These green glasses were the hit of the prizes. Each of them earned 272 tickets so they got these glasses, green squishy things, and a sticky arm. When we dropped E off at his house, Rachel and Matt were in their pjs ready for bed. They had to try on the glasses too.

Before we became ill....

The weekend before Zachary and I became sick we went to a local college basketball game with my parents. My mom's elementary school performed the National Anthem and the halftime entertainment. Zachary was really excited to go to this game with Grams, Pops, and Elliott. Here are some pics from the fun event!

I couldn't believe it...Z is usually scared of mascots. Whereas Elliott loves them. This day Z loved him and Elliott wanted nothing to do with him.

Picture with Grams & Pops and the Pom Poms.
*Funny story...Z loved the Pom Poms. Half way through the game he said, "Hey mom where are my Poo Poos".

Another funny....one of the teachers (which happens to be a friend of ours) got herself some popcorn. As soon as she returned from the concession stand and the boys realized what she had. They both jumped down beside her. As you can see it wasn't long before they had her popcorn between them. They were super polite and used their manners....but it was funny!

The halftime performers were cupstackers and the Juggling team. Zachary kept asking when he got to juggle with the kids. He just loves being around kids that are bigger than he is. He thinks he is a "big" kid. It was a fun, memorable day.

Happy Birthday to Howie's Boy!

Today is my nephew, Elliott's FOURTH birthday! Its hard for me to believe this little guy is already four and its hard for me to remember my life without him. He is such a wonderful boy, nephew, cousin, & friend. In honor of E's birthday I wrote him a poem with his name....I think these have a "specific" name maybe its Haiku. All of you teacher friends of mine let me know what this is called....

Energetic and full of life.
Loves EVERYONE.
Lights up the room with his smile and big brown eyes.
Intelligent! You should see this guy put together 600 piece puzzles.
Outgoing personality. He's never met a stranger!
Thoughtful. He is always concerned about other kids & adults wellbeing.
Tugs on his Aunt Howies heartstrings!

Happy Birthday Elliott! We love you!

Flexible!

So I have to tell you about my crazy, blessed day. All week I have been battling a virus. I hate when medical professionals use this term because basically there is no treatment. I have been fighting fatigue, a sore thoat, aches, chills, major head congestion and a fever. I was praying my husband and son would not get it but low and behold Zachary got it. Here is a run down of my day yesterday.

It started the night before when a Lowe's Home Installation man called to see if he could come and install our new front door and basement window. I said, "Of COURSE...I have NOTHING to do tomorrow and my son will be in preschool." Famous Last words.

The next morning our phone rings at 7 am. I am brushing my teeth but I still answer. It is my mom asking me if I can help my dad out after I drop Zachary off at preschool.

I said, "well, I can but I have a Lowes installer coming at 9:30, what does Dad need?" Long story short, my nephew Elliott was sick and my dad was watching him while my sister was at work. But my dad had a doctors appointment at 10 am. So someone needed to watch Elliott for an hour. After a couple plan A's, plan B's, and then eventually plan C. My dad and I decided to meet up at Zachary's preschool so that I could take Elliott home with me after dropping Zachary off. Here is where Plan D comes in...I went to wake Z and he was sick. Fever, chills, and sore throat. So we hopped in my car. Stopped by Kevins office to pick up an extra carseat. Then picked up Elliott at preschool. Mind you Z did not go to preschool. When we returned we were all exhausted so we curled up on the couch with drinks, popcorn, and a warm blanket to watch Disney's channels newest cartoon, "CUGGINGTON". By this time I was eating my words about "Of COURSE...I have NOTHING to do tomorrow and my son will be in preschool."



Just as I got the boys settled the Lowes installer arrived. I think the boys tylenol was kicked in because they got a jolt of energy and excitement. I realized that I was going to have to keep the boys confined to my bedroom or else they were going to be in the way of the installer. After about an hour my dad joined us for the chaos and I began making lunch. I was glad Dad was there because he entertained the boys with a book or two while I could down my medicines and get food prepared. We had a great lunch and then it was time for naps. Elliott went home. Zachary rested (as much as you can with drill noises and such). At three o'clock our new door was installed. To say the day was a little out of the ordinary was an understatement. As hectic as it was it was a blessing....we got to have Elliott over for a playdate. I got to spend an hour or two with my dad. I got the new front door that we have been waiting on. My dad always says, "Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans". Well today was just that. I doubt I will be using this sentence for a long time. "Of COURSE...I have NOTHING to do tomorrow and my son will be in preschool."

Here are some pics of the old and new door.

*On several occasions we have come home and our front door has been open. It has never latched very good. We also had issues with this huge glass opening because did not like how everyone could see in. JcPenney's helped with a velcro curtain but it was time for a new door.
Here is the few from the inside.
The new door...Zachary says it has a cage on it. It reminds me of the door on the Wizard of Oz where the wizard opens the little door to greet Dorothy.
Here's the view from the inside.